January 2012 Grocery Challenge

janiepopps

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Quick question .... where do you keep it all?

I've very limited cupboard space in this house which limits the amount of stocks I can build but would love to be able to get more when there's fantastic offers on!

Just going to butt in here!

Our house is really tiny but I LOVE having decent stocks in, should we go through a quiet spell with work or whatever.

All our loo & kitchen rolls lives in the airing cupboard and I have put a bookcase in the back of our built in wardrobe which is now my pantry! I can fit loads in there, 3 trays of baked beans stacked, only take up 1/3 shelf!

Used to keep it all in big boxes under the bed but couldn't cope with not being able to hoover under there easily and having to wipe off inches of dust bunnies before opening a box

Ok, I'll butt out now...

raphanius

do i count stuff i buy from the chemist and things like loo roll and wash powder in the challenge or is it just food?

mumwithamission

I've had to resort to the loft - which we all call 'The Loft Shop' now. Just hope there aren't any little friends up there enjoying our goodies!:rotfl:

Justamum

raphanius wrote: »

do i count stuff i buy from the chemist and things like loo roll and wash powder in the challenge or is it just food?

It's entirely up to you - in my weekly £90 I've got £75 of it for food and the other £15 for cat food/cleaning products/medicine. Everybody does it to suit themselves.

mandco

wow this thread is moving fast
welcome to all the newbies & returning Gc members

spent a shocking £92.40 so far this month :eek: really must stop shopping lol (opps make that £102.80 forgot the nappies)

popped to mr a today as needed cat litter and my local shop wanted £7.39 for a tiny bag :mad: and ended up spending £23 mostly on things that were on offer and we like but not really needed like
heinz soups 50p a can
rice crispy cereal bars 6pk £1
flapjack bars 5pk 50p
also picked up a few loaves of bread weightwatchers & kingsmill 1/2 sized loafs at 50p each

cooked a chicken in the slow cooker for the 1st time and couldn't believe how much more meat we seemed to get from it so will def be doing that again.
whats a good way to heat up all the smaller bits of meat? tried doing them in a curry sauce but it all seemed to break up and go really stringy rather than staying in pieces :huh: maybe i cooked it too long? but always paraniod out making sure its well cooked.

dont actually need anything for the next day or so so hopefully they should be nsd's just need to stay away from the shops

once we finally finish all the xmas carp will be starting on a new heathly eating plan which no doubt isnt gonna be cheap(why is it all the heathly stuff seems so much more expenisve?) so gotta do some price checking for the best deals around esp on f&v and search out some tasty but low fat/calorie meals

goodluck everyone

rosieben

raphanius wrote: »

do i count stuff i buy from the chemist and things like loo roll and wash powder in the challenge or is it just food?

its up to you entirely, its your challenge, set it to suit your own circumstances.

I do include food, toiletries, meds laundry etc, but some people don't though it may be useful to keep a record of these spends so you can see where your money goes.

If you regularly spend large amounts on meds, it may be best to leave that out as there won't be any scope for reducing the cost?

raphanius

i think i'll do a separate budget for toiletries and household to track how much i spend on such items. thanks for your replies guys.

tigerfeet2006

Long_tall_sally wrote: »

Phew, it's taken me a while to catch up!

Spent about £55 yesterday mostly in Mr A as that was the nearest to where we were plus some g/f sausages from M & S. Felt a bit guilty as we had a McD's for lunch again - we only had one last week.

I have so many things to do, including a stock take of the freezer & had wanted to do some baking with the kids but DD is busy reading on her bed & DS playing on his new x-box game that maybe just taking down the xmas decs & having a good tidy up will be all I actually achieve today.

Tigerfeet2006 - thank you so much for those g/free recipes that you posted! I nearly bought a g/f recipe book yesterday but decided against it in the end as there were so many dishes in it that I just knew DS wouldn't eat. Do you make pizza by the way? DS doesn't like the pizza that I make him at home with the pizza base that I get on prescription, although he will eat it if we take it to Pi**a Hut so it must be the tomato passata that I put on that he doesn't like plus it is a deep pan base & he said he would prefer it thinner. However we went to Bella Italia the other night with my converted Mr T vouchers & he ordered a g/f pizza there that was thin & he didn't like that either. Mind you it was like cardboard! Who is it in your family that is G/f by the way?

No problem LTS. I know what it is like, I've had 2 years of it and am still learning but once you get used to it gets easier. You don't really need seperate recipe books there is so much on the web.

Sign up to the Coeliac UK site and from there find your local group.
http://www.coeliac.org.uk/coeliac-disease

My kids like the Tesco Free From Pizza Base so I don't have much of an issue with bases thankfully. Though I have just found what looks like a good recipe and will be trying in the next month.
http://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/recipes/gluten-free-pizza-dough/

I use tomato puree as the tomato base bit.

It is my 6 year old and 4 year who have problems with gluten.

LisaJane

I am getting married in August this year...really trying to save as hard as I can for it but I totally overspent at Christmas and live alone currently,so my bills are high for one person. I am trying to eat reasonably healthily which can sometimes be expensive! And also have a huge appetite which can also be expensive! I have also been going to the gym everyday which makes me starving! (but if i was at home I would just get bored and eat more anyway!)

I teach a child piano once a week and charge £7 for it. My plan is to use this money only for the next 4 weeks (until pay day from main job) on food shopping which means my budget is £28 for 4 weeks grocery shopping!!!

I plan to do this by...

- Using up everything in the fridge/freezer/kitchen cupboard.
- Avoid wasting food as much as possible
- Eat dinner at my mum's house at least once a week
- Walk to the local supermarket at 8 pm each night which is when I have discovered you can get the best reduced bargains! (last night I bagged a net of 10 clementines for 15p!! previously I have gotten a 1.2 kg bag of carrots for 10p which I made soup with and an amazing pasta salad for 25p!)

I am starting tonight as I just gave the girl her lesson at 5 pm...wish me luck!

freyasmum

cw18 wrote: »

I actually have an annual budget, which I split into monthly amounts according to the days in the month. If I have anything left out of a months 'allowance' it stays in my annual pot - which means that if I underspend in the early part of the year I can stock up on bargains later in the year without having to rob other pots to do so.

This is how I do it too.

Although I officially have an annual budget and could, in theory, draw £2000 from the bank and keep it in the purse and spend as and when, I've split it up into monthly allowances and can then take advantage of any good deals.

____________

Spent £1.97 in Tesco today while I was picking up the blender. 65p of which was the useless local paper for my mother I said I was doing an experiment, trying to keep an eye on my groceries and stick to a budget and she just said 'oh aye? me too. get the paper while you're in' Still it makes an improvement on the time I spent over £500 in less than 3 months running down to the shop for her :eek: And that's while she has two deliveries a week from the various supermarkets :undecided

Anyhoo, I digress... The weather has been atrocious so there was quite a bit of veg reduced. That was ideal for me as I got two bag of carrots for 22p each and a bag of clementines for 38p.

Also got the turnip for the root veg mash for tonights dinner, which was 50p.

They had bags of maris pipers down to 20p for 2.5 kg which I wish I'd gone back for but didn't see till I was out.

Some of the carrots have gone into the veg mash, some will go into the sizzling beef strips, some will be turned into soup for lunches and the rest that haven't been pinched by my little fruit&veg bag will go in the freezer.

medusasmummy wrote: »

freyasmum- thanks for the tip on the fairy, Plus the voucher will definitely be off to sainsburys tommorow to stock up

I'm glad it helped!

I just need to keep telling myself I don't need it :cool: