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January 2012 Grocery Challenge

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  • Justamum thanks for the tips. I guess tins will do my two fine as the tin is opened in the morning and chucked in the evening once finished so not too much time for it to sour.

    Just tried to put together my first batch of bread dough, no idea how long I was supposed to knead it for and what to do with it once I had, so might be a bit hit and miss. I hope this will become an important part of my living frugally this year hope it doesnt take too much trial and error to get it right.
    Jan GC £242.38/£250
    Feb GC £147.57 /£240
    2012 Clothes Challenge £97.50/£500
    Repay £5K in 2012 £254.17/£5000
    2012 NSD 14/200 (Jan 14)
  • rosieben
    rosieben Posts: 5,010 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Welcome to all our newbies! :wave:

    Cleggie I'm glad you're sticking with us; the GC was the first thread I joined and I've been an almost permanent fixture here since :D I have to admit I'm still over budget more often than not :o but as Long Tall Sally and helen jelly said, it makes us much more aware of what we're spending

    Jenbie, I include cleaning and laundry in mine but others have separate budgets for that and also things like pets and entertaining/eating out. Re spends on nappies, several posters recommend value nappies from ??? - sorry, I've forgotten which sm but I'm sure someone will tell us ....

    Don't be put off by other people's budget amounts, we're all in very different circumstances and there's no element of competition to the GC ;)
    JIL wrote: »
    ... sains do a smoked mackerel and rocket fishcake £1.99 for two. I made loads of them from left over mash, rocket and
    a half pack of smoked mackerel from Aldi. (i made pate with the other half of the packet).

    any chance you could share your recipe please, would be good to list it on the front page? :)
    ... make 'soup packs' with potato, carrots, swede, turnip, onion and leeks! Bag them up... freeze them and when you need them just bung them in boiling water with lentils for a quick meal!

    great idea, I also freeze veg base - an idea I took from Thriftlady's Meal building blocks for the freezer thread

    I'm still making my plans for 2012 and overhauling my budget. I'm changing the way I shop (going over to more frozen and tinned veg) and will include the soup/pudding idea into my meal planning. I'll stick with my annual budget of £1200 for the time being but may alter that.

    Thanks for the new thread zippy :T and thanks for keeping our budgets in order helen :T

    Here's to a thrifty and healthy 2012 for us all :D
    ... don't throw the string away. You always need string! :D

    C.R.A.P.R.O.L.L.Z Head Sharpener
  • whilst he was away to the pet aisle I stood and had a comparison at cheaper ways to feed the two cats and realised I could cut the bill from £0.83 per day to £0.46 per day. Brought some tins (opposed to the pouches) to let the cats try and my normally fussy two seem totally unfazed by the mammoth amount of money I will save going forward.
    Justamum wrote: »
    I buy our cat the pouches in summer because I find that a tin goes sour quite quickly once opened in the heat. In the winter he gets tins - and the cheapest ones too, and he's quite happy about it. He doesn't like the 'supermeat' though which looks like a paste, but most of the tins seem to have exactly the same contents as the pouches. If we had more than one cat I'd use tins all year round.

    OK .... I have a proposition ....... anyone fancy a swap;) mine are just so ridiculously fussy it's ...... ridiculous:D.

    One will only eat pate foods and is now going off them - the other goes through phases of eating Whiskas pouches (won't touch anything else) and then turning his note at them ....

    He is so bad that he will only eat Mr Ts Tuna (she will eat any make) but they are simply not getting that every day - although a tin between them would probably be cheaper than the pouches/wee tins:mad: - it's not good for them to have all the time.

    Grrrrrrr love them to pieces but they do drive me to distraction sometimes!:o

    Please, please tell me how you've managed to get all yours to eat tins / cheaper food!
    Grocery Challenge £211/£455 (01/01-31/03)
    2016 Sell: £125/£250
    £1,000 Emergency Fund Challenge #78 £3.96 / £1,000
    Vet Fund: £410.93 / £1,000
    Debt free & determined to stay that way!
  • jedi82
    jedi82 Posts: 410 Forumite
    Hi, can I join please? I really need to bring our grocery budget down and now is as good a time as any!

    Jedi82 - £350

    This is for 2 adults, 3 children (6, 4 and 2) and will include toiletries/cleaning products etc. Hopefully it will be lower than this but don't want to be too ambitious!

    Thanks, jedi x
    Finally getting my life on track. Onwards and upwards.
    BSC No 327
    GC Jan £336.91/£450
    GC Feb £0/£400
  • rosieben wrote: »
    Don't be put off by other people's budget amounts, we're all in very different circumstances and there's no element of competition to the GC ;)

    Would agree .... my budget is ridulous compared to some - unfortunately a lot of it is down to dietry requirements eg:

    • Lactofree milk @ £1.28 for a 1 Litre carton:eek: multiplied by 6 a week & 52 weeks = £399.36:eek::eek: which averages out @ £33.28 / month ...
    • Cheese - not much better @ £1.78 per 200g (although I am naughty and will buy "normal" cheese and chop/freeze in small portions and use the odd one now & then ....)
    • Wheat free bread @ £2.48 a 800g loaf :eek: or Soda bread @ £1.18 for a 400g one
    • Oatibix = £2.68 for 24 (Wheatabix are £1.98 for 24 & you can usually get sm own brand even cheaper)
    So ... I'm just having to try to come to terms with the fact that there's certain things that I have to pay more for (as do others in a similar situation) - but it does sometimes feel like we're punished for having certain requirements:( and makes trying to cut down on the grocery bill very hard


    Sorry for the "down" post (I've got the lurgi:o) and have been trying to find ways of cutting down today but struggling......
    Grocery Challenge £211/£455 (01/01-31/03)
    2016 Sell: £125/£250
    £1,000 Emergency Fund Challenge #78 £3.96 / £1,000
    Vet Fund: £410.93 / £1,000
    Debt free & determined to stay that way!
  • Please, please tell me how you've managed to get all yours to eat tins / cheaper food!

    Rising from the ashes, I am sure someone will come along soon to tell me I might be a bit harsh, but mine do on occasion turn their nose up at the point I change their food over, however after a meal or two of me refusing to remove the new food and give them something else I soon find that they will start to explore the new food, within 48/ 72 hours they will be eating more and more of the new food and before long we have happily changed over. One of my two will only eat new food once he sees the other one eating it, but I would try and stay strong a few days on the new food as they will not let themselves starve!

    E x
    Jan GC £242.38/£250
    Feb GC £147.57 /£240
    2012 Clothes Challenge £97.50/£500
    Repay £5K in 2012 £254.17/£5000
    2012 NSD 14/200 (Jan 14)
  • Thanks Aberdeen ..... it's the howling I can't cope with as by Day 2, it's unbearable (one is part Siamese!) - they just ignore it and eventually just go and eat more of their dry instead. He has also managed to make me fall down the stairs as he suddenly appears around my feet to get my attention .... so would rather avoid that again!

    I have been seriously considering giving up on the wet altogether but would like to continue for a couple of reasons a) it's a good way of getting medication into them if needed (although only if they're actually eating the wet I've got!) b) it's a good chance to check them over properly - big cat is a bit of a hunter etc and not really a "lapcat" so it''s often the best chance to make sure he's no wounds etc c) there are good medical reasons not to feed an all dry diet mmmmmm
    Grocery Challenge £211/£455 (01/01-31/03)
    2016 Sell: £125/£250
    £1,000 Emergency Fund Challenge #78 £3.96 / £1,000
    Vet Fund: £410.93 / £1,000
    Debt free & determined to stay that way!
  • recovering_spendaholic
    recovering_spendaholic Posts: 3,062 Forumite
    edited 29 December 2011 at 7:53PM
    Have just whizzed through the thread so far and I am in total awe of how you all manage on so little. I am in real financial straits at the moment and need to spend as little as possible on food. So for January can you put me down for £120 please? This is for me and two teenagers plus 2 puppies and includes everything - dog food and cleaning stuff too.

    I have a breadmaker now, so that is saving me some money on bread. I reckon it costs about 35p per loaf which is alot less than I was spending. The only thing is that it only lasts the day I make it so I think I will have to make and freeze sandwiches when the bread is fresh or there will be waste.

    I have switched to Aldi milk from Cravendale, which saves about 80p per 2 litre carton (I use at least 5 a week) and only buy Sainsburys basics eggs at 69p for 6, which also save me alot of money. I have found too that the last few times I have bought them they have actually been free range eggs - They are also usually really fresh.

    I also buy fruit and veg in aldi which also saves me some money.

    I REALLY need to get into meal planning - I do it but it is really half hearted and we often give in and get takeaway if we don't fancy what is on the plan!! I have also got to be firmer with the kids - the younger one constantly brings her friends into the house at mealtimes and asks me, in front of them, if they can stay for tea and I always feel embarassed and say yes, even if it means that I only have a piece of toast because there isn't enough (like last night), but yet she is never asked back to their houses for meals. I am sick of telling her not to ask but she persists in doing it!!

    My month has already started (yesterday) but as yet I haven't spent anything. I would love to be able to get through the weekend without spending!!
    Jane

    ENDIS. Employed, no disposable income or savings!
  • tigerfeet2006
    tigerfeet2006 Posts: 14,030 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Gailey, if we do a casserole, stew or SC meal with sausages then I brown them off in a pan and then depending on what is being made I cut them into three's, fours or thinly. This means that fewer sausages go a lot further as people don't see a mass of meat and are fooled into thinking they have had more than they have, it is all in the perception.

    This morning I made a cauli and broccoli cheese with the final bit of the gammon from FIL's. I have done it in a great big roasting pan. I then bunged it in the fridge while we went out for the afternoon. I am so glad I did now as the car broke down as we came off the motorway, around three miles from home. called the breakdown service and they took us in the breakdown truck to their base, much to the kids joy. They loved the fact they were riding in the big truck and that it had our car on the back. Luckily they sorted it and we were on our way pretty quickly but it is still late. So dinner is going to be much later this evening, it's just warming through now. But at least it means that we are not shelling out for take aways. Depending on how hungry they are then I hope to have some left to use as a side veg.
    BSCno.87
    The only stupid question is an unasked one
    Loving life as a Kernow Hippy
  • I want to join this thread as need to save money pay off my credit card only owe £350 but i cant afford to pay all in one go, also got baby due in march and want to save for a house.

    £150 budget for us please, we consist of 2 adults, 4 year old ds1 and one cat
    Il be doing the challenge by not going into the supermarket and only buying online and nipping to corner shop for things like milk when it runs out.

    will now adjust my signature for the challenge im really trying to keep on track.
    Ds2 born 3/4/12 8lbs 8.5:j
    Ds1 born 28/4/07 9lb 8 :j
    Frugal, thrifty, tight mum & wife and proud of it lol
    :rotfl::j
    Make money for Xmas challenge 2014 £0/£270
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