March 2014 Grocery Challenge

Anzac_Biscuit

recovering spendaholic I feel your pain! I've totally blown mine too! I think it's a combination of lots of stress at work and comfort eating, and spending extra for three weeks in order to get a
$30 gift card. I bought a lot of extra things to stock up that hopefully will see me through for a good while.

Switching to budgeting by calendar months has been a lot harder than I thought - harder to keep track in my head. I'll give it another month and then reassess.

Even with months like these though, it's still so good to be doing the GC - I keep tweaking it and learning.



I had an expensive weekend - and am going to the movies tomorrow as well - but hopefully should be ok for food for the most part. I just made a huge batch of lentil/curry soup for work lunches, and I have veg and meat ready too.

One more week to go!

Ches

kiwiblue wrote: »

Another couple of NSDs here, so going well at the moment.


DH left at dawn this morning to go chasing tuna. I like to get up with him and make his lunch, fill the thermos etc and just check that everything is prepared, so am feeling a little tired right now. With the colder weather, the tuna season is just about over, so the guys are hoping to catch enough to last until next summer. They have been very successful so far, but a few more would be great.
Once the tuna run ends, they will be back to fishing for more conventional snapper, cod etc.


Neighbour arrived with a large pig yesterday, bartered for grazing, took a couple of hours to process and pack, but now have over 60 meals of pork in the freezer. I think that pork chops will be on the menu tonight. Decided not to make sausages or salamis with any of it, as the duck shooting season is about to start, and I make salamis etc for several friends who are hunters in exchange for a share of the meat.


Harvest and preserving are in full swing, made 10 kg of tomato soup which is also in the freezer, so another busy few days have been had.


Also made 6kg of beef and blue vein cheese sausages which have worked out really well. Finished the last of the goose and port wine sausages yesterday, which was an experiment I don't think I will repeat, a little too exotic for our taste!


Cattle beast is due to meet the butcher in a fortnight, and need to buy another freezer to cope. One beast will last us a year for beef, the pork will also last until the end of the year, also have a couple of months worth of lamb and venison, so hopefully the only protein we will have to buy this year will be chicken and bacon.

Makes my meat buy from Lidl look really naff lol Love to read posts like this. :T

Luiem

Adding in another £1.40 spend on bread.
We seem to spend a fortune on bread as husband prefers solid loaves, so I am thinking we may have to try making our own.

Make-it-3

Me too, I love to see your posts KiwiBlue you seem a world away (in time as well as distance) to most of us here. Its lovely to see you living off the land as nature intended us too.

bmma

week end total spend £9.00p
March's running total - £161.11p/£250.00p
NSD'S 13
will declare 30/3/14

GettingOrganised

Almost up to budget and I knew I had to go shopping before the end of the month. But, with some careful meal planning, using meat and veg I already have in, I've managed to get away with an under £10 spend at Aldi which takes us up to 31st. This means I should come in under and have a few spare pounds just in case I need basics beforehand.

If I wasn't taking part in this challenge, I wouldn't have bothered being so careful at this stage, especially as I've just been paid, I usually fall into the trap of thinking I have money, when actually, I need to be just as frugal. The small spend today even included some extra meat which I've frozen for April.

meg72

My new local asdo have one of those coin machines, so decided to take my hoard of 1ps and 2ps, got a voucher for 12.35 and used it to do YS shopping at 3,30pm got loads, 2x£2 large chickens, salmon steaks 2 for £1,, 2x pigs liver 80p, 2xpork mince 80p, 2xwhole trout £1,00. 400grms honey roast ham 1.00, 5 packs 500g gram shallots 1,00, then got grapes, pears, a pineapple and a melon.

These coin machines charge you 8p in the pound but I think on this occasion I came out ahead.

Florenceem

Declaring at £65.98 for the 4 week March GC.
Have loads of food in stock. Mr F has been to freezer - got out stuff for Monday/Tuesday dinners. I have potatoes and veggies so no spending out for those day's meals.
For dinner we had HM sausage casserole + dumpling + roast potatoes - my plate is 9 inches.

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Billie-jo

£2.19 to add to spends over the weekend.


Today we had turkey, roast and boiled potatoes, carrots, cabbage, green beans, broccoli and yorkshire puddings. 3 meals for today plus one for mum tomorrow and there is enough turkey left for at least 1 more meal each.


Must remember to freeze some sausages tomorrow, we were having them on Saturday but never got round to it. Don't want to waste them so will cram them in somewhere.

Sweetie83

Really does make a difference writing updates on here. I havent' for the last month and gone drastically over budget. So next month I will be setting same budget and trying again.

Trying to save any bulk purchases by freezing more. Today bought 4 garlics in Iceland for 50p so have seperated into cloves and put them in freezer creating layers with baking paper so not all one congiled lump. See if that works/tastes ok.

Also made use of Tesco buy 3 meats for £10 and have seperated what I need and frozen the rest.