March 2013 Grocery Challenge

JellyBox

norabatty wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some pearls of wisdom - DH loves his cereal bars, eats at least 2 or 3 every day and those packets aren't cheap. They are about £2.50 - £3.00 for a pack of 5 or 6, we usually get Nutrigrain bars and Nature Valley bars. I have tried own brands at Mr T and Mr A and they are disgusting so a non-runner. Does anybody have any suggestions as to how I can cut down on these costs? We also get the Go Ahead slices which are cheaper but I still end up spending a good £30 a month on these things.

I also have an OH who relies on his cereal bars, his are needed to keep his sugars settled during a long afternoon at work though (he's diabetic) so I don't know if flavour is as important for him. He used to have the Jordans ones (£1.99 for 6) but I have just got him moved over to the S basics Oat and Raisin (99p for 6), he says they're nice enough, and is happy to stick with them, but I will treat him to the nicer ones when they're on offer.

Not sure if this will help if your DH is eating them for "fun" as such, perhaps worth trying to change his cereal bar habit for something healthier and cheaper? Or in terms of making them, what about flapjack bars or something along those lines, they wouldn't be too expensive and could be made to include dried fruit to make them more interesting?

ruby_eskimo

Hi everyone! First shop of March done yesterday and spent £44.81. Managed to get some nice steak for dinner tonight for £2 as well as some more reduced mince for the freezer and stocking up on some tinned stuff and other bits and pieces! Off to update the sig.

brighteyes1987

norabatty wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some pearls of wisdom - DH loves his cereal bars, eats at least 2 or 3 every day and those packets aren't cheap. They are about £2.50 - £3.00 for a pack of 5 or 6, we usually get Nutrigrain bars and Nature Valley bars. I have tried own brands at Mr T and Mr A and they are disgusting so a non-runner. Does anybody have any suggestions as to how I can cut down on these costs? We also get the Go Ahead slices which are cheaper but I still end up spending a good £30 a month on these things.


Hi, have you tried 99p shop & home bargains? My dd loves cereal bars & I often buy them at these places 99p for 6, always branded ones as well. Hth

BE x

medsdemon

Please add me in for £300 for the month starting today (3rd) to the 30th when we go on holiday for a week. Our cupboards are pretty bare so we need to do a big shop today or tomorow after work. I have a few vouchers including a T*sco £12 off £80 or S*insburys £2 off £20 so not sure if i'll use them. Need to write a bit of a list and menu plan first though.

medsdemon

norabatty wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some pearls of wisdom - DH loves his cereal bars, eats at least 2 or 3 every day and those packets aren't cheap. They are about £2.50 - £3.00 for a pack of 5 or 6, we usually get Nutrigrain bars and Nature Valley bars. I have tried own brands at Mr T and Mr A and they are disgusting so a non-runner. Does anybody have any suggestions as to how I can cut down on these costs? We also get the Go Ahead slices which are cheaper but I still end up spending a good £30 a month on these things.

I wouldn't mind making them myself if they could be frozen and it would be economical to do so, but I'm not sure that it would. Any recipes or rough estimates of costs?

In other news, I did my first shop for March yesterday. I bought a month's supply of nappies, a tub of formula and painkillers for £25.39 (using vouchers of course!) from Boots. I got my first online shop from Mr T last week (end of February) and must say I was really impressed. All the fruit and veg looked decent, and everything had best before dates of at least 4 days away. I only did it cos they had a £12 off £60 deal on, but still, it's good to know if I decide to do it again in the future. I am completely stocked up on meat/fish/pasta/rice so will only have to buy fruit/veg/dairy/bread in Mr A on Wednesday so hoping to spend less than £30.

Total spend so far this month is £25.39/£195

Poundland has Nature Valley Bars atm and also stocks lots of others. I always buy my cereal bars from here.

MrsCautious

norabatty wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some pearls of wisdom - DH loves his cereal bars, eats at least 2 or 3 every day and those packets aren't cheap. They are about £2.50 - £3.00 for a pack of 5 or 6, we usually get Nutrigrain bars and Nature Valley bars. I have tried own brands at Mr T and Mr A and they are disgusting so a non-runner. Does anybody have any suggestions as to how I can cut down on these costs? We also get the Go Ahead slices which are cheaper but I still end up spending a good £30 a month on these things.

I wouldn't mind making them myself if they could be frozen and it would be economical to do so, but I'm not sure that it would. Any recipes or rough estimates of costs?

In other news, I did my first shop for March yesterday. I bought a month's supply of nappies, a tub of formula and painkillers for £25.39 (using vouchers of course!) from Boots. I got my first online shop from Mr T last week (end of February) and must say I was really impressed. All the fruit and veg looked decent, and everything had best before dates of at least 4 days away. I only did it cos they had a £12 off £60 deal on, but still, it's good to know if I decide to do it again in the future. I am completely stocked up on meat/fish/pasta/rice so will only have to buy fruit/veg/dairy/bread in Mr A on Wednesday so hoping to spend less than £30.

Total spend so far this month is £25.39/£195

Hi, I'm another one who has the 99p Store to thank for cheaper cereal bars, same brands but available there -- I forget too often though, also Medleys are on offer in Waitrose, they seem to be quite often on offer in Sainsbury's and Co-op as well, £1 for a box.

Kitchenbunny

Afternoon, just popped on to update that today is my third NSD in a row (whoop whoop). I'll definitely need a few things tomorrow, like sandwich fillings, bananas and some mushrooms for tea, but otherwise doing OK. Trying to use up stuff from the cupboards a bit!

Tea tonight will be leftover steak and ale pie from last night, and some homemade chips.

Have a lovely Sunday everyone.

KB xx

ipie

Hello everyone I would like to join this challenge if that's okay. And am setting myself a budget of £550 pounds for March. Thats for a family of eight consisting of two adults and six children ranging from four months to fourteen years and is to included nappies, toiletries and cleaning products.

How do you type in red font? keep trying to edit the post and it wont let me.

Fredula

Oh my gosh, can't believe I've spent £99.60 of my £250 food budget! Shocking. Oh well. We've got a lot in the freezer to be used

Islandmaid

NSD today:) first of many this month I hope...

Found some fossilized lamb shanks at bottom of the freezer, whilst playing freezer tetris, so will be having those today slow cooked with red wine, redcurrent jelly, garlic, rosemary etc will have with sweet potato mash.

Norabatty - I make flapjacks for OH and kids to take to school/work as they love cereal bars and I can,t afford to keep up with them eating so many. 500g of oats makes about 24 large ones

Have also made coconut sponge sandwich cake as a cut-and-come-again thing for week, and may make some choc chip cookies if I get the time