September 2013 Grocery Challenge

kayester

just preparing chicken chasseur for sunday dinner, left over potatoes will go into leek and potato soup later on in the week

Pandora_2

iammumtoone wrote: »

WOW £40 budget, I am impressed. How many are you feeding? Do you post your meals plans? I will be looking out as hoping to get some good tips

Luckily it's just for me! The cat has her own budget! :rotfl:
I did have a fair amount of food in the house before I started this challenge so it's been easier than it sounds, but I thought it would make me alter my spending behaviour ready for next month which really will be a challenge!!

I've not posted meal plans or shopping lists but I can start to if you like?! I mostly just buy everything as cheaply as possible (althoughI do have a few little luxuries!), bulk cook and freeze, and don't waste anything if I can possibly help it!!

I'll have a go at costing up my meals for this week coming and let you know how it works out

iammumtoone

Pandora wrote: »

Luckily it's just for me! The cat has her own budget! :rotfl:
I did have a fair amount of food in the house before I started this challenge so it's been easier than it sounds, but I thought it would make me alter my spending behaviour ready for next month which really will be a challenge!!

I've not posted meal plans or shopping lists but I can start to if you like?! I mostly just buy everything as cheaply as possible (althoughI do have a few little luxuries!), bulk cook and freeze, and don't waste anything if I can possibly help it!!

I'll have a go at costing up my meals for this week coming and let you know how it works out

Yes please I would be interested in seeing your meal plans. I class us as 1 1/2 people (me plus 6 year old) and 1 1/2 cats (mine and the one that lives next door that often visits!)

Next month I might try to separate food and "other" that comes out of grocery budget (loo roll, washing powder, cat food etc) be interesting to see what that shows. We really should be able to eat for under £20 week, I set my budget at £35 but I know I am not spending £15 week on "other".

she_who_can_not_cook

Reporting my first ever no spend weekend .
It is playing havoc with my walking haha.
It so would not have happened without the fact that i am on my SUMMER TWO WEEKS HOL.
When i have holidays i tend to shop til you drop. Have been known to go to a shop for a few things then go to the next store for reduced ect ect

flyinggiraffe_2

Well, this week came in at £22.44 and I think it will last me until Friday.

Pandora_2

Aaaargh!!!! Just wrote this all out and then lost it!!!! :mad: Here we go again!! :rotfl:

Here is one example of what I do/use/spend to make a batch of 7 meals with plenty of ingredients left over for the next batch.
All prices are taken from Mr T's website and don't take into account any special offers/BOGOFs/reductions/vouchers etc, and I've done it as though everything has to be bought for the very first time. Hope that makes sense?!?!

Shopping list for bolognaise -

Bag of frozen Quorn mince 300g - £1.89
1 red onion - £0.19
1 red pepper - £0.80
Value mushrooms 350g - £0.75
Tin value tomatoes 400g - £0.31
Jar value pasta sauce 440g - £0.39
Subtotal - £4.33

Also need -
Tube value tomato puree 200g - £0.35 (a couple of big squirts)
Jar of value mixed herbs 30g - £0.85 (a couple of pinches)
Jar of chopped dried garlic 53g - £1 (a couple of pinches)
Bottle of vegetable oil 1litre - £1.50 (large splash)
Value gravy granules 200g - £0.20 (2 tablespoons to thicken)
Subtotal - £3.90

Additional costs -
Value spaghetti 500g - £0.15
Value lasagne sheets 250g - £0.32
Jar of white sauce 430g - £1.15
Cheese 400g - £2.25
Frozen garlic bread slices x10 - £0.65
Subtotal - £4.52

TOTAL - £12.75

I split the bolognaise into 5 portions (4 regular and 1 large) to make 4 spag bols and a lasagne which I split into 3 portions, so that's 7 meals altogether. I serve it either with a couple of slices of garlic bread or if I have none left, I make some crusty bread which costs pennies after the initial cost of flour and yeast etc.

You will also have leftovers of tomato puree, mixed herbs, dried garlic, vegetable oil, gravy granules, spaghetti, lasagne sheets and cheese so the next batch should only cost £6.13, and you still wouldn't have used up all the herbs, garlic, oil, gravy and probably not all the puree either so these can go towards other meals and/or the third batch.

If you make the white sauce yourself it would work out cheaper but I've never got the hang of it! And you could skip the garlic bread and just have homemade crusty bread which would bring the cost down again. Obviously if you use meat mince instead of Quorn then that would be a different price but I don't know how much meat would be equivalent to 300g of Quorn as you would need to take into account shrinkage/draining off fat etc which you don't get with Quorn. (Don't know that much about cooking meat, sorry!) Of course you can also add a bit more veg to bulk it out further which I sometimes do, but it's generally only when I have bits and bobs that need using up, or of course there's the old porridge/lentils/beans trick of bulking it up as well

I freeze most of the portions and spread them out over 2 or 3 weeks, and then do the same again. If that's been helpful, I will work out some more meals for you

iammumtoone

Pandora wrote: »

Aaaargh!!!! Just wrote this all out and then lost it!!!! :mad: Here we go again!! :rotfl:

I'm not going to quote your whole post but that is amazing thanks for sharing. We eat meat but I would bulk out with lentils, if it was just me I wouldn't bother with the meat but I cook it for DS. I will certainly be trying this one.

kayester

wow that is very good. i use a lot of the same ingredients when i make chilli too ( i dont like kidney beans)
i used 1 white onion
3 red chillis
250gram mince beef (about £2.00)
2 tins chopped tomatoes
few squirts of puree
dash of woustershire sauce
oxo cube
seasoning
chilli flakes

(does 4 portions)
and then the rice

Peggybabcot

Had to pop to Sainsburys for spuds and packed lunch stuff as well as baking stuff and cat milk etc so £39.50 to add. I'll update signature shortly, assuming its working now? I had a £2.65 price match voucher from last time. From a separate budget I treated myself to some new baking tins (1/2 price at the mo) Well I say separate budget but in reality I used my nectar points so got them free. Can't wait to try them out x

Sequeena

Anyone know why we're unable to update our signatures?

Up to £31.05/£50 now. A complete overspend on mostly crap (sent OH with a list and he ignored it!). We still have 4 days to go I know it will be an overspend, just hope it's not by too much. Have £18.95 left.