February 2011 Grocery Challenge

Mothership

l.m.hart wrote: »

so sorry to see your still enduring your problems,i always find that when i watch true sad things about other people with problems have a good cry and makes me think that even though i have problems there are people with alot worse.
on the frugal front,not spending anything, dh whos se is not bringing any money in, so cupboards and freezer looking very bare.:(

Thanks for your support, This board has been a great distraction for me, I am overwhelmed by the warmth and camaraderie from people who have never met.

On a lighter note I'm so impressed with everyone working together to improve their lot, I love reading your posts and sharing recipes /tips.

Winged_one

I've managed to not buy any groceries during the week this week, and even better, I have managed 3 NSD's!! I usually end up buying papers, coffee and stuff like that, but this week, I have been so busy I haven't even done that!

We won't be down in time for the farmers' market tomorrow, and the English market doesn't open on Mondays, so we won't be getting anything extra while we are away. And while we mostly used stores stuff this week, more was from fridge/cupboards than freezer so I have those to use still too for next week.

philsmum

Candy_Belle wrote: »

Happy Friday Everyone!

Hugs to all that need them.

Just a quick question, I've got some salted/unsalted and stork (marg not the bird) in my fridge that are all best before Nov 10. Is it still ok to use? or will the taste of it now be impaired?

Thank u x:)

Hi Candy Belle, if the stork marg looks and smells ok it should be fine to use. Give it a go. Good luck

cha97michelle

Candybelle - your butter question - if the butter is sealed in the pack, then i would say it is probably ok. I have used stuff more out of date than that. It just oxidises a bit on the outside so it looks a darker yellow, but i find it is fine and does not affect the taste of my baking or pastry at all. If it has mould on, i would be less likely to, but as it is in the fridge it should be mould free.

DH raided the baking i did last night to take some to work. I don't mind as it is only him and his boss, and seems though the boss gave him a bonus last week then i think it does us good to keep him 'sweet.' (I'd send some in anyway.)

DS was eyeing it up at breakfast time telling me what he was going to eat for pudding today.

Oh well, at least it stops me nibbling it, and i have stuff in to make more nice things.

I think we have enough food in for me to not have to go shopping this weekend, so that is my plan. If i can then do a very small top up next week, i might be able to stop myself going more than 10% over budget. Fingers crossed.

moonpixiewitch

thanks to Hippeechiq for posting the 6 week menu plan , I am feeling very inspired now , need to do a freezer/cupboard stock take again and plan the next two weeks around that .
have had 5 nsd in a row now but I need some fresh veg from Aldi , so will have to spend a little today
nearly out of money for the month , but only a week to go and I have plenty of things in the freezer / cupboards to get through till next friday.
after looking at stevepavlina website , I may have to do a 30day trial of going veggie , then who knows maybe a 30 day trial of going vegan

dumpling

Hi everyone, hope you are all doing well on this months challenge. I just updated my siggy to include some whoopsied liver for tea after being inspired by the Hairy Bikers programme yesterday. I got it for 57p so a real billy-bargain!

Still on track to come under budget so fingers crossed for the rest of the month.

XSpender

I made the mistake this morning of going on to mysupe to start an order for possible delivery/biggish shop first week of march and saw the dog food offer a few people have mentioned. I am very tempted to go to Mr T and stock up on 2 months worth of chum tins which would save me £10/month or the Mr T supermeat tins which would save me £15/month. I need weetab1x for DS nxt month so I am tempted to take advantage of the cereal offer again and stock up for next month.

If I do this I will deduct the dog food from March and April budgets and the cereal will come out of March as it is not to be used until then.

I still did not do my batch cooking yesterday as I can't get anything in the freezer but I must do it today as I have leeks that need using up to be made into 2 pies and I need to make a fish dish and more pasta for DS. The freezers need a good sort out and I need to make a list so I will tackle that over the weekend which should free up some space.

Meal plan is done to the end of the month and I do not need anything but fruit and poss formula for DS but will buy some full fat cows milk for cookingfor DS.

I am toying with the idea of dropping my budget by the dog food saving and another £5 or £10 in March as I need to spend as little as possible to cover DS first set of nursery fees. I struggle to stick to my budget so this will be a challenge for me. I would love to only spend £200 this month but I can't see me being able to manage it:o

quintwins

£11 spend for me in mr T, that included 2 bunchs of bananas, 3 boxes of wheatbix, 3 boxes of ready brek, 3 bags of porridge and then some reduced sausages and stewing steak and some bin bags so not too bad, plus another £4 for the boys snack money in nusery, so i'm def gonna go over this month cause i have to pay another £4 next fri

Hippeechiq

Hugs to l.m.hart, ebayqueen Mothership & anyone else who needs one :grouphug:

l.m.hart I feel for you hun - it's c rap not having any money, or having very little. Have you had a look at CHEAP FAMILY RECIPES? It's the brainchild of one of the lovely members on here called Weezl and is designed to help people eat cheaply and healthily when times are tough - it might be worth a look?

martafdz wrote: »

rosieben and Hippeechiq, thank you very much for the thread and the ideas!!! I am going to give it a go. Somehow I always do the same meals and I am surprised to hear that some of you do not repeat a meal over a whole month!

I am going to do this week:
Fri - roasted chicken breast stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon.
Sat -grilled steak and chips
Sun - roast of pork (leg)
Mon - pork leftover
Tue - Spanish meatballs
Wedn - fish and chips
Thu - braised pork cheeks
Fri - cottage pie (maybe)
Thank you very much for the ideas!!

Very nice menu hun
I'll be pleased if posting my plan helps anyone out, as I know I found it very difficult to do when I started a year ago....just couldn't get my head in the right mind set at all.

Starting with a week at a time was the key for me. Then after a month I went up to 2 weeks. Then after about 2 months of doing that, I thought, well if I'm planning for 2 weeks, I might as well try 4. I've been doing 6 week plans since about October time, and it wasn't a deliberate thing, it was just that I had accumulated so many new recipes, I suddenly realised I could actually do 6 weeks without repeating a meal, and thought - why not?! It was a God-send leading up to and over Christmas.

In case anyone is interested, I bought some Value Sliced Beetroot yesterday. I stood looking at the price of Te$co own brand jar (74p) and the Value jar (24p) and thought, Beetroot is Beetroot surely? - what difference can there be? And there wasn't It was absolutely fine! Bargain!

NickJW

Another small spend today - needed to get some lunch so spent £1.80...I haven't used everything so I'll use the rest for Mondays lunch

ETA: I forgot to say Welcome Back Jintyb!