January 2017 Grocery Challenge. NEW BEGINNINGS!

GreenFairy

nannygladys wrote: »

Hi everyone

Greenfairy I treated myself to a bottle of I can't believe it's not Bailey's, and I preferred it to the real thing!!!

Nannyg

I really like it! Not as heavy as baileys, and really yum. Twice as delicious at that price as well :rotfl:

Sue14

A second grocery spend today of £6.89. I'm doing really well so far, mainly due to using up what I already have.

lynnejk

Evening all

Looks like most of you are doing well using up stores and stocks this month. I've just done the opposite and bought quite a bit of stock cupboard stuff that's been reduced after C :rotfl: Oh well, it usually all works round eventually.

Had an NSD today :j

Hope you all have a super Tuesday
Lx

t14cy_t

nsd yesterday, wont want to/need to go to shops until the weekend hopefully!! xx

nannygladys

Hi everyone

Last day of my week so I will report how much I have left later as I have to get eggs and milk later on the way home from looking after dgd.

No plans today, just a walk if the weather improves later on I'm trying to get a bit more movement in my life.

Nannyg

Southern-Girl

kkffoo - What do you mean by 'descaling your pans'
Do you mean saucepans?

elsiepac

WantToBeSE I can sympathise - I am always terrified of running out of anything.
There's no real foundation for it - when I was a kid the cupboards and freezer were always full, shopping was done on a Friday for the fresh stuff and it all seemed so easy!
I moved out of home at just gone 20 as I had managed to buy a small flat (I was very lucky and had inheritance for a deposit - sadly I no longer own), but money was so tight and I struggled learning to budget for the first time.
I remember spending it too early in the month, living for weeks at a time from homemade casseroles I made up (pack of root veg - YS where possible, a pulse, a bean, stock cube, dried herbs, tin of tomatoes and some water to wash it down, then cover and cook for 4 hours on low on a Sunday) and cobbling together odd meals from my random cupboard bits and so on... it stuck with me and I always like to have stores now, but I really don't need to go so mad with it!

I'm currently doing FlyLady (for those in the know I'm a 14 day old FlyBaby lol) - it's REALLY helping me get routines in place, and my house is already looking 10x better, no exaggeration!
Last night I did my "weekly home blessing hour", plus a TON of decluttering in my kitchen and even better, a freezer inventory!
Turns out that annoyingly it's not building blocks in there, it's miscellaneous stuff that I'd prefer not to "try" and use up - but I NEED to because it's so iced up and DESPERATE for defrosting.

Next couple of days meal plan therefore is slightly weird but could be worse:

Tue:
Breakfast - oat and lentil savoury porridge
Lunch - last portion of Hoppin' John with crackers if desired
Dinner - 2 Bean Burgers topped with avocado (yes it's frozen, I bought it to try it out, I was right, it's no good) and served with fresh broccoli and petit pois (if I'm feeling super hungry I *may* have the burgers in pittas, but I don't think it'll be needed)

Wed:
Breakfast - Banana Almond Oatmeal Breakfast Cups (great recipe to keep in freezer for emergency on the go breakfasts)
Lunch - Lemony Lentil soup and a seeded bagel
Dinner - Mum will be coming over so I'm going to buy some fresh bits and have something nice

Thu:
Breakfast - Savoury Oat and Lentil Porridge
Lunch - Roast root veg soup (cleverly using up last portion of roast root veg from freezer!)
Dinner - tbc

The trouble is, that's all the building blocks used from the freezer! What's left is then:
1.5 bags smoothie mix
partial bags of mango, strawberries and pineapple
a smidge of Swedish Glace
TONS of chocolate seedy energy bite things I made
Half a big loaf of bread
Another 6 bagels (!!)
partial bags of edamame and petit pois
4 frozen cocktails
4 ice lollies
Ice cubes

I might bring the energy bar things into work - I'm never going to get through them and whilst they are PACKED with good stuff, they are also packed with calories and fat and (natural) sugar, which I don't need!

Guess I need to get making smoothies! And drink cocktails!!! :rotfl::T:beer:

Revised Plan accounting for first 2 weeks over budget!
21-27 Dec: £40.22
28-3 Jan: £35.62
4-10 Jan: £20 (£9.40 so far)
11-17 Jan: £20
18-25 Jan: £24.16




Date.......Where.....Amount.....Remaining from £140 Budget
21 Dec.....T35c0.....£09.00.....£131.00 (Veggie Mains and Prepared Veg - lazy)
23 Dec.....T35c0.....£06.14.....£124.86 (Crisps, Nuts and Snacks for get together)
24 Dec.....H&B.......£03.88.....£120.98 (Mushroom Tofu Pate and Sandwich slices)
24 Dec.....T35c0.....£21.20.....£99.78 (Proper Grocery Shop and Toiletries)
29 Dec.....A1d1......£01.64.....£98.14 (Red Onions and Basil)
29 Dec.....Chippy....£06.95.....£91.19 (Oops!)
1 Jan......T35c0.....£23.53.....£67.66 (proper grocery shop)
2 Jan......T35c0.....£01.00.....£66.66 (kale)
3 Jan......M&S.......£02.50.....£64.16 (sandwich!)
4 Jan......C0-0p.....£03.51.....£60.65 (Cauliflower, spinach, more kale(!), packet of crisps and choccy bar for the boyfriend - that was 63p and I used 70p of points so really it was free lol)
7 Jan......Viaduct...£04.25.....£56.40 (cafe)
7 Jan......T35c0.....£00.75.....£55.65 (reduced new potatoes)
9 Jan......C0-0p.....£00.89.....£54.76 (milk for the boyfriend)

medsdemon

Supermarket spends on cat food and travel sized toiletries coming to £15.44 and £2 in Poundla!d on teabags and gum for work. That's it for me this week. I am being strict.i want some no spend days on my sig ��.

meg72

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Thanks Fran..i really think it's an emotional thing. I dont feel 'safe' if i cant go food shopping whenever i want to, this stems from times in my life where i've literally struggled to feed my family.
I think it worries me to see so little food in the house, even though I've been trying to purposely eat down my stores.

It's something that i am really trying to work on, but its difficult.
Thank you for the offer of support though, this thread is really helping me

Hugs Wantobe, I can so relate to this having battled with this for years, I am now 71 and only me to provide for so decided to tackle and I hope stop doing it.

Firstly I think its important to understand, as you have, why you do it, it almost always stems from times of hardship, in particular worry about feeding your kids. I think once you understand why? Then its easier to have the conversation with yourself. OK I know why now what can I do to change it.

I was a daily shopper always buying to much, not needed, just in case etc. it will save money in the long run, a too good to miss bargain etc.

I found it extremely hard at first, feeling anxious, not safe and a couple of times actually finding myself with my coat on to go shopping sort of automatically when I hadn't intended to go.

It took a long time but I did eventually stop the daily shopping and managed to go only once a week but still bought way too much especially with very limited storage, I now live in a very small bungalow, lol not my 4 bed double garage house. Stashed it under the beds, cupboards crammed, often forgetting even that I had it or if I remembered couldn't find it.

I am now determined its going to stop. I have pulled everything out
bought two cheap shelving units and made myself a walk in pantry, my very own little shop. I can see everything at a glance so know exactly what I need, lol not a blessed thing at the moment, and more importantly I can see theres cash in the grocery purse. I find this strangely comforting and haven't shopped since Christmas Eve. Even stranger is the buzz I am getting from not going, am finding it rather exciting to see how long I can really last without going to shops.

I still have all of my £80 in the grocery purse and only two weeks to go for this challenge. Would be over the moon to go the whole month. Its perfectly feasible, I could still feed the whole street , just my own daft self to sort out. LOL must have another conversation with me.

zafiro1984

meg72 wrote: »

I was a daily shopper always buying to much, not needed, just in case etc. it will save money in the long run, a too good to miss bargain etc.

I found it extremely hard at first, feeling anxious, not safe and a couple of times actually finding myself with my coat on to go shopping sort of automatically when I hadn't intended to go.

I am now determined its going to stop.I can see theres cash in the grocery purse. I find this strangely comforting and haven't shopped since Christmas Eve. Even stranger is the buzz I am getting from not going, am finding it rather exciting to see how long I can really last without going to shops.

I still have all of my £80 in the grocery purse and only two weeks to go for this challenge. Would be over the moon to go the whole month. Its perfectly feasible, I could still feed the whole street , just my own daft self to sort out. LOL must have another conversation with me.

Meg72:- Your posting could have been written by me, I am/was exactly the same. I particularly like your comment. Even stranger is the buzz I am getting from not going, am finding it rather exciting to see how long I can really last without going to shops. I was just about work out when I could go to the shops today but reading that has made me stop and think so now I'm going to try to get to the end of the month as well - my own personal challenge - 21 days to go.