March 2013 Grocery Challenge

Bluegreen143

becsxxx, your Slow cooked belly pork and No-bake key lime pie have been added to the recipe index

brighteyes1987

Evening all,

Another NSD here :j

Dd was supposed to be out for dinner tonight so had nothing planned but ended up with her & a friend here instead :eek:
Managed to find some chicken breast bites in the freezer with some oven chips for a quick dinner for them both.
I knew there was a reason why I kept these things in the freezer
I had a pork chop leftover from yesterday, chips & fried egg, very nice it was as well.

Hope everyone is well.

BE x

Bluegreen143

A grand total of £1.63 spent in Mr M!

Made 'Spanish veg stew' for dinner (quotation marks because it's my name for any veg in the fridge thrown in a pot with veg stock and a can of pulses and vaguely Spanish flavourings - tomato puree, oregano, lots of garlic, smoked paprika). Had with potatoes (eating them a lot this week as we have tons going sprouty) and creme fraiche with lemon zest and juice added.



PS if anyone is interested, I read the label of the mayo today and it's made with free range eggs, which I am so chuffed with as otherwise I was going to upgrade to a more expensive brand

Miroslav

£74.97 with 12 days still to go :eek:

£45.03 remaining and some stock running low

I am being tighter than a ducks bottom at the moment and I even managed a NSD today!

Florenceem

Spend of £3.78 today - on goodies - really naughty ones - nougat + packet of mis shape choccie biscuits - justifying by - I am getting stressed as renovations creep nearer. :eek:
Plus I got 4 Mcv.... muffins - Mars and Galaxy - thought they would be yummy. Cut one into 4 - Mr F and I had a 1/4 muffin each - not that special. They were 2 for the price of 1 - no way would I have paid full price. I won't get them again.
So now I have 3 1/2 muffins to eat - I will have 1/4 muffin per day. There are 368 calories in one of these muffins. :eek:

scrappie_2

Hi Guys

I need to join you all for April - is that OK?

I spend far too much on food, there is only me and two cats at home, and I need to cut down.

Job reorganisation means that I will be £600/mth worse off from now. So, changes need to happen. I'm feeling quite positive about it all, and I know I can 'survive' on the lower income, just not in the way I have been living.

I do eat quite healthy - doing SW EE most days. I don't really do a 'main' shop each week. There is stuff that I like that can only get from Tesco/ Asda etc and fruit/veg is always Aldi. Also, because of SW, tend to do a top-up fruit/veg shop once a week. I tend not to drink alcohol at home, well not for the past three months at least - havent missed it, so wont be starting that again!

I work shifts (~days or nights) and although I try I've not been good with meal planning.

I'm off work this week, typically have come down with a cold, but when feeling a little better this is my plan

• Inventory of fridge/ freezer 1+2/ cupboards - I need to know what I have in order to use it
• Meal plan - ideas for lunch/dinner when working and the same for when I'm home. So not a 'strict' plan, as I may find this too difficult to stick to in the first instance.
• Shopping list - if I know what I want to make, then I will know what I need to buy

I love to cook - have been batch cooking/ freezing for years.

My intention is to stick to Asda and Aldi for food and HB for household stuff.

I will have a shopping list each time I leave the house.

I will stick to what is on the list

I will only go shopping after eating a meal.

I will draw cash out of the bank on the 1st April and keep in in my 'shopping purse' - easier to keep track of than my usual plastic.

I will keep all reciepts - just to see where I spent my money



Is there anything else you guys would recomend before I start on this journey? I will be reading through the thread, but just dont feel well enough at the moment.


Thanks

SpendingSensible

Oops, I had several small shops yesterday and today, together it came to £32.63.

I guess it doesn't help that we have guests. We were supposed to go out for dinner yesterday, but instead had a lunch in a pub (paid for by guests) but it meant I had to get some things for dinner. Also today a few bits and pieces to make a nice dinner (it is their last evening), and I saw a few good offers in the sm for freezer, but it all adds up....

Tomorrow will be a NSD though and hopefully Thursday as well, our guests are leaving tomorrow, so it will also be easier to stick to the budget.

Dinner yesterday was spicy chicken thighs, rice and green beans, today fish pie with trifle as pud. Tomorrow remaining fish pie/trifle.

Hope everybody had a good week and is doing well on the GC.
I've estimated that I should come out within budget, but am hoping to get a bit below as I would like to reduce it next month. Will try to be a bit more stricter/vigilant/mse (?) for the remaining month.....

Nicky_Noo_Na

Thanks for the recipes Becs - they sound delish!

MrsCautious

XSpender wrote: »

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.

Just wanted to say good luck, sounds like you will do fab. There's a a post on here called something like 'I keep going over our food budget, please help' - sorry can't link on this pc, it has some great tips if you haven't already seen them x

K9sandFelines

Just a question, hope it's okay to post here ... been wondering for a while. Those who shop online, obviously you can't put cash in a purse and only spend that; so how do you mirror this with an online shop? Just set a limit and stick to it as you do the budget ( or in my case don't ... :rotfl:) ...

Just pondering ... :idea: