June 2014 Grocery Challenge

craigywv

I think your doing great mrs cautious!x

MrsCautious

Thank you very much xx

nannygladys

Hello everyone

Still not spent anything so on 10 nsd in a row, for dinner I've just had a mixed vegetable risotto and have enough left over to take to work tomorrow and then I have a couple of days off, so will have to think about some fresh food buying, but I will have to see if I really need it and not buy something I just fancy.

Anyway off to have a quick look round and then it's watering garden time.

Nannyg

elsiepac

Ugh, I'm so sick of living on storecupboard stuff this month - absolutely craving lovely salady things as it's so hot and lovely!

Went to a friends last night for a bbq, took a couple of veggie burgers I had left in the freezer and she provided wedges and salad for everyone so that was fun. Had somewhat too much sangria and wine though, and have been feeling a bit yuck today So for lunch I had stodge consisting of vegan mince and gravy, with pasta. I know it's odd, but boy did it hit the spot!

Not sure what to have for tea as only have eyes for fresh stuff, and I have none. I have some frozen portions in the freezer, including lentil stews, bolognaise, black and white bean chilli and a veggie coconut sauce thing which I want to save for in the week, but none of that is taking my fancy!

I do have a frozen veggie paella thing which I tend to keep in the freezer for emergency quick meals (Mr A) so may have that as it's easy and has veg in and is fairly summery!

Need to make something for lunches this week - I have a bag of frozen chargrilled med veg, so will probably combine that with some chickpeas (I have a ridiculous amount of dried beans in at the moment!) and probably bulgar wheat, with some lemon juice, dried herbs and chilli flakes and a dash of olive oil.

Payday is Thursday and honestly, it can't come soon enough. Want fresh lovely things! Also to visit the new veg man - he has a stall in our "town centre" (rather optimistic description by the council there!) and come 4 days a week and basically buys everything fresh from the wholesaler in the mornings and his stuff is great. He has these big bowls and you get what is the bowl for £1. E.g. the other day I had 5 of those big pointed red peppers! Or it might be 8 jacket spuds or 8 huge onions or 10 apples and so on. He also does punnets of British strawbs 2 for £3, and things like raspberries and blueberries for 2 for £2. So I'm looking forward to seeing him Friday lunchtime

Hope everyone's enjoying this weather! I've sat in the garden all day and read a whole book! It was really good :T:A

LC x

Busymumofthreeplusdog

My total for June was an appalling amount, over £500!!!

I'm opting out for the next month due to an extended holiday, will tune back in probably August.

Sweetie83

Been saying for ages that I would drive the 12 mile round trip once a month to stock up on Lidl produce for month. mainly non perishables as we have small freezer. Been totally worth it as have so much for my money. Main things I have liked have been washing powder, washing liquid, pasta sauces, fruit and nut cereal, some veg is cheap, branded bread is great value, chicken breast and mince are by far the best value so good quality and loads cheaper than Tesco. I've found all baking products cheaper, mayonaise is great, shower gel, frozen battered fish. OK sure it deosn't cater for everything but I do a bulk buy for £90 and then 3 other smaller shops throughout the month.

Slow cooker Roast Chicken

This weeks favourite Lidl purchase was garlic and herb whole chicken.

Cut 2 carrots
Cuts 2 Celery
Cut and sliced 2 onions

Put in bottom of SC.

Put chicken upside down on top of veg. Tipped the juices out on to it but doesn't need any liquid really as by the end the SC was full of liquid from chicken.

Cooked high for one hour then low for 6 and half hours (7 max I'd say). Meanwhile about 1 hour 15 to go I par boiled spuds for 15mins, drained bashed about and scrapped with fork. Put in pre tray with pre melted butter and oil for 50 mins 200 degree fan oven

Left bird to sit for 5 mins.

Dished up and it was best chicken ever had. Tasty, no pink and even legs were cooked.

Had so much meat left over that I'm using it for a pie on Tuesday.

Chicken was £3.99 and was massive!!!!

Happy days :j

Sweetie83

I think that £250 might be a little tight if I'm honest. To live comfortably we spend around £280 for 2 adults and 2 children (6 and 2). That includes packed lunches, toilteries, cleaning products and cat food. This time last year £280 would have been far in excess of what we need but I think in the last couple of years prices have shot up so much that our budget has had to grow.

Whilst I want to keep it low we too are not in debt and we work so hard that food is a pleasure and why shouldn't we have the odd treat (for us croissants at the weekend and a bottle of wine once a month).

Lives for living as well as for saving money although if money were tighter I would be work harder at trying to reduce it for us.

K9sandFelines

I took some wallpaper back to B&M today, so spent £5.61of £9.98 on some tuna, peanut butter,Ovaltine and rainbow drops for the girls at weekend. Would normally have got the Tuna from Lidl but was trying to not spend any more, as would be tempted to pick up other bits. Have a £4.37 credit note, which i'll use at some point.

MrsCautious

Sweetie83 wrote: »

I think that £250 might be a little tight if I'm honest. To live comfortably we spend around £280 for 2 adults and 2 children (6 and 2). That includes packed lunches, toilteries, cleaning products and cat food. This time last year £280 would have been far in excess of what we need but I think in the last couple of years prices have shot up so much that our budget has had to grow.

Whilst I want to keep it low we too are not in debt and we work so hard that food is a pleasure and why shouldn't we have the odd treat (for us croissants at the weekend and a bottle of wine once a month).

Lives for living as well as for saving money although if money were tighter I would be work harder at trying to reduce it for us.

Thank you for taking the time to reply so thoughtfully, I agree with what you are saying here, you have made me smile really as my children are big fans of croissants, especially the bake your own variety. I've been buying more treats type stuff as they are doing their GCSEs but I do tend to go for the reduced to clear version, I do think £225-£250 is doable but feel like it doesn't take much to go over -- like a full price cooked chicken or king prawns here and there! We definitely don't skimp on the nice things and I do think £250 would be ok. I'm averaging at £241 a month so far, part of me wants to get that down but I don't know how realistic that is. Every time I go to the shop I say I'm going to get cheap versions of some produce but don't (cooked meat for packed lunches for example -- and cooking a chicken/joint would work out cheaper.)

I do think that I would be stricter if money was still tighter. I'm just thinking of the £500 a year difference between £2500 and £3,000 budgeted/spent I'd like to add to my savings for a specific reason and an extra £1,500 over the next 3 years could be important. But then I think is a grocery budget really the place to save money from when I'm already so careful with it? No doubt I'm overthinking it.

I know how much we could live on each month if we absolutely had to and I've been sticking to trying to be as close to £200 a month on groceries for so long, it just seems a little odd now to not be so frugal. I'm trying to find a 'natural' pace/range of spending, two years ago it was getting on for double what it as been, due to lack of thought/planning etc.

Happygreen

MrsCautious wrote: »

My grocery spends, to include all food, drink, toiletries, household and cleaning stuff for three of us, are creeping up towards £250 a month. I have plenty of stuff in our very small freezer and am going to do my best to bring this average down. I'm hoping a couple of lower spend months through July and August. We'll see.

What does everyone think of a budget of £250 a month for me and two 15-year-olds for food, household, cleaning items and toiletries? I think I'm harder on myself about it as I don't recognise enough it's not just food? £3,000 a year to have all that covered isn't that bad is it? After a bit of reassurance really, I'm not in any debt.

This time last year though I was managing to stay under £200 and that was with our lovely dog as well. Now I'm busier at work so this must be a reason, I'm not making my own sauces or soup as I was or batch cooking. Too tired I think! Also this time last year I wasn't drawing any salary at all and I am now, I wonder if I have become a little more complacent because of this? I do have a savings target though and would like to contribute more to this.

Life as ever seems to get in the way, with both my mum and my dad in law in hospital at the same time, plus all the other trials and tribulations so many of us face -- does this make a difference do you think?

Thank you for any guidance!

Hi MrsCautious,
I was aiming for the same amount for us and 2 teens. Last month was the first on this challenge for me and I made it work but I seem to have run out of everything at the end of the month and had to do a major shop first thing of the next. The effect was that this month I am going way over...I'll opt out for Juli as I'll be away for a few days. I probably have stocked up 1 month's worth of cat food because of that week away , so that's £20 that went there. The cat does cost a small fortune ....
Regarding trials and tribulations - of course they make a difference in the budget. I find that when I'm unwell (long periods of migraines) I am less good at planning meals, so am throwing more food out and am buing more impulsively. Food shopping is my retail therapy!
NSD yesterday to report