February 2017 Grocery Challenge

thriftwizard

A teeny, tiny spend of £1.79 today, which bought me 3 pastries, 2 coconuts and a packet of organic mushrooms at the co-op near my mother's, all of them YS. Didn't make it to the market as I was running late & it was pouring, which means the stallholders will pack up early, but we're not short of stuff & we'll cope. Might need to buy a small amount of fresh veg tomorrow to do the planned stir-fry, though; just beansprouts & kale, most likely.

I'm quite pleased that we have survived the week with OH's twin brother and highly-allergic nephew without needing to buy anything extra in. Said nephew, 11, was very interested in helping me cook & make ginger beer etc. this time - up to now he's always just wanted to go scooting/skating/playing footy/flying kites/to the beach when he's with us, but this time he'd been suffering from a nasty cold beforehand & didn't have so much energy! So we made hob-nobs, savoury flapjacks, chicken soup, and pancakes, and he helped me prep & chop the veg for all the main meals. And they've gone home clutching a ginger beer "plant", the recipe and a spare pot of ginger too. That lad will go far...

Flat_Eric

I have had 5 visits to the shops since Saturday spending £81.23. I've got left £10.36 if I'm to stick to my original budget.

This isn't going to happen since I've got family round this weekend and need to buy food bits to do the roast.

I still can't work out if shopping as and when is better or saving up and having my home delivery shops. I keep putting the home delivery shops off because its a minimum spend of £40 to avoid any delivery charges (or a delivery cost of £7) and then its easy to spend £60 before you know it.

However its frustrating when you then visit the local store where the choice is limited to start with and then what you want is out of stock.

oceanspirit

£4.30 spent in sm on tinned soup and snack bars.

Franalamadingdong

Flat Eric, this month I changed things up. I planned evening meals for the month, starting with what was in the freezer and cupboards, then I made a list of what was needed in terms of store cupboard, meat (could go in the freezer), freezer items, cordial/pop/juice and root veg as well as perishables for the week. It seems to have worked well so far. I allow £44 per week and we have more than that left with just one shop left and we don't need to buy any meat, pasta, rice, butter, etc. That might be a way to do it with your online shop. We still have flexibility with breakfast and lunch, but dinner's sorted, and if we need to swap things about that's ok. Yesterday I was going to do a sausage pasta dish, but we didn't have the time so I did sausage chips and beans and I'll either do the planned bean stew today, or, more likely, I'll do pasta and nanny sauce, pizza tomorrow, and shepherds pie and the bean stew at the weekend depending on plans for the day. Everything is in so it's easy to swap about as needed.

Fruittea

The meal planning is going well and plenty of fruit from the freezer - so feeling nice and healthy. My veg box is £19.60 this week which will bring me up to a total of £122.24 so I've still got £27.76. I think I can just about do it as I'll only need eggs, bread and tomatoes. I won't get a box next week.
Tomorrow's main meal will be a mystery dine and I'm hoping the fee will cover the total cost.- so no extra spend and a free meal.
Sadly all the home grown potatoes have now been used up - so I'll focus on rice and pasta based dishes - I tried a tin of potatoes yesterday that I had in the cupboard -decided I don't really like them, so won't buy again but they tasted alright in bubble and squeak for breakfast this morning. So no waste.
Also ran out of garlic -so I bought a bag of 10 which should take me through to garlic harvest time.
Other main meals this week are:
Cauliflower, squash and coconut curry with rice
Spaghetti bolognese
Prawn tagliatelli
Flaky pastry veg pie
Lunches are:
Cauliflower cheese
Salmon sandwich
Dhal with bread
Chestnut loaf with salad
So that's me sorted. Everyone seems to be doing so well.

XSpender

£5.90 spent on the most disgusting chip shop chips ever last night (DH ate the kebab ). Neither of us could eat them. First lot this year and probably our last too!

£7 odd spent at Mr S today on a GF sourdough loaf, tic toc tea, crisps, jelly sweets for me and some cereal bars for DS when we are away. Can you tell its TOTM with the rubbish I have bought?

Will be eating carbs and comfort food tonight and then back on the healthy eating plan tomorrow.

Islandmaid

NSD :j:j:j

Fakeaway Burger and Chips tonight at DS2's request :cool:

Ginmonster

Internet shop arrived today with supplies to keep us going with a week's worth of visitors starting tomorrow but I also couldn't resist the super 6 today and bought 5 of them! Mind you, I've got loads of lemons and limes to chop up and freeze for my gin and tonics now. :-)

On a slightly less happy note the mixed pepper bag I got contained 2 green peppers out of 3! I feel cheated! I would have bought 2 individual red peppers if I'd known.

£47.32 spent today which takes me to £130.58/£150.

FurryBeastOz

Small spend today - Milk and veg, DW salt. £5.87

Doom_and_Gloom

Spent £5.55 between yesterday and today.

£82.35/£140.
£57.65 left.