February 2017 Grocery Challenge

Fruittea

Florence_J wrote: »

It has brought to light that I have a serious food hoarding problem. For instance I have 13 tins of various beans/pulses, which to some is perfectly reasonable, but I'm the only one that eats them and I rarely cook a meal for just me so they have been going unused.

Also the freezer needs defrosting so I have decided that I am going to run down the cupboards and freezer and only restock as and when I need things (and not do my usual habit of buying about 5 tins of the same thing at once)

I know this is hardly a new idea to Old Stylers, but because of my food hoarding tendencies (which stem from having very little food growing up due to tight family finances) it has been hard for me to let the cupboards/freezer look 'empty' as that makes me anxious.

I have finally accepted that as my financial situation and job situation are better then they have ever been, and as my OH is very sensible with money, we are not going to starve anytime soon.

I have been a little bit spendy this month and my total expenses come to £176.82/£200 so only £23.18 remains. We have plenty of food and I need to stop relying on the top up shops for our favourite dishes and instead cook from the stores.

Yesterday I was very happy as I cooked a huge vat of tuna pasta (using up tins that have been in the cupboards for ages) to have as lunches/dinners this week.

I know just how you feel - I also think I have a hoarding thing. I shudder when I read on some of the threads that people have empty cupboards. I could feed a small army if I needed to but I still love to shop for food and enjoy trying new foods.
I also enjoy cooking and never usually make just one meal - instead I batch cook. So it's always something out of the freezer and putting 4 more things in. So this thread is really helping me think about things. When I audited the 3 freezers I realised I had at least 50 main meals in there made up and a tonne of fruit from the allotment but still I like to buy fresh.
We can work through this and try to keep the spending down,

freyasmum

OH and I spent Monday having quite the cook up and all meals are safely ensconced in the freezer. I'm away for a few nights and, though he's more than capable of feeding himself, I do feel better knowing that there are meals ready for him! Having a big batch cook also means that he won't need to spend the time eating the same meal

Anyhoo, I worked out that we'll need 54 evening meals for the rest of this month and we have much more than that packed in the freezer :j

We'll need to top up eventually with stuff for breakfast and lunches (as well as £10 for DDs lunches) as well as fruit, veg, milk and bread but I feel very confident that we'll come in properly under budget this month.

Saying that, we are off to tesco for mango chutney! I'm using up the rest of our roast chook in a coronation sauce, which I'm having with a baked potato for lunch. Can't wait!

Islandmaid

Spent just under £65 :eek: at Aldi this morning.

That did include food for DS2 which was not planned for (he is back from Uni in placement) - coffee for me for work - and a romantic valentines meal for 3 (DH, DS and I )

I think I may go over budget, due to DS,s unplanned return for 3 out of the 4 weeks in Feb - lovely to have him home, but he is not cheap to run :rotfl:

Sorry to read some of you are having a tough time, do keep in touch x

Art_Deco

[QUOTE=medsdemon

Regarding our lovely but fussy cat, OH was going through his mums cupboards and found cans of tinnned tuna ( she never eats tuna so not sure why it's there!) so he brought that home to supplement his dinners. ( he only eats tuna, fresh chicken and we only feed him a certain brand of rather expensive Catfood as he get a very upset tummy on anything else ( and that's not nice when he's long haired AND white !!!). It really adds up though, but at least his hard Catfood is reasonably priced and glutenfree ( only we could end up with a cat who seems to need to avoid gluten and additives and over processed food).[/QUOTE] It always makes me laugh if thats the right word, that our family and friends have swopped to cheaper own brands and basic food to cut costs but all our pets refuse to eat the cheaper alternatives, bless em!!:)

Ginmonster

Another couple of bits from Aldi again today so over the halfway mark for spending now and it's only the 8th. I need to find somewhere to walk to in my lunch hour that isn't a shop!


£75.81/£150

JensFeet

Florence_J wrote: »

It has brought to light that I have a serious food hoarding problem. For instance I have 13 tins of various beans/pulses, which to some is perfectly reasonable, but I'm the only one that eats them and I rarely cook a meal for just me so they have been going unused.

Also the freezer needs defrosting so I have decided that I am going to run down the cupboards and freezer and only restock as and when I need things (and not do my usual habit of buying about 5 tins of the same thing at once)

This describes me down to a TEE... Food hoarding is my thing and I'm pretty sure it relates to my need to 'provide' for my family even though I never went without as a child.

I'm also running down my freezers and store cupboards and fridge for the foreseeable future. I have found taking part in the freezer and food cupboards challenge here has really opened my eyes to the amount of waste I've been producing even though I've always thought I was good at using up. And this GC shows me how much I've been visiting the supermarkets and just buying for the sake of buying many things - I find I have a real pull to go after the school run 'just in case' but we haven't gone without a thing in these last 2 weeks.

Good luck with your using up x

Florence_J

JensFeet wrote: »

This describes me down to a TEE... Food hoarding is my thing and I'm pretty sure it relates to my need to 'provide' for my family even though I never went without as a child.

I'm also running down my freezers and store cupboards and fridge for the foreseeable future. I have found taking part in the freezer and food cupboards challenge here has really opened my eyes to the amount of waste I've been producing even though I've always thought I was good at using up. And this GC shows me how much I've been visiting the supermarkets and just buying for the sake of buying many things - I find I have a real pull to go after the school run 'just in case' but we haven't gone without a thing in these last 2 weeks.

Good luck with your using up x

OOOOOO, those challenges sound interesting, where can I find the threads to them? I shall have a little nosy.

Coxy11

Hi everyone


Budgets updated to here


Coxy

Florence_J

Not to worry Jensfeet, I found the thread and have joined it

meg72

Florence_J wrote: »

Not to worry Jensfeet, I found the thread and have joined it

Glad you found it and welcome its a great thread very friendly and helpful.