February 2011 Grocery Challenge

SOT2011

Hi All,

Last shop of the month completed, £54.20 in Mr T, so please can I declare £288.40/£300.00 for February.

Under budget which is good, but not great as I had given myself quite a bit bigger budget than I thought I should need.

Please can I also set a budget for March - think I will try for £240.00

Spiggle

huxley wrote: »

... Now if anyone knows any good recipes for Jerusalem artichokes got a trug of them from the allotment!!!!!!

To be honest Huxley, for us you can't beat them as a roast veg. OH scrubs them really well, par boil for a minute then roast as you would a potato/parsnip etc. Scrumptious but they do have the nick name referred to above! As OH just said, they make baked beans seem mild in the wind department!!!

ebsaver wrote: »

... declare £288.40/£300.00 for February.
Under budget which is good, but not great as I had given myself quite a bit bigger budget than I thought I should need.
Please can I also set a budget for March - think I will try for £240.00

Ebsaver that's one heck of a drop in your budget in just one month. Please ignore me if I shouldn't be commenting but a £60 drop is a lot. :eek: Don't put yourself under too much pressure. You've done really really well this month coming under budget and sometimes little steps down are more of an incentive than huge leaps that may at this point be unachievable. Only MHO so please excuse ...

MrT delivery came early and has now been put away, well mostly. The total came to £56.76 which brings my total to declare for Feb to £238.59. I definitely won't be buying anything tomorrow and so am happy to just take another NSD then. I'll update the siggy in a minute.

Normally, I would have waited until the new month to do a shop like this so it will be interesting to see if I come in well under next month or just scrape it like this months. For the time being I think I'll leave the wild bird food in it's own budget and see how we go a bit more.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of your day,
Spigs

jackieglasgow

I have given up this month, and lost control, although I think my spends are around the £200 mark, give or take a tenner.

Can I please go back on the monthly list, at £250 for March please?

FluffyBunnykins

Hi Peeps,

My total to declare for Feb is £123.29

Still over budget, but £10 better off from last month. So I must be learning something and I'm trying to be positive.

So here's to March. :T

Hippeechiq

Hello & Welcome to the newcomers :wave:

destroyerofdebt2011 wrote: »

Right im going to have to declare my final for February at £44.88, £4.88 over budget but on the good side i dont think ive thrown anything in the bin food wise and despite running out of milk,bread,eggs,butter,pasta, fresh fruit and veg i do still have a few freezer meals i could make dinners out of. and the above still works out as £12 a week which im rather impressed by.

Id like to pledge £65 for March's Budget please i think my £40 was just a little bit tight even for my situation.

£12 a week is a great achievement destroyerofdebt:T

I'm very impressed with the results coming in this month, especially given that prices are soaring - well done everyone :T

Spiggle wrote: »

Oh and on the chocolate stuff recipe Hippeechiq, OH makes a version of this too (haven't had it for a while was putting on too much weight!:rotfl:) but his includes sultanas and/or raisins in the biscuit crumb mix. At least I can con myself there's something 'good' about eating it that way!
Spigs

Congrats on the Wales result yesterday Spiggs and the fayre you had to accompany it that you would have previously bought before doing this challenge. There's a real "feel-good-factor" about doing that, isn't there ?
I like your idea of adding raisins to the Chocolate Stuff and especially the fact that it enables you to convince yourself you're eating something "good" for you - I'm liking your style!

cleggie wrote: »

Hi All,
Can i ask how you all total it up? Do you just keep all your reciets and add it up at the end of the month? I think that will be my plan. I am contemplating doing a monthly shop instead of weekly..but not sure yet!

Hello & Welcome cleggie I know you edited your post to say you'd read the answer to this, but for me personally, adding it up every day works for me because I don't have the spare money to go over my budget with (well, i could maybe stretch to £10), so I don't want to find half way through the month that I haven't got enough money left to buy such-and-such, which I think would happen if I only added my buys up now and then.
Also, I have a Meat Envelope with money in for the month so that I can buy meat as and when I see it on offer. I have a set amount for an online shop (for heavy goods) and then I give myself and allowance of £25 cash per week, so I can also see when I'm running out of money, if that makes sense but it's all about finding a system that works for you personally.

A NSD here as I had a nice lie-in this morning and will be watching the Rugby shortly. Good luck to the Irish & Scottish among us

nat21luv

highland_fling wrote: »

Hello everyone,

beautiful cold, bright, windy day here so all of my ropes are full of washing. It seems so long since I saw washing dancing on the line.
Aaaahhhh! simple pleasures:)

Have lentil soup on cooker and when it is ready I will zap it with hand blender and let it cool ready to be portioned for freezer. Cheap and tasty meal. Love it served with fresh crusty bread.

Have also minced beef out defrosting and hopefully will cook that overnight in slow cooker. Will also portion it up and save in freezer for quick meal when I don't have the time or inclination to start from scratch.

Have been using up some of the stores I have in the house rather than going to the supermarket. Shocked at how much everything is increasing in price. Lots more people around the whoopsie counter now than in the past I have noticed.

I have a beautiful image of laundry drying in a field!

FluffyBunnykins

Ooo I forgot can I set my budget at £100 for March

Thank you

highland_fling_2

Mrs.Mc could you please put highland fling down for £120 for March.

Very slightly under for Feb but still don't want to increase my budget.

highland_fling_2

nat21luv: not quite in the field but believe it or not the fence at the bottom of my garden I share with the farmer for his field. So I am very much in the country.:)

rosieben

nat21luv wrote: »

I have a beautiful image of laundry drying in a field!

I REALLY miss an outdoor line - I used to live next to a farm and the cows would come to the fence at the bottom of the garden to watch me hang my laundry or whatever I was doing, cows are so nosey!

forgot to mention about the Chocolate Stuff - its a bit like Tiffin and we have 2 Tiffin recipes on the list so I'll cross reference them, I much prefer the name Chocolate Stuff though