January 2014 Grocery Challenge

dingdongsaving

Made a bigger list and did a 2 week shop today as I know next weekend shopping just wont fit into our schedule and it'll need to be a top up on fresh produce only.

Morrys had loads of deals on things that were on my list anyway (gotta love it!) so I've stocked up on some weekly items too. Happy to have the list be a bit shorter in the coming weeks as loading and unloading the car isn't nearly as much fun now I'm this pregnant! Hehe!

I've updated my signature. x

Islandmaid

NSD today as taking a PJ day - stew in the oven as I forgot to put SC on this AM.

Watching films and dipping into the ironing mountain - just dumped about a hundred odd socks - where do they come from??????? Probably find their brother,s now their gone LOL

katkin

10 days into my month and I have £46.05 / £180 left.

The freezer and cupboards are stocked up and I have menu plans sorted for the rest of the month. Will only need fresh veg, fruit, milk and the odd loaf for hubbies sandwiches until next month.

I have already done and planned a lot more veggie and "low" meat meals this month. Since we're trying to lose a bit of weight this has meant NO pastry or pizza. I've reduced portions but upped the veg / salad - so far so good.

So far we've test piloted and liked:

* Fabada - Spanish black pudding and chorizo type stew. Very rich.

* Huevos rancheros - a keeper, really liked this.

* Stuffed peppers - another keeper, lovely and very versatile, can fill with whatever is available. I did herby rice, pancetta and veggies.

* Mushroom stroganoff - served with brown rice, but found myself hungry after 2 hours. Will need a bigger portion next time.

* Frittata - another flexible meal, throw in whatever is handy. Chorizo, pepper and mushroom here.

* Chorizo and mixed bean chilli - actually a regular in our house, now moving into making quesadillas or enchiladas with it.

* Channa Dhall and various veg n' bean curries. Hubby hates lentil curry so I have to go to some lengths to disguise it haha.

* Various bean and veggie burger / patties either in buns or with wedges, spicy cous cous.

* Falafel in pitta with spicy sauce, salad - have this on this week's menu, my first try at it, intend to oven bake them instead of fry.

* I've increased fish meals also however that's increased costs. Why of why is fish so expensive....

Finding an increase in veg / fruit / salad also pricey even shopping at the continental shoppy places. Moved to frozen cauli and mixed fruits to keep costs down.

Been a costly month on things like shoe polish, cling film and stain remover, though I know those things will last for a while. The biggest change is having to go to 4 different shops to get all my shopping list at better prices.

I have my fat cats on a diet also lol. Now measuring out their meals instead of guestimating.

Lets see if I can get through 20 days of fresh on just over 40 quid. Fingers crossed.

Best of luck to all x

CH27

I've done another week within budget & have got 3 more savings stamps.

New week starts tomorrow & I need to meal plan before shopping.

meg72

friend dropped by with three carrier carrier bags of out of date tinned stuff, someone she knew had cleared his Mums bungalow as she had moved in with him, Bless his Mum is 93 years old and he is 73. when my friend asked him if he couldn't use it himself apparently he said he had kept enough to last them both out. He had been quite upset as people he offered it too had turned their noses up and asked my friend what she thought was wrong with people these days "We didn't have dates in our day"

Theres tins of cornbeef, sardines, salmon, mackeral, cods roe, fruit .potatoes and sweet corn. would have cost a small fortune if I had bought it. Hoping to sort my camera out and take a pic later.

I don't normally use a lot of tinned stuff but am thinking for fun I will have a use it up Feb (as if I didn't have enough of my own stash already) and use some of the money I save to buy stuff for the food bank

physicsgirl

Spent £5.62 in Sainsbobs this morning picking up some bits: ice cream, bananas, gram flour, pearl barley, arborio rice, creamed coconut (cheaper than using the cans, but hopefully not too much more effort) and tandoori masala spices.

I can't believe how sneaky supermarkets are, looking for the gram flour: at one end of the world food aisle was Sainsbury's own at £1.79 for 500g, then at the other end was the Natco stuff at £1.29 for 1kg!! Mad! Let's just hope it makes good pakoras!

spookybuffy

am i too late to sign up for this year?

katkin

spookybuffy wrote: »

am i too late to sign up for this year?

Hi and welcome. I'm a newb to the Grocery Challange too and get the impression you can sign up anytime.

My month starts mid-month but I'm joining in to reduce my spend.

meg72 - I'd enjoy that challenge of making the most out of the tins through Feb, you should go for it and put by the money you'd have spent on groceries. Some folks are funny about these things but I'd ignore them and get on with planning some interesting and experimental meals with those tins.

physicsgirl - it really annoys me too that I have to spend so much time and effort investigating supermarket pricing information so I can get enough info to be able to make a simple purchase decision gggrrr.....they don't make it easy do they!

meg72

katkin wrote: »

Hi and welcome. I'm a newb to the Grocery Challange too and get the impression you can sign up anytime.

My month starts mid-month but I'm joining in to reduce my spend.

meg72 - I'd enjoy that challenge of making the most out of the tins through Feb, you should go for it and put by the money you'd have spent on groceries. Some folks are funny about these things but I'd ignore them and get on with planning some interesting and experimental meals with those tins.

physicsgirl - it really annoys me too that I have to spend so much time and effort investigating supermarket pricing information so I can get enough info to be able to make a simple purchase decision gggrrr.....they don't make it easy do they!

Thank you I think I will enjoy the challenge, I have always ignored the date on a tin as I also am of the age when we didn't have them. its just that being oldstyle born and bred I don't normally use tins. but Hey Ho these tins are free, so I better find some recipes to use them

jammy_dodger

well a BIG spendy day on groceries for me £25.80 in adsa and £17.98 in tsco

have updated my sig

did buy a heap of treats to send to my DD in uni she is studying very hard and manages a very tight budget so i thought a wee hamper of goodies will cheer her up
heavens knows what the postage will be when i send it tomorrow but it'll be worth it
so thats my budget blown for the month when i was doing so well
ah well i have enough stock to keep me going the rest of the month and i get paid in friday but i think i will still stick to my budget per calendar month if i can so i think i have just short of £6 in my allocated budget for the remainder of january so its keep out of shops and back to my supplies for me

have some sausages out of freezer so gonna have sausage and mash onion gravy for supper and have another bash at toad in hole using the recommended recipe mentioned earlier

tasha42 i would recommend keeping hens i just love my girls thats rosie ( a cuckoo maran) and bob( light sussex) in the picture i have a bluebelle called tilly who was camera shy that day





JD xx