March 2019 Grocery Challenge

Need2bthrifty

A couple of spends for me last week totalling £16.46 on bread, puff pastry, black pudding, square sausage, coffee mate and soap powder - I got the "Enormous" one which could well last me about a year - that takes my total for the month so far to £60.83, just £9.17 for the rest of the month :eek:, but I don't really need anything other than some fresh F&V towards the end of next week.

I'm not too worried about the amount I've spent, like others I've been stocking up on tinned and dried goods. I could do with some more lentils (red and brown) basmati rice and my favourite teabags but they can wait till next month.

Immediate problem is what to do with a courgette and some chestnut mushrooms before they begin to look really, really sad :think:.

Edit - After a quick search I've got this going in the oven, halved the recipe and I'll have leftovers for lunch tomorrow, it smells nice but I did add a smattering of dried thyme. http://veryhungryexplorer.com/courgette-mushroom-and-feta-bake/

Merlin's_Beard

ditty1234 wrote: »

Hi thanks all, I am now confident and determined that my £59 will have to last for the month. Or at least till the 29th my budget week starts on a Friday so if I cen get through til then, i'll be happy, and probably not starving. Will tear up my coupon for Mr S for next weekend.

It takes time! And what is comfortable for one person isn't for another, and what is reasonable for one person isn't for another. If you go too hard and too strict too fast it will feel miserable and it won't stick. If you try something and realise you could never make it stick, then that's fine even if others can.

Is it worth having a root around on the internet to see if you can your makeup/face creams cheaper? I generally find that a) supermarkets are normally more expensive than Amazon for exactly the same brand and b) if you look hard enough, Superdrug or similar will normally do a virtually or exactly identical non branded version of most stuff that can be worth trying out as well as being cheaper for the branded stuff as well most of the time (and do free deliveries over £15 so you don't even have to go to an extra shop).

taka

ditty1234 wrote: »

£201/£260
Basically not doing well, have £95 too add for grocery shopping this weekend. Had visitors so bought wine and meat. Also shopped in Sainsbury and stocked up on toiletries including things like foundation, spot cream(not for me) So a bit mad as this now leaves me with £59 for the rest of the month. Freezer and most other things are stocked up though.
When I posted my SOA people seemed to think £260 is generous for 2 people. Do they have an other secret budget for snacks, eating out, don't eat any vegetables, for makeup and other house hold staples? Admittedly I buy quite a lot of snacks for lunches, but I bring lunch 5 days a week and are a member of the office coffee club my son has school lunch once a week, and is away from the house 7-6 4 days a week - hence stacks of bought and home made snacks. I am not judging/feeling judged, just feeling slightly puzzled. I will save receipts for the next few weeks and start to dig in.
Am now questioning logic in using 2. Sainsbury voucher 10.50 off £70 shop?

If I was you I'd have a think and break things up a little and work out how much to set aside monthly for things eg
£A for school dinners,
£B for coffee club,
£C for toiletries
£D for household (eg loo rolls, cleaning stuff, washing powder etc)
£E for entertaining
then you'd know what is left over for normal food type shops which may make it a little easier to plan things with?

I use the "Out of milk" app to keep a track of stocks of stuff I have in the house already. I usually do big shops in Aldi or Lidl (which have reasonably constant pricing!) so I have entered the prices in the app and so can make a shopping list (with a running total) which helps me to finalise a shopping list with a budget in mind before I step foot in the shop. Things like mysupermarket also help price things up in advance if I'm shopping in one of the big supermarkets.

My main downfall grocery budget wise is top up / I fancy an x, y or z type shops when on the way home from work & I'm hungry. I'm now purposely staying on an extra stop or 2 on the bus so I change buses somewhere with no shops!

I seem to be running on budget so far this month (£55 odd out of £161.20) but that may all still go to pot. Dad has been told he needs to make some (kind of complicated) dietary changes due to his health problems. I'm to all intents and purposes his carer (he doesn't live with me though) and it means I need to do much more of his cooking so I'm not entirely sure how this will pan out. It kinda scares me to be honest but there is a dietician we can access for help if needed. I'm hoping I can do a bunch of batch cooking (of 6-8 person sized batches) and fill his freezer with hm individual portions of stuff to stock up & then just batch cook as I go but we'll see. I'm a pretty poor and unconfident cook so this may be quite painful for us both! :rotfl: Will spend the next few evenings trying to read up on some of the dietary info he's been given and make a plan of sorts.

Does anyone have any recipes (or links) for veggie sandwich spreads eg spicy bean / lentil pate type stuff? Dad is a cheese fiend and needs to cut back a LOT on this. I'm fine for Houmous but was looking for other (especially higher protein without much in the way of nuts) options too if anyone can recommend any?

Need2bthrifty

taka wrote: »

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Does anyone have any recipes (or links) for veggie sandwich spreads eg spicy bean / lentil pate type stuff? Dad is a cheese fiend and needs to cut back a LOT on this. I'm fine for Houmous but was looking for other (especially higher protein without much in the way of nuts) options too if anyone can recommend any?

Taka, I've tried both of these and found them great for breakfasts/lunches on toast or crackers.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1897679/red-lentil-and-sweet-potato-pt

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2961/butter-bean-pt-with-melba-toast

Ginmonster

I've just remembered I spent £4 on some shampoo and 2 boxes of low sugar Cheerios on Friday. The low sugar ones are not usually discounted and I haven't found an own brand version so I was pleased to find them at £1.50 instead of £2.50 a pack in Tesco.

41.37/120

dollypeeps

Been lurking for a good while and decided to try and jump in....

.I budget £60 per week for 4 adults...that's for all meals and packed lunches but just lately seem to be going over.....

Decided to track ALL spending for the rest of this month to see where it all goes and hopefully make bett decisions...

As lots of you have said, it really is a journey and one with lots of 'detours'....it takes time, and more time than You can imagine to get it 'right' ....

So I'm hoping with tracking and a more 'fluid' approach that I'll be able to join in maybe a few months when if had a GOOD (honest) look at what we spend where.

Lifeisforliving19

ditty1234 wrote: »

£201/£260
Basically not doing well, have £95 too add for grocery shopping this weekend. Had visitors so bought wine and meat. Also shopped in Sainsbury and stocked up on toiletries including things like foundation, spot cream(not for me) So a bit mad as this now leaves me with £59 for the rest of the month. Freezer and most other things are stocked up though.
When I posted my SOA people seemed to think £260 is generous for 2 people. Do they have an other secret budget for snacks, eating out, don't eat any vegetables, for makeup and other house hold staples? Admittedly I buy quite a lot of snacks for lunches, but I bring lunch 5 days a week and are a member of the office coffee club my son has school lunch once a week, and is away from the house 7-6 4 days a week - hence stacks of bought and home made snacks. I am not judging/feeling judged, just feeling slightly puzzled. I will save receipts for the next few weeks and start to dig in.
Am now questioning logic in using 2. Sainsbury voucher 10.50 off £70 shop?

I was one who would say that £260 is more than generous for 2 people. I started with a budget of £200 for the 2 of us, but have brought it down to £180 this month as I think I can manage it. I think the problem could be the snacks. I don't normally buy a lot of snacks but I know that if/when we do, they will make a big difference. Oh is away from the house for approx. 11-12 hours a day and he takes sandwiches, a prepared dinner in a Tupperware container that he can heat up at work, some fruit and his one and only snack....a bag of crisps. Occasionally if I have any cakes in the house, he will add one of those.
It took me a while to start realising the best ways to save money, but it will come to you in the end. This group is really useful and I love having to keep track of my spends.

Personally I wouldn't use the Sainsburys' voucher. They are a lot more expensive to start with and if you have to spend £70, I bet you could get a lot more stuff for £70 if you shopped elsewhere.

Lifeisforliving19

£79.67/£180 Feeling quite pleased so far this month. Seem to be doing well. Even had 6 NSD's so far, I think keeping track of my spends and noting my NSD's is really helping.
Bought a chicken for the weekend and I am really fussy with chicken and they have to be free range, which is obviously a lot dearer. Anyway, this one was just short of £6 and I managed to get Sunday lunch for 2, 2 meals for OH to take to work yesterday and today (with some veg) and then I did bone broth in the slow cooker to use for soup and managed to get 4 portions of chicken and veg soup from it. So quite good value I think.

shirlgirl2004

I joined last month and allowed £400 per month, unfortunately my month run 15th -14th which doesn't work with the MSE challenges. To combat this I've decided to set a budget of £85 per week (or to keep things easy per Saturday in the month). So joining her from Friday and as there will be 3 Saturdays before the end of the month that'll be £255; sounds a lot but hoping the April budget will be less because of it (although the children will be off school so maybe not).

Suffolk_lass

dollypeeps wrote: »

Been lurking for a good while and decided to try and jump in....

.I budget £60 per week for 4 adults...that's for all meals and packed lunches but just lately seem to be going over.....

Decided to track ALL spending for the rest of this month to see where it all goes and hopefully make bett decisions...

As lots of you have said, it really is a journey and one with lots of 'detours'....it takes time, and more time than You can imagine to get it 'right' ....

So I'm hoping with tracking and a more 'fluid' approach that I'll be able to join in maybe a few months when if had a GOOD (honest) look at what we spend where.

Welcome dollypeeps, tracking this month is a really sensible way to start.

A good next step is to make a log of everything you already have in - cupboard staples, freezer contents and lurking things you bought a while ago. It is a great way of using what you have and making your shopping list shorter