May Grocery Challenge

calleyw

HappySad wrote:

Thanks Crana999.

The packet is from a local butcher & it had no cooking instructions. I will soak then for 2-3 hours then add them to a curry.

Cheers

I buy mine from sainsburys 200g for 59p and says to soak in boiling water for 1 min and then add to what ever you are cooking.


Yours

Calley

HappySad

angela110660 wrote:

I also wonder where all these coupons come from. I never see them.

We are 2 adults 2teen/adults and 1 child. Spend roughly £100 per week. Make nearly all my own meals from scratch, bake cakes, get organic veg box fortnightly, don't drink much - bottle of wine at weekend; don't smoke; use vinegar like we all do; make sandwiches for everyone for work/college; cannot see how I can spend any less. I buy loads of own brand stuff as well. Where do I go wrong??

THe only thing that I could suggest is to eat less meat. Meat is expensive compaired to the veggy alternatives. I am now making food with lentils, tofu and soon to make dishes with soya chunks. Veggy meal are so much more cheaper then meat dishes. YOu can get a very large bag of lentils from Sainsbury for only £1.80 and this would make loads and loads of meals. If you spent that much on meat you would only get one meal out of it. Do you get food that at BOGOF (buy one get one free)? :rotfl:

angela110660

HappySad wrote:

THe only thing that I could suggest is to eat less meat. Meat is expensive compaired to the veggy alternatives. I am now making food with lentils, tofu and soon to make dishes with soya chunks. Veggy meal are so much more cheaper then meat dishes. YOu can get a very large bag of lentils from Sainsbury for only £1.80 and this would make loads and loads of meals. If you spent that much on meat you would only get one meal out of it. Do you get food that at BOGOF (buy one get one free)? :rotfl:

I do BOGOF whenever I see them but they are not always on things that I would want to eat. We eat meat probably four times a week eg roast, mince made into something, sausages, chicken pieces. Rest of the week will be home made pizza bases, fish of some sort. I do not buy the most expensive but I do not buy the 55p for 50 kind of offers - you know what I mean. I have not tried lentils to be honest so will have a look in my Cranks cookbook. Not keen on Tofu as have tried at my vegan BIL's once before.
Will not buy any tinned meals or pies as think they are full of E numbers.
Thank you for your advice.

Lucie_2

angela110660 wrote:

We are 2 adults 2teen/adults and 1 child. Spend roughly £100 per week.

Don't beat yourself up over it. Between five of you that's only £20 per person per week. I know people who spend that in the staff canteen in a week.

My weekly shop comes to about £50 for 2 of us, so that's £25 each. (Although last week was only £16 because I was "overstocked" from previous weeks)

You might be able to shave a bit off that, but I don't think you're doing too badly at all.

squeaky

Yep, I base mine on roughly £25 per week. Though I try to keep a little of it by to cover for the unexpected things.

I don't fuss about going over a bit - I just try a little harder next time out to stay under. That's why I'm happy to work with "roughly" instead of "exactly".

For some people, I know, "exactly" works better. Just not me

MATH

Don't forget to go onto the coupons board. Many supermarkets still accept internet printed coupons if you are sensible and don't take the mick. I regularly get £5-8 off my shop at Tesco. Every little helps. heheheh

squeaky

Time to browse there is the thing... I've got 50p off Colgate toothpaste sitting ready to be spent and I'll find/MAKE a minute or two to grab more through the month. Only just lost my virginity as a coupon user last time out, so I don't know if my local Asda is happy to take coupons yet.

On topic bit: Did I mention I'd used coupons to help reduce my shopping bill in my earlier account of savings?

Mrs_Thrift

After a bit of a re-jig, our budget for May has gone up from £77 to £82, although we will still be over on it (hubby on sick pay but when he's back at work we will make up for the overspend.....theoretically!) and I think we will probably spend about £130.

The shopping we did last week didn't last as long as I had hoped, but we're managing on about £25 a week for ALL of our food, when we used to spend at least £30 on food just for in the house, and another £25ish on food to eat at work.

After realising just how much I need to stretch the budget though, I've started making two cups of tea from each of my herbal tea bags at work, and I get three cups if I use the teapot at home. Every little helps!

And I felt very inspired when I realised that cutting back from £55 a week to even £30 a week means we spend a whopping £1,300 less a year! Savings certainly sound better on a yearly basis.

crana999

It's even better if you take account of tax and think how much that equates to from your gross salary (if that makes sense0

Loadsabob

HappySad wrote:

THe only thing that I could suggest is to eat less meat. Meat is expensive compaired to the veggy alternatives. I am now making food with lentils, tofu and soon to make dishes with soya chunks. Veggy meal are so much more cheaper then meat dishes. :rotfl:

Hi Happysad (so strange, that's my name on another forum!!),

I've made a new thread called "Tofu Experiences"...I have to admit it's probably not the most exciting of topics to engage people! But I wondered how you're finding the tofu when you use it in place of meat? What has it been successful in, which type do you buy etc?...