January 2017 Grocery Challenge. NEW BEGINNINGS!

jules81

Can I Join please....

I really need to get my spending under control

£200 Please for the 1st-31st Jan.

I am going to try and make meals from scratch. This is for Me, DS and DH

Catfood, and takeaways are separate

xxxxx

Newme36

Hi please can I join in, we are going to try £50 a week so my month total is £250 and annual £2600

Going to try online shopping so not tempted to buy things, plus use up what's in cupboards etc.

candygirl

Haven't done this for ages, but will aim for £120 this month It's about time I reigned my spending in

Dizzy_Imp

Hello - going to try to lick this challenge in 2017. Life conspired against me this year and I failed at every attempt. However in the new year I will be amazing.

£350 January budget for three adults, three children, three dogs, two cats, nine chickens and five fish. This is ambitious, but got lots in the freezer, so fingers crossed x

Nicki_Sue

Morning all.
First spend today - I have my "big" Morrisons order coming today for £56.66 (receipt emailed out so that's the confirmed amount). That leaves me with £23.34 for the rest of the week (up to Thursday/Friday next week) for fresh bits what not.
Today's order has all the meat for the week, lots of staples, some fresh veggies, bread (inc some for the freezer) and fruit, loo roll and so on. We've still got bits in the pantry and the freezer to use up too inc frozen veg.

I get eggs from the milkman on a Monday at £3.20 a tray of 30 which is a good deal and they're lovely eggs.

Determined to keep to a maximum of £80 a week, less after a while would be a bonus.

HornetSaver

I'm in for £110 for a five-week month, starting 30th December and ending 3rd February.

I did a couple of these early last year, and for most of the year carried on in a similar manner whilst not actually participating in the threads. But bad habits have started to creep in in the past few months so I figured the best idea was to participate this month.

Cooking for one most of the time, but make approximately a dozen additional meals in any given month due to family/friends popping over, and generally get about four or five meals for free per month for the opposite reason. I spent £18.52 today - after deducting what I'm going to eat today £15 off what would otherwise be my target of £125 seems fair.

Generally I make two meals a day which are pretty basic - crumpets, beans on toast or cereal for breakfast, leftovers or something whipped together from the stock cupboard for one of the other two meals. And then I make a point of making one meal a day that I'm looking forward to and is (usually) quite cost-effective). It's a tried-and-tested system that keeps me away from the temptations of ready meals or takeaways.

Main meal plan for the next week:

Friday - Tacos as I have some leftover beef.

Saturday - Moroccan style chicken with lemon couscous (Neither as expensive nor as complicated as it sounds, indeed my version is probably quicker to make than most of the other meals I have planned).

Sunday - pre-made (but not pre-cooked) chicken and mushroom pasty. I always want something hearty on New Year's Day and can never be bothered to make something, which makes it a high-risk day for takeaways.

Monday - January's poker night and I'm hosting. BYOB and while officially we eat before we get there, whoever's hosting always ends up providing a meal's worth of food over the evening. Crisp/nut/pretzel type snacks will be whatever I can get best value for. Home made wedges and frozen onion rings are a safe bet, and otherwise am torn between buying some chicken and doing some home-made skewers, or looking for bargains from Christmas-branded pre-made boxes of nibbles. You know, the types that have indian food, chicken skewers etc. I wouldn't normally go down this route, but its less effort than making skewers and I wouldn't entirely rule out it being cheaper and having unused leftovers.

Tuesday - tuna burgers.

Wednesday - toad-in-the-hole with onion gravy.

Thursday - a hearty fry-up for breakfast, given that I'll have some egg and mushrooms left over and am never short on beans, bread or frozen sausages.

Another habit that I've tended to fall into outside of the holiday period is to treat Thursday as a leftovers day, but for my main meal on a Friday cook whatever I want regardless of frugality (though I do have to commit to it before doing my shop, because even if the ingredients are a bit pricey I don't want to buy anything I hadn't intended to buy). This makes it much easier for me to stick to the regime of one of my three meals per day being pretty bargain basement stuff, and breakfast generally being quite bland.

Leaving Friday open-ended and potentially expensive seems a bit risky, but for me it's very important. The weekend is generally when my temptation for a takeaway or eating out is at its highest, and I have given into it a few times in recent months when it was completely avoidable. If spending an extra few pounds on a meal once a week helps me kick that habit, then I see it as money well spent.

gien

I'd like to join on the 1st-31st please.

For the first week I have 5 in the house and then my older two go back to uni and we'll be 2 adults and an 11 year old in the house.
DD will need to take packed lunches for most of the month and both myself and DH eat lunch and dinner at home.

I try as much as possible to buy fresh food from local suppliers and farms which is a bit more expensive but supports the towns people. There's very little left in the cupboards or fridge so I am going to budget £350 and see how I get on.

bargainhunterss

Hi everyone! I'd like to join in please as I'd like to get our spending under control. Can I put myself down for £200 for two people? Let's see how we go!:j

snowfox

I haven't been on these boards for a while, but I'd like to start this challenge again in the new year. My partner moved in a few months ago, and with having two incomes I've been saying "hey, we can afford expensive things now" a bit too often.

Please put me down for £250 for Jan. That's for 2 people and includes all shop-bought food, drinks, toiletries and household products.

mummyjane

Hi, I'd like to join please. Budget will be £300 for two adults and two teenagers. :j