March grocery challenge

Lillibet_2

I only shop once a fortnight & find fruit & veg keeps fine in the fridge, as long as I get good sell by dates. Carrotts, parsnips, swede, potatos, onions, leeks, asparagus all keep well in teh salad draw, mushrooms keep salad fresh for about a week & are good for cooking for upto 2 weeks, lettuce cucumboer & spring onions keep well if kept in airtight boxes or wrapped in clingflim, tomatos keep for about 8-10 days for salad & a fortnight for cooking. Sweetcorn & peppers do not seem to keep so well so I buy tinned sweetcorn & frozen peppers for cooking.
Apples, pears, plums, kiwis,oranges, satsuma all keep for upto 2 weeks in the fruit bowl in a cool dining room although I usually only put 1 weeks worth out at a time & keep the rest in the fridge. Mangos keep for about 10 days in the fridge, so do grapes. I have no idea how long bananas keep for 'cos hubby eats about 4 a day until they are all gone!

Eliza252

I cant believe so many other people have had this problem with own-brand washing powder. Have tried two brands (Tesco and Safeway) and they both left behind white powder residue that was very difficult to get out. Own brand washing powder not worth it if you ask me (unless they produce some which actually works - that would be nice!) - oops I meant to link that to an earlier thread!

Thanks for all the veggie advice so far, defo very useful! I am cooking (ha ha) up some good ideas now and have made notes

DingDong_3

Hi, another newbie here.

I allow myself £30 a week (for a single person) and thought I was doing well until I discovered this thread! I've got to say I'm very impressed/shocked by how little you all spend. Home cooking, meal planning etc.. is all new to me but you've really inspired me with all your tips and ideas, so I'm going to start my challenge on Monday allowing myself £20 per week and hopefully once I get into it I'll be down to £15 a week for next month.

For keeping fruit/veg for longer, I use these green bags from Lakeland called Stayfresh Longer bags. I think they're £2.50 for a pack of 20 but they can be re-used. You can put virtually any fruit/veg in them. I find they are particularly useful for tomatoes and lettuce which I was always throwing away. Tomatoes last 4 weeks.

Also, I'm sure you all already know this, but if you have a 24hr Tesco nearby, you can get some real bargains if you shop at night.

KTFrugal

You don't have to buy special bags from Lakeland. Wrap your veggies in cloth, such as old napkins or tea towels and then store them in the fridge. Lettuce and other greens then don't get a chance to become that scary green sludge in the corner. Keep root ginger in the freezer, wrapped in foil and grate in directly from frozen into your dishes. It will last about 6 months.

moggins

Second weeks shopping done.

After going through the freezer and cupboards I discovered I only needed the bare minimum this week so the shop went like this:

Poundland - 12 pk of Skips - £1.00
Asda - had to as I had to be back quickly for the school run

Banana's 56p
Apples 98p
blackcurrant squash 26p
Brown sauce 24p
Ketchup 29p
Onions 52p
cream (reduced) 31p
Potatoes 1.51
Crisps (for lunchboxes) 1.66
Mothers day present 5.48

Total 12.81

I used the coinstar machine to convert my penny pot to a voucher to pay for most of the mothers day present and handed over £2 worth of vouchers which she took even though it was over the 10%.

tiff

I just remembered something. I once went on a cheese course when I worked on the Deli counter at Sainsburys. The instructor was saying that cheese can be frozen, especially parmesan which has a stronger flavour therefore you need less. She once saw it reduced down to 50p and bought the whole lot to stash in the freezer.

I was also reading an egg cookery book today, apparently you can freeze uncooked eggs. If you have some that will be out of date soon and you know you wont get a chance to use them, crack them open into a small pot with a lid, whisk them round and put in the freezer. Write the date on so you know which ones to use first

Not sure if these tips even belong on this thread, but wanted to share in case its useful to someone

schoolfundraiser

Provided I shop monthly online (Tesco definitely not Sainsburys) I can keep to a monthly budget of about £110-120 for 2 adults a large teenager and a cat who has a litter tray and senior cat food. I do supplement every 8-12 weeks with a £40-£50 Iceland freezerfill (keep those e-codes and BOGOFs coming!) and spend about a fiver in veg each week. But I cook a lot from scratch as I am allergic to a lot of the additives used in readymeals and I have a breadmaker so can make 2 very large pizzas for about 90p. ditto buns, pitta breads etc. I also don't buy crisps or choc snack bars any more. It's a lot easier to say sorry you forgot or they didn't have any and refuse to go and get them from elsewhere when you have your shopping delivered! My daughter has been crisp-deprived for nearly 9 months now poor thing but hasn't missed them and her spots are a lot better.

What I would like is for Asda to go online around here then I would save even more. We've all been waiting about two years now and no joy yet.

foreverskint

Hello every one.

I am impresssed with everyone ability to spend very little on their shopping and have decided to try it myself from today!

Can I recommend for those trying to findgood cookery books to try their local charity shops. As the "fashionable" chefs come and go you can often find good books in there. I recently bought a good housekeeping book and a delia smith winter collection book for 3.00 for the 2. I have 4 children a DP and 2 rats and today managed to spend £57.20 in Lidls including wine and beer. (one of lifes esssentials). Obviously to keep up with the hardend money savers I shall reduce this further!
I compared what I bought in Lidls compared to my usual tesco spend and it cost me £20.00 less for similar items and I spent around £50.00 less than I usually do overall.

I have also been inspired to cook a bit more for us and spent a productive afternoon int he kitchen baking cakes.

Thanks all for your inspirational ideas.

recovering_spendaholic

Hello - I am new to this site (was referred by a friend at work) and since knowing about it my kids think I've left home!! I am intrigued by this grocery challenge and would love to join in but currently I spend about £120 :eek: a week for me and two kids (14 and 7). I just can't understand (and you are all welcome to think I am a total idiot - I do!) how anyone can spend £20 a week on food. I shop at Tescos and can spend over £20 just in the produce aisle. Do you all buy produce in greengrocers? Sorry but any hints and tips would be really welcome.

Trow

TIFF FOR PRESIDENT!

Okay, maybe thats pushing it - but with her grocery challenges and her help and tips she has enabled people to save money all year round - I reckon we should reward her by nominating her for post of the month (and hopefully knackering her budget for April ).

Anyone with me?