February 2014 Grocery Challenge

mrs-moneypenny

sorry forgot to say welcome ikesmummy, and any other new challengers ive missed.

using up some carrots and sweet potaotes tonight by making them into soup - cheap quick and filling.

MissOrganised1972

kayester wrote: »

brill thankyou very much.
i only moved out of my mums a few years ago (im 24) and my mum was never good at any of this, and we ate rubbish. im trying to bring my children up healthier, so its all a learning curve for me at minute

Good for you! Hopefully that sounds as supportive as I mean it to and not patronising!

Islandmaid wrote: »

Hi all,

Did my first Feb spend today £49.52 from Aldo's and that included 2 bottles of wine for a yukky weekend.

I always grin when my bill comes in under £50, I used to spend double per week, and normally top up shops too - silly but I want to tell people in the shop LOL

Me too! :rotfl:

*******

Although my financial budgets run from 25th-24th of each month (to tie in with DH's pay day), my meal plan has always been by calendar month. So, today is my new meal plan month! I have decided to only meal plan weekly (on a trial basis) to make sure I assess what I have got in, what YS items I have managed to get & so that I take into account what level of my budget is left and steer the meals accordingly.

So, this week's, slightly lean meal plan goes something like this....
Friday - Out at a presentation 'do' and ticket includes a pig roast & salads :j
Saturday - Invited to friend's for dinner. They don't want any contribution (I usually have her do the pudding) but they only want me to bring crisps for nibbles which I have a big bag of, languishing in the cupboard from Christmas! :j
Sunday - Turkey crown (bought at Christmas) with veggies, stuffing, gravy etc.
Monday - Egg, beans & SW chips
Tuesday - Creamy SW Carbonara
Wednesday - Butternut squash & stilton pie (with LO stilton and butternut squash from last weeks Super 6)
Thursday - Beans on toast (DH out)

Breakfasts vary (cereal, porridge, fruit, yogurt, eggs on toast)
Lunches are pasta with salad, YS Piri Piri chicken and cous cous with roasted peppers & onions, all with fruit and yogurt.

I would post about my shopping today but I seem to have rambled on long enough! I'll save that exciting gem of information for later or in the morning!:D

kayester

MissOrganised1972 wrote: »

Good for you! Hopefully that sounds as supportive as I mean it to and not patronising!

thankyou

SarahB1989_2

Billie-jo wrote: »

Sarah - check this because I understand it to mean you cant buy groceries ON LINE with it but can in the store. Below is from the Tesco gift card site -

What can I buy with a Tesco Gift Card? It can be spent in our stores nationwide or online at tesco.com, direct**, entertainment and wine by the case. Sorry, you cannot use your Tesco Gift Card to buy groceries, books or clothing online yet, but we are working on it.
Please let me know if you find out for certain.

Thanks for this Billie-jo! That's the bit I'd read but I've clearly misunderstood it - will double-check with customer services when I go shopping on Monday (having a NS-weekend first).

Will put £40 on to start with and add another £40 half-way through the month so I can't spend it all at once, will be a nice reminder that I have to stick to this budget. Leaving £20 off the card in case I accidentally buy chocolate/coffee at work as is the usual cause of my overspends.

Ladyluck1

NSD... Hopefully a few more to come as I've nearly spent half my budget already!

ikesmummy

mrs-moneypenny wrote: »

sorry forgot to say welcome ikesmummy, and any other new challengers ive missed.

using up some carrots and sweet potaotes tonight by making them into soup - cheap quick and filling.

Thank you MrsMoneyPenny

Make-it-3

Long old month of January is finally behind us, despite it dragging I managed to come in under budget at £187.87/£200 (the for the first time ever :j

The only thing I have done differently is to start visiting Lidl (from buying a few bits first week to now 2/3 of shop is in there). Also I have been buying a sliced loaf in the weekly shop, sticking it in the freezer and defrosting a few slices each day. That way I don't feel compelled to eat it up before it goes off and then pop out for a top up shop mid-week.

Been buying all the milk for the week in one shop too, although it isn't keeping so have had to throw some away. Can someone give me tips on freezing and defrosting it please?

And finally, going to aim for £200 again this month (this is for 2 adults, 1 toddler and 1 cat) and hope I can do just as well, especially as its only a 4 week month. Good luck everyone else.

cw18

Make-it-3 wrote: »

Been buying all the milk for the week in one shop too, although it isn't keeping so have had to throw some away. Can someone give me tips on freezing and defrosting it please?

I find the lower fat the milk the more suitable it is for freezing, so a definite yes to skimmed, an OK for semi, and a 'the kids wouldn't drink it neat after defrosting' for full-fat.

You also need to be careful about expansion if buying in plastic containers, and it's definitely best frozen standing upright. I actually reckon there's more expansion room for the volume of milk by buying smaller containers instead of larger, but that makes the milk dearer in the first place

Another option would be to try switching to long-life.

CherryPie

Can't remember if I've joined for Feb or not? Anyway I'm in for £100 please.


Done a shop already which came to £30 ish (I'll find the receipt shortly)


Mostly on fruit n veg. Joined WW this week so here's to lots of tasty lowfat recipes. I think it sounds pretty similar to SW so I'm off to look at the recipe list.


Good luck everyone!

Verityemilia

Little spend at local shop

£332.40 / £5200