February 2014 Grocery Challenge

craigywv

ikesmummy....................as a mother to a 10 yr old bin and a 41 yr old bin I know how you feel. I have found crisps etc are no good. now its box of readymade fruit cocktail made in fridge out of tin of pears tin of peaches box of value grapes and some peeled kiwis. they can eat what they want. toast and jam not very healthy but filling.bananas,tinned hotdogs cut up in abowl in fridge. flapjacks,crackers and cheese,,hm mini quiches easy to make and freeze. hth

BMG

Thank you for all your ideas yesterday. I enjoyed reading through them and they got my mind working overtime.

Ches

Went shopping in Mr M today to get a few bits and OH paid then I bought paper cases for mini muffins and a voile curtain from QD which I paid for from the shopping budget. So £6.98 to add to my total but I did come out on the right side as I think OH paid about £22 for the food.:)

happysinglemum

Hi everyone!

May I join in please? I've recently switched from Tesco to Aldi and seem to have halved my food spend each week! I have been using up food in my freezer & cupboards too though, so not sure how accurate my new budget will be.

My budget for Feb is £160 and so far I've spent £67.43. Not sure how many no spend days I've had this month so far, but going to aim for 5 between now and the end of Feb.

I've done lots of batch cooking this week, so got about 2 weeks' worth of dinners in the freezer from that

My aim, over the next few months is to reduce my budget to £120 per month (just me, ds (15) and our dog to feed).

I'm looking forward to trying out some of the recipes on here, and some new ideas for saving pennies!

SarahB1989_2

£2.31 spend in T's today - popped in for milk but decided to treat myself so got profiteroles and a few other naughties. Profiteroles were YS and I had a Price Promise voucher so far cheaper than it could have been! Still over a tenner left on the gift card I had earmarked for the first half of Feb so quite pleased.

LittleBill

ikesmummy wrote: »

Wondering if any of you can help me with suggestions/examples with regards to snacks. I have two boys (8 & 4) and a hubby who are all very active and as a result seem to be sniffing around looking for things to eat almost constantly.

What do you all keep in for snacking on in between meals? Last week mine got through a whole batch of brownies, a whole batch of flapjacks and 24 mini mince pies and 24 mini Jaffa tarts as well as about a dozen apples and a dozen bananas plus some yogurts, raisins and bread sticks.

Feels like about half my budget goes on snack food :eek:

I hate to say it .. but ... bigger meals?

That is a lot between meals .. the grown up can fend for himself, but are the little ones becoming 'dependent' on those snacks for a quota of their calories? Maybe they're factoring them in unconsciously and eating less at meals times?

Sorry to go all LittlePsychologicalBill *blink blink*

ikesmummy

Thank you very much for your replies Craigywv and LittleBill. Craigywv there are some snacks there we don't really do at the moment so will be trying some. I completely agree with you in principle LittleBill and have been increasing portion sizes particularly for my eldest son. I think I probably have three things preventing me from just doing set snacks each day and telling them they then have to wait for the next meal - firstly my eldest is quite low weight after having health problems since he was about 9 months old (he went from the 95th percentile down to the 2nd which is pretty much where he has stayed) so I have always encouraged him to eat whenever he is hungry, secondly it doesn't always work logistically in that today for instance they were hungry when they came home from school (where I can't control what they eat from their lunch-boxes) but we had swimming lessons so dinner wasn't going to be until late and thirdly I am a bit of a grazer myself (I tend to space my lunch at work out over about 3 hours, have my sandwich and then about an hour later some fruit . . ) so I would feel a bit hypocrytical to expect them to be set on three meals and two snacks a day but tht does then land me in the position I am in I suppose :undecided

Anyway just spent £9 in lidl topping up on fruit, butter to make more flapjacks, milk and a few other bits and bobs.

Thanks again, do appreciate the suggestions which are going to help me going forward

MrsCautious

Big hugs to you kayester andBMG, big hugs to anyone who fancies one as well, why not? Xx

My spends have crept up, bought quite a few YS bits yesterday at Sains, it was only about 5 so they weren't the best reductions, I totted it up after and there was just under £6 in savings, I bought a YS peri peri chicken for £3.99 down from £6, we all had sandwiches for packed lunches today, then we had a chicken dinner for tea and our dog had a generous amount with some gravy as well.

I have a really early start at work tomorrow and will be shattered at tea time so it will be soup or toast and something or baked potatoes for tea.

Thursday will be pizza and potato skins from the freezer and I think Friday will just be me, will cook and have/save some mince dishes over the weekend. Touch wood I don't want to be back in the supermarket for a few days now. Freezer is full as anything, it is tiny though. Also have plenty in for lunches and snacks.

Other YS bits I bought were dented tins of baked beans, down to 19p and some very good quality sausages down to £1.34 a packet. Also 2 tins of Homepride cook in sauce for 99p each -- not the most frugal way of doing it I know but it suits the time I have available.

LittleBill

ikesmummy wrote: »

I completely agree with you in principle LittleBill and have been increasing portion sizes particularly for my eldest son. I think I probably have three things preventing me from just doing .....

No worries, did not mean to 'beat you up' .. twas just an observation

I have two sons also .. 16 & 9 .. they are quite light on the snack front if anything (as well as being quite lightweights themselves) .. but i do try to pack then full at meals times .. plus pudding!

I send flapjack to school for snack time (the youngest has school dinners) .. but unless tea v late, they just have tea at around 5-5.30 .. As there are only we-three, we please ourselves as to our preferred mealtimes! If tea is late, they get fruit or crackers and milk when they get in .. Crisps are a rubbish/non food really, despite how moreish they are .. Do you think they would palate some HM muesli or 'fridge' bars? These are quite 'bulky' and low GI, so keep them full for longer

They are very similar to flapjacks so may be acceptable ... Here is a recipe for some ...

http://en.paperblog.com/home-made-muesli-bars-71033/

These ones have rice krispies/pops in too, but you could add or subtract to taste, or add whatever you have lying around in the cupboards

Another lateral thought was encouraging them to drink more .. especially water .. sometimes kids eat out of boredom or mistake hunger for being thirsty

LittleLateralBill

Soworried

Another NSD today, I'm working late tomorrow so that should be my 3rd nsd in a row :j