January 2011 Grocery Challenge

sharronej

hex2 wrote: »

Someone posted a link a while ago from the Daily Mail that claimed most supermarket chicken is already halal so you may already be eating it anyway - have a look here If you don't mind and it is cheaper then go for it.


Mrs M please will you put Hex2 down for £450 in January.

OMG have just read this article to my dh and we are both shocked - where can we safely buy meat from then? There is a butcher in the next town (15 mins) drive but how will I know if we can trust him? Online organic butchers? TBH I think they will be out of my price range! Grr as if food buying doesn't get complicated enough!

Thanks for the link (I think lol)

angelatgraceland

kippers wrote: »

I have 2 new years resolutions:

1) to clear our debts of approx £900 before my DD2 goes to High school in Sept when we have to pay another £50 per month for the bus that takes her there (we already have to pay this for DD1...there are 2 private bus's to take most the children around here to a school 15 miles away as the schools round here are terrible and have very 'rough' children attending from two bad estates. Both these schools have had thousands of pounds given to them over the last few years and still have the lowest GCSE results in the county).

2) To keep to my £300 grocery challenge (which will help acheive number '1' above). I've got to do it this year by hook or by crook for my DD2's sake as we can't have her going to the awful schools round here.

I 've done my big shop and a couple of little shops already so I need to be very careful (i'll update my signature later). This month runs upto the 24th Jan for me.

On Tues we had friends round for tea. I made a h/m pizza and jacket pots, h/m bread and sausage rolls, dips etc. very cheap as the jacket pots were also woopsied and cost me 10p for 10 on xmas eve. For pud we had xmas cake, mince pies, choc log and little fairy cakes all left over.

On Weds I was very frugal as I took my 2 DD's to town to spend their xmas money and vouchers (we walked there and got a lift back with DH at 4pm when he finished work). I took sandwiches, and leftover h/m sausage rolls and cakes and we sat on a bench in the shopping centre eating them...money saved.

Yesterday we had h/m leek and potato soup served with freshly made rolls and last night i made a turkey and carrot pie (cooked turkey and carots in a white sauce covered in left over pastry which i had in the freezer)...doesn't sound very glam but it was lovely. I served it with pots and swede mashed together, brussells, broccoli, roasted butternut squash and roast parsnips.

Most the veg was woopsied on christmas eve (thank you Mr Tesco for that) except the butternut squash and leeks, which i grew at my allotment.

I had half a big bag of potatoes in my 'frost free' store box outside which did actually freeze with the low temperatures over the last few weeks, so i have had to throw them away as they have all turned soft and mushy now:eek:

Dad turned up with two sticks of brussells yesterday which is brilliant, so that will help on the veg front as they keep for quite a while on the sticks.

Tonight (for a new years treat)we have saved hard so we can have a chinese as a treat as we haven't had a takeaway for ages and ages.

Tomorrow we are going to my DH's parents for kababs (they are greek and they do the great big chunks of meat served with pilaf rice salad dips etc...lovely). We have to take a pudding so I am taking a homemade cheesecake as i have a biscuit base ready in the freezer (i should have used it for a cheesecake on boxing day but my recipe fail due to using tesco value softcheese...i won't be doing that again). I have bought philadelphia this time.

After this i need to start meal planning again. But first i need to delve into my two full freezers to find out exactly what i have and haven't got:eek:. I know i have loads of fruit and veg from my allotment in there that i need to use up before summer.

I also have plenty of cooking apples storing in my shed in at my allotment to use.

I am stocked up well with pantry items like bread flour, baking items, pasta etc so if i put my mind to it i know i can do this months challenge.

I must concentrate hard to do this challenge and ensure i don't waste anything (though i seldom do now since joning this website).

Good luck everyone with this months challenge and

Happy New Year to you all

(goodness this is a really long post for me)

What a fantastic post! You have it all well sussed! You are so right about schools-I don't worry so much about the results-I wont say why but a lot of the better schools have ways of fixing them! Its the people though that count and they are the peers for your children to grow up with.Just keep in there-its hard sometimes-especially when it is necessity and not just choice.

We had our chicken for dinner today-dd did the dinner-used some of the pots which have been standing there unused! Made mash for a nice change. All leftovers in the fridge-chicken has been dissected for tomorrows curry and the stock made for chicken soup. Im beginning to feel human now although tired but Im just so thankful for that alive feeling!
I'm giving the kitchen a good clean today-little by little so @I dont overdo it. Luckily DH likes to take charge of the washing-not my choice but he moans if I do it-I either have too much wet washing hanging about or I use the drier too much!!! So-I let him get on with it(I could say lots)and Im grateful for another task I don't need to do.

esmer

Good Evening everyone and a happy new year when it comes.

Can I please join this thread. I would like to set my budget to 40.00 per week for my shopping. Its just me and DD, but she still has nappies at night and the amount that they cost, I will keep my budget to the 40.00 and if I get the shopping less than that then BRILLIANT. I really want to budget and to stop buying crap this year. I have a plan to lift 20.00 in the week for work, leave debit card in the house and not be tempted to buy stuff whilst I am at work. Im also in the sealed pot challenge as well, and other threads.

Thanks. I will keep my receipts in my purse and hope to do this.

helen_jelly

Evening

Can I rejoin please - used to come on here quite regularly and then got big headed and thought I had my grocery spend under control - I wish!!!
I've realised that I need to be accountable to someone about my spending - so you lucky lot have that job lol

DH and I have decided, like some of you, that 2011 needs to be the year we get our lives [financial] under control so I'm taking charge of all money

Can you put me down for £250.00 for January please

This amount is for all food, cleaning and drinkies and starts tomorrow 01.01.11 and runs until 31.01.11

Thank you to the ladies who run the thread

Helen x

mandco

could you put me down for £200 for jan please Mrs m

gives me approx £45 a wk with £20 for bulk buys & special offers also gonna try shopping with cash to see if that makes it easier to stick to the budget

after a pretty disasterious dec havent a clue what I spent other than then £75+ on various medications & antibiotics on the last 2 wks :eek:
my month starts on the 1st and runs till the 31st
still got loads of snacky stuff inc 3 tins of chocs:eek: left from dec some i might roll over for a party I've got to budget for next month and as of Jan 1st I start my new healthy eating plan so no junk food
also got a fair bit of stuff left over thats kinda past its best loads of carrots/potaotes/apples so gonna have a look and see how i can rescue them rather than throw away

goodluck to everyone & happy new year

tabath

After having looked at my CC statements I reckon £350 is reasonable so:
My target for Jan 2011 is £350, please add me to the list.Thanks

looie

Hiya can you put me down for £100 for January please.

I would like just like to add that I am really pleased I found the grocery challenge thread as it has made me realise just how much we spend on food, and there is only the two of us and I only include food. I echo what Rebelle said a huge thanks from me to the ladies for running this thread :T

I started budgeting in January and I am hoping to do better next year as I am saving for a garage .... every penny counts now. We also have an allotment so I am determined not to waste anything anymore.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year x

booskyeboo

Hi
Mrs M could you please put me down for £250 (£50 per week) We have been spending a lot more than this and there is only the two of us and a dog but her food comes from a different budget, I know that I can do it with help from everyone else on here, after all we all want to save money.:) PS well done on the weight loss Mrs M, I would also be interested in some of your SW recipes.:D

Gorgeestwo

bit of a failure today before January has even officially started , went into M&S as I was passing and spent £16.01 on food we really didn't need, think this will be easier once the children are back at school as I just won't be anywhere near temptation in the week .

mrsmoneymiser

Please could I join in this grocery challenge.

There are 5 of us in my family(practically all adults) - myself, dh, ds1 (20yrs), ds2(18yrs) and dd (16yrs). I will set myself a target of £400 for groceries (it will normally be a little lower but ds2 is home from university until approx 10.1.2011).
I would find it easier to manage if it could run from 27th of each month until 26th of next (therefore from now until 26.1.2010)

I have a large amount of tins, pasta and freezer foods so will try and use all these up. I am also going to try and go back to the "Economy Gastronomy" method of cooking a "base" recipe (mine will be minced beef, onion and tomatoes) and then use this in a few different meal reipes. I'll try and keep updating how I am getting on and would be grateful if anyone had any good, tasty, economical recipes that I could try on my always hungry family. Thanks