February 2022 Grocery Challenge

Cocobeans

A couple of top up shops and a takeaway has meant we have now spent £163.13 - this is more than I would have liked but the takeaway was a treat as our nephew came round after school which hasn't happened much since covid so wanted to treat him! Really interesting to read everyone's freezer organisation - something I really need to look into once the allotment starts producing in the summer! We only got the allotment last April and it has taken a lot of work to make it usable so this will be our first proper year so want to make the most of whatever we manage to grow! 

Spent £163.13/ £300

Soontobeoap

Going for £160 again this month. I really think that I can do it as it is a 4 week month and I am getting more into it now. I also have some club card vouchers to use. My month will run from 1st to 28th. This week I have spent £17.07. £5.08 in tescos and £11.78 in Aldi as I discovered that their Brisket and veggies were much cheaper. I only paid 45p for a huge bag of wonky carrots! The Brisket will do a roast, 1 or 2 stews and roughly 10 pasty’s and it only cost £7.50. I am trying to have roast once every fortnight still and make the meat last 3 or 4 days at least for 2 of us. 

Good luck with keeping to your budgets everyone.

CRANKY40

My February food budget doesn't start until next Monday so I'm still using food from January and cupboard stock from January and before - long before in some cases. Today I did lunch for the HT (my son, the House Troll) of cheese and ham toastie and crisps. My best friend came round and bought me a packet of posh bacon that he won't use in time. He claims not to like food from the freezer so won't freeze the bacon. The ham in the sandwich that I made him for lunch came from guess where? If you said anywhere other than the freezer you're wrong 🤣 I had a turkey sandwich with the turkey also liberated from the freezer stash. Anyone care to figure out where the posh bacon is headed? 😄

Dinner tonight will be lasagne which is in the oven now. It will make six portions and there are three of us here so that's three portions to go in the freezer. The left over bolognese sauce (which had a handful of lentils added at the start) has had a can of cheap beans added and some chilli powder. It's cooling down on the side in a casserole dish now and I'll portion it up for the freezer tomorrow.

I made fairy cakes this morning as friend was coming for lunch. Six vanilla with lemon icing and six chocolate with choclate icing. Friend took four home with him and there's four left. I forget sometimes how quick and easy they are to make. Friend is dairy free so it's actually easier to make cakes than it is to find something suitable in the supermarket (not to mention the horrendous price of anything that has the word "free" in it's title). 

nannygladys

Nothing spent today as I've been busy with 'life' stuff.  I'm not aiming on spending anything over the weekend as I have food in the freezer and fridge to use up first, and then I will have the space in the freezer to do a bit of bulk cooking.
Nannyg

EskarinaWeatherwax

Hi all, great to see new people joining.

I joined my local community pantry today, they’ve only been open two weeks. I spent £6 including my £1 membership fee and got 15 items which included three Brussel sprouts stalks full of sprouts, three bags of radishes, a jar of mayo, a couple of tins of tomato soup, beans and quite a few cans of fruit, and a big bag of crisp type snacks which will go with lunch every day next week. I was really pleased about this as it was a nice selection even though apparently they’ve been rushed off their feet since their delivery earlier in the week.

I also walked 8 miles as a round-trip on some errands including the community pantry so feel very pleased with myself! 

Doom_and_Gloom

£8.79 spent since last post in Mr S.

My dinner today is butternut squash and bean curry with rice (previously bulk cooked) as all I have to do is microwave it as the OH isn't here this weekend. 

£24.42/£150.
£125.58

Its_time

Hmmmm well I went over last month by about £100 so this month if possible I would like to stick to 

£300 for me please?

I am going to have a good look through the recipes at the beginning of the thread and hopefully stick to the budget.  I've gone for a bit more this month as I went over last month but I am hoping it will be doable as it is a shorter month.

PipneyJane

Focus27 said:

I’ve seen a few people mention the L!d! bulk offer of tinned tuna.  My local store is doing it next week.  Can anyone tell me, will I find it in the middle aisle or on the shelf with the other tins of tuna?

Thanks in advance 

@Focus27, each L!dl store is different.  My regular shop will have them near the entrance, with some of the other offers.  However, when I bought tuna the other week, we were in a totally different branch and I had to look carefully to find them.  I’d almost given up when I found them by the tills.

HTH

- Pip

thriftwizard

Oh phew! Nearly had a fit, thinking I'd spent rather a lot more than normal on the weekly shop. But looking at the supermarket receipt, there were two items that didn't belong to the "Grocery" category, which means it was all a bit more normal than I'd thought. So far, so good. Two of the resident Offspring are away this weekend, but an outsourced one is coming round with wife & baby instead... and I'm visiting the Oriental Grocers in the city the other side of the Forest tomorrow, so a little extra expenditure will almost certainly happen. All to the good in the long run  ...

Suffolk_lass

NoraNoir said:

Hi all,
  joining you for the first time. Things are tight, having gone in to a part time job following 2 years of illness on UC & PIP. I’m actually likely to be worse off! So, time to batten down the hatches. 

  I’m aiming to stick to £25 per week, (nearly) all in. I share some of the ‘siege mentality’ I’ve seen talked about on here 😅 I’ve got cupboards full of noodles, pasta, beans, lentils, soap, tofu, tea bags, laundry stuff etc. It’s getting a bit embarrassing now so need to start working my way through it before it all goes out of date. I enjoy cooking, when I have the energy, so I’ve been batch cooking & filling up my shoe box of a freezer. I’m vegan, don’t drink or smoke, however I do need to kick an expensive nicotine gum habit which I am accounting for separately. Also have a hol lined up next month, it’ll be on the cheap but anything left over my weekly budget will go towards that, and then to gather money to get off the unstable treadmill of renting. Hoping that and keeping track of gum expenditure that will give me motivation to cut down spending and stop the chewing!
  So far this week - £11.04/£25. I can’t tell you what on exactly as my banking app (and memory) seems to be failing tonight.
Going for a brew with holiday friends and a meal out courtesy of my cousin on Friday, got a coop coupon to use for some frozen veg that should tide me over til the half price veg box arrives next week, and I won a fiver on the lottery (not a usual purchase, sent to hol saving account) so hoping I’ll have a bit left over 🤞  
  Thanks all for a lovely forum here btw - and to all that share. I’m relieved to read I’m not the only one who buys/lives/budgets this way! 🤗

@NoraNoir you might want to join us over on Reverse Meal Planning

- it will give you somewhere to be accountable for using up your stores (as well as replenishing them) - with plenty of helpful people to suggest what you could do to vary things