March 2014 Grocery Challenge

Make-it-3

A top up shop this afternoon of £8.50 in Lidl leaves me now sitting at £131.15/£180 remaining.

I tried making the famous JJ Herby Bread today, but found it a bit stodgy.

Florenceem

Make-it-3 wrote: »

A top up shop this afternoon of £8.50 in Lidl leaves me now sitting at £131.15/£180 remaining.

I tried making the famous JJ Herby Bread today, but found it a bit stodgy.

Did you add too much milk?

Florenceem

NSD - Mr F paid for Mr A spend on gift card.
We had HM wedges + breaded chicken + poached eggs for dinner. Mr F got whoops free range eggs - box of 15 for 65p - so we have lots to use.

GettingOrganised

Weekly shopping done today and went to HB, Iceland and Aldi, in the hope to pick up the best deals in each. It does take more time, but I'm pleased with what I've got.

Meals planned up to a week on Tuesday, plus I have stocked up on some 'tea in a hurry' freezer bits and have planned some batch cooking to freeze which will be used for April meals.

We're on holiday for a few days in April and last year we spent a small fortune on eating lunches and dinners out every day. I have done a meal plan for dinners and have started getting some bits together. I will make pack lunches for each day, I'm determined to spend less on food this year.

I'm over half of my monthly budget, but what I have left per week is still much more than I had last month, so I'm confident I can still come within. I don't have any room left in the freezer anyway, so I can't get too much!

Ches

Once again its the personal spends that let me down. GC wise I have had another NSD so that budget is still looking good. PS budget is shot to bits.

lynnejk

Ladyluck1 wrote: »

Will be another NSD today... Family really poorly. DS has a really bad cold, gooey eyes and everything so he's just on lots of fluids and may make some fresh OJ with some oranges I have
Dinner not sure, possibly YS chicken curry, rice and YS nann

So sorry they're all feeling poorly Hope everyone's better soon

lushlifesaver wrote: »

Also had a brainwave about the Easiyo sachets my parents ordered and are splitting with us, I think I might 'buy' each one from the cupboard as I use them at a set price (I'm thinking 2.50 which is just about what they work out at each) I'll put that money in to my bulk buy tin ready for the next order/bulk shop. Based on the classic second purse idea

It's a good idea to do that with lots of things but PLEASE (I keep forgetting to ask) what is Easiyo :question:

lushlifesaver wrote: »

Think I need to find a new way of accounting for the pet and bulk buy budgets, at least whilst I'm on maternity leave as we never shop for those items monthly/at regular intervals.

ETA: Argh only £21.08 of the budget left! More than do-able just have to keep focused!!

I find it helps to have a 'bulk buy' fund as on my sig and I put the 'overs' in each month then take from it for things like butcher trips (about once every 3 months) or a big buy on cleaning stuff on offer


DH came home with 2 avocados today (he paid) so meal changed to HM chilli (freezer), HM cheesy jacket pots and I made a kind of avocado/tomato/onion salsa nom nom. So beef is now in S/C tonight to have tomorrow.


Shopping today was Al*i = £13.38 (veg, salad, fruit, meats and yogs for packups and more milk) and Mr T = £15.53 bits and pieces, some smoked mackerel and bio-yogs. Any ideas for cheaper corn tortillas as T now charges £1.40 pack :eek:


Plenty in stock now and hope for some more NSDs this week


Oh for some sunshine PLEASE


Hope you all have a super Sunday
Lx

[Deleted User]

Another NSD here today.
Had a wonderful time at DGD school gala. All she wanted was to play in the bouncy castle, so was easy to please. Came home via the Wairarapa, a beautiful drive, even if it did add a lot extra to the journey!


Dinner tonight is home produced filet steak, roasted potatoes and kumara, tomato and pepper salsa and green beans. All grown on the property, so a very economic meal.

lushlifesaver

lynnejk wrote: »

It's a good idea to do that with lots of things but PLEASE (I keep forgetting to ask) what is Easiyo :question

Easiyo is just a home yogurt maker, I got my first one as a gift from my parents but they have it now as bf bought one before I moved in having liked the yogurt mine made so much!
Its basically a big flask you put boiling water in then you add a 1kg container in which you've mixed one of the sachets of yogurt mix with cold water. Screw the lid on, leave for 6-8+ hours (depending on how you like your yogurt) and the voila lovely yogurt. They do a massive range of flavours now too which is nice. It keeps for up to two weeks in the fridge too which is a massive plus too.

kayester

Frugalsod wrote: »

Have you tried shopping online? I do the vast majority of my long life products online. I get my meat from the local butcher and put it in the freezer. My veg comes in a veg box every 2-3 weeks. So all the other items I get online. I am able to do a bulk buy everything else for around £100 to £150 every few months, though It could be as high as six months. If you can get meat and veg from a market on a weekly basis and you should be able to make big savings. Also over time if you are a regular customer you might find the market traders might be more amenable to better deals.

thanks for your response.
Yes I actually shop online most weeks, I was just on a shopping trip so it was convenient to go
my butcher I find is very expensive...and not very good on advice tbh so i stick to what i need to get weekly! im in a village in the middle of nowhere so pretty much everything comes from supermarkets!
NSD today I dont plan on going out of the house, I enjoyed indian last night

making cottage pie later with veg, may do a few yorkshire puds too as kids love them! and plenty of gravy

Frugalsod

kayester wrote: »

thanks for your response.
Yes I actually shop online most weeks, I was just on a shopping trip so it was convenient to go
my butcher I find is very expensive...and not very good on advice tbh so i stick to what i need to get weekly! im in a village in the middle of nowhere so pretty much everything comes from supermarkets!

I live in a village as well and my local butcher is only slightly more expensive than the supermarket but the quality is better and I can get exactly what I need rather than have to buy more than I really need. Every now and then I get a special order of turkey crown roast made up and cut the way I like it. It costs a lot but I can get loads of meals out of it, and most goes in to the freezer any way.

If you do it all via supermarkets then a solution is to do big shops so to minimise the delivery charge. I will use MSM as a shopping list and before I place the order I will go through and pick off those that are cheaper at one other store and build up an order on there. So my MSM order will go through one store and the second order will be through a second a few weeks later but can be added to as a top up shop. Because it is a few weeks later anything that has run out will be added to that second shop. The advantage is that it minimises the delivery charges and you get the best of two stores prices. You can still do additional shops elsewhere as well.