February 2014 Grocery Challenge

joedenise

I'm staying in today so it will be another NSD for me. I'm planning of making some beanburgers to freeze for dinner one night next week (I've got my DD1 and DGD staying at the moment). My DD said this morning that her daughter (DGD) refused to eat beans when she bought some and she didn't know what to do with them other than as a salad - so I checked my mealplan and I've got a chickpea curry planned for Monday (my DD doesn't eat curry, at all) so have changed the plan to beanburgers. I'm sure my DGD will eat them as she seems to eat anything and everything I put in front of her (and without complaining).

At least if she eats something here her mum will be able to get her to eat it at home if she cooks them! (well, that's the theory!)

Denise

Tiffany_Aching

I'm calling month end for me as tomorrow is payday and is the financial start of February for us. I've been quietly lurking all month and this thread has been fantastic, helping me focus on sticking to the budget and keeping me hanging on in there when I have felt like a blow-out

This last week has been interesting meal-wise as we were getting close to our budgeted amount and so started to dive into the depths of the freezer, which has provided us with some rather odd meal combinations at times! However, we have a stupid amount of freezers - a huge fridge freezer, an under counter and a medium sized chest freezer - the under counter one is now empty and defrosting, so saving us electricity:j We're about to start working our way through the chest freezer, then we will probably sell it, so saving even more electricity and getting some money off of the debt:j

Our budget was £300 and we have spent £299.99! Couldn't have got any closer! Our usual spend is around £550 so I am very pleased.

Thanks to everyone who has posted, you have all been a great support:T I'm definitely going to be in on Febs challenge!

BlueMoo

upright freezer (narrow as part of an American style fridge/freezer) which seems to get cluttered quickly. How does everyone organise theirs?!

I always make sure the things I use the most are in the top shelves - easy to get at.
Then I chuck all meats into one drawer, all fish in one, all bread/potatoes in another.
Then it is very easy to know exactly what you are looking for and where you will find it.

*****

Soworried - agreed that you are doing great. We def all gets those times. Sometimes I get so sick of trying to work out what's best value etc. etc. but I know it is worth it in the end. Maybe treat yourself to something small - I really like luxury cookies with a mug of hot choc (usually pick these up for £1-2 pounds) A cheap but good way of allowing myself a little treat.



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NSD yesterday. Supper was the mince with peppers, but added a bit of paprika, cayenne and chilli flakes and had with rice.

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Saw a thread about passing on baking/cooking skills and it was so funny as a friend called today and asked for help to make a cake! It's funny the things we know without 'knowing' them IYSWIM?! Especially as they wanted something cheap, fail-safe but impressive as it was a present.
Anyway, I report back later to tell you how the baking adventure turned out.

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Wedding planning is going really well - done to the last final details now. If anyone wants to see more detail, you can check out my MFW diary or my thread on the wedding boards. Means I should now have more time to look at other areas of my budget. I was thinking of maybe a 50/50 split of costco/supermarket budget - does anyone do something similar?

Living_proof

Well done Tiffany A - that is amazing.

I have to confess a gift card purchase not out of the budget. I have £100+ on an Asda savings card and I used some of this to buy five jars of instant hot chocolate. They are currently reduced from £2.74 to £1.50 and I have checked the other SMs and it's absolutely true. I keep the card for the real bargains during the year and it's useful in reserve if I have run out of budget.

woodformoretrees

Hi,
I'd really like to join in the grocery challenge for the first time.
I can't even admit to myself what we spend in a month on groceries, so I'm not going to come clean here, but........... I am going to set my daily budget at £10. This is for two adults, two primary schoolers, and a 16 yr old.
I think it's probably hugely ambitious - but it seemed a good place to start and next month I'll have more of an idea.
so - we will start on Friday along with the arrival of pay.
£290 for February it is.

lushlifesaver

Managed to get a cheeky lift to the SM from a colleague so got just about everything on my list for this week, next week and the tournie weekend! Although as is typical for me I forgot sandwich bags (again - only the third time so far this month!)


So budget update:
£6.70 from GC budget spent and £6.20 from tournie budget
I bought (GC = GC budget item/ SS = tournie budget)
2x toffee crisp biscuits - currently £1.60 ea or 2 for £2 (£1 each budget)
basic orange juice £0.65 (GC)
Wraps £1 (GC)
Wraps £1 (ss)
lettuce £0.60 (ss)
malt loaf £1.20 (GC)
2 X choc sharer bags £1 ea (ss)
6 pack of crisps £1.70 (half each budget)
bananas 6 (ss)
2 x 2l cherry pepsi £1 ea (GC)


Other than milk (£1) that should be us set now until middle of next week at the earliest at which point we'll need cheese (£2)


ETA:
That had better be us set now as I've just noticed we are almost half way in to the budget already!!! I know I've bought some stock that will last longer than a month (e.g fabric conditioner which should last us 2+ months) but still!!! Eeep! Going to challenge myself that the four days bf is at camp this month will be 4 NSDs for me no matter what!

SarahB1989_2

'Borrowed' £4 from Feb's budget today (we'll pretend I haven't already been pinching pennies from it since late last week..) as was walking through Marks to get somewhere else (dangerous, I know), at the same time as the yellow sticker fairies!
Got a turkey roasting joint that serves 3 for £1.80, 2 mini shepherds pies that will be great for lunches for 60p each, and a bag of microwaveable spanish potatoes (reckon 2 -3 portions in it) for £1. Turkey and pots will be tea tonight/tomorrow/Fri and sheps pies are in the freezer for next week (have YS chickpea spread and a 12p YS loaf for lunches this week).

Now if only the rest of the month's grocery shopping can come in quite so cheaply...

Sparkle_66

I will start my GC on Friday which is monthly payday for me. I have been trying not to use my debit card during January except for things like dental/optical charges and petrol.

My son gets paid weekly so pays his board in cash along with a loan (from me) so I am trying to feed 3 adults on £50 a week. This doesn't include household items such as washing powder, toilet roll, dishwasher tablets etc as I only ever buy these when they are on offer. Managed to get Ariel powder 22 washes for £3 in Morrisons so bought 4 boxes a couple of weeks ago. Today I bought 16 Velvet toilet rolls for £5 less a 50p voucher in Morrisons.

Did my shopping on Saturday with a £5 off £25 spend in Iceland and £5 off £40 spend in Aldi. I've 2 more £5 vouchers for Aldi so will stock up this week even though it means overspending a bit. Whenever I get a voucher that I might use it goes into a separate wallet so I know exactly where they all are including any Boots Advantage offers. Thanks to Extreme Couponing (American TV show).

Today I cancelled a direct debit, decreased my credit card payment and reclaimed my dental bill (insurance) so this week I have made savings of £59.

debtfreefuture

Well - my budget for 4 weeks is £200. I thought I'd done quite well at the weekend and only spent £36.99.
However......... I needed some bits and bobs and ended up spending £45.45 in Sainsbury tonight. In my defence:o I did buy X 3 aerial liquid for £10 ( and they're usually £7.50 each) , Large Sure deodorants are all half price. The price match told me I saved £21.26 shopping there. Although I'm not sure these are very accurate!
Although I've spent loads this week I'm hoping that my amount will even out over the months?? God, I'm useless at this, :eek:

lovefullshelves

Hello Ok, need to tighten as I wanna save some money. So, dropping down £20 to £180 this month please There's alot of veg we still have growing, I just need to find some new ways of making use of it!