February 2014 Grocery Challenge

mrs-moneypenny

just finished preping tea,
butternut and leek with stilton and walnuts

basically you cut a butternut squash in half scrape out the seeds, drizzle with olive oil then roast in oven for about 45 mins or til soft cut side up.
let it cool then trying not to damage the skin scrape out the soft flesh into a bowl. while your squash was baking you were cutting a leek lengthways and slicing it then in a little oil cooking it over a low heat so it softens but doesnt brown.

mix the cooked leek with the mashed squash flesh then add a handful of chopped walnuts and some chopped or crumbled stilton. mix all this together then spoon it back into the squash skins and pop back in the oven for about 15 mins. its nice to reserve a little of the cheese to sprinkle on the top just before cooking so it melts over it.

seemasfriend

After days of searching on the internet and trying to make up my mind whether to order Seville oranges online I almost tripped over them in tescos where they are called marmalade oranges! 4kg jumped into trolley so can feel a mega jam session coming on. Total spend today of £22.75 including 300 mixed onion sets which I will now add to signature.

islandhoppa

£2 spent on bread today plus had a treat for tea but that comes out of a separate budget

mags50_2

NSD for me

Fed up

But there's so many people far far worse off than me with all this terrible weather...had high winds and rain, branches down but (touch wood) no structural damage

Take care x

minicooper272

I like February - it's such a short month, and it helps me get my pennies together. I've been really bad at meal planning so far this year, I have meal planned, but didn't take enough consideration of what I already had in the fridge.

Next week I think I'll buy a loaf of bread and nothing else, that will force me to use up what's in the cupboard.

LittleBill

pinkparrott wrote: »

Just wondering what you all include ? E,g food , pet food, household cleaning etc,

:

Hi .. I'm only on my second GC month (but have been MSing and OSing for an age) and I only include what I buy at the supermarket

There are 3 of us .. Me plus two boys, 16 & 9 .. and 2 dogs

I have a MoneyWiz 'app' on my Mac with budgets for each category .. Pet food, Eco stuff, Fuel, Eating out ... and have assigned a budget for each, be they monthly or annually .. If we fail to use all on a month, it's carried forward as extra in the following

I buy all our major cleaning stuff from the Ethical Super' or Goodness Direct as it's all eco .. Our dog food comes from an online store too as it's cheaper ... So all these are NOT included in our 'Groceries'

What is included is food, plus any small household bits and bobs we get at a supermarket, ie, loo rolls .. I include alcohol too, but am not a huge drinker, so didn't feel it merited a separate budget .. But if you drink quite a lot (Ha ha .. I mean that in a nice way) or entertain a lot, you could do a separate one

A good starting point is maybe to write down everything you spend during an atypical month, and this will give you a good idea as to where your dosh goes .. It may also be a shock!

One tip would be .. Find your own appropriate level .. Lowest may not always be best .. Work out where YOU can/need to save and do that

Best wishes

superrhinos

Small spend of £3.04 to finish the month off. Instead of buying fromagais frais I managed to buy creme fraiche instead. Its for a veggie moussaka so I'm sure it'll be fine to use instead.

I get paid tomorrow (slightly early as its February) so am now ready to declare my total for the month at £92.11. My budget was £150 as its my first month and didn't really have an idea as to what I spent. This challenge has made me really think about what I spend and I hope to be able to get my monthly total to lower than this in a few months.

My budget for March is going to be only a bit lower at £140. I have a house guest for two weeks so expect to be spending more than I have in February.

Billie-jo

NSD yesterday but have spent £22.29 today in A!di.
Tonight we had fish pie with salad followed by pancakes with sugar & lemon.

I include all food, cleaning items and toiletries in my budget but not any alcohol (which is very little) We no longer have any pets. Fuel for car is from another budget and presents are again from another.

debtfreefuture

Can anyone tell me what the two little speech bubbles (next to the 'quote' button) are for ? ........sorry for the random question

DFF
X

marris

should have stayed home but went to morris and spent £13,68 :eek: but that included 1l of olive oil (half price) , 2 free weight watchers meals (never had them before) and 2 packs of YS the saucy fish co fresh salmon with watercress and crème fraiche sauce, and other bits.