April 2011 Grocery Challenge

tigerfeet2006

Hi folks, I am back from my jolly holidays Campsite was nice to look at but didn't suit us, but never mind, it was cheap :T I worked it out at £5 per person per day :beer:

I spent £53 on food last week which I shall add to my total in a minute and then declare for April.

I have decided to keep my budget to £500 a month for the forseeable future and then squirrel away any money I save in a month for the holidays :j.

Hope everyone has had a good week. Will try and catch up later tonight.

ETA: Declaring April at £451.45 :T So I will squirrel £50 into holiday fund.

May will be £500 again Will be looking for ways to make good, fun, tasty, nutricious meals to get the spend down further so we will have more money in the holiday fund

cutiepieabf

pepsi-kins wrote: »

tootoo wrote: »

I would like to know the answer to this too! He will eat tinned tuna, but then refuse anything for the next few days thinking if he protests he will live on tuna forever!.....I bought felix tins (surely the same as pouches!?) and he is refusing to eat them, just munching his biscuits instead....guess I'll be going shopping tomorrow!

I've never "quoted" before, so I hope this is right! Back in January I decided to try my cat on fe!ix tins rather than the pouches, as I was probably throwing away more than she ate. For the first week, she wouldn't touch the tinned stuff, just munched her biscuits instead. I was determined, not to give in to her, so it took about another week, of me sitting on the floor next to her bowl coaxing her to eat...finally she started eating it, no problems at all, and it has saved me a fortune. I bought the tins on Ama!!on, not sure how many I got now, it cost me £28 and I still have several left, so I am really chuffed I persivered.

Thanks for this. You are right - i have tried her on tinned meat before but perhaps given in too quickly. I even tried putting some of her treats on the top so that she would eat the meat with the treats but she still wouldnt eat it. I think if i persevere a little longer but make sure she has biscuits too then perhaps she will decide that tinned meat will have to do! thank you.

fedupandskint

After some hard going of getting NSDs and keeping away from the shops I have 1 day left for this months GC with around £5 left out of the budget. I've been mealplanning away determined to use up what I have in before buying more which has resulted in nice food as I work through the sack of potatoes!

Luckily I like the potato boulangere recipe which I make then reheat portions of for few meals. Now thats a cheap and tasty version for using up potatoes especially if you already have in some veg stock powder and onion

Continuing on the quest of using things up I'm making a lamb biryani for the piece of leg of lamb in the freezer, also found a recipe for chickpea and cauliflower curry to use up some chickpeas in the freezer.

Thinking of reducing next months budget to £100 and really working hard on using up some pasta stocks. Have a load of pasta, risotto rice, basmati rice, long grain rice, brown basmati, lentils etc

Lentils - found a recipe for lentil flan with tomato which I might give a try at some point to eat with some salad

Made a lovely tea last night of sea bass (from freezer), leeks in white sauce (whoopsied and on the turn), potato boulangere then lemon surprise - which was a surprise it was lovely - used up the last of the old lemons hanging around

As I'm off work this week I'm also using up the frozen portions of soup in the freezer for lunch - chestnut yesterday (nicer than I remembered!) and then not sure what else is in there!

cutiepieabf

Hey guys, hope you all had a lovely easter break.

Just a quickie - i have had half a bottle of white wine open in the fridge for about 3 weeks - is it still ok to use? i was thinking for chicken in white wine sauce? i would taste it to see if its ok but i dont like wine to drink so i wouldnt really be able to tell?!

we came back from mum and dads with a rabbit complete with hutch, bedding and about 2 months worth of food, so although it is not MS in the long term, it has saved us from shelling out for those things new! We were going to get one for SS for his birthday next week but my cousins neighbour was getting rid of theirs as it wasnt getting on with their two spaniels (i mean really??) so we happily took it off their hands, and it survived the 120 mile car journey home!!
Now i have a facility for my waste veg cuttings!! hah.

GroinSexyPavement

I'm declaring at £283 for April, under budget by £27. :T Not bad for a Newbie

I'm aiming for £360 for May, which will be a reduction in my budget of £5.50 per week (as my April was a 4-week month but my May is a 5-week month... if that makes any sense at all!)

Widelats

I declare £150 for the month of may.

mummygems

I am going to re-join for May after having my baby in February and him having an operation and us being in hospital for nearly a month the GC fell waaaaaay back lol.

Can I please be put down for £400 for May. My month has already started and instead of decreasing the budget I have upped it due to the nappies and baby milk that is needed during a momth now. Still want to stick to an actual budget and maybe even come in under budget for a change!

Thank you to everyone who makes this GC possible.

espresso21

Cutiepie, I wouldn't risk the wine but others may disagree.
Had another NSD today which I am pleased about - almost scuppered it purely by habit as I nearly bought my habitual coffee on the way home. This used to be a regular thing so that I could drink it on my long train journey after a rotten day at work, but now that I earn less, that has to stop!

destroyerofdebt2011

Declaring £56.10 actual spend for April.

No further spends likely now before the end of the month. Quite please with that actually. Now going to catch up with the rest of thread as ive been awol for a few days.

Hope everyone is having a great easter break and looking forward to the next extra long weekend.

:j

[Deleted User]

Hi All

The 'envelope' idea has worked quite well this month so I will do it again next month. Had £40 left at end of month :j but it was a funny month as we were away on holiday for a week. Please can you put me down for £200 again for May. Many thanks.
Allie