February 2013 Grocery Challenge

mi_jardin

Can you put me down for £100 for February please, time to get back to the budget!
It will be tougher than before though as we have 3 adults at the moment instead of 2.:eek:

Suzexxx

Evening all

I'm coming over to the February challenge now from January even though my month is supposed to be finishing on the 31st, i decided that due to my over-spend and most of this week being February anyway i might aswell come over.

Due to do a big shop tomorrow, but decided to go to Mr A and Mr M today to get the offers and then tomorrow all that will be left to buy is food for DPs lunchbox, which we'll go to Mr T for so i can also stock up on offers there.

Spent £9.02 in Mr A and £17.34 in Mr M, mostly on frozen food and snacks for myself and DP lunches that were on offer. Hopefully tomorrow we'll spend only around £20ish meaning we'll have not spent much money this week in comparison to last week.

In other news my car failed its MOT today. MOT always seems to set me back about £200 so i was prepared, but its already cost me over £100 in parts and its not yet finished. Car tax also due this week.

Also i had a letter this morning about my tumble dryer, which was brand new last year. Apparantly the particular model i have is unsafe and there have been reports of them setting on fire, so i've got an engineer tomorrow coming out to look at mine although i've never had any trouble with it its scary to think what would happen if it set on fire. Hopefully it'll be fixed as in the meantime i'm struggling to get washing dry, its horrible how much i depend on it.

Hope everyones had a good day! Off to update signature.

Suze

bargain_hunter_2

Hello everyone -long time lurker here -been following January gc avidly waiting for end of month to join in.

I've been inspired by all your frugal living and have managed to get my grocery bill down a bit this month just by being strict, emptying freezer and only buying what I need -making lots more sauces etc from scratch and no-ones complained yet -in fact getting plenty yumms :T

can I sign up for £240from 28th jan to 28th feb - that's already cutting it a bit from previous 280.00 but I know it's doable with all your help on here. That's for me -oh who works shifts -and two teenage dd -all take pack lunches every day and try to eat healthily.

I'M going to get into meal planning more because I feel I could get more NSD's that way - thank you everyone for great ideas

lushlifesaver

As bf has been paid we have decided that our February GC challenge will start tomorrow and he has already drawn out the £30 for the week

Tomorrow I need to buy:
Bread £1 (12 wholemeal rolls)
Ham £1 (200g)
Satsumas £1 (1 net)
Ragu £1 (1jar)
Bananas £1 (1 hand)
Smash £1
Total: £6

ETA: whoops forgot toothpaste! £1 - proper total = £7

On Thursday I will need to get:
Milk £1 (4pints)

Hoping my pay goes in soon as I want to get a few bits at ASDA (out of my repaid work expenses) which I will get on Friday morning This include chocolates for bf, ravioli (easy hot lunch for me at work), pink and whites, pizza base mix. All in all approximately £10. As it's out of my repaid expenses it's technically my work budget and all apart from the chocs for bf will be for me at work! (lunches)

Off to declare January - the saving will probably go towards food for teh doglet as we are starting to run low!

lbnblbnb

CatherineMM wrote: »

I am liking the idea of meal plans and inventory of the food stocks. You all inspire me...I have LOTS of christmas food left over and jars of sauces / dried packet foods etc...my freezer is permanently heaving and so over full that I cannot freeze dying veg or excess cooked meals...and it hasnt been defrosted in 6 years! I will spend february emptying it (one draw is full of just bananas, cranberries and blueberries! - none of which we eat - veg box leftovers!) and I am now going through the recipe books (of which I have loads) and going to try to avoid meat and veg shopping for a few weeks...Fingers crossed it works.

Your bananas, cranberries and blueberries made me think of this recipe:
http://budgetbytes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/blueberry-banana-baked-oatmeal-418.html?m=1
I make it at the weekends and warm a portion in the microwave each morning.

lovelife79

well so far this month i have managed 4 NSD from grocery challenge until the "need to get washing powder" run
20quid later and not a whoopsie in sight! :eek: naughty naughty naughty. still got to go get fruit n bits n peices for work. oh well, we live and learn dont we!!

did buy some vitalite and icing sugar to experiment with (best mate is gluten free, dairy free, allergic to sulphites, n prob some other stuff that i cant remember but i said i would try make frosting wi vitalite. should be interesting!)

she_who_can_not_cook

cornishchick wrote: »

:jok just posted my jan total and I was £73 under budget, but worried it was just a fluke , so gonna post a feb budget of the same. £180.00 and see if I can do it again.

I used to hate the self scan and pay machines , but now i love them lol. I can stand there and feed in my bags of pennies and change and theres no one to tut or complain that the till person is having to count them out, and i get a little thrill when i see the total going down every time i chuck a hand full of pennies in, instead of reaching for the plastic. :rotfl:

I love the self service except with the reduction items that don't scan
M

pinkypig

1st day of our Feb GC and we have managed what I hope is the first of many NSDs. We had roast chicken with some stuffing left over from xmas which was lurking in the freezer with lots of Ald* super6 veg. DH made it as I was working late and it was so nice to home to. However, he threw away the carcass:eek::eek: To his credit he did look forlorn and was quick to add that he'd picked everything off it so I had to let him off just this once :rotfl:

Hope everyone else has had a good day.

PP xx

Florenceem

I got the biggest Savoy cabbage I could see in Al.. today - it will do us for 4 day's dinners. The 1 kg bags of carrots for 39p are such good value - £1 in Mr As.. :eek:
I had a muffin and cup of tea mid afternoon. Getting fed up with Cherry/Coconut Muffins but no room in freezer for baking more.
Mr F popped into town for Post Office & Bank - was given strict instructions - no spending!
Dinner tonight - roast potatoes, roast parsnip, savoy cabbage, carrots, chopped garlic, HM TITH + gravy.
2 days of TITH to go in the freezer - will take out a couple of items to make space. :eek:



Prawn curry for dinner tomorrow.

Prawns and sauce in freezer so taking those out will create some space. I will ask Mr F to get out Wednesday's dinner while he is in the cold freezer.

Karb

Well, my challenging January target proved to be far too challenging. I'm not even going to be close to it! In fairness, it was half my normal budget, but I thought I had plenty of food in the freezer and cupboards. I hadn't banked on DS1 being at home for the entire month, and I hadn't taken into account that, as part of my weight loss programme I'd be leaving the unhealthy pizzas, pies, oven chips etc in the freezer and going out and buying lots of fresh fruit, veg and salads.

For Feb, allowing for it being a short month, I'm going to aim for £160 please