April 2023 Grocery Challenge

Pennypincin

£4.66 of last weeks money spent on reduced vegetarian bits yesterday.
The £2.36 will be added to this weeks £35.
From next week could I be out down for £30 please. It's going to be a challenge, but needs must at the moment.
I've freezer smallish freezer full of food to use and bits in the cupboards, so I am hoping to not do so much shopping, plus enough cleaning products for the time being.

Thevalueofless

Uh oh! Total so far for April £169.76/£270
We had stepson and his partner visit over Easter so extra to feed for four meals. We are all vegan but visitors announced trying to eat no/low carb for weight loss reasons so had to rethink meal plan and buy in extra things we wouldn't normally have as we try to eat seasonally. However, I had fun researching, we had some lovely meals and we would have spent more had we ate out which we probably would have done for at least a lunch and a dinner.  

It is a long while till the end of the month though so am going to have to get creative with what we have left in the cupboards. Popped into Mr T's today in case any bargain veg left from the weekend as I was so focused on our guests that I didn't pick any up but all back to normal price. Did find some ys field mushrooms which will go into a chilli today with lentils and kidney beans , some ys vine tomatoes, a block of tofu on offer and two blocks of Flora plant butter also on offer. Total should have been £8.70 but with reductions and offers only £5.65. The chilli will most likely do 3 meals for two of us - with rice this evening then portioned up for the freezer to make enchiladas one evening and then with jacket spuds and some salad another evening as we have some lambs lettuce, mizuna and spring onions growing in the greenhouse. 

Good job I like a challenge as only one third of our budget left to last till the end of the month but thankfully lots of tips and tricks to be had on this forum 🙂

TVOL

AnnabelSaves

Thevalueofless said:

Uh oh! Total so far for April £169.76/£270
We had stepson and his partner visit over Easter so extra to feed for four meals. We are all vegan but visitors announced trying to eat no/low carb for weight loss reasons so had to rethink meal plan and buy in extra things we wouldn't normally have as we try to eat seasonally. However, I had fun researching, we had some lovely meals and we would have spent more had we ate out which we probably would have done for at least a lunch and a dinner.  

It is a long while till the end of the month though so am going to have to get creative with what we have left in the cupboards. Popped into Mr T's today in case any bargain veg left from the weekend as I was so focused on our guests that I didn't pick any up but all back to normal price. Did find some ys field mushrooms which will go into a chilli today with lentils and kidney beans , some ys vine tomatoes, a block of tofu on offer and two blocks of Flora plant butter also on offer. Total should have been £8.70 but with reductions and offers only £5.65. The chilli will most likely do 3 meals for two of us - with rice this evening then portioned up for the freezer to make enchiladas one evening and then with jacket spuds and some salad another evening as we have some lambs lettuce, mizuna and spring onions growing in the greenhouse. 

Good job I like a challenge as only one third of our budget left to last till the end of the month but thankfully lots of tips and tricks to be had on this forum 🙂

TVOL

I'd love to hear how you managed vegan low carb!

Thevalueofless

AnnabelSaves said:

Thevalueofless said:

Uh oh! Total so far for April £169.76/£270
We had stepson and his partner visit over Easter so extra to feed for four meals. We are all vegan but visitors announced trying to eat no/low carb for weight loss reasons so had to rethink meal plan and buy in extra things we wouldn't normally have as we try to eat seasonally. However, I had fun researching, we had some lovely meals and we would have spent more had we ate out which we probably would have done for at least a lunch and a dinner.  

It is a long while till the end of the month though so am going to have to get creative with what we have left in the cupboards. Popped into Mr T's today in case any bargain veg left from the weekend as I was so focused on our guests that I didn't pick any up but all back to normal price. Did find some ys field mushrooms which will go into a chilli today with lentils and kidney beans , some ys vine tomatoes, a block of tofu on offer and two blocks of Flora plant butter also on offer. Total should have been £8.70 but with reductions and offers only £5.65. The chilli will most likely do 3 meals for two of us - with rice this evening then portioned up for the freezer to make enchiladas one evening and then with jacket spuds and some salad another evening as we have some lambs lettuce, mizuna and spring onions growing in the greenhouse. 

Good job I like a challenge as only one third of our budget left to last till the end of the month but thankfully lots of tips and tricks to be had on this forum 🙂

TVOL

I'd love to hear how you managed vegan low carb!

@Annabelsaves it wasn't easy! We usually pasta, rice, beans, lentils and root veg at this time of year all of which were out of bounds. So it was lots and lots of mushrooms and tofu, peppers and 'above ground'  growing vegetables, big bowls of green salads, vegan feta style cheese,  spiralised courgette for pasta replacement, cauliflower as a rice replacement and lettuce leaves used as wraps instead of bread. I did buy some processed Beyond Burgers as they were low in carbs but a big chunk of the budget though. I served everything up buffet style so they could have as much or as little of each dish as they wanted. Have to admit for dinner the day they left I had a very simple jacket potato and baked beans which I relished. it was al lovely food but not as purse friendly as our usual fayre.

Saver-upper

Went to Tesco this morning for bread and milk: £6.39

April spend: £174.61/£300.00

KajiKita

bunnybrain said:

I Know I have been quite - have been quietly working behind the scenes and sadly finding out - my budgeting skills are pants (even with and increased budget!) - Things Learned -; I cannot meal plan to save my life - working nights has thrown me off planning and I need to step away from the bread solution to everything 

What’s getting in the way of meal planning? Just the nights working (which is really hard on the body and mental energy I think) or something else as well?

The important thing is you are learning. Nights throw you off so what can you you do to prep for them - get some portioned batches in the freezer for example?

For the meal planning, I created a list of all the things we like to eat and have it to hand as we are thinking about what to have the following week - we then shop the gaps and not everything. 

What would you prefer to be eating instead of bread? Can those options feed into the plan?

I’m going to try and do some reverse planning this week - where you start from what you have that needs eating up and only buy what is required to make meals from those items. 

I think all this budgeting and meal planning is both a skill and a strength - you don’t see people becoming great martial artists or athletes as soon as they decide to be one or the other - it takes time, effort, repetition, imagination, creativity etc etc. So long as you are steadily mastering one skill after the other, you are mastering the art 😊

We’ll get there 😊

KK

MissRikkiC

Soontobeoap said:

Just been to Sainsburys and bought a 2.3kg piece of gammon for £6.00. It will be lovely when DS and family come for his birthday at the end of the month. I wish I had bought 2 now. They had loads of them. Really cheap way to feed a family for a few days. 

I got one of these last week too and they really do stretch well don’t they! Great value I thought. Maybe I should’ve got 2 as well

AnnabelSaves

Morning savers!

Reviewed the joint budget yesterday and the grocery spend. Planning on eating out of the freezers this week, although have my parents visiting at the weekend so I'll have to get some stuff in for that. 

Currently eating some oats I had in the office, with stewed rhubarb from my allotment and peanut butter. Brought leftover curry in for lunch, and will be making a tuna and rice dish for dinner with frozen tuna steaks. Other than my commute costs, which I put through my company, planning a no-spend day. 

Hope everyone is enjoying the sun!

Nelliegrace

£150 budget, £68.61 spent, £81.39 left.

DH got the milk, and made a nice loaf, £3.30. 
The weather is horrible, I am not going anywhere. That saves money.

sarahj1986

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

Yes please let me do this again

last 2 weeks of March went a bit iffy because I wasn’t very well



£250 

£9.91 spent

it was a beautiful day yesterday so went to the park with my daughter and whilst I was in town I got a few things in the Tesco express. I have a big shop coming today but we didn’t have enough bread and milk to see us through for breakfast, lunch, hot drinks. Whilst I was in there I got a pizza for dinner seen as we were getting home later and no time to do a pasta bake that I had planned. I also check out the reduced section. I managed to get 2 chicken breasts for £1.29 a packet so I got 3 packets. I’ve got some chicken meals planned this week and that will do nicely. 

I then went into the Sainsbury’s local and found some crispy sliced potatoes reduced for 39p so got them to compliment dinner. 

£240.09 left 

£146.56 spent 

it was a hugeee Tesco shop this week!

the lamb legs and beef joints are on offer so it was almost £25 just for those but the size of them the beef will do 2 meals and the lamb 3 maybe 4.

As money was tight last week I really exhausted down our supplies so I’ve had to stock up on a lot of things. It being Easter week my daughter is not in nursery so I’ve made sure she’s got a few extra things, more fruit mainly to keep her full. 

The veg was on 19p which is great as I needed potatoes, carrots and onions. Diet Coke was £7.50 for 24 cans and I’m determined to see that over a month as I’m trying to cut back my usage. Normally I have a can every day but I’m trying to cut that back to every other day. One, for my health and 2 the cost of them 

next week won’t need to be a big shop as the meat/fish I’ve got will do is 2 weeks. I’ll need fresh items - milk, bread, fruit, veg.

£93.53 left 

£42.20 spent 

very small shop needed just for fresh items. I also got the salmon on offer as today is the last day. I’ve got tons of meat and fish in my freezer now with some reductions my sister kindly gave me. 

£51.33 left