January 2012 Grocery Challenge

Gorgeestwo

NSD today :j

Can I set February's budget at £375 please.
As its a short month I'm hoping to spend less than this, but as I went totally over budget in January we'll see

flis21

Hi All,

Can I join you for the February Challenge? I've been really over spending feeding me and my 2 boys (both under 5) and I really want to reduce my spending in this area. I estimate that I have been spending around £300, would like to eventually reduce this to £200, but thought I'd start with a budget of £250 for Feb, see how I manage with that! have got some ideas already and am going to have a look thru the recepie ideas on here.

Please Add Flis21 to February Challenge with a budget of £250

Thanks all, am looking forward to chatting to you all and getting some good ideas!

Flis x

medsdemon

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

Medsdemon, could you shred it and do a stir fry type thing.

That's what I think I'll do thankyou. I have a heap of Encona Sweet chilli sauce sachets from a FB win to still use up so I will shred it and make crispy sweet chilli pork with rice for tomorrows dinner:D

Well I mostly stuck to my list at A*da and spent £32.07. Have updated my total and I have approx £12.50 left for emergency top-ups during the next week.

I got everything to make our meals on my mealplan plus a few extra bits that I can't usually get at A*di or are way cheaper than Sains, eg coconut milk and roasted red peppers. This means I always have the option of doing a thai curry type thing or a red pepper and parsley pesto covered gnocchi dish. I think we have enough milk to last the week till 31st so want ot avoid the sm this week.:T

wannabee_in_credit

Hi Flis
Nice to see you over here and joining in with this. You might enjoy the 'don't throw food away' thread as well - that has made a massive difference to me.

Brassic_Park

£6 today spent on my lunch at work plus a pepper and some part-baked rolls.

Have my final Mr T order booked for Sun and hoping to just scrape under £300 for Jan.

lula_moneybaggins

lula_moneybaggins wrote: »

Just one shopping spree to report this week...

That brings me to £109.41 out of a budget of £120 for the longest-month-ever-known-to-man. Pretty confident I can see out the month with the pittance I have left, and I get paid on Friday (Hurrah!).

Famous last words! Today my resolve weakened! I blame the housemate who asked if I fancied going to Mr Ts. Look, I cannot resist going to SMs if my housemate is going to dangle it in my face! Grrrr

So, I have lined Mr Ts dastardly pockets once again. Grand total of £20.96 (which did include some disherwasher tabs and some more half-price John West tuna as well as 3 salmon fillets at £1 each) to add to the 20 quid I spent in there just three days ago. I gotta getta grip. This now takes me over budget :mad:

However, wine is still winning over tea - I've hardly had any tea at all!

LisaJane

no spend day yay!!!

£60 for Feb please

PennyGrabber

I'm trying to decide what of my annual budget to allocate to Feb, and still can't decide! I won't need dishwasher tablets, or washing liquid, or any other cleaning stuff, I don't think, as I have two cupboards full!! (Mental note - need to get a grip with that...) I won't need meat, as there's tons in the freezer. I won't need loo rolls, or if I do it'll only be at the end of the month, so I'd better put that into the budget just in case. What else might I need?

I stuck to my budget really well this month. I did have two episodes where I went to a sm to hang out. I haven't included these in my Jan spending, as they were "I'm feeling low, what shall I do" type trips. I will, however, include the spend in my annual budget, of course. (It was something like £32 across the two shopping trips, which considering I used to do that twice a week, and would sometimes spend as much as £40 on stuff I didn't need each time, I'm calling this a huge success!)

I'm too scared to do an inventory of my freezer; I don't think I'd get everything back in again afterwards, I've done that good a game of tetris! This will help the next few months though, so mustn't complain.

I think I'll go for £100 for Feb as my initial budget. This is £40 less than a twelfth of the annual budget, and if I achieve this, I will be well chuffed, and have a nice little buffer for later in the year.

Hope everyone is doing well at this late stage in the month!

PG x

ModestyB

Good evening all. Popped in Mr S today just to get a loaf of bread while DH nipped to the loo.
Loaf was 75p, which is 5p more than usual from a sm. :mad: It's only a small loaf because a slice is 58 cals instead of 90 from a large loaf. It means we can still have a sandwich without all the calories and we don't really notice the difference.
We ended up spending the huge amount of £1.80 :rotfl: on basics instant custard and basics stuffing with the bread.
We buy the cheap or basic brands of custard etc as it usually has less cals than the dearer low fat/cal brands. So it helps with both £'s and lb's. HTH someone.
Hugs all round.

I'd like my budget to be put down for £200 in Feb please.

Natterjack88

I need help please! I need some ideas to stretch chicken! Its just for me OH and 6 month old DS- Im trying to give ds 'real food' rather than jarred stuff. It also needs to be healthy and cater for my fussy OH- as you can see I have my work cut out!