January 2016 Grocery Challenge

mothershipton

Well just totted up the spends and we are on 393 out of 400. Have told OH he has £7 to spend till the end of the month and that we are eating too much junk food ie cauliflower cheese grills and plates of beige food. We need to sit down and meal plan but it is very hard to get him to do that...He does most of the cooking.
Im thinking of going on Michael Moselys Diabetes diet at the beginning of Feb so not sure if that will be more expensive or not. I dont think the rest of the family will like the recipes and the fact that it is only 800 calories a day! So I may take over cooking my food while they do their own thing.

FrugalinShropshire

Not posted for a few days, OH is now home from hospital, but my Dad, who lives with us is now in hospital having had a stroke yesterday. My weekly shop this week was £54 in total so I am still on track for £200 for the month, despite huge emotional turmoils.

Kitchenbunny

Nearly at the end of the month now - for me it'll run from 1st to the last day of the month, so one more big shop and top up shop before I should know whether I've made my target. Keeping track of it on my spreadsheet it looks like it's a real possibility.

I'm just working out my mealplan now and then the shopping list, and then we'll see. I spent another £10.77 on the top up shop yesterday so will update my signature now. I could get used to this.

KB xx

mrs_motivated

Sorry to hear about your Dad frugalinshropshire x


Last shop of the month today as its pay day on Friday. The total spend was £67 so I am about £8 over budget, but this is much much better thanks Decembers spend.

mrs-moneypenny

Frugalinshropshire sorry to read about your dad, hope he's getting the best care possible and I'd on the mend soon.

jlhmd666

Sorry to hear about your Dad frugalinshropshire!:(

herbily

Sorry about your father frugalinshropshire.


Just done my last shop before payday, and I've just realised it's a very close-run thing - £159.94 against a planned £160. I spent a little more than planned because I bought a few store-cupboard items in case of bad weather, but overall, pleased (and amazed at myself) that I managed to stick to the budget.

Zed42

FrugalinShropshire - sorry to hear about your dad I hope he has a full and swift recovery.

£7 spent here today (£3.25 in the butchers (bacon), £3.75 in the bakers (bread & eggs)).

Signature updated with totals, I'm now down to £7.81 until the 31st!

However, minor victory this afternoon, DH asked "what are we going to have for dinner ... takeout ?" I told him I was more than happy to have takeout if he could buy one for £7.81!

So, he turned some of the bolognaise he made on Wednesday ... into chilli

Tomorrow is going to involve the haddock, I'm thinking that baking/steaming is going to be the answer, if it isn't smoked. Along with a couple of cheese/leek bakes I got YS last week.
(Edited: I've just discovered it's smoked fillet ..... not only that but £15.99 per kg, so 75p for 0.5kg isn't too bad!!!)

lynnejk

FrugalinShropshire wrote: »

.... OH is now home from hospital, but my Dad, who lives with us is now in hospital having had a stroke yesterday.

I'm pleased your OH is now home with you but soo sorry to hear about you Dad. Hope he's soon feeling better and sending some (hugs) for you.


Went to Morrys today and spent £26.08. Bought some fish for tea, liver and salmon for the freezer, together with some cereal on offer, YS 'artisan' bread, yoghurt and a few veggies.


Need to go shops the morrow for some cleaning supplies and weekly F & V, milk and pack-up stuff. Still hoping to stay in budget fingers xd.


Hope you all having a great weekend and staying warm and dry
Lx

cowboymum

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I do that. I use a mixer with a dough hook and I buy my flour in bigger-than-supermarket sacks. Mine costs about 45p a loaf for organic flour. If you use sm flour it will be a bit more but it will be fantastic bread with no flour improvers (so less bloating, for those it affects). DH started a sourdough starter nearly three years ago which I use as a flavour and preservative for my standard loaf. I still add a quick-yeast sachet as I never have time to wait for the sourdough. My original recipe with a dough hook is still in the recipes section at the beginning if you want to start really simple.

Well worth trying
SL

Thanks so much! Used your recipe yesterday and made an amazing loaf of bread! Now have some dough in fridge (5 min bread recipe - thanks JayII) and will make some rolls later. I have a 3kg bag of flour on order (£2 from tesco) and more yeast as I've run out.

DH has asked that I don't go out and buy a big sack of flour as I have a habit of starting something and then not continuing!

Am definitely going to go over budget this month but I'm still happy as in previous months I've spent a lot more! I'm going to do some planning on my budget on the February thread - it will involve making own bread amongst other things!:T