February 2017 Grocery Challenge

Fruittea

I'm nearly ready for the challenge. The freezers have been audited but not the cupboards. I've had my last food delivery and am ready to start on the 1st. I really should be able to sustain myself without a shop but I want to eat healthily as well as frugally.

I'll be meal planning using a 4 column sheet over a 2 week period - breakfast, lunch dinner and veggies available. In the veg column I'll be making note of the fresh things I have to use and planning in some frozen. Hopefully using a good mix of both. I will cross of each one as a make the meals. Sounds a bit completed but it works for me.

I have a veg box delivery once a week as I like the variety it give me and will be sticking to Ocado deliveries for everything else. So it should be easy for me to see exactly what I spend. As mentioned before: 2 adults with a plant and fish based diet allowing £150 for the month.

Suffolk_lass

I came in £99.95 under budget for January - mostly because I joined the "eating out of the freezer and cupboards challenge - part 2" - and very excellent it is too - highly recommended and very supportive (I know some on here are there too but others may not know).

I felt so smug this morning I went off-list in Aldo's and bought a few unnecessary treats. We have just had ready-made home-bake croissants with lovely strong coffee and all is well with the world, even if I spent an extra £10. It is a last splurge as I intend changing my diet for February and March to see how it affects me. I am too fat but more importantly, I feel tired and my joints ache. I suspect sugar so I am going to try to reduce this. There, a public declaration of intent! Now I have to stick to it!

Good luck with February everyone
SL

Cheapskate

Afternoon all, please can I go down for £350 for February?

Still totting up for January, but think I've not done too badly. We still have a LOT of beef in the freezer from the farm near us, and a fair amount of things in the pantry (tinned, flours, dried pulses/pasta/rice etc), so hoping that I can get under budget for the first time in ages!

Off to read first few pages...

A xo

Willowx

I'm still on my annual budget of £1560 for 2017, which averages out to £130 a month over the year but my spend is rarely even as living alone I find the best way for me involves buying certain things in bulk and then spend the next few months working through them.

Most of my meat, fruit, veg and jars come from the greengrocer and butcher in the next village. Part of this is to do with the fact they sell mainly regional food, the other part is that it is about a 4 mile round trip which is good for my step count!

My February financial month starts today and ends on the 3rd of March, making me one of the few people with a five week February. :rotfl: My grocery budget covers all food and drink(both for at home and when out and about), toiletries and cleaning products as well as random bits and bobs and gadgets for the kitchen.

GreenFairy

€400 for me again this month please!

Came in well under last month, and ran down the presses and freezer nicely. We had our payday takeaway last night, and will be having the leftovers for dinner tonight - that's out of our pocket money though.

Planned my shop really well over the last week, and did the run this morning. Pet shop for giant sack of dog food and cat and dog treats - should be a good two months worth of each at least.

Tesco then, for an absolutely massive shop, with plenty of fruit and veg - we've been lacking in that for the last week or so. I'm super happy with my planning in advance though. When I saw it all up on the belt, I had a moment of doubt in myself and was convinced it would be heading for the €200 mark, and it Came in at €134.29 :j

Fridge, freezer and presses are heaving, but for a change, I'm planning on not doing another big shop his month. I'll need a trip to the butcher and Asia market in a week or so, but outside that it should just be bread and milk type stuff for the rest. Let's see how it goes!

NewShadow

Can people let me know if they come across any offers on corned beef?

I really, really want to have corned beef hash, I get these cravings sometimes - and there's no way I'm paying £2 a tin - it used to be 50p!

I'm happy to bulk buy if that's the best offer, but looking at less than £5 per kilo - tesco has value at £1.50 a tin (400g:£4.40/kg) but I'd have to place a full online order as none near me.

None in the local B&M

Thank you in advance.

Fruittea

Poundland have corned beef. Perhaps you have one near you.

Flat_Eric

We were meant to be going out for date night tonight but I didn't get round to booking anywhere and to be honest I decided that something at home followed by wine would suffice rather than be out in the cold and paying over the odds for tea. Thus followed a trip to m&s where I tried to be good and not overspend. I.e. I didn't buy the chinese meal deal and stuck to just what I had in mind (although I did buy some mini welsh cakes that were not on my list!) I thought I would use the self service to save time but ended up needing help several times then needed to go to customer services so next time I'll just queue up and wait to be served rather try and do it myself!

Does anyone use an app to keep track of their grocery spends? I was looking for one last night and downloaded (several) but found them all a bit over complicated so I think I'll stick to pen and paper!

pamsdish

Can you put me in for £126 this month please, carrying forward my underspend from Jan as I will need dog food this month.

NewShadow

Flat_Eric wrote: »

We were meant to be going out for date night tonight but I didn't get round to booking anywhere and to be honest I decided that something at home followed by wine would suffice rather than be out in the cold and paying over the odds for tea. Thus followed a trip to m&s where I tried to be good and not overspend. I.e. I didn't buy the chinese meal deal and stuck to just what I had in mind (although I did buy some mini welsh cakes that were not on my list!) I thought I would use the self service to save time but ended up needing help several times then needed to go to customer services so next time I'll just queue up and wait to be served rather try and do it myself!

Does anyone use an app to keep track of their grocery spends? I was looking for one last night and downloaded (several) but found them all a bit over complicated so I think I'll stick to pen and paper!

I want a really simple app or website that's basically just a 7x4 table - 7 across the top for days of the week, 4 down the side for three meals and 'snacks'

I'm on a mac and can't get my head around google sheets or open office.

I just use lots and lots of bits of paper and then lose them all