March 2014 Grocery Challenge

recovering_spendaholic

With great embarrassment I have to declare that I have totally blown the budget this month. I am embarrassed because I didn't NEED to overspend but caved in to the constant harranguing for stuff, plus eldest came home from University and I had to do a big shop for her plus give her stuff from my cupboards and freezer.

Anyway total spend (including student supplies) so far is £435 and I will need to get potatoes and milk before the end of the month.

It has been a very stressful month for a lot of reasons and one of my favourite "escapes" is going looking for bargains. So April will HAVE to be more disciplined. I have opened another separate current account at a different bank and am going to transfer the grocery money into that on 1st April and hopefully that will make things easier.

I love to read all of your meal plans and hints!

dizzy_lizzie

icontinuetodream wrote: »

Totally blew the budget this week...got a new job and decided to celebrate by buying a whole side of salmon (on offer at t*sco), asparagus, a mango and a papaya (for salsa) plus a bottle of sparkly!! Not feeling too guilty though...it was lush!!:D

icontinuetodream congratulations on the new job :T
I'm sure I read somewhere that it's the law that a bottle of sparkly is allowed when it's a big celebration such as a new job But don't quote me on it :whistle:

recovering_spendaholic wrote: »

With great embarrassment I have to declare that I have totally blown the budget this month. I am embarrassed because I didn't NEED to overspend but caved in to the constant harranguing for stuff,
It has been a very stressful month for a lot of reasons and one of my favourite "escapes" is going looking for bargains.

recovering spendaholic I hope April is a better month for you. Could you still have your little 'escapes' but limit what you take out with you. Maybe allow yourself a few pounds if your budget will allow and then give yourself permission to have that little spend. That way it might help stop you going way over budget and make it fun too by seeing how much you can get with your allotted amount. Also and I know this sounds a bit strange but take it all in 50 pence pieces. That way psychologically it looks like you've spent more than you have and might give you that little lift. Although we do know that we should be able to get that feel good factor without spending, if you think you're going to do it anyway the above may help.

I know it's very hard changing habits. OH and I went into town today on an errand and had a walk round the shops too. Normally we would buy a drink and a snack but today I was adamant that we wouldn't! I just thought why do I want to spend my hard earned money on something I can have when I get home? For the price of one cup of tea I could buy a whole box of tea bags! It was hard especially smelling all the tempting food, though as a vegan I'm limited but there's always a bag of chips to be had! But we stuck to it and I was sooooo pleased with myself when we got home. It felt like I'd won a little battle and probably saved us about a tenner!
Little things like that really do add up.
Meant to add I had a little spend on some vegan cheese and vegan ice cream, it was buy one and get one half price from H & B. Will add to sig.
Over last months budget by £83.89 so I've upped it to £300 this month to give me some leeway.

JIL

Make-it-3 wrote: »

I see Lidl have potatoes at £2.99 for 7.5 kg this week. A fab deal but I think that size would probably take a couple of months to get through. I keep my potatoes in a brown bag in the cupboard but still they start sprouting/going soft after a week or so. Is there anyway of making them last longer.

I don't want recipes for spuds for 3 meals a day!

Keep the bag in the coolest but dry place in your house. A shed or garage perhaps. Dirty potatoes always seem to keep best. I bought some lidl potatoes not long ago and I wasn't too impressed they seemed to boil into the water.
Not done any shopping since my last update. Will need a couple of bits tomorrow so will pop to tesco and lidl. Just need some bits for packed lunches and a couple of yoghurts.

kayester

morning all.
had take outs last 2 nights, whoops.
no hit my budget though as all were paid for.
£55 spend at asda yesterday brings me bang on budget.
next weeks shop I am going to include in march, as im buying beef to make for mothers day. it also means that i wont have 5 shops in april i will have 4
(I won £180 yesterday so not too bothered about going over budget this month hehehe)
NSD today
had homemade cheese scones this morning, delicious!
Going to skip lunch and do some excercise (on the wii fit!)
then its chicken roast for dinner.
Chicken, Mash, roasties, hm cauli cheese, stuffing, broccoli carrots, hm yorkshire puds and gravy YUM!!!

Im also full of a head cold, so hoping shower after excercise will help a little, and changing all the beddings so germs at at a minimal!

Happy Sunday all!!

lushlifesaver

Kiwiblue your life sounds so lovely! Although I don't envy all the work to prepare so much meat for storage!

Off out today and as I will have bf (and therefore the car) I intend to make him go to a supermarket at some point so I can get the last few bits for the week - nothing huge just easier to get it whilst out and I don't get as tempted to buy (lots of) other little bits!

Budget is going down in April (already posted over there) as I have so much more time and reason to hunt for bargains/offers. However I do have a secret stash hidden in a tin in the kitchen in case of some 'far too good to miss' offers which could help us stock up so will be extra vigilant in the next few weeks :-)

craigywv

finished the fiscal fast, it was hard as it was boring not going out shopping but great for the pocket. will go lidddddls today for milk and fruit and veg and shall MAYBE do the fast again next week.................need to be amongst humans again for a while! hm soup in sc and pie and mash and veg and gravy for lunch,sunny but freezing over here, have a good day all xxx

mags50_2

6 NSD only because I've not been well so haven't been anywhere, lived out freezer

Before illness I'd spent some grocery money so I've updated my sig.

Now to go back over a few pages and catch up on how you've all been doing. Goodness it will soon be April!

Stay safe x

lovefullshelves

£5.99 in aldi..and that includes a bottle of squash for my 25 yr old DD who was visiting!

claireyfairy82

Well I've been in bed with flu 😷 and not really able to do anything. I'm up and trying to catch up on my open university course work, arrgh:eek:!

I had to leave my OH in charge of the food budget which I've just been looking at he did really well. I gave him access to my food money jar, and the meal planner. We did have a few takeaways and the money was from my jar so all accounted for, he say he used his switch card twice roughly about £40 so I've added that on. All in I'm looking at a grand total of £255.53 so far this month.:rotfl:

I think this was a combination of my bulk cooking, I have a freezer in the kitchen and one in my garage; and him not wanting to deal with my wrath when I felt better and realised he'd blown the budget. :T.

I realise I'm lucky my OH is on board with this new way of living, having just joined the MSE forum at the end of the year I have managed to pay my OU course fees, booked a holiday, started decorating the house and looking at buying a caravan as a weekend getaway all without using my credit card. I'm making my money work for me and loving it, I used to get really frustrated wondering where it had all gone at the end of the month, with nothing to show for it.

Anyway I'll stop blabbering, 8 days left of my march budget feeling positive .

Zippy001

Here is my food diary that i did last night from all stuff that is in my cupboards and freezer etc.

Sat - HM chicken rogan josh
Sun- Roast chicken, pots, broccoli, caul flower cheese, Yorkies & Stuffing
Mon -HM chilli rice & garlic bread
Tues -HM Beef casserole, mash, carrots, peas & gravy.
Weds-HM sweet & sour chicken & Ready to wok noodles
Thurs- Pork Loin chops, mash, peas & gravy
Fri-HM chicken Tikka masala, Rice & Naan
Sat-Chicken fajita's, spicy wedges
Sun- Roast Pork, pots, Broccoli, carrots, gravy & Yorkies
Mon- Chicken nuggets, wedges, sweetcorn
Tues- Gammon, pots, peas, asparagus, & gravy
Weds-HM Chilli , Rice & garlic Bread
Thurs- HM Sausage & Baked bean casserole, mash
Fri- Beef steak, new pots, asparagus, carrots.
Sat- HM beef burgers in buns, wedges,

As I work full time I go for quick meals in the week, for the four of us. For the chilli, casseroles & roasts I use my slow cooker, (today i have roast chicken in it, with a lemon inside it, with melted butter and lemon thyme poured over). For the mash i use Frozen mash best is Sain*bury, it only takes 8 mins in microwave and kids like it too.