June 2013 Grocery Challenge

XSpender

Ciaerda wrote: »

I do have a nice pasta bake recipe with courgettes, feta and sun dried toms that I could have used it in if I had remembered it was there:o

That sounds lovely, have you a recipe, I normally use the feta to make a feta and roast pepper pesto that I use to stuff chicken breasts with, but I only ever need a little bit and my boys don't like it on its own

Thank you meg72 the amount that I have thrown away is awful when you think about it.:eek:[/QUOTE]

Hi I will post the recipe for you tomorrow as I am on the iPad at the moment

tinycrush

MrsCautious wrote: »

This is my 3rd attempt at responding, fingers crossed. Yes I think it's eminently doable but bucket loads of planning and determination needed, sounds like you have that, good luck xxx

Personally I'd need to incorporate a fair amount of what I'd consider treats to avoid me thinking I was depriving myself and ending up in a cycle of that followed by splurging, I think.

In case this is of use I can tell you I personally have found £200 a month for 3 people plus dog (two 14 and me) relatively easy, I haven't managed to come in under £180 yet but this has been due to things I can't control. Everyone has different things happening in their lives to influence spending but I would be confident of spending just £40 a week if this was borne out of real necessity and I'd start by cutting down even further than I have with certain items, including some cleaning products and toiletries being avoided all together.

Other things I'd consider about how realistic it is would be how much of a difference it is to what you're currently spending and what you can do to reduce any negative impact of the change being met with antipathy in your family, plus how long you are planning to do it for, a short term what many would consider a drastically low spend could be a lot easier to palate with a goal everyone can see is needed in sight so if it was me, I'd sit my family down to get their understanding and cooperation.


Making the most of YS food has made the biggest difference to me.
Good luck, just my thoughts, hope something I've said may be helpful.

Thanks for the comments
Yes, I plan on Sat by going through everything left in the fridge, freezer and larder, list what I have and make a flexible menu plan for the week, and go shopping with only £40 on me (and I leave OH at home as he always wants to buy extras!):)
Family very supportive atm, will see how long they appreciate my home cooking...

Bluegreen143

Just popping on to say no spends.

Made an Asian steak salad from Jamie's 15 minute meals yesterday, with a few adaptions. Was lovely but worked out £2.70 per portion :eek: and that's with one steak between two and using homemade pickled ginger!



Made veggie moussaka tonight, with a big salad - so so so good

SAVVYMUMMY_2

Good evening all,
not doing great, after adding up the receipts so far. I stupidly took OH shopping with me and spent a whooping £71.60:eek: today at MrT and the butchers. that`ll teach me and from now on, it`s gonna be just me. My total to date is now a nasty £137.85p and it`s only the 6th. I think i`m going to have to re-think the meal planner that I made for this month, to try and stay on target.

lizalloareds

spends today
£3.50 Mr T
50p Mr A
89p Ald*
£2.50 co o* DS went for cola

[Deleted User]

bartelmy if your trying to save a bit and live on pennies do look at a blog called
A girl called Jack.
Google it and she has some amazing recipes to make food from buttons her and her son survived on a tenner a week and it can be done if your careful and some of the recipes are really nice and very easy to do.and before you ask no its no me :) as she is only 27 and lives in Southend She has done so well with her blog that she managed to land a job and a book deal for her recipes which should come out next springI think it will be a runaway best seller
Well today the only thing on my shopping list at the moment is loo rolls but I have two in stock so when I get down to two I always put them on my shopping list.I have more than enough food to see me through the weekend so today will be Day 7 of NSD.
Tonight I am having fish and chips from the freezer followed by the last of the apples and custard that I made the other day.Lunch will be the tailend bit of my carrot and coriander soup with crackers and cheese,I eked it out for one extra day by having a bit less yesterday with my lunch but having some fresh pineapple and a dollop of tinned rice as a small desert after lunch to fill me up.
I found that I have 6 tins of rice in the cupboard from when there was an offer on in Sainsbobs so I shall use some of them up over the next few days as part of my puddings.
So breakfast today is a
mushroom omelette and coffee
lunch: soup, crackers and some cheese,probably a bit more pineapple with some rice for pud
Dinner: Fish and chips and apples and custard
I am going to have a look through the freezer to see what takes my fancy for tomorrows meals
This morning I am going to sort out my tinned stuff in the cupboards as I seem to have so much stuff in there thats been 'forgotten'
Shopping from my cupboards and freezer as much as possible this month as I have our family holidays in 9 weeks time so using stuff up instead of going out shopping is what I'm doing this month and next probably.
Everyone is doing very well in the GC this month, well done chums I love seeing the photos of different meals well done its nice to see what other people are making
Cheers everyone
JackieO xxx

meg72

K9sandFelines wrote: »

Aww well done Meg, hope you pointed her in the direction of MSE too ...just kidding .

Another NSD for me today, and i have had news that my eldest DD (14) is returning to live with us from overseas :j. So the GC budget may have to be assessed in the next month or so. I am thankful that i have summer hols to get to grips with shopping for three again ( i never really got the hang of shopping for two, my mindset was stuck); and also that Mr S and Mr A have offered me free delivery over the next few months if i spend X amount and a free smartpass from Mr O. So no more being chained to Mr T for groceries.

Hope everyone is enjoying the sun. This is the best news i have had all year re DD coming back. Especially as tomorrow is an extremely sad day. I have to take my 15 year old dog to be PTS

Great news on DD, so sorry about your dog, will be thinking of you today.

K9sandFelines

meg72 wrote: »

Great news on DD, so sorry about your dog, will be thinking of you today.

Thanks Meg. I appreciate that. I know it's for the best as she's hardly eaten this week, so coupled with other discoveries and her age i know it's the right thing to do. I even sacrificed some chicken out of the freezer with some rice just now and she won't eat it, and a chew is untouched from last night (which is unheard of).

Thanks also Billie-Jo (sorry don't know how to double-quote).
I like the look of your dessert. Never thought to try mint with strawberries, so will have a go at that; as i love mint in salad, so i imagine this would be lovely.

lizalloareds

Hugs K9andFelines x

NickJW

K9sandFelines wrote: »

Hope everyone is enjoying the sun. This is the best news i have had all year re DD coming back. Especially as tomorrow is an extremely sad day. I have to take my 15 year old dog to be PTS

Sorry to hear about your dog K9andFelines

Few extra spends to report - £1.75 in M+S and £8.55 in Boots to top up on toiletries. Need to get some noodles today for the Chow Mein - have everything else in for it, and also lunch.

Then it's deciding what to do for tomorrow!