January 2012 Grocery Challenge

kit77

Feb budget started on friday and I have already spent £102.06:eek::eek::eek:
But the cupboards, Fridge and Freezer are bulging so hoping I don't have to do another big shop for a fortnight or so.

FEBRUARY £200 is my budget again.

Waitrose have 1/3 off their bag of chicken breast so I bought 2 normally they are about £12.60 and I got them for £7.52 so thought I should get another bag as it seemed a good price to me. Each bag has 7 chicken breast all individually sealed so they are great for throwing in the freezer.

greent

Afternoon all

I haven't kept up with the last 20ish pages. I'm likely to go over this month - I've got just under £15 left and I'll need bread, rolls, milk, f &v at the very least (and an Observer on Sunday!) I've taken advantage of half price huggies in T's and stocked up for DS3, so I don't feel bad about any over spend. And I set the budget low for us.

Am warming up after having done a freezer inventory (not done one for a few months.. .):o:o
2 whole chickens (1.8kg and 2.3kg)
Pork joint
diced lamb - 400gm
lamb shanks x 5
sirloin steak x 13
rump steak x7
ribeye steak x1
fillet steak x 7
small piece of rump x4
beef steak x 4
chicken thighs x2
steak mince, 2.7kg
beef mince, 2kg
cooked beef mince 400gm
pork medallion x1
pork loin x 5
chicken breast fillets x 31
chicken legs (large) x2
king prawns in filo x5
beef topside joint, 800gm
beef rosting joint x3 (avg weight 550gm)
roast pork - approx 4 portions
roast turkey breast slices - 1 portion
cumberland sausages x 3.5
onion and salsa sausages (huge) x6
smoked hickory pork sausages x 5
turkey curry, 3 portions
roast chicken pieces - large bag (approx 500gm+)
pancetta cubes, 2 packs
chicken kiev x4
cooked and sliced rump (use in stirfry) 2 portions
pepperoni for pizza - 1/3 pack
cooked chicken breast x 2.5
corned beef, 825gm
ham - enough for 10 rounds of sandwiches
toad in the hole - 3 portions

chicken spring rolls x 5
onion bhajis x4
chicken pakora x 22
cocktail sausages x 5
breaded chicken fillets x15
breaded chicken goujons x 10
1/2 pack chicken popcorn

chicken stock x 9
turkey stock x1
pasta sauce, tub of
chickpea, cauli & mushroom cauli - 4 portions
large tub of bhuna curry sauce
peppercorn sauce, pouch of x 1.5
2 pots double cream

mozzarella balls x 3.5
chappatti dough x2
1/2 garlic baguette
2 bread rolls
2 potato cakes
1 muffin
naan bread x1
1/3rd loaf white bread
1/3rd loaf seeded brown bread

blackberries, bag of x3
tub of blackberry 'mush' (from making jelly)
pureed carrot and swede
mashed sweet potato x 2 bags
runner beans, bag of x 9
parsnips, large bag x 2
courgette, chunked, bag of
courgette, grated, bag of x 6
leeks, chopped
peas
stewed apple and pear, large bag of
chopped apple & pear , bag of
cherries, large bag of
banana x 20
chopped apple x 10 bags
chopped pear x2 bags
cooked chick peas, large bag of
chopped chives, tub of
stewed rhubarb, tub of
chopped rhubarb. large bag of
sweetcorn
celery, finely chopped, small bag
butternut squash, chopped


And that's AFTER we've been concentrating on eating out of the freezer....:eek::eek::o:o

Kylieminoag

I learned so much from you all in January that I am really going to challenge myself in February and shrink my budget significantly....

I'm feeding/toiletrying 4 adults and a dog (still hoping that 2 adults and a dog will leave home soon!) so please HelenJelly will you set me a budget of £200 for February? :eek::eek::eek: Thanks (I think!)

I'm hoping that the overstocking that is still evident in my cupboards and freezer will be tackled this way! :D:D (Plus its a short month and its my birthday this month so at least one meal will be paid for by DH!)

Thank you everyone for all your help and keeping me going this month.:beer:

wear280902

THis is going to be tough as I am new to all this but this is the area that I am the worst at as I often find myself in one of my jobs wondering round a shop or supermarket to kill time. I think I am doing great with the bargains to buy to find I am overshopping and we are not even making use of them all so in Feb this is going to be so tough as I have had to set a budget of what we can afford which may seem a lot to everyone else but this is easily half my previous budget. I'm feeding and looking after a family of four ( 2 kids) and a dog and hamster. At least I will have all the old posts as someone who is new to keep me going and give me inspiration this month.SO I have a budget of £300 for February .

cowboymum

Oh dear haven't quite managed to keep to budget - over by almost £40! Want to blame it on the fact that I was ill this weekend so DH went shopping and isn't quite as frugal as me (!) but I am also to blame for a take away pizza for £25 which I didn't really enjoy (it had been at the end of a long stressful day!).

Oh well, its given me an idea of where we went right and wrong (and to get a stack of cheepo pizzas in the frezzer for stressful day's tea!).

tracey12_2

cowboymum wrote: »

Oh well, its given me an idea of where we went right and wrong (and to get a stack of cheepo pizzas in the frezzer for stressful day's tea!).

I just buy a Mr T value pizza for £1 and keep in the freezer and just add extra toppings like chicken, sweetcorn, mushrooms or pepperoni and add a bit more cheese.

I buy a pack of pepperoni and then freeze into 4 slice portions as I am the only one who likes pepperoni.

HTH

Tracey

raphanius

cowboymum wrote: »

Oh well, its given me an idea of where we went right and wrong (and to get a stack of cheepo pizzas in the frezzer for stressful day's tea!).

we have DIY D*minoes pizza nights with icel*nd pizzas, their chicken strips, potato wedges, garlic bread and dips. the whole thing comes to less than a tenner for two adults and one child.

i think it was the fabulous baker brothers on program 2 who did pizza bases in advance that keep in the fridge ready to just top and bake on the day. that could work too.

kerri_dfw

raphanius wrote: »

we have DIY D*minoes pizza nights with icel*nd pizzas, their chicken strips, potato wedges, garlic bread and dips. the whole thing comes to less than a tenner for two adults and one child.

i think it was the fabulous baker brothers on program 2 who did pizza bases in advance that keep in the fridge ready to just top and bake on the day. that could work too.

I'm going to have to get some of these to whack in the freezer for when the OH comes to stay.

Justamum

tracey12 wrote: »

I just buy a Mr T value pizza for £1 and keep in the freezer and just add extra toppings like chicken, sweetcorn, mushrooms or pepperoni and add a bit more cheese.

I usually buy those too (I don't eat them as I don't eat cheese), but my DH has told me that the cheese on them is not nice - sort of sour - so I'm just going to make my own again. I was buying them out of laziness really!

quintwins

Justamum wrote: »

I usually buy those too (I don't eat them as I don't eat cheese), but my DH has told me that the cheese on them is not nice - sort of sour - so I'm just going to make my own again. I was buying them out of laziness really!

i buy these but theres not enought cheese on them so i top them up with whatever mature cheese was last on offer at £2ish (pilgrim at the mo) and we've never noticed they had bad cheese on them, i do one pizza and 2 value garlic bread for the 5 of us and we get plenty and it costs less than £2

i have 4 pizza and 8 garlic bread in my shop for next monday because i'm also guilty of too many takeaways this month-my budget is long gone but i don't feel bad i was stocking up

few spends today
£6.90 in the farm shop on milk and 20kg of spuds
£1.10 on some flora in the post office
£3.94 in lidl on 5 loaves of bread and a packet of cheese twists,

thats should be me done shopping now until i need more milk hopefully we can last til friday when i can walk to the market for some more fruit and cheap 90p milk