August 2007 Grocery Challenge

newlywed

cheerfulness4 wrote: »

No I've got that Titanic feeling, too. Thing is, if they would just cooperate and eat what I give them there would be no worries but they just look down at their plates bewildered . They'll adjust to the OS cooking soon. I hope.

I'm sure they will - I even manage to smuggle lentils into the kids now via a shepherds pie with grated carrots :rotfl:

When we've given them new veg to try or something they say they don't like we tell them they have to try one piece and if they don't like it, that's it they can leave it. The oldest decided he likes sprouts after doing that!!

Bobbykins

cheerfulness4 wrote: »

"Spent nearly half my budget in the first couple of days so feeling a tad worried."

Hi cheerfulness4

If it's any help, last month was my first grocery challenge and I kept looking at how much I was spending and panicking.:eek: :eek: ...right up to the last week when it all suddenly fell into place (phew!)

Hang in there and don't give up....it'll all work out as long as you keep at it!

eilo1007

I have had a disastrous week (car tax, MOT, meal out, ink for printer and TV licence coming off today too). I think I have about £30 to last me until the 30th. Good news is I have quite a lot of food in the cupboards. I'll just have to be creative. And I live alone. I am also trying to sell some of my goods and chattels on ebay. I think I'll be living off bean chilli and chick pea curry.

Roll on the 30th when I get a pay rise.

rosieben

eilo1007 wrote: »

I have had a disastrous week (car tax, MOT, meal out, ink for printer and TV licence coming off today too). I think I have about £30 to last me until the 30th. Good news is I have quite a lot of food in the cupboards. I'll just have to be creative. And I live alone. I am also trying to sell some of my goods and chattels on ebay. I think I'll be living off bean chilli and chick pea curry.

Roll on the 30th when I get a pay rise.

Sorry to hear you're having such a rought time! I'm sure you'll be fine, having well stocked cupboards and freezer are a great help. Let is know how you're getting on through the month. Would you think about posting some of your mealplans etc? might be helpful to anyone looking for a little inspiration?

Good luck all! :j

lil_me

newlywed wrote: »

Glad it's not just me then!!

Spent half my budget and am trying very hard to be careful but not entirely convinced it will work out well

Me too, wouldn't panic yet, I've done it before and still come under budget, many times

Arthur dent it does seem a little low but depends what you have available where you live, some have cheap markets etc, but I know in the past I've had to manage on the same amount and done fine, I suppose you could increase it and look for cheaper days out. When lowering spending I would be probably trying to reduce by about 10% at a time.

Eilo sorry to hear it's a bad month for you, we've been through a similar ones before. With the car my last car the tax and MOT were due at the same time so I paid for a 6 month one to seperate them, I also get the stamps now to save for the tax from the PO, then I can put so much away each month without being able to dip in to it.

:mad: Just noticed all that spending and I forgot to buy pasta, darn it! Oh well it'll make me use up the canneloni pasta I have (god that is such a fiddly thing to make) and can make some fresh as I have some pasta flour, just can't do the strands/shapes.

redsquirrel80

I've come across an interesting challenge to my budgeting - had a horrible cold and cough since the weekend which seems to have made my appetite all but disappear, so barely eaten any of what I planned to this week. That might be a saving but it's probably been more than outweighed by the £5+ I've spent on cough & cold stuff (dunno which budget that comes out of ) and the odd bits of food I thought I'd treat myself to as I thought if I got something 'really nice' I'd want to eat it.. not really! Blah!

shell2001

Well Mr T delivery received and unpacked. Also trip to town and 3 packs of chicken pieces for £5 bought. Not bad thought cooked 2 packs off for tea enough left for packed lunch for DH tomorrow and for me and littles too! Plus other pack in freezer.

So first of month and £80 gone already, but all washing detergent, loo roll and enough milk in freezer (& littles soya milk) bought for next 10-14 days. This way I should be avoiding the dreaded local Somerfield.

Am hopeful this month that I can stay at (or below) that £300 limit. I did cheat and spend £5 of the £30 I had left from July on ice lollies in Somerfield. 12 pack of Fab lollies for 85p plus loads of others on offer so stocked up.

tamwinsle

Complete newbie to this but really need to cut my grocery bill so will be trying this for the first time.

Trying not to run before I can walk, would like to slash my grocery bill to £100 pw - 2 adults 2 (young) kids.

August is a 4week month for me (1 week holiday) so £400 is my budget.

Any newbie advice greatly appreciated

Bungarm2001

£1.90 on eggs today...bought them local to stop me going into Tescos and being tempted! Also £2.99 on a large bag of sweet potatoes in Costco (plus two huge cakes, but they are for a meeting/charity thing we are going to at the weekend...honestly!!? )

Still okay for store cupboard stuff and freezer is relatively full, but I don't think it'll last much longer.

We have my in-laws coming next week for 3 days and my youngest grandson (8) for 6 days so it could be a bit dodgy money-wise...we'll see tho. I'll have to be strict with myself!

Quick reply to the person who was asking about chicken and how to make it go further..well, this is what we do. Roast the chicken whole and have a nice dinner from it ie all the trimmings, loads of veg, roasties etc.

Remove all the meat you can from the leftovers when cold.

DON'T throw out the carcass or skin.

Keep in fridge and use some of the meat for either a curry, chicken pie (you might want to add mushrooms and maybe some veges diced to pad it out a bit) chicken supreme (chicken in white sauce) or even a nice chicken salad...you could add some cooked crispy bacon to this .... yummy! If you're lucky, and it was a big bird, you could get maybe two different meals out of this and each meal at least enough for 2.

Put all thats left, bones skin and everything into a big pan and boil it all up with a bit of chopped onion, celery, carrot, a few herbs..anything that takes your fancy really (it's a good way of using leftover veg) Boil it all up and simmer for about 1 hour. Skim off any scum you might get (there shouldn't be much) then strain the whole lot into a bowl or another pan.

The resultant stock is a fantastic base for soups. Chuck a few noodles in..or lentils..chopped chunky veg etc. We even wait until the stuff that is in the strainer cools off and we pick that over for any meat that may be left on...it's surprising how much you can pick off when you are determined!

...and now a question for everyone really...had to go to the Drs today and was given a prescription which cost me £6.85 to fill. Now, does that come out of the groceries budget??

dlb

Had a no spend day yesterday and we are off to stay with mother in law tommorow until tuesday so that should save some money apart from she lives on the coast so fish and chips and prawns on the seafront are a must!!!!

Dh pack up this morning was different to say the least as i refuse to buy anymore food until we get back and have been running things down, he has taken meatball in his food flask with bread and butter, some crisps a tub of pinapple and oranges ( tins found in back of cupboard!!) and the last few biscuits!! Tommorow he has fish and chips but it isnt his turn to buy them so free lunch for him tommorow.

Hope you are all doing well, i will need to go and buy juice today but thats about it oh and cat food for the cat whilst we are away.
Catch up with you all when i get back.
Donna