January 2013 Grocery Challenge

Mrs_T_M

In_it_not_to_giveitaway wrote: »

A budget of £20 for a month is quite outstanding - is this because the freezer is full from Xmas? I have deliberately set a target which incorporates entertaining expenditure because I would normally go out twice a week (and once would be 'out out'). But staying in would typically mean better food at the weekend as an incentive. I cannot begin to make a list which gets as low as £20/4.33 = £4.62 per week.

I would be very interested to learn some tips and tricks that can get GC expenditure this low.

Hope everyone reaches their targets tomorrow.

We had a few things in, but not much, and nothing specifically from Christmas. We have a few bags of veg & fruit in the freezer: sweet corn, broccoli, sweet peas, carrots, shredded broccoli stems - I hate to waste them - sliced leeks, green beans, mixed sweet peppers, sliced spring onions, 1 sliced apple, 2 handfuls blueberries, small bag of sliced kiwi fruit, bag of banana halves, and applesauce. These bags are nearly empty except for the carrots, peas, and the bananas. We have a few tins, 4 of chopped tomatoes, 4 tins baked beans, a few different tins of fruit (most home preserved), 1 tin tuna, and 1 tin potatoes. We have dried beans, rice, various gluten free flours (along with a bit of plain wheat flour left), some oatmeal, and half of a box of shredded wheat. We have spices galore as well. We are still eating the massive amount of red potatoes we got on clearance halfway through December, as well as the oranges we bought on Christmas Eve.

I made a meal plan using what we had and used the meal ideas that needed the fewest ingredients that we didn't have. What we have for dinner one night becomes my husbands lunch so that he doesn't need to buy anything at work, and I will typically eat a jacket potato (cooked in the microwave) and a few beans for lunch. I still have a few servings of various homemade soups in the freezer as well that I need to start eating for lunch as well. I use my slow cooker whenever possible (saves on washing! Woot!). We are also trying to watch our portion sizes. Instead of eating a whole pack of spaghetti pasta in 2 meals, we can make it go for 4 now (at least).

Next month we will be back up to our typical £50 per month budget. We will need toilet roll next month and hay for the bunnies in addition to our groceries.

I've already put together a list of meal ideas for February, and tomorrow (if I can) I plan on seeing which of those are feasible with what we have on hand and see how much I'll need to spend to fill out our meal plan.

With all that being said, there are two of us here, both eating three meals a day. Sometimes we have snacks as well.

I don't really pay attention to anything that's on sale other than fresh fruit/veg and meat. Most everything in my opinion that is on sale is convenience food that we don't need anyway. I know what the prices are on most of our regular foods, and if I need to estimate prices, I'll actually use the Sainsbury's website. I know that I can typically find things cheaper than what they have, which usually leaves a little wiggle room in the budget.

Also, we do not go out to eat. At least not this month. I don't particularly enjoy spending £15 (during a normal month this is over 1/3 of our grocery/food budget) to go eat one meal, even with leftovers brought home, it just isn't worth it to me. My husband asked if we could go out for Chinese food this weekend. I made a compromise with him, I'll make him some lemon chicken (his favourite from the Chinese) this Saturday, but we aren't going out. This will help our budget, our waistlines, and it will also allow me to try out a new-ish recipe I've been wanting to do for a while. It also allows him to have his Chinese food fix!

This has been a bit of a ramble due to the fact I'm getting tired, but if anyone wants, I'll do my best to write down as many of my tips and tricks, ideas, and what I do to stay on budget as I can tomorrow. I'm always glad to share ideas and help others. I'm also always interested in hearing others ideas and tips. I'm always learning!

Have a wonderful night everyone!

mummyyof5

JJ..The pie looks delish.....spends today..£2.70 for 3 caulies for tea...cauli cheese...all gone big fave here x

£11 in MrTs
3 tins mushy peas..these were 4p recently..25p now:mad: 2x4 milk..half price shreddies..yoghurts for LOs...2 bags of SP pasta for stocks..2 packs belvita biscuits..half price and great for my very rushed breakfasts..some biccies for Teens.
£3 salad stuff in market.

Hoping to just grab some P**si M*x tomorrow was £1.95 :eek:a bottle in MrTs today..I wasnt paying that

elizabunny

Mamjak wrote: »

Another veg box to add to my total but haven't been out to shops so going to count as a NSD still.

Really pleased with my last on line shop as have hardly needed to buy any extra's so far and still have loads left in the cupboards, freezer.

Only thing I never seem to stock up enough is cereal and juice. I buy tesco value cereal and sometimes treat the kids to nicer ones if on offer. Know porridge would be far cheaper but its such a faff to make just for one and we all eat breakfast at different times so cant make one big pot. Anyone have any other ideas of cheap breakfasts bearing in mind I have a health problem which means it takes me half the morning to get going, so cooking bacon & eggs is a definite no-no!!?????

How about a breakfast smoothie, if you have a liquidiser?
We make one everyday -no need for loads of expensive cereals etc.
This what we put in ours:-
1 cupful of the frozen MrS berry mix (thawed a bit)
1 cupful of oats (cheap MrS)
1 Cupful of washed spinach leaves (healthy and you can't taste them).
1 Banana
4 heaped dessertspoons of yoghurt
1 tsp honey
Cup of juice
Cup of A*pro Soya milk

This makes two big glassfuls or 4 smaller ones and is so yummy. We sometimes add an apple or tangerine instead of a banana and use different flavoured yoghurts or juice for variety. So you could alter it to taste. Everyone in our family loves it! including the spinach

FBG85

Aldi's cereals are nice, and cheap around 69p for cornflakes 99p for their version of Weetos and £1.09 for hoop a loops ( Cheerios ) my kids really like them, though I don't think I've ever bought Them branded ones!
You could try flapjacks, they are mainly oats and some butter and golden syrup ( sorry don't have exact recipie) and then add some raisins or sultanas which are quite cheap. HTH

jumblejack

Mamjak wrote: »

Made butter last night from 3 large pots of double cream reduced to 40p per pot so spent £1.20. Made 8 blocks of 150g and as its good quality would probably have cost £6-7 in shops. Also used the butter milk up today to make 2 batches of muffins and 12 cheese scones for visitors. So feeling very frugal and housewife-y :money: :j

Even better was that my mum bought the cream and only took 3 packs of butter - result!!! :rotfl:



BTW have been inspired by JumbleJack and another friend to do this so thank you xx

Fantastic!!!!!!!

Well done, you!

It's such a great feeling to save so much money whilst discovering your hidden talents!!

I made loads of butter last year for the first time ever and I was ridiculously elated.

You will find it hard to pass on cheap cream now.

X

Suzexxx

Evening all

Just caught up with the thread! Thank you to everyone for the well wishes, feeling a bit better today been drinking lots of fluids and resting.

Popped over to my Mum's today to drop off some clothes i've been selling on local selling websites. Made £20 for selling some old clothes and got a couple of people coming round tomorrow to buy some more, so that will pay for my car insurance this month.

Spent £2 in Superdrug today on 6 packs of pocket sized tissues and 2 packets of mini eggs (can't resist these ).

Can't see tomorrow being a no spend day. DP and I off to Merry Hill to buy the majority of baby's things and i imagine we'll eat out for dinner, although i'll try and keep costs down.

Hope everyones had a good day!

Suze

jumblejack

Lovethenight wrote: »

OMG Jumblejack - that pie looks lush!! I've never thought of doing pie with sausagemeat - I only ever seem to buy it to do sausage rolls or very occasionally stuffing.



Can you tell me what an apg is and how you 'wombled' them?! :rotfl:

An APG is an asda price guarantee.

Wombling refers to making good use of receipts folk leave behind.

Never let a long receipt remain in a trolley.

Take it home and enter the results online.

If your shopping wasn't 10% cheaper at asda then they give you the difference back in the form of an APG. You need a printer to print it off and take in store with your receipt and you use it as cash at the tills.

I've had a fair few whoppers in my time.

They usually range from 10p to several quid!!!

dizzy_lizzie

mummyyof5 wrote: »

JJ
£11 in MrTs
3 tins mushy peas..these were 4p recently..25p now:mad:

Hi mummyof5. Do you have an Ald* near you. OH stocked up on tins of mushy peas from there a few weeks ago and they were 4p. And they are very tasty. I had a google and it says they're either 8p or 10p now so not sure but they are worth it.

x

Lovethenight

Thanks Biscuitmad and Jumblejack - definitely going to have to have a mooch around Mr A next time I'm there - there's always receipts floating about in the car park and I had no idea about the price guarantee!

thanks for all the tips and encouragement - learning lots so far!:)

katholicos

Have updated siggy already. Spent 99p on a couple of vegetarian sausage rolls today. I am still classing this as an nsd as i have decided not to count grocery spends as ruining my nsd's because i have money allocated for groceries and that isnt the spending i am concerned about...it is the spending on non groceries that must be curbed and that causes me financial headaches. Now that i have an annual figure allocated to grocery spends that is....before i had decided on a figure, my grocery spending was indeed alarmingly slapdash, but now i feel it is more ordered/structured, and that this way of doing the gc challenge and nsd challenge will work best for me.. Off to read the new posts in this thread...