January 2017 Grocery Challenge. NEW BEGINNINGS!

littleskintdragon

Can i join please?

I budget £50 a week for 2 adults, 3 children and a dog. Ive never done this challenge before so im not sure how that compared to everyone else.

I dont have loads of food in the cupboards/freezer but i have enough xmas chocs to last months!!

Ill buy my cleaning bits and dog food out of this too.

My month starts on the 25th, so here we go.....

iammumtoone

Even thought I am not officially joining until February, what I will do this month is keep track of the amount I spend in the month this will give me a starting point when estimating my budget for February.

When I was last on this thread I stuck to £25 per week 1 adult 1 child that included all toiletries etc. That was when I was out of work, now I have a job I don't need to be that frugal it was possible but hard. Now we enjoy a few luxuries/take aways and I don't want to stop that.

Today I spent £18.57 in Mr T. Running total £18.57.

I am not going to include DS school dinners which cost me £3 per day :eek: but will include my work dinners/tea/coffee (subsidised canteen, my dinners are cheaper than I pay for DS!)

PennyGrabber

So, having been really disappointed at the ys (or lack of!) on Xmas eve, I have made plan b...

Tomorrow morning, all of the leftover meat will be frozen, except for what will go into tomorrow's pie. I will freeze:
- pork slices in gravy
- ham in slices and chunks
- beef in slices in gravy and chunks
- Turkey in slices in gravy and chunks

We have already fed two for dinner Xmas eve, two for dinner xmas day, four for tea xmas day, six for lunch and dinner Boxing Day, and four for lunch and dinner today, and there is masses left!!

Partner cleaned out my freezer for me (the one that's been off since it had been left open for ten days... ), so I will start filling it tomorrow!! I'll report back with quantities frozen so I have a record. Handy tip for new folks - freeze your leftovers in portion sizes, so you only defrost what you need. I know it seems obvious, but the best ideas usually are!

Now, onto the £80- odd that I saved this year. I put all of the 50p coins I got into a sealed pot, designed to be used on my Xmas ys shopping. I will now use it for 2017's ys shopping, on top of my budget, as it would've been spent on stuff anyway. And, sad act that I am, I love a good ys shopping spree!!

I'll report back tomorrow - would be interesting to know what others have frozen too!

PG x

iammumtoone

WantToBeSE wrote: »

I have a very funny eater here too. My 16 year old has Autism and is incredibly funny about food texture.
He also decides from day to day if he will be vegetarian, vegan or carnivore.
It makes meal planning almost impossible as i dont know what he will eat (or if he will eat) from one day to the next.

He adores sweets and fizzy drinks, but i am trying to get him to eat healthier. Unfortunately he rarely leaves the house, but i have decided that i wont be doing almost daily runs to Morrisons to get him any junk food as from now.

Thats my sons issue its the textures he doesn't like or strong food. Everything has to be very bland.

He is actually cheap to feed would live off cheese sandwiches and cheese pizzas :rotfl:

Re the meal planning it will be more difficult in your situation but how about trying to keep a five day rolling plan going. That way you have five meals to choose from depending on what he wants that day or meal plan for everyone else and just keep his separate.

I am actually looking forward to starting meal planning again. Once you get into the swing of it, it is so much easier. I would always plan what to eat every day but didn't necessarily stick to eating the meals on the days I set. I found its best to be flexible as long as everything/most things got eaten in the week.

NewShadow

I'm off to a good start - already spent £42.57!

I've done a stock take, and I've plenty of meat (thanks to a boxing day raid on the reductions) but no veg, no milk, no fruit, very few staples at all really.

I've arranged a tesco delivery for Friday (payday) and have gone for:

Staples
12 x UHT Milk
Oats
Stock Cubes
Tomato Puree
Passata
Soya Mince, Bulgur Wheat, Quinoa and Couscous
Spaghetti
Cottage Cheese
Phili light
Quark
Eggs

Food
Brown Rolls
Spring onions
Beetroot
Baby spinach
Mushrooms
Fresh Carrot Cauliflower and Broccoli
Frozen Peas, Broccoli, Spinach, and Sweetcorn
Sweet Potatoes
Oranges
Bananas
Peaches
Plums
Frozen Blueberries

Misc
Tinned Mackerel
Bombay Potatoes
Custard Powder
Cistern (blue) Blocks

Not bad for £40odd - especially given the UHT, dried goods and frozen goods should last past the month.

The meal plan is a mix of omelettes, salady stuff (mostly for lunches at work), and a basic assembly job of carb/meat/veg combo.

It's a start...and I'm now really looking forward to bananas and custard :rotfl:

redmel1621

I nipped out to Morrisons this evening, as we needed batteries for Christmas toys, and they just happened to be reducing stuff as we went in. I got bananas for 10p, mushrooms for 13p, ready cooked chickens for 99p, donuts for 15p.. I ended up spending about £6 on reduced items and had two VERY full carrier bags. It must be the first time I have ever timed it perfectly for the reductions. I did get a few other bits and bobs too, like milk and teabags....

Now my dilemma is,do I count this towards my January spends? Shopping day is tomorrow and I am due to start the January challenge from tomorrow... *torn*

iammumtoone

redmel1621 wrote: »

Now my dilemma is,do I count this towards my January spends? Shopping day is tomorrow and I am due to start the January challenge from tomorrow... *torn*

Sorry might not be the answer you want but I would take off what you ate yesterday and count the rest.

It will give you a good start for January, great haul. My problem is I get yellow sticker stuff but it sits in the freezer for ages and I forget about it But all that will change when I start meal planning in February

Soworried

I'm in please with a smaller budget of £200 as we have so much left over from Christmas.

This is for a family of 2 adults, 2 teens for all food and cleaning/toiletries.

WantToBeSE

iammumtoone wrote: »

Thats my sons issue its the textures he doesn't like or strong food. Everything has to be very bland.

He is actually cheap to feed would live off cheese sandwiches and cheese pizzas :rotfl:

Re the meal planning it will be more difficult in your situation but how about trying to keep a five day rolling plan going. That way you have five meals to choose from depending on what he wants that day or meal plan for everyone else and just keep his separate.

I am actually looking forward to starting meal planning again. Once you get into the swing of it, it is so much easier. I would always plan what to eat every day but didn't necessarily stick to eating the meals on the days I set. I found its best to be flexible as long as everything/most things got eaten in the week.

Thanks IAMTO What do you mean by a 5 day rolling plan? Not sure what that means?

Soworried

craigywv wrote: »

hi i been absent for near a year so i am back by force .............trying for thirty quid a week as three freezers and cupboatds are bulging so will be running these down over next few weeks and brother owes me two catering packs of chicken breasts so will have those too. regarding the tablet debate i work in a pound shop and we allowed to sell three paracetamol or 3 ibruprofen at one time can also sell generic lemsip not the beechams one at same time as selling the 3 tablets for a pound i think it contains a very small amount in it hth.an alarm goes off on our till if too much scans thru till and will not allow customer to purchase any more than legally allowed . anyway i hoping to sell lots on ebay in coming months so will keep this money from sales for bulk buying,good luck all.

Lovely to see you back x :j