January 2013 Grocery Challenge

LMac

£49.24 for me this month and will only need 1 milk @ 89p again before Feb. Total would have been lower but my freezer stopped working and I had to dump a lot of food I would have used otherwise. Cupboards are pretty much bare, just porridge, some lonely lentils and the four dinners and soup for lunch, plus milk in the fridge.

Still, I surprised myself and look forward to the challenge next month where Ill be starting from scratch.

Billie-jo

Well today I had planned to make some rolls, a loaf, apple cake and some lemon curd but early this morning we had a family member call who was upset about something so instead it was tea and lots of sympathy but no baking. Maybe tomorrow or Wednesday now but in the mean time had to send DH out for some bread and a few bits. He was fairly good but he did buy a small fizzy F*nt*orange juice costing a ridiculous £1.15 :eek: that would NEVER have made it on my list and also he felt like a pasty :mad:

Not good when budget almost gone just £13.97 left cash wise, however do have coupons and gift cards valuing £240 They were mostly gifts so havent cost me anything. So I am wondering whether to use some of these for next weeks shop and not counting it or would this be classed as cheating? Or do I go over budget and save them. The going over budget is not a problem though so either way is fine. Ideas welcomed.

Have just managed to start a large pan of French onion soup which we love. So will hopefully be freezing some of this once its finished cooking and then cooled.

maximus_leeds

So last meal plan of Jan for us - this runs from Sun to Fri as I'm intending a new shop for the new month. I'm finding I'm managing to stretch roasts into 2 meals at least (hence pork and chicken this week), so trying to stick with that whilst I can. I should say we're a family of 4 - two adults, two terrors under 4 - but I like us to eat the same meal (though husband not back til 7 so I eat later with him) so I'm not cooking several meals a day.

Sun-Roast Pork, roast potatoes, broccoli and carrots with gravy
Mon-Leftover pork and noodle stir fry
Tue-spicy sausage meatballs with tagliatelle
Wed-Roast chicken, potatoes with veg (I've got a lot of potatoes to use up this wk)
Thur-Chicken and spinach madras, rice and naan
Fri-HM pizza, potato wedges and corn on the cob

I'm tempted by the flapjacks on the recipe index - though I'm struggling to buy rolled oats. Which aisle are they in? Breakfast or baking? Might be a good thing I can't find them!

wuvvies

well i have been lurking and i havent officially set a budget. i was spending at least 500 a month on shopping and i have been so frugal and careful with my food and have got it down to 274.10. this is totally amazing for me. i have set ways of carrying this on. i get my money out on a saturday and then go to @sda and get the 1/2 things that they dont sell in aldi then i go to aldi and get the rest of my shopping. i cant beleive how much i can save. oh forgot to add. before i go shopping i look at my baking stuff and make cakes and biscuits. then i know ive done them and dont need to buy anything. made my own bread nearly every time as well. i dont want/need to get it down so low that there are no cakes or biscuits in the house for the dh/ kids. there are 2 adults and 2 kids and 2 extra for a meal once a week. i think ive done well. (blow my own trumpet!!)

Barbeduk

Hi all, still on January here so updating with 3 more spends taking the total spend to £285.02. Given the amount of food in the freezer we don't need anything apart from fruit.

Got some ys sardines for tonight with sweet potato wedges. Made a tomato and chilli sauce yesterday to go with some quorn 'meat'balls so will serve some of that over the sardines.

Keep going everyone, the end is near!!

Kitchenbunny

We're into the last few days of January now! I'm pleased to report I've only spent £18.97 today, taking my total for January so far to £159.77. While that's not the £150 I was hoping for, it isn't bad as some months are always going to be more wallet-intensive than others. The wind is howling outside and I have no intention of going out. I'm going through my receipt and seeing what I've bought - I look back at some of the things I used to buy when I first moved in with Mr KB and how my spending habits have changed.

We'll be having the remainder of yesterday's steak pie for tea tonight, probably along with some chips. If Mr KB is amenable, I'll open a tin of mushy peas as well to get some more of our five a day. I'm going to experiment tomorrow night with trying to make a sweet & sour sauce for chicken that uses a can of pineapple chunks in syrup rather than adding extra sugar. I've lost 4lb so far this month and would like to continue that trend! Plus, the M Savers pineapple chunks are 47p for quite a big can and I do like good value.

Hope everyone has a good evening. Take care.

KB xx

raphanius

some multi grain hoops, yellow sticker lardons, mini cheddars and fruit makes my total £197.25 with three days to go. its going to be close.

liz-paul

Rooled oats (which are just porridge oats) should be in breakfast aisle. I buy Tesco value and use them for porridge & baking. HTH

m155piggy

Havn't posted for a couple of days but have kept my totals up to date.

We had a new boiler fitted today so I was trying to keep out of the house - only problem there was that I ended up in Tesco!!

cornflakes, fruit and fibre, sweet & sour sauce, curry sauce, rice pudding, sweets, 2 sachets of custars, tinned peaches & jar of apple sauce - £3.06 BARGAIN!

Then went to ALD* and got 2 bags of carrots & 2 heads of broccoli for £1.56 another bargain!

Anyway I am now certain that I will not be spending any more before my Feb challenge starts on Friday so I can happily state my total GC spends for January as £249.47 - which is £150.53 below my original target but most importantly 53p short of the self imposed £250 I really wanted!!

Definitely a succeess for January but the freezer isn't quite as full as it was after Xmas so how Feb goes remains to be seen!

lushlifesaver

Adding another £2 from today and declaring at that as January done! Strictly speaking under budget at £97 but I had wanted it to be low. Set it at £120 for Feb as need dog food (on offer) and a few toiletries.

See you all on the Feb thread!