May 2017 Grocery Challenge

mcculloch29

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

Same here Ginmonster I want to really frugalise my spending for the rest of May. I reckon milk, salad and maybe bowl fruit should be all for the routine stuff, plus a good red wine and some soured cream for Saturday as we are taking part in a Progressive Dinner in the Village (I cook one course for 6 people and go to two other houses for starter and dessert - there are 21 couples doing it!) - it's a great way of getting to know lots of neighbours and it makes money for the fund-raising causes.

This sounds amazing, what a lovely way to get to know people. I hope it works out nicely for you. Wine and soured cream - stroganoff?

Whoever drew up the dining schedule spreadsheets to fit everyone in with a starter, main and dessert in the right order deserves a round of applause.

allmannerofthings

Just had a quick tot-up and I'm at £130.88 of my £240 budget. That includes two McDonalds, fish and chips and crisps and chocolate on a few occasions, so definitely room for improvement there, but I'm happy for my first attempt at setting a food budget for the month. I'm not sure if I'm actually going to come in under target tbh, but I had to start somewhere and I really had no idea how much we were spending. It's a learning curve!

elsiepac

Thanks for the lovely messages from everyone! For this week and next, (and part of the next!) meal planning I'm mostly sorted based on stuff I've been batch cooking and have frozen.
As I am miraculously still under budget so far this month you can tell I've got my meal planning back on track, and focusing on more recipes that I can freeze portions of, plus that are simpler.

I have 4 dinners in the freezer, ingredients to make a 4 portion pea stew (really simple recipe which looks great so I will post if I love it! I'm cooking it tonight), plus 2 portions of leftover vegetable bake in the fridge. I also have a couple of veggie sausages for tea tomorrow night which I'm going to have with all leftover bendy veg roasted! (It's basically going to be a bit of aubergine plus carrot and onion lol, but everything tastes good roasted!)
That only leave 4 dinners to make until payday, so not doing badly.
I have enough oats for my breakfasts the rest of the month.
And I'm loving having salad for lunch just with lemon juice and beans - I cook my beans in big portions from dried so very cheap, and I'm happy with most salad bits from Aldi.

Suffolk_lass

mcculloch29 wrote: »

This sounds amazing, what a lovely way to get to know people. I hope it works out nicely for you. Wine and soured cream - stroganoff?

Whoever drew up the dining schedule spreadsheets to fit everyone in with a starter, main and dessert in the right order deserves a round of applause.

Actually I wrote a little algorithm for it a few years ago and then asked a friend to pass it to the organisers and say they found it online because I had seen the same couple twice in the same year, two years running - I just gave every couple a letter and then mixed it up so you didn't meet any other couple more than once. It works on the basis of 9 as the minimum to work...

That probably wasn't something you needed to know. I used to organise tennis and hockey tournaments and it's just based on the round-robin stage of a tournament with a few tweaks.

Sorry. I really like that stuff...

mcculloch29

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

Actually I wrote a little algorithm for it a few years ago and then asked a friend to pass it to the organisers and say they found it online because I had seen the same couple twice in the same year, two years running - I just gave every couple a letter and then mixed it up so you didn't meet any other couple more than once. It works on the basis of 9 as the minimum to work...

That probably wasn't something you needed to know. I used to organise tennis and hockey tournaments and it's just based on the round-robin stage of a tournament with a few tweaks.

Sorry. I really like that stuff...

I'm a Maths tutor and have set problems like that, which was why I was interested, it's an excellent example of just why Maths and logic skills are handy. Good for you!

thriftwizard

Hmm... £67.84 spent in L!DLs earlier this week, which is nearly £20 more than I'd mentally allowed. So just over £190 left for the rest of the month; belts will be have to be tightened accordingly! But - we're not short of stuff. Will need to run up to the mill next week, though, as I'm running out of two sorts of flour already, but that comes from the "bulk-buying" purse.

Florence_J

I was also doing the other thread challenge of spending £5 per person for a week, which ended today and I was 64p in budget!

Sadly I am visiting my family this weekend and leaving OH with the food shopping wallet so I predict it is going to be majorly dented when I return!

pamsdish

£3.90 yesterday in Morries, called in for some Ariel for 2 friends, £10 for 3, so picked up dog chews, t.v.mag and a reduced plant,
I feel your pain elsiepac, my car due M.O.T. Tuesday couple of minor things to check while in garage, fingers crossed not too expensive.

Suffolk_lass

mcculloch29 wrote: »

I'm a Maths tutor and have set problems like that, which was why I was interested, it's an excellent example of just why Maths and logic skills are handy. Good for you!

Thanks mcculloch29 I love that sort of maths - I meant to say, I shall be making Chilli but with pinto and baked beans, and a small tin of chick-peas and no kidney beans in sight. As mine's usually quite fiery I wanted to make some accompaniments of guacamole and soured cream, and also have corn chips, grated cheese, rice and garlic bread to pad it out, and a big bowl of salad - so anyone not liking my chilli has plenty of other stuff to pad it out!

I've just got the meat (which was on offer a fortnight ago so it's been in my freezer) out ready to cook it overnight - cheap cuts of beef cooked long and slow

Niv

allmannerofthings wrote: »

Just had a quick tot-up and I'm at £130.88 of my £240 budget. That includes two McDonalds, fish and chips and crisps and chocolate on a few occasions, so definitely room for improvement there, but I'm happy for my first attempt at setting a food budget for the month. I'm not sure if I'm actually going to come in under target tbh, but I had to start somewhere and I really had no idea how much we were spending. It's a learning curve!

Just a thought. If you love your Maccy D's have you considered doing the survey that's on the receipts? Takes a couple of minutes and you can get a big mac and fries for £1.99. You can still feed your habit (that's what I consider it for me anyhow) while saving a bit on the price. No limit how many times you can do this but you need to complete the survey each time (i.e you cant use the same code each time).