May Grocery Challenge

MATH

I include all laundry and cleaning products. Toilet rolls & tissues, Generic Toileteries such as toothpaste, soap, shower gel etc.

I do not include clothes, shoes, or toileteries only used by Mrs MATH.

swizzlebabe

I`m in again, it`s payday tomorrow, went off a bit last month, huby has been ill and now on a plain diet. So had to buy extra`s and put some stuff away until he can eat again. He says you don`t have to eat same as me, but with 2 young kids, no time to make 3 meals, bad enough making one for kids and 1 for us.

Going to the supermarket weekly, trying only to buy what we need for the week, but will get bogof if something we normally have. Morrisons have washing tabs/power on bogof surf, so will buy every week until offer stops.

Need cheap ideas for snacks for kids, but with 1 who won`t eat eggs or tomatos or chips it`s a bit hard. Eating more fruit and making home made ice lollies, plus easy yo yougart.

Curry_Queen

swizzlebabe wrote:

He says you don`t have to eat same as me, but with 2 young kids, no time to make 3 meals, bad enough making one for kids and 1 for us.

How come you make separate meals for the kids?

I'd just make the one meal for all and have done with, although I appreciate your hubby might need to be catered for separately sometimes but you should be able to easily adapt recipes to suit his needs. I'll try to have a think for some plain recipes (afraid most of my usual ones contain spices/herbs etc) and post back

Magentasue

apprentice_tycoon wrote:

I have read other peoples grocery challenges and I'm over-awed by how little they spend, I know that it's not a competition to see who can spend the least of all but it is still remarkable to see how low these budgets go - I am seriously impressed.

I made the same point a month ago. I've been averaging £400 a month:eek: for 6/7 of us and there's MATH feeding five for less than half of that! I am feeding 4/5 adults and two children so that makes for a bigger budget but it's still a massive difference.

I don't buy much in the way of value stuff (loo rolls and baked beans really) but I don't buy branded either (apart from Persil for whites). My target for Aprilis £350 - I've spent £220 so far and we've eaten really well. That's food only, £11 for toiletries (curse those razor blades) and £11 for cleaning (including my first purchase of white vinegar ).

I reckon I'll come in under my target so I'll be on here in May!

Magentasue

Curry_Queen wrote:

How come you make separate meals for the kids?

I'd just make the one meal for all and have done with

Me too. Every since mine were babies they've had the same as us (mashed up until they had teeth) and if they don't eat it, it's bread and butter. I'd like to say it's stopped them being fussy but it hasn't.

But they do eat proper food unlike some of our visitors who engage me in long conversations where they repeat the sentence "Well, have you got any ..." and I say "No, I'm sorry I haven't". The any is followed by chicken nuggets/spaghetti hoops/mini this and kiddie that/Sunny D ...

swizzlebabe

I make 2 meals, 1 for us and 1 for kids because I was sick of throwing food away.

Oldest used to eat everything, but this stopped at about 2 1/2. Health vistior told me not to get into a battle with food and give him what he would eat within reason. Since then tried to get him back to eating same as us, but just resulted in tears on both sides and food in bin. Also not helped that dad not home until 7.30pm ie when they are on way to bed.
Younger one will eat most things. Any tips would be most helpful.

Would your young children eat chicken, stir fried veg and noodles?

They both eat lots of veg and fruit, and oldest hates chips and tomato sauce!!

Curry_Queen

Magentasue wrote:

"Well, have you got any ..." and I say "No, I'm sorry I haven't". The any is followed by chicken nuggets/spaghetti hoops/mini this and kiddie that/Sunny D ...

Ahhh you get that too LOL! ... had ds's friend round eariler and he wanted a snack so I offered him fruit, carrot sticks (ds's fav!) or bread sticks with HM hummus dip but he turned his nose up to all of them and settled for a yoghurt instead :rolleyes: ... but what he really wanted was crisps, biscuits and choccy bars, which we don't have

Curry_Queen

swizzlebabe wrote:

Would your young children eat chicken, stir fried veg and noodles?

Well mine are much older now but yes, they used to eat all that when they were young. To be honest I can't ever remember really having battles with them over food at all, and they've always eaten the same as us right from being weaned. I'd just put aside a portion of our meal and blend it up for them.

Whenever they said they didn't like something I didn't make a fuss about it or force them to eat anything they genuinely didn't like, but I'd always ask them to try things and I'd cook in different ways or disguise certain foods and not say anything LOL!

I can understand you not wanting battles every meal time, as that can be very wearing after a while, but I'm sure we can come up with some suggestions between us to make life a little easier for you

Magentasue

swizzlebabe wrote:

I make 2 meals, 1 for us and 1 for kids because I was sick of throwing food away.

Also not helped that dad not home until 7.30pm ie when they are on way to bed.

Have some sympathies with that one. When our kids were younger, I aimed for dinner being over by 6.30pm so I did do two meals if we were going to eat late. Or cooked something that could be reheated for the adults later.

What sort of dinners do you all have normally? I'm not much help here 'cos we don't eat meat.

VickyA_2

Well, I've just posted on the April board, but our aim for May (which will start on 20th April, makes sense, honest) is £100 to include all food, cleaning equipment and toiletries. We went over last month at £125, but we did have a few people round for supper on a couple of occasions.

I'm bulking out my bolognese sauce more and more nowadays with lentils, porcini (okay, I bought it when I was away for the month in Italy!), fresh veggies etc. We bulk most meals out with loads of veggies actually and EVERYTHING, just about, is cooked from scratch. I'm impressed with how well we eat. Oh, and la piece de la resistance of my shopping is that I've just ventured into Netto. I'll definitely be shopping there as well as Tesco now!