November 2017 Grocery Challenge

iammumtoone

K.Mack wrote: »

Would I be better breaking up the spends in to weeks?

I work in weeks Mon - Sun, everything is done this way at work as well so I find it easier to continue at home.

I started off by having a weekly budget but found it not suitable as I might spend more one week less the next depending on what staples I need/leftovers I have. So I opted to budget for 4 weeks at a time.

Some people prefer to work month - month via payday dates.

There is no right or wrong do what is best for you.

iammumtoone

Yesterdays spend was 28.63 this includes the £4 I had to fork out on a [STRIKE]crap piece of plastic[/STRIKE] something my son said he really needed. I will include the cost of this in the food budget as thats what it costs me when he has to come along for the weekly shop (at least he behaved due to the promise of it).

armchairexpert

K.Mack wrote: »

Hi,

I've just read through the initial post and think it would be beneficial for me to join,but will put my name down for next month. My husband and I routinely allocate 180.00 (and then some!) per month for food, so definitely think this can be improved on!
The dog has his own budget (we get a delivery of his food each month via direct debit). I have two little furry pets who I don't have to buy for that often to be honest.
We used to be a bit more organised but our work routines changed and we have extra bills now, so have become a bit lazy. I also have the problem planning things so they merge into each other. For example yesterday I cooked gammon joint for dinner and today I made carbonara with some of the left overs. I still have a small amount of leftovers and the cream from the carbonara so what should I do with them?
Or I will make something different then the rest of the ingredients go to waste because I don't know what else to make with them.

Do you guys have spreadsheets of everything? I made one years ago but could never keep to it!
Would I be better breaking up the spends in to weeks?

Please note my husband is no help whatsoever when it comes to these things. He hasn't any interest in helping meal plan.

Sorry for the long post!

Hi,

Monthly budgeting works best for most of us because one so often buys a couple of big things at the beginning of the month: coffee beans and bread flour are monthly spends for us, and break the bank on the week they fall due!

Leftover gammon and cream: make a quiche and use up any bits of veg lying around as well.

I have found that getting things to 'merge' becomes easier over time. I start off with a weekly meal plan, but with at least one or two pantry meals a week (pasta with tinned salmon, tuna patties, that sort of thing). Then if I have more leftovers than I expect from a fresh meal, the pantry meal can be shoved to another week instead with no waste. I also have a few go-to 'leftovers' meals, so my family always gets at least one of:
quiche
stir fry
curry

per week, because they're all good for using lots of little bits.

Ginmonster

Had a few more spends over the weekend. I spent £1.57 on bananas and hubby spent £10.13 on a chicken, some bacon and gravy granules for Sunday's dinner. We had a roast as his mum was staying and could share some meat with him. I used a mushroom wellington I had stashed in freezer so we all had lovely food.

There are plenty of leftovers to make a few meals over the next few days and I've still got plenty of veg in the fridge for the rest of the week so hopefully there will be no more spends until we run out of bananas at the end of the week. Still on track for hitting the budget this month so I'm feeling fairly optimistic.

£45.13/£100

mrs-moneypenny

Morning all
Because I'm working more hours and the afterschool club runs so late I've started meal planning and batch baking every Monday afternoon. So I've got the weeks meals prepared and just ready to add pots and veg if needed and pop in the oven. It's working so much better and there is much less waste as everything is being used straight away after the weekend shop.

Need to sort my sig out with the months spends so far.

XSpender

After the weekends spending my total stands at £343.63/£450 with another 2 weekends to go.

Weekly I have spent:

Week 1 - £175.32
Week 2 - £86.58
Week 3 - £81.73

I allow £90/week so it is clear to see week 1 is the culprit. This was half term as well which I hadn't budgeted anything extra for either. It is going to be a struggle to come in under budget this month. I have been aiming for £100/week for months, achieved it last month and should have again this month.

Sunday I spent most of the day cooking some healthy meals for DH and I as we get home late and resort to poor meal choices or a takeaway. I made some SW pakoras and crustless quiches for snacks and SW pasta bake, 2 x SW chicken and bacon pie and SW chicken curry. It is the first time I have done this and I am planning to do the same this Sunday morning, I just need to decide what to make.:)

We had the curry last night and it made such a difference nuking a healthy home cooked meal than rummaging around in the freezer for something to stick on a baking tray.

Tonight I will heat up the pasta bake and make some garlic bread out of the bread crusts and some garlic butter I already have.

We will have one of the pies with extra veg tomorrow and I will make the spicy sausage, chip and egg bake from my new SW cook book for Thursday.

elsiepac

XSpender wrote: »

We will have one of the pies with extra veg tomorrow and I will make the spicy sausage, chip and egg bake from my new SW cook book for Thursday.

I got new book too as it was free with the 12 week countdown. However, as a vegan, there isn't loads in there for me! A few things I can adapt. However my leader has been raving about that chip, sausage, egg bake thing, apparently it's very good!
I have the tarka dal on my meal plan this week, to go in the slow cooker Thursday.

Need2bthrifty

Been for a couple of shops £ 1.00 at @sda for eggs on Sunday and £3.96 at @ld! today for leeks, brussels, pears, garlic a net of lemons and a pot of thyme, this takes my total to £47.48, I'm hoping will be the last shop for my month - new budget starts on 20th.

I dont shop very often in @ld1 and haven't quite sussed out the best day to buy F&V, as a single person household I try to get stuff with a reasonably long Best Before, lately I'm always disappointed with @ld1's stuff some of the produce today had a BB 16th - makes me wonder how long its been in the warehouse and if I had left it another day it would be reduced :mad:

Eventually got around to doing my menu plan and shouldnt need to shop for at least a week.
T - Leek & Mushroom Lasagne, roasted cauliflower, slice garlic bread
W - Stewed Liver, potatoes, brussels & carrot
Th - Chicken & Chickpea Curry, rice, green salad
F - Gammon, cauliflower & leek gratin & green beans
S - Mung Bean Dal, rice

adventureofmemories

May I join?
Our food budget for the both of us is £240
(The mr doesn't like cheap foods on some things)

We've got £105.81 left of the budget.

caronc

An extra spend of £10 mainly on household/cleaning items. Think I might go over budget this month as at £72/3120 but I have bought quite a bit of stuff for Christmas in my usual weekly shop which really should come out of my Christmas budget. It will even itself out in the end!