October 2011 Grocery Challenge

Flat_Eric

welshlovebiscuit wrote: »

Right,

As already stated...spent £249 in Sept/Oct...aiming for £240 Oct/nov

Today we spent £43 in trips to LIDL and ASDA and I have defrosted the freezer at last so tomorrow we're off to Iceland for a 'big' restock which will hopefully, see us through the rest of the month.

What I really need to do this month is sort out packed lunches...I keep getting bored, then I just succumb to the canteen in work...which leads to cans of coke and chocolate too...all money, money, money... I just really hate sandwiches!

why not invest in a food flask ? I don't eat a lot of sandwiches as I'm (meant to be) following the Slimming World plan and bread choices are limited. I usually have an array of tinned items I can heat up at work but sometimes I will take the beef madras curry that I make in a flask or soup or pasta salad / or home made quiche / cous cous / jackets ?

PennyGrabber

Flat_Eric wrote: »

I've created a thread on the Food Shopping and Groceries board asking how fellow posters meal plan. I would be grateful for your input either on that thread or on here.

Not meal planning is my biggest downfall. I'm fed up of throwing stuff away and being generally disorganised and wasteful.

I have slipped slightly in this aspect, as I fell off the wagon earlier this year gc-wise. However, when I do meal plan I find it works really well. I always do a monthly meal plan, and used to allocate meals to days, but I would 'fail' in the first couple of days as I wouldn't fancy what was on the planner!

Nowadays, I work out how many days in the month (and then how many the children are at their dad's for, therefore don't need to cook properly), and then I look in the fridge, freezer, larder and everywhere else to get some ideas. I then make a list of meals, hopefully most of which I have in stock. From this list, I then choose either the night before, or a couple of days ahead, what I'm going to have for dinner. I find this way much more manageable, and I feel like I still have some element of choice! Obviously then, if I know I have to buy lots of extra ingredients for a particular meal, I'll save that for after I've done a shop.

Because I'm stony broke, I do have one or two meals a month that are 'stuff on toast', or such like, and I also leave easy and quick meals for mondays and fridays as the children have ballet or swimming then.

I find this way much more flexible, and sometimes, if a meal does us for two nights (eg cottage pie), I just shunt whatever I didn't have onto the next month's meal planner. It works well for my children too, as they usually choose a couple of meals each a month to put on, and then help me to choose dinner for the next day.

HTH
PG x

ps - NSD today - yeah! That means there's less food in the house than there was this time yesterday!!!

JIL

rej-c wrote: »

Anyone got any top tips on how to use channa dal? I'd never bought it before, and have certainly never cooked it, but at some point seem to bought a couple of bags, and they got assimilated into the heap...:rotfl:

As far as I remember chana dal is split young chick peas. I know they are used a lot in curries and have to be soaked but they can be used just as you would any of the other pulses in stews, curries, chillies, soups etc. May be even making a falafel or hummus with them?

PennyGrabber

Thank you Flat Eric! Having explained how I meal plan, it has just inspired me to go and plan for November (OMG!) meals. I now have a beautiful new list on the fridge door, with a couple of spaces left for the children to fill in tomorrow morning. So far, it's all from stock too! Except for veg etc, and lunchboxes of course! I intend, now the weather is colder, to take leftovers into work more often next month. Usually, if I make a four-person meal, it lasts the three of us for two mains, or one main and either me for one, or the children for one, iyswim.

Anyway, feeling much more positive now, so thank you. I'm going to bed now a happy little PennyGrabber!!

Night all,
xx

njk1012

Just £4.00 spent today on the Daz offer at Mr A, have enough powder now for 108 washes. We do 10-12 washes a week (trying to cut down) and there s an offer on shops over £40 this week at Mr A, I think I might stock up a bit more on Tuesday to make sure winter is sorted on the wash powder front.

On the Meal planning front we do have a rough plan for each week, ie we have an idea of what needs using up first (usually fridge stuff) so plan meals around this. We will have 7 meals planned but they are flexible on which we fancy that day. This sometimes changes with whoopsy shops etc dependent on what was bought or what we have in fresh that can be frozen. We tried doing the big monthly shop and hankering down, but it really didn't work for us. I think as long as no food is thrown away you are doing well.

Before starting this grocery challenge we would easily spend over four hundred each month and I'm amazed that we have spent so little this month and still managed to stock up on staples such as flour, coffee, tea, wash powder, herbs and sugar. Although don't think we could have done it without the Factory foods shop earlier this month were still working our way through it.

ms_night_ryder

Cant wait to restart this challenge next month (friday is payday) i stopped tis month as my temperemental freezer decided to defrost everything and i lost quite a bit of stuff for 1 person, the freezer was full of whoopsied meat, breads, stuff i have batch cooked etc, so was really annoyed, my ff is coming on sat, so i will stock up then! can't wait! i have 3 packs of the tf pork mince in freezer and am praying the freezer copes until sat, when new one arrives, i am planning to start my batch cooking again on sat.

My target for next month will again be £50 and i hope to stick to it!

forever_saving

Shopping over the last couple of days comes to a total of £68.26. That includes fruit and veg from the local veg shop and a trip to the chemist for cold/cough/sore throat stuff. Have already updated signature. Getting close for the rest of the week. Will need to top up bread, milk and fruit at some stage during the week.
Hope everyone else is doing ok.
FS x

4kids4cats

Just added up my receipts since the last time I posted and seem to be doing ok, a week till the end of the month! I never seem to manage the NSDs tho - so next month i think I'll aim for fewer but actually do it! Got a few amazing 'woopsies' in MrA last week - pots of fancy grated cheese - mexican and mediterranean - for 5p each, when they were originally £1.50! So far, they have topped potato wedges with bacon as a main meal and a HM pizza and I have 3 pots left! Also got a very yummy cod dish for 50p instead of £3! It was about 8 on a friday - i wonder if that's generally a good time to go? I usually shop on a thurs in the afternoon ,as i'm off then.

sproggi

Spent £41.81 yesterday on fruit, veg, coffee, tea, milk, cheese and a few toiletries. It seemed a lot of money, but considering what I bought, I am quite happy.
Today will be a NSD. I was hoping to manage 20 NSD's this month and it is looking like I might actually manage it
Children are on half term this week, have plenty in stock for cooking/baking with them, so that will keep them amused and stop any extra spends.

Sproggi

redkids1972

hi all
I have done my weekly shop and am now £30 over budget this month. However have a freezer full of meat which will see me through next month (30 selected meat products) so im going to reduce my budget for November to reflect this. I also have vouchers for £8.50 off a £40 spend at Asda to use by next weekend so do I use them and stock up on non perishables and cat food from next months budget or just leave them and spend no more this month decisions decisions lol