March 2013 Grocery Challenge

tessie_bear

hi...planning to make celery soup and scones today...not to be served together...we are having fajitas for tea and i thought i would make some coleslaw to go with it....also need to brave the freezer to get a few things out for the weekend to defrost

made a meal plan last night and nearly had a turn at how much cash i have spent...hoping it will even out if i dont spend too much in the next couple of weeks....have to see how it goes

have a nice day tessa

SAVVYMUMMY_2

Good morning all:hello:, I was suppose to do a 2 week shop yesterday at Ald1, so that I could use my coupon, but because I couldn`t get everything I needed, I only managed to spend £28.62:D. I will still need the extra bits, but will be moneysaving all the way and only get it if I absolutly need it. Of course the usual f&v, milk, bread and meat etc, i`ll get, but was so chuffed I only spent that small amount for 2 weeks, yeah:j.

Were having mince and hm yorkshires with some veg tonight, so hoping for a NSD today.

his_missus

Hello all!

Happy Friday!

Sorted out my shopping list for this coming week. We're trying not to shop in any supermarkets for a month so I'm hoping I can find everything I want in town or on the market. The only problem is in town the only "food stores" are home bargains, B&M bargains and a couple of frozen food shops outside of the small market so let's hope I can get all my cupboard food (tins etc) from them. Fingers crossed xxxxx xxxxx

Vickyh

Gotta update my signature but i can't believe how much I've spent already, however i celebrated my 30th at the beginning of the month and that was a sizable chunk gone on wine, beer and chicken (i cooked chinese food for 20 people)

I am hoping i can not buy anything else apart from the necessities- chicken, eggs and milk (whole milk for baby) being the main 3!

I have plenty of frozen veg for dinners but its the green stuff in OH sandwiches i will need to get fresh.

I am also hoping next month to save on the babys food- atm he does eat a variation of our food, but as he's growing i am worried about what he eats. The most expensive thing i can't get out of buying is fruit pots- they are yogurts size pots of mixed pureed fruit (apple, pear, peach, strawberry, mango) i usually get 8 pots for £3 when on offer- but i can't buy that range of fruit for £3, plus preparing and cooking it!! For example 84p for basic apples and there was just 4 of them in a bag.

Poor kid is already in basic nappies, basic wipes, charity shop clothes- gosh this post has turned into a right violin saga.

quintwins

I havent really been keeping track but by working out how much money i've taken out of the bank and how much i have left i've worked out my spends so far i'm sitting at £53.69 out off £200 so i'm switching over to cash now so i know exackly how much i'm spending and can't spend anymore when it's gone

Vickyh my youngest never had a jar or fruit puree pot in until we went to a wedding by then he was so used to my food which wasn't full of sugar and additives he hated it and refused to eat it , i used to go shopping in the middle of a sunday afternoon when all fruit and veg is atleast half price i usually got enough to last 2 weeks for around £2 i cooked it all up in big patches and froze so it cost very little to cook and i knew what he was eating, oh and basic nappies are fab i used cloth nappies but it flared up his exzema so i switched to lidl and eventually basic and he was completely fine with them, and kids clotehs get worn so little no-one (including him) will know where they came from except you , cheer up your doing a fab job

P.s you can't put bananas in your homemade puree it goes manky.

medusasmummy

hi all,
well its been a high spend week. lots of shopping trips, and stocking up for the month.

A$da -£24.00
Te$co - £44.32 (but did include the B2G2F easter eggs)
Ald! - £36.49 (after using the £5 mirror voucher)
$ain$bury's - £21.98 (on nappies, persil, and instant mash)
Lid!- £22.86 (but did include a pear tree for £3.99)

total so far £149.65

leaving £100.35 for 3 more shops. i have a feeling i'm gonna be over this month, as my basic shop is about £40. but i'm gonna work had to limit the damage! just have to keep focused and not have a dismissive attitude of 'Well i'm already over so stick it in anyway!'

my 2yr old is full of cold, and my 6yr old has an ear infection so no shopping or going out for a few days for us!

have a good weekend all

NickJW

Hello all!

Bit of a spendy day - woke up too late for breakfast and forgot lunch, so have had to buy breakfast and lunch out. I guess I could use the 'It's Friday' as an excuse, and I'll be staying in tonight so no spends there!

Anyway, I'm now £6.75 poorer as a result.

Also spent £2.89 on milk, mushrooms and mini potatoes in Mr S yesterday + £2.22 in Coop on green beans and sweetcorn yesterday.

Having 'Taucheo chicken' tonight. New recipe using an ingredient I don't know what it tastes like - soy bean paste. My housemate bought it on a whim from a Chinese supermarket a few months ago, and it's been stuck in the cupboard ever since! So a tablespoon of that (I HOPE I like it, because it's a big packet with more to use), with chicken, spring onions, soy beans, mushroom, chicken stock served with rice.

Tomorrow will be honey and mustard chicken breasts with mini potatoes and green beans.

Not feeling as confident this month! :(

ikkle87

Vicky how old is your little one hun? Could you try giving him the fruit as finger foods? If not, check all the websites for baby food brands and their facebook pages etc to see if you are able to get any coupons for money off them.

Don't worry about the 2nd hand clothing either, my little boy has a wardrobe which is full of both new clothes and things bought 2nd hand and I always get told how well dressed he is, nobody, especially him knows that it was 2nd hand x

XSpender

£21 spent in m&S last night on fruit, salads, yogurt and a RM for DH tea as I was out for mine. Didn't seem to get a lot for my money:(

I will be doing our weekly shop tonight at Mr S although there isn't a huge amount on my list. The SW diet is coating us quite a bit but I am really enjoying eating this way so want to maintain it. DH isnt enjoying it as much and he is the one on the diet so I need to rethink what I am feeding him.

I am going to go over this month but I am not going to get bent out of shape about it as I tried to reduce it this month which was a bit silly in hindsight and I am enjoying what we are eating even if it is more work as I am cooking from scratch more:) I will keep plugging away and try to limit the overspend as much as possible.

maximus_leeds

Afternoon all. Just popping in to report two spends - £8 at Poundw*rld on predominantly chocolate! This pregnancy is all about the sugar - I figure in these final 4 weeks, I can have what I like! If I'd have bought this stuff in the SMs, it'd have cost me double! Then today I've nipped into Morr*sons for fruit (cantaloupe, blueberries, grapes and bananas - much as I love Al*i, I don't like their grapes or blueberries - not sure why they should taste different to SMs?), frozen pizzas (trying to stay clear from the takeaway and Goodf*llas thin and crispy pizzas were half price), bread, 4x tuna chunks in spring water (at half price, £3), sausage rolls and gingerbread men for the kids as a treat. It did cost me £17.85 :eek: but I figure I've saved some pennies by avoiding the takeaway we'd have inevitably had! I'll update the signature but just to say this takes me to £113.62/£400 so far...

Have a good weekend GCers - especially to the Mums. And for those of us who don't have our Mums here anymore, make sure you raise you mug/glass to the sky in their honour too xxx