January 2014 Grocery Challenge

Make-it-3

Been to both Lidl & Sainsburys this morning. Enjoying all the bargains the former has, so much so my weekly bill this week is almost equally split between the two, £13.81 in Lidl & £16.01 in Sainsburys.

There shouldn't be a need to pop in for any top-ups, so hoping to keep a clean sheet and my month remaining budget at £81.73 intact until next Wed.

Will add meal plans later, as off to hairdressers now.

shiningfaery

Completely lost track this month, spent at least £100 on takeaways then probably on £200+ on food so budget is blown. Have had so much on my mind its been easier to let this slip....:(

Will join a new and go back to a weekly budget since monthly is not working for me. will spend this week getting a plan in place to start a fresh next week.

On a plus note having fish tonight going to make in in my slow cooker with veg style ratatouille served with crusty bread.

CherryPie

Just done my first approved foods order! It came to £30, and although I'll be giving some of it away to Mum, Sis etc, I'm still gonna count it as £30. Also popping into to add another £22 to my sig so must be very close to budget with still half the month to go! I'm not worried, I have plenty food, just need to start using it!

joedenise

I've just finished doing an inventory of all 3 freezers! Still got the cupboards to do - which I'm not looking forward to as they are so full!

Once that's all done I'll be in a better position to join in the February challenge. I've probably spent far more money this month because I wasn't involved in the challenge due to being on holiday for half of it.

Denise

physicsgirl

Gone longer than I intended without updating this thread, oops, must stick to NY resolutions.

Spent 47p in Wilkos last Thursday (returned Christmas present of tea towels without receipt but they let me swap it for things of an equal or greater value) on dishmatic heads (25p cheaper than £land), tinfoil and clingfilm. I'm still not sure whether I would've been happier to receive these things or the original tea towels on Christmas day...

Then did my food shop in Ald! yesterday, spent £26.92, inc £6 on Peach Schnapps as a treat for getting my lab reports done, which should last between 2-3 years based on our current consumption!

Can't find my meal plan so I will update later with that.

fingersxed

Just updated my signature after a few small spend in Tesco. £5.97! I was really very good. Went in for three things - came out with three things:T

angelatgraceland

Just placed an Approved Foods order because I tried the first of my Slimfast Latte drink today and I really liked it so thought I'd order in some more while I've got the chance. I'm not generally one for diet foods/drinks but I do enjoy the slimfast ones.Having a Waitrose delivery on Tuesday also tso that is next weeks budget all spent. This week is proving tooo be a cheap week though as so far in 15 days I've only spent £89.25 so with those added to my account I will still have £73 left until the end of the month. Therefore as long as I have some no spending days in between-or tiny spend days I will remain on target.
Today I am cooking Sweet and sour pork as I defrosted some pork chops last night-trying to use up some of the older items in my freezer. Started a food inventory-done one of my cupboards so far and tidied a second ready for listing but its a rather large task! I had refunds yesterday as I returned laundry liquid to Waitrose as I am now making my own. I've still got some commercial stuff but I had far too much so this is also a decluttering exercise.

physicsgirl

Found the meal plan:

Wednesday - Pasta and vegetable tomato bake with crispy topping (literally, I crush half a bag of crisps and sprinkle them over the top)

Thursday - Thai curry with coconut rice

Friday - HM pizza with whatever toppings I can find

Saturday - Jack's creamy courgette and mint pasta

Sunday - Potato Madison (potatoes, bacon and mushroom soup)

Monday - just me so going to have Jack's banana and chickpea curry made with tea instead of stock, can't wait to see how this turns out

Tuesday - Jack's pearl barley risotto with spinach and feta (and maybe some butternut squash if I can get along to Ald! to pick one up for 49p)

The changes to last week's meal plan were:
- didn't end up doing the thai curry or pasta &veg bake so they're on this week instead
- had a couple of lazy dinners instead including fish and chips (from freezer), omelette and salad, and turkey and chickpea curry, which was the laziest meal of all since I'd forgotten to get the turkey out the freezer, so just broke it into pieces and cooked it for 10mins longer than usual! I'd also planned to do "peshwari" naan with this, but I found I didn't have any nanns in the cupboard :O and it was already late so I didn't have time to make them, so it was going to be with boring plain rice, but I found some micro pilau rice (49p from Ald!) in the cupboard which made it feel like a proper meal rather than just thrown together! I did feel like a cheat but it was soooo quick and easy!

Make-it-3

Meal plans for the week ahead look like this:

Tonight - me dinner out/OH & LO something Indian from store cupboard
Falafel with cous cous
Smoked salmon in cream sauce with taglitelle
HM spinach & goats cheese pizza
Prawn rissotto
Stilton, mushroom & broccoli pasta
Tuna & sweetcorn puff pastry pie with mash

Forgot to buy stuff for lunches tho (except bread) so gonna be making it up as I go.

poppycracker

well its two weeks til DH gets paid and our month starts again. I get paid tomorrow thank goodness, but there are so many things that need to be paid 'before' the end of the month that there is going to very little left for groceries. Going now to do a food stocktake, see what the minimum I can get away with buying tomorrow is. Luckily still have plenty of cat and bird food so they wont go hungry. (DH and I could survive on internal fat stores, they can't!)