March 2013 Grocery Challenge

XSpender

Hello Ladies and Gents

I have been unhappy with the amount we have spent this last month and have decided a drastic re think is required. As our financial situation has improved I have let our budgeting in this area slip and this month it has got out of hand. We will have spent almost £600 :eek:on food, toiletries, laundry, dog food, cleaning stuff and alcohol for 2 adults, an almost 3 year old that only has snacks during the week and meals at a weekend at home and a small terrier. The alcohol’s not for the 3 year old! :rotfl: We are trying to eat SW extra easy and are finding that this is bumping our costs up a bit but not enough to warrant the overspend.

I have been reading the OS and MFW threads and have picked up a different approach to batch cooking/meal planning that I think will work better for us and have borrowed Economy Gastronomy from the library. Food for thought rather than actual recipes from this.

Sunday DH fancied soup after swimming so I rustled up a pan of leek and potato and some sunshine scones in about half an hour and then made crumble, mini quiche, coq au vin and buns for DS. I also made and part baked 2 large veg lasagnes for Monday night’s tea and the freezer. This used up a lot of stuff about to go off in the fridge.

DH turned his nose up at the lasagne last night so that will be 2 for the freezer now:mad:



My plans for April (starts Friday for us) are:

• List the contents of the larder cupboard and the 2 upright freezers and keep the list up to date (1 freezer done so far and used up mushrooms, red wine and other bits that had been in there for ages)
• Meal plan in detail for 6 weeks at a time
• Don’t shop when I am hungry and stick to the list!
• Any batch cooked meals are to be consumed within that 6 week period. Any longer and I don’t fancy them
• Use the slow cooker Monday and Thursday when MIL can put it on for me
• Max 1 shop a week plus 1 fruit top up shop
• Make cakes and snacks, don’t buy, as lots of baking stuff in
• One omelette/jacket pot meal a week and one 'summat oot the freezer' night
• One soup and pudding night per fortnight (with nice bread) as I am not sure if DH will like this even though he said he would at the weekend
• Check the contents of the fridge every couple of days to ensure everything is used up (waste isn’t too much of a problem really)
• Split my spend into categories so I can see where we spend our money. I think alcohol is a big chunk as we like decent wine on a weekend.

Sorry for the long post.

Any other hints and tips gratefully received.

Verityemilia

Popped to l**l today for some bits

Spent £ 8.15 / £50

Billie-jo

Well for once I am quite happy to report spends of £8.41 as it means I have actually felt well enough to venture out to the shops.:) Brought some fruit, a Sharw00ds curry sauce on offer at £1 and some bread.

I noticed that Morri$ons had one or two good offers on so will be in at the weekend to have a better look around. There was red salmon at £1.99 for 213g half price, Kn0rr gravy granules 500g for £1.55 and a few others that cant remember now.

Small amount of LO cottage pie for lunch today and curry for tea. Have small piece of belly pork out for tomorrow.

tessie_bear

x-spender how do you shop...once a week /month or online ? perhaps smaller more focused shops would help...u could use uo stocks for a month and have a think about the approach/approaches that suit you all best
i think if you want to spend less then you have to do just that....dont buy so much/dont go so often....what has made the shop creep up ? are u buying more or is it price rises in general ?

i have found i have spent a fair bit more in march than jan and feb but i put that down to the fact we spent jan/feb using up stocks...perhaps a yearly budget would allow u more flexibility...cant think of owt else apart from locking your purse away which would be effective but not that practical

hth tess and let us know how u go on

Coxy11

Hi everyone,

£19.88 spent last night at T's - only went in for rolls and ham Got some of the new Carte-D0r icecream, on offer £1.84 for one or 2 for £5 - quite how that is a deal I don't know. Just got the one

SC is on with SW chinese pork from the index - smells yum. We will have it with stir fry veggies - no noodles or rice - trying to eat better.

DD's school shoes fell apart yesterday (literally) so will need to go straight from school to get new ones. Will park in M's opposite so will check for whoopsies on the way home, as they usually have good bakery and veg offers.

Off to update sig. Have a good day everyone.
Coxy

GreenFairy

€9.50 spent yesterday. Salad, DF baking fat, big jar of gherkins, multipack of matches and a box of little DF chocolate squares (2 with packed lunch each day to remove temptation of buying a full size bar!).

Had baked bbq tofu wraps with HM refried beans and salad last night. Still have half the block of tofu left, so will probs have that as satay with broccolli on Wed night as hubs is not a fan of it two nights in a row. Need to go for a rummage through the press and fridge to decide what we'll be having tonight. Would like to make something a little fancy as DH started his new job today and I feel we deserve a mse-style celebration

sheeppappar

Erk went to sainsbury's last night for a few things and came out £8 lighter oops.
I cost myself by trying to be MSE! Had a roast chicken carcass to make stock with but no veg to go in with it, literally nothing. So I bought carrots and leeks and garlic .. got value bags though and the rest will get used eventually . Dog biscuits + Porridge and no idea what else made up the rest of the money :-S
Still on target though! xx

mrs-moneypenny

afternoon all

managed 2 NSDs and today should be another one

had jacket pot with cheese and beans for dinner as tonights tea will only be a snack as me and DH are both out till later on will feed kids earlier

K9sandFelines

NSD at last. Had Tesco meat free meatballs with ariabatta sauce and spaghetti for tea. Would not recommend the meatballs, they were rank. Much rather have the Quorn ones; otherwise a nice tea. Stuck to meal plan

XSpender

tessie_bear wrote: »

x-spender how do you shop...once a week /month or online ? perhaps smaller more focused shops would help...u could use uo stocks for a month and have a think about the approach/approaches that suit you all best
i think if you want to spend less then you have to do just that....dont buy so much/dont go so often....what has made the shop creep up ? are u buying more or is it price rises in general ?

i have found i have spent a fair bit more in march than jan and feb but i put that down to the fact we spent jan/feb using up stocks...perhaps a yearly budget would allow u more flexibility...cant think of owt else apart from locking your purse away which would be effective but not that practical

hth tess and let us know how u go on

Hi tess

I am definitely shopping more often than I was as we seem to constantly need more fruit and salad doing SW. I must be going nearly every day:eek: I think it is eating more meat and ham and more fruit that has pushed it up. I buy too much cupboard stuff too.

I will take your advice and try and plan my shops so I go less. We have a lot to use up too:o

Thanks for your post