May 2014 Grocery Challenge

newthrift

HI All!
Not been on for a week, have been keeping receipts so I know what I have spent grocery wise, although fell off the bandwagon with keeping a list of everything I spend - although I know I haven't spent lots & lots. Anyway, last week was first spend of my May GC, will have to add it up later and update my SIG!! We are going away for 5 days during May so I will go in for £180 this month as that should be OK!!

just_the_two_of_us

Thanks Lushlifesaver - and well done for managing on such a small budget - great respect.
We didn't have much in the way of treats pre -SW so yesterday I spent quite a lot on fruit, veg, salads, cott cheese, yogs, crispbreads, NSA drinks etc.

Not sure how long it will last as the fridge is very full - so will calculate carefully the cost of what I use! Feel so much better for deciding finally to join and do something about this excess that it doesn't really matter!!!

Thanks again for your reply.

Soworried

cheerfulness4 wrote: »

I'm going to try for a very stingey £130 for 3 adults, everything included. Born of necessity unfortunately.

You can do it :A I find making a list of what I have in every cupboard and each freezer draw helps with the meal plans.
Also trying not to shop at all and thinking of some other way to get around the fact that you have ran out of XYZ.
Good luck x

msgnomey

Morning all!

I am going to aim for £250 for May, I go from 28th of each month as that's pay day!

Off to make a list of what I already have in the cupboards!!

Soworried

Morning everyone
It is a really tight month for us this month so meals won't be all singing and dancing type
Monday- LO lamb from Sunday dinner as a stirfry
Tuesday- Chorizo mince with jacket potatoes
Wednesday- LO lamb curry with turmeric rice and samosas
Thursday- LO Chorizo mince with LO rice and spring rolls
Friday- Paella type dish with cooking bacon and hard boiled eggs
Saturday- HM pizza and garlic bread
Sunday- Beef dinner with super 6 veg and HM yorkshire puddings
The LO beef will feature heavily next week

I'll need to buy eggs, butter, margarine,noodles for lunches, veg and potatoes as we have next to no eggs left and I'm out of potatoes all together :eek:
I have my fingers crossed that there will be an Aldi voucher tomorrow so that I can have a good stock up to try to get through the month.

lushlifesaver

just_the_two_of_us wrote: »

Thanks Lushlifesaver - and well done for managing on such a small budget - great respect.
We didn't have much in the way of treats pre -SW so yesterday I spent quite a lot on fruit, veg, salads, cott cheese, yogs, crispbreads, NSA drinks etc.

Not sure how long it will last as the fridge is very full - so will calculate carefully the cost of what I use! Feel so much better for deciding finally to join and do something about this excess that it doesn't really matter!!!

Thanks again for your reply.

Depnding on what shops you have available:
Fulton Foods often does branded cottage cheese at 2 for £1, I have found both Morrisons and Asda savers/basic own brand stuff to be really nice
Fruit and veg - markets have been found to be 35%+ cheaper, buy'whole' veggies etc rather than prepared salads etc, use tinned (e.g sweetcorn) or shred (e.g. grate carrot etc) to make veggies go much further
Crispbreads - often on offer somewhere i.e 2 for £1/2 etc so often good to stock up, again I've brands to be just as good

I learnt at a young age about tight budgets and know all the sneaky ways to stretch out what money is available to me...I just don't tell bf about many of the changes. especially if he doesn't notice

Recently I rediscovered Lidl - have started trying various products with bf as he has specific nutritional needs as well as being really picky. Some we like some we don't but we are slowly figuring it out.

Time also factors in massively.

One thing that saved me tons of money was 'budgeting' in the use of what was already in the cupboards to my daily syns. I followed EE (because i love pasta/rice/potatoes and meat and didn't want too much weighing etc of my favourite things) so sauces and bits from the freezer got 'budgeted' for and I bulked them out with extra veggies etc too.

Now I've had the baby I have about 2st to shift again and want it gone by our holiday in September so am going back to SW principles but with a few extra syns as I'm breastfeeding at the minute...now all I need to do is work out a better/more SW friendly breakfast!

Mrs-s_4

Me T shop arrived so £40.45 to add on! Included 4 packs baby wipes on offer and some cleaning bits, 2 Chicago town pizzas on offer, 6 bottles of pop and the usual, fruit, milk, bread, cheese, ham, Yoghurts etc and a few bits for packed lunches when DS1 is back at school next week. I usually spend £100 a week easily on mr T shop so I'm quite pleased I only bought what we actually needed! Have plenty of Easter chocolate left so saved abit from not buying any sweet treats too.

Mrs_T_M

I'm not quite over on this thread yet, but I wanted to go ahead and set a budget of £130 for May. That's £30 less than April's budget. May's budget will start on 25/4/14.

I have two adults to feed (myself and DH).

This is my tentative list of meals (depending on sales and ys items):

1.) Honey mustard pork chops (freezer) with rice (cupboard) and mixed veg (freezer)
2.) Steak and onion pie (leftovers)
3.) Steak and potato pie (leftovers - had enough for two of these)
4.) Spaghetti bolognese
5.) Steak and cheese (freezer/fridge) sandwiches (homemade bread) with salad (garden)
6.) Slow cooker 'refried' bean burritos (cupboard and homemade tortillas)
7.) Pizza and garlic bread (homemade - use up leftover bits)
8.) Beans on cheese on toast (use up homemade bread)
9.) Salmon patties with wedges and some sort of veg
10.) Sausages with mash and veg
11.) Chicken korma with rice and onion bhajis
12.) Bourbon street style chicken with rice and steamed broccoli
13.) Chicken pot pie
14.) Chicken marsala
15.) Bean burger (mince with baked beans, onion, and a splash of worcestershire sauce)
16.) Spinach and cheese tortellini (homemade)
17.) Lasagne (with homemade pasta sheets)
18.) Meatloaf (slow cooker)
19.) Fried chicken with wedges and veggies
20.) Chilli mac
21.) Soft beef tacos with salad
22.) Cottage pie
23.) Tuna 'helper'
24.) Chicken and dumplings with mixed veg
25.) Chicken and spinach with rice
26.) Chicken fajitas
27.) Meatball subs with salad
28.) Shepherds pie
29.) Beef and broccoli
30.) Beef stroganoff (slow cooker)
31.) Pizza soup (slow cooker)
32.) Prawn fajitas
33.) Cheesy taco rice

The reason for 33 dinners/recipes is that I am stretching May until 27th of May instead of 25th of the month like usual, my mom flies over from the States on the 28th May!

For lunches, DH will have leftovers, and I am planning on having baked potatoes or meat and cheese sandwiches with salads. Breakfasts will be mostly cereal or oatmeal/porridge with a few eggs, sausages, bacon, American 'buttermilk' biscuits, and American pancakes in the plan.

I've already cooked the spaghetti bolognese, and the steak and onion pie and the two steak and potato pies are currently in the oven. Used a yorkshire pudding recipe for the 'top' instead of my usual pour over crust. We will see how they turn out!

craigywv

So worried tescos have the large 5kg bags of spuds from 4.60 ish cant rem to half price anyway so thats a couple of pounds.,i got 3 bags ,planning on session in kitchen of making and freezing mash, wedges,chips and roasties hth.

Florenceem

NSD today.
For dinner we had HM Casserole/Dumplings + roast potatoes/parsnip.

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