August 2007 Grocery Challenge

Aldahbra

How can you possibly feed a family for the amouts most of you are quoting? Are you giving 5 portions of fruit and veg a day?

Please tell me I really need to know

dawnylou

teedy23 wrote: »

sorry DAWNYLOU, I,ve looked back your posts and you thought you were doing well in August, what went wrong? I,m getting into Tesco H&B and other mocs. I have done a car boot sale to prop myself up and so far have made it through a pretty tough time without resorting to credit card as I think that way leads to trouble. I,ve had lunch at work on my boots points and topped up my phone with these too, have another look at your spending there will be something you can do I hope. Good Luck
Curv , rant on sweatheart, thats what we,re here for, will be someone elses turn next, maybe me! You know you can get back on track but lifes for living and hope you,ve had a good blowout. last year All my friends and myself turned 50, thier children had a 30th, 2 21sts, 1 wedding 1 engagement and 2 christenings. I,m sure there was more than that, but I still survived (just) thats life

Yes Teed I thought I was and then when I have looked back over I have realised I am actually spending much more than I thought.
I am spending between £250-£300 per month at Tesco and between £100 and £200 at Asda. This is for me, fiance and puppy.
I write out meal planners and everything, stick to my lists when shopping - unless there is some real bargains I can freeze.
I am so disheartened after realising we have the Asda bill too! However that will include some petrol too.
*Sigh*

Sugarcubed

Some people on here aren't feeding a family they are maybe only feeding a few people or themselves. And Im sure the families on here all get their nutrition and vitamins without having to spend an absolute fortune.

Sugarcubed

dawnylou wrote: »

I am spending between £250-£300 per month at Tesco and between £100 and £200 at Asda. This is for me, fiance and puppy.

:eek::eek::eek:

Are you having steaks every night for the two of you!?

dawnylou

Sugarcubed wrote: »

:eek::eek::eek:

Are you having steaks every night for the two of you!?

I bloody well wish!

Sugarcubed

*hugs* well I hope you can figure something out to reduce your outlay, keep going!!

lil_me

Aldahbra wrote: »

How can you possibly feed a family for the amouts most of you are quoting? Are you giving 5 portions of fruit and veg a day?

Please tell me I really need to know

About us - Usually between 7 and 10 a day, big fruit eaters especially (my sons eaten 3 apples, 2 bananas, one box of raisins, 2 kiwis and a bowl of grapes today!) Deserts here are mainly fruit, if I do anything else it tends to have fruit in it. Snacks are also fruit. This can include dried fruit and the glass of juice on a morning (one portion can be fresh juice - I wouldn't use from concentrate myself but personal choice) I spend the most probably on fruit and veg each week, probably more than I do on meat. Last week I spent over £20 just on fruit and veg. Smaller portions of meat help. Also buying where it is cheaper but without compromise on quality is pretty tricky, takes some shopping around.

All members do things different. Some have smaller families, some larger. Some grow MUCH more of their own fruit and veg (mine was a bit of a disaster) My budget is for a family of 4 inc all toiletries and cleaning products, oh the dog/lizard food aswell, 2 dogs one lizard.

dlb

Aldahbra wrote: »

How can you possibly feed a family for the amouts most of you are quoting? Are you giving 5 portions of fruit and veg a day?

Please tell me I really need to know

I am a family of 6, 4 children 2 adults, we eat lots of fruit and veg (even though 2 of my kids hate the stuff!!) But i hide it in their meals.
We have a least 5 a day, includes fruit juice,apples as snacks, when i make pizza i always load it up with onions sweetcorn musrooms ect, home baking allows me to add fruit to cakes ect, home made pasta sauses ect add extra veg.

I used to spend over £650 a month on food before finding this site and retraining my shopping and cooking habits.
Iv found that cooking from scratch allows me to add extra fruit and veg in to meals, and i dont now just buy fresh fruit and veg, tinned and frozen all still count towards 5 a day, my kids favourite breakfast is a tin of orange segments (15p approx) with natural youghurt (89p tescos value enough for 8 breakfast) with honey (again tescos value).

It has been hard to get my shopping down to the amounts i spend now, but all the list writing and planning pays off in the end and means i have extra cash for other things.

Good luck
Donna

redsquirrel80

Spent another £2.49 on a few bits and pieces today as had nothing to bring in for lunch - popped into little local Sainsburys on way to work, which always has good reductions, so for that I got ham & brie for sandwiches (brought some bread and tomatoes in), orange juice and a couple of organic burgers for tea.

Talking of getting your 5 a day, I am only feeding me and I think I probably spend about half my budget on fruit & veg. As a sample day, I'll have something like cheese on toast with added mushrooms or tomatoes for breakfast, a banana mid-morning, lunch of leftover pasta from night before with e.g. onions, tomatoes, peppers (homegrown at the mo), then an apple, and tea could be something like a risotto which would include things like onion, garlic, spinach, courgette, peppers.. whatever I've got in at the time.. then maybe another apple or pear later on. I also usually have a couple of glasses of juice per day. Blimey, I should be bursting with energy :rotfl:

orchid-96

Hi everyone, great to see all your tips on getting enough fruit and veg, that is something I struggle with since being at home most of the time (I never had a problem at work as took fruit and ate it, but here the biscuit barrel always seem more inviting

Anyway not doing too badly, but think I have probably allowed quite a large budget for this month, considering I am not counting from this Friday till Monday week (as away on holiday so will be using my saved up holiday money for food etc.)

This is also a good month for me to take a look at my receipts and see where the money is going, I have done quite well (so far) with meal planning although I need to really cut back and try to make those meals a bit healthier after the holiday...(well toad in the hole is such a cheap and lovely dinner)

Spend another £18 on Sunday but that was mainly on nappies while the third off was still on, so am pretty stocked up now with these - probably got enough for a few weeks..

I think next month I will write down my per week spend as I think it is clearer then as to what is happening...

Not sure if the veg box is going to work out the best value, might have to look at that, I currently have a couple of corn on the cobs in the fridge that need cooking and I don't know how to do them?? anyone know if they can be frozen? so that I can think about it after our holiday??

Also regarding petrol, I don't usually count that does anyone else count it in their budget??