February 2014 Grocery Challenge

craigywv

hi all flo your dinner looks lovely! I want it! lol. nsd here as rain been sooooo bad. tomorrow will be in town so shall prob need to get milk in Iceland. that should be all food ways. I hope!

minicooper272

Hi all, pay day today, so time to start my Feb challenge!

I was very pleased earlier when someone was shocked I ONLY spend £80 a month on food! I still think there's scope to bring that down, but I'm not going to manage that this month - 2 weeks left on a cookery course, which is driving my costs up, but stocking the freezer nicely.

So i'm reporting in for £80 for February. I have a well stocked freezer, a cupboard full to bursting - I just need fresh veg and bread!

DanielleNic87

I need to stop spending.... Hopefully this will last us a few weeks. We have a lot in our freezers/cupboards.

Mr S delivery coming on Sunday amounting to £50.69. Sig updated

Gorgeestwo

DH called in to Mr T's again as I needed peppers for tea, the ones lurking in the bottom of the fridge were beyond anything useful but he did only buy peppers :j so a £2 spend which has been added to my sig
Going to do our meal plan tomorrow morning, we used to have one 'try something new day' each week & I'd really like to get back into doing this again too, so think it'll be 'try something new Thursday'

zafiro1984

Does anyone actually stick strictly to their meal plan - I never seem to be able to do that. Life gets in the way, someone arrives unexpectedly, or I'm busy and just don't have time to produce what was on the list for that day and end up having to do something quickly and off plan

cw18

Meal plan?
If I'm lucky I decide within an hour of getting up what I'm going to make for tea that day. More normally it's mid-afternoon when I have a rummage around the freezers, and I have to find something that can be cooked from frozen or defrosted quickly. I might sometimes decide the night before I'm going to do 'something' with mince or chicken breast fillets and pull them out to defrost, but it's still the day of cooking before I decide what I'm going to make with them.....

[Deleted User]

NSD today, but as DH is on an island in the middle of Cook Strait and I live on a smallholding and don't drive, it wasn't unexpected. I also expect the next two days to be NSDs as well!
I don't meal plan, tend to get the protein from the freezer in the morning then wander around the gardens to see what will go with it.
This allows for lots of substitutions and means I rarely need to go to the shops for particular ingredients, unless I am making a special recipe.
I do however keep a pantry full of spices, tinned goods and other flavour enhancers.

beth2242

I do meal plan every Sunday for the week ahead. Usually only consists of evening meals as we (me, h2b and DD) are usually in different places for lunch and breakfast so we just go with quick lunch packs that we've usually thrown together. What I tend to do for my meal plan is plan 7 evening meals but don't say which day we are having what. I look in the freezer and fridge on the Sunday to see what we have in and what needs using up and then I (have started this week) pre order the shop so I only buy what I need and then click and collect or get it delivered! I find this works really well.We do always have a specific type of meal on a specific day such as Thursday is usually something quick that we whip out of the freezer or even beans on toast as this is a 'mad rush' day!
I have found meal planning for the week ahead or even a few days ahead works really well because it shows me what I need when I buy the food shop for the week - and quite often I barely need anything!

Tiffany_Aching

I'm in

Last months challenge saved us a small fortune and allowed us a quite a bit more cash to throw at the debts so I definitely want to do this again!

Same as last month for us please - £300. This is for seven people (2 adults, 4 teens and a 11 year old) and includes cleaning and toiletries

kayester

Yeah I always meal plan, i have planned for the next 2 weeks this time, (usually a week) but i want to start having a week off from the shopping every month now.
Depending on the dates on meats delivered i may alternate the days, but i tend to stick to the plan unless my OH decides to take me out which of course I dont mind.
First day of the month for me, DS and DD want to bake so I dont intend on leaving the house at all today, (popping out for a drink or 5 with a friend tonight, OH paying) so NSD number 1 for me (hoping for more than last month)