February 2018 Grocery Challenge

elsiepac

Hi all

Another busy month for me so not on here as much as I'd like - however I am actually caught up on the thread which is nice!

My GC ends 2 weeks today and I have £16.64 left in the pot - however I also have £10 in Mr T vouchers to use. I also have a full fridge and cupboards are well stocked. I got a few things today I had run out of - loo roll, shower gel, soy sauce, rice vinegar, some spices and a couple of salad top ups (I'm having a small salad with a small portion of soup for my lunches at the moment which is working very well and of course slimming world friendly!). The point being I shouldn't need anything imminently. I do need to replace a couple of tins in the cupboard but nothing urgent.

Really aiming not to go over this month - it's true I'm way ahead of where I should be on spending but I had to do a massive stock up at the start of the month having emptied my supplies over Dec and Jan. Since then I've been mostly stocking up when I use something - e.g. a tin of chickpeas, I'll add it to the shopping list for the following week. I have all my dried beans etc just am really struggling with meal planning at the moment let alone managing to do big batches of dried beans to freeze! I really want to aim to get an instant pot - but it's at the bottom of a long list of actual needs and isn't exactly a need LOL.
I guess I should focus on planning meals more. In fact I've just inspired myself. Will report back.

r3b3cca

I've spent £101.85/£280.00 this month, but I have a shop at Aldi and Tesco planned for tonight which should come to around £30.00. It's half term this week which means a lot more snacks are going to be consumed, and DS2 isn't getting his free infant school meals.

ancientmum

I have updated my sig with the past week's spends of £13.72, divided between Aldi and Waitrose.

private_helen

Glad to hear your feeling better 'Save Dosh'- Was interested to hear your comment about FFds- I have a store up the road but have never been in it. Think i'll take a nose next time I'm passing. A friend has also just told me about some great offers in the F Warehouse- another fairly local freezer store I've not tried.

I am not over budget yet, but realise my £300 per calendar month guesstimate (all food- breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, alcohol, toiletries and cleaning) was perhaps a little ambitious, and after tomorrow's shop (for basics) I might just tip over target (my month started on the 26th Jan). Having friends over and ordering pizza didn't help- nor did the alcohol. I think the alcohol is probably the largest reduction we can make over a month.

However- using planned meals and batch cooking has meant we have eaten far healthier meals, and all those bits dying in my freezer have been used. I've really enjoyed this week- my biggest stress was to remember to get meals out of freezer the night before to defrost. With my old freezer supplies and batch cooking supplies depleting I'm now looking at cheap meals to sustain us for next week. In the depths of my store cupboard I have found 3- yes 3! bags of red split lentils- I've just googled some fab recipes (all freezable), so it looks like a meat free week for us.

I was particularly interested in red lentil and sweet potato pate (served with crackers or pitta and sticks of carrot, celery and cucumber) as an alternative to our usual packed lunches. The other faces in the house tell me they aren't quite as keen- but I'll let you know how it goes.

Mrs_Cheshire

Forgot about the 7.56 spend in Her*n foods yesterday, got snacks and drinks for yesterday and a few bits for packed lunches and snacks to top up the drawer.
Today was a small top up shop at Mr T's spent £5.61.

I'm planning on using the waitr*se coupons I got sent for the next couple of main shops, with maybe the odd thing from Ald! as their cold meat seems expensive for the amount you get compared with Ald!.

Budget currently stands at £229.44/£400, I don't need to buy any meat/fish for main meals so hoping to have a couple of £40 minus £8 voucher shops and then some under £10 top ups to get us to the end of the month. I'd be really happy if I could come in under £350 for the entire month.

Doom_and_Gloom

Went shopping after getting off a bus ride me and OH would love to forget. I'm a wheelchair user and was already on the bus when a woman with a pushchair came on but there was no space which I tried to explain to deaf ears apparently. She ended up whacking into my legs and feet, actually moving them and it was painful, with her pushchair wheels. When my OH had a go at her for that, no we weren't nice about it but she had just hurt me, she and I quote said 'I didn't touch her!' She went on to say it was funny. Grr :mad: . I am sick and tired of ignorant people doing this and thinking that being in a wheelchair means I can't feel my legs and feet.

Anyway we did our best to only buy what was needed while we were still 'fuming'.

I spent £4.14 buying bananas, mushroom 'mince' (ys), brussel sprouts (ys), grapes and celeriac (ys).
OH bought 2 joints of beef, sweet chilli beef, eggs and milk.

Me - £45.28/£54. £8.72 left.
OH - £35.91/£81. £45.09 left.
Total - £81.19/£135. £53.81 left

ma-ri-ella

sitting at around £15 for month - over for the year. Going to try no buying for the lent period- fully stocked up on milk and meal planned to the end of next week which is where the work rota goes up to. I'm fine for breakfast and lunches - teas are a bit low . Since it is technically 46 days to lent i can have 6 spend days - going to make myself a pretty bullet journal to encourage me keeping this up

NeverendingDMP

I'm at 336.70 out of 390. I've got till 26th to go but will need mainly fresh stuff between now and then. I've written a meal planner till 26th so have main meals bought. It's been tough so far but I'm still in with a chance, all our food dog food and toiletries are included in my budget. Sure it will become easier each month though now I'm planning better.

[Deleted User]

Spent £6.44 on some bits, am stocked up on oats for making my milk. Need some salad bits, mushrooms, Vegenaise and that's it. Bit low on lentils, but have 3 packs of mixed dry bean and lentil mixes, that I want to use, also have a massive catering size of broad beans, so might hunt out some burger/falafel recipes for the freezer, maybe some broad bean houmous. Have updated sig.

debtfreeforlife

Still mostly on track - £107.97/£200 of this month's spend!