January 2013 Grocery Challenge

meg72

lbnblbnb wrote: »

Food is an area of our budget I need to get better control of. This thread is brilliant. I am not sure if I can join in officially as I am paid on the 19th each month so I work to a different month to everyone else I guess.

I need to list my cupboards, freezer and fridge first I think.

You can join in whenever you are paid, just set your budget and dates to suit you, good luck, joining this challenge has saved me a fortune over the last 18 months.

lizalloareds

£3.63 spend today sig updated

lizalloareds

can you add me in I am setting my budget at £70 weekly

gien

small Ald* shop today, including stuff for a weekend away with some friends. So my total now is at 371.53.
Only 30 euro left until I go over budget - I will need to be imaginative next week and then pay day and end of my January is the Friday.

tessie_bear

hi...cold again here but not snowing tomorrow the weather lady said...what joy...i am planning chicken and ham bake tonight then fish and chips tomorrow...i need to write a shopping list and get some crisps as we have run out...kids are disgusted

i am now on the look at for a pea and ham soup recipe...i shall have a look at the index

take care tessa

Solstice_3

Popping on to post, will read later if I get a chance

Just been menu planning and devised a new system for me. I use an A5 notebook and have a page for each week. At the top I write the date followed by each day and the evening meal for the day, on the bottom half I write the meat, fish and meals I have in the freezer. I cross it off if I am using it in the menu and then copy over the rest to the next page (week). I also write down what I have ordered from my meat box (from a veg & meat delivery company) as I plan my menu around what is cheap on their site. I have a budget of £30 per fortnight for the meat and went over by £6 as it's DH's birthday soon and have ordered some Rump Steaks for his birthday dinner. Looking at my list I have at least a weeks worth of meat left after the next delivery so I am dropping the budget for that fortnight to £20.

I also stick a post it note on the page with what I need to buy for the meals.

Sorry for the essay, feeling quite chuffed and organised lol

Coxy11

lizalloareds wrote: »

can you add me in I am setting my budget at £70 weekly

Done - have changed you from £60 to £70 on the weekly list (at bottom of my post on page 1)

Coxy

SAVVYMUMMY_2

Just come back from doing my weekly shop at MrT, with my shopping list, so have updated siggy. I think i`ve decided to go to Ald@ next week if the roads aren`t icy, as it sounds like it`s a lot cheaper. Looking at the prices i`d paid previously for things, there`s a BIG increase. Kitchen roll was £1.07 last week up to £1.25 today, muesli up by 30p from a couple weeks ago and that`s only for starters. So one or two things I put back as I decided I wasn`t going to buy them, after seeing the big jump up in price.

NickJW

Morning all!

£2.49 spent in Mr S today on lunch (ran out of bread so couldn't make sandwiches this morning)

Made a turkey curry last night from spices already in stock. It's my aim to never buy a curry paste (unless it's a Thai one) until I used up the jars of turmeric, garam masala, chilli flakes, cinnamon, fennel seeds etc etc in the cupboard! Some of there have been there for a while (I've checked/smelled them and they are okay) so want to clear some room in my cupboards!

Tonight I'm making Teriyaki chicken from a Lorraine Pascale book with rice and spring onions.

Hope everyone is well.

GreenFairy

I've eaten horse, cow and pig so the presence of any of those in my burger doesn't particularly bother me. What completely makes my skin crawl is the thought of pink slime. Story broke about the U.S. last year and now it turns out we have it here too in all sorts of meat products.
Anyway, can't afford to buy meat so it's a moot point for me right now anyway..silver linings, eh?

Multi-bean chilli and a couple of baked spuds for us for dinner. So happy that I've been working on having a proper pantry and freezer over the last year, even though it's mostly crammed on a set of open ikea shelves in the corner of the kitchen! I don't know what I'd do without it right now.