January 2008 Grocery Challenge

redmel1621

Hi all

I am so pleased to say that even though I needed potatoes i resisted and have been using rice and pasta for meals instead, if I had ventured down to buy some it would have cost at least £6-£7 (always does).

I just wanted to make a comment on the chicken dilemma most people (inc myself) are going through at the moment. For a long time now I have bought Organic milk and free range eggs, I have thought about getting free range chicken for a while now. It is just so god damn expensive. Anyway the reason I have bought these products is really more of an individual point of view. Me and dh have always tried to eat relatively healthily so chose these products more for health benefits than moral reasons (although this is a small part of it) I don't see why people should have to put up with being 'forced' to buy crap food that is full of chemicals/preservatives/pesticides etc... These extra added ingrediants are not good for us, I have a small feeling that all these animals and veg force fed these growth enhancing drugs etc is one cause to the rise in cancer and other 'new' diseases. Anyway that's just my twopence worth.

All in all a good week only my spend a Tesco's (which i have added to sig) I think I will make more of an effort to lok around the local farms for decent meat/veg.....

Mel x

NEgirl

the thing that got me with the chickens last night though was when jamie was saying 'for only £1 more.........THESE organic chickens ARE £3.99...blah blah' then it did a close up on the chickens and they were £4.99 and £5.29!! Eats into the budget a lot more for someone on tight reigns - £1 wasnt that much different but when you are getting through 2 or more chickens a week it would add on a fair bit more on the overall budget.

mrssnowy_2

If we all used more beans and pulses to pad out the protein,then we might use the monies saved for the slightly dearer more ethically produced meats.
Different kettle of fish for me now as I do not have 3 hungry,growing children to feed,and the cash flow is easier !

Beckyneedstosavecash

Today's update:

Beckyneedstosavecash wrote: »

Hi everyone, I am very new to this but would very much like to join and see where I get to.

I would like to pub a budget of £75 for food in January - I have no idea if this is realistic or completely over the top for a month but I'll be sure to find out!

Week 1 (1st - 7th Jan) - £17 / £5.17 (£11.83 under budget!)
Week 2 (8th - 14th Jan) - £17 / £18.90 (ahh £1.90 over this week!)
Week 3 (15th - 21st Jan) - £17 / £0
Week 4 (22nd - 28th Jan) - £17 / £0
Week 5 (29th - 31st Jan) - £7 / £0

Total for month so far: £24.07

Thanks,
Becky

meanmarie

I agree with MrsSnowy....we all feel that we need mountains of meat to keep us healthy, but meat used as a 'garnish' to rice, potatoes, noodles, pasta etc is the way to go, organic meat is very expensive...to buy an organic chicken here would cost me at least €13-€15, so I feel that I need to put my thinking cap on to come up with even more ways to stretch the chicken.

Marie

NEgirl

lol im just pleased im not that keen on chicken and would rather have other meat *sticks fingers in ears incase HFW or Jamie start on the beef/pork/lamb' rampage next* :rotfl:

skipboy

Hi all, just a quick update. Well done to everyone who is under budget so far and for those who are not keep going and keep focused. Under budget for the 1st week by £19, although I am sure most of us have found it easier with having full freezers/cupboards etc. Now comes the interesting part for me. I need to start making meals out of next to nothing.Is there a thread with thrify receipes etc.Sorry if this has been asked before. I need to plan meals for this week and go shopping tomorrow.

Move_To_Portugal

Just a quick update from me. Spent £98.28 so far with 18 days to go. I'm not going to a supermarket until Tuesday so I need to be inventive today and tomorrow.

mtp

dlb

Update- have spent £46.13 on this weeks shop, only have a few bits to pick up to complete meal plan, that should come in at under a fiver.
So grand total so far is £138.75 so that leaves me just over £100 for the next 18 days, think i might just do this????????????
Donna

JoJoB

Don't suppose anyone knows of the cheapest place to buy splenda do they? It seems to be expensive everywhere and we get through a fair bit!