A Realistic budget??

purpleivy

LilacPixie wrote: »

Kate oldstyle bump buddy sounds good to me

Belfast girl i think thats half the problem, we concentrate more on what we want that what we have. I also think we use too many 'big' stores and not enough of the smaller ones, we have a lidl and an aldi here and i don't visit them enough yet yesterday i was in lidl and bought a pack of gammon steaks £1.69 for two steaks and they were real meat not the processed plastic stuff.

i'm gonna join the march grocery challenge and see what happens, i'm currently meal planning around the tins and jars i already have in

Do you mean the grocery challenge, or the Storecupboard one where you try and use what's available?

ceridwen

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

One of my biggest behavioural changes is to stop and think 'what's in the fridge for dinner' rather than 'what do I fancy for dinner' This has cut out the majority of the M&S problem:)

Good luck!

I can relate to that - more of BelfastGirls sound commonsense (by now if I think "must be more sensible" I think the mantra to quote to myself will be "think BelfastGirl".)

I used to start with a recipe and then work out from there - having bought-in whatever ingredients I didnt have from the list of...

Now I'm more inclined to start with what I've got in and work out from there..."ooh...I've got peppers to use up....now what can I do with them?" and I perhaps google for recipes involving x/y/z on Internet if short of ideas.

(Do still do recipes sometimes - but now tend to avoid the ones with obscure ingredients that I would be left wondering how to use after taking the itsy bit I wanted.)

purpleivy

That TV programme Ready Steady COok was just real life on a daily basis for the rest of us!

belfastgirl23

LilacPixie wrote: »

Kate oldstyle bump buddy sounds good to me

Belfast girl i think thats half the problem, we concentrate more on what we want that what we have. I also think we use too many 'big' stores and not enough of the smaller ones, we have a lidl and an aldi here and i don't visit them enough yet yesterday i was in lidl and bought a pack of gammon steaks £1.69 for two steaks and they were real meat not the processed plastic stuff.

i

I've been trying to do one big shop per 2 months on the internet to get all the heavy stuff (eg fizzy water, LL milk etc) and thereafter spread it around a bit So one week I'll go to lidl which is a bit of a hike for me and I'll buy enough of the stuff I like from there to do a month or so, but also will do my regular weekly fruit and veg shop. Next time I'll do sainsburys or ASDA or whatever and pick up what's reasonably cheap there plus the weekly f&V. I couldn't be doing with going to more than 2 shops in any one weekend and I try not to do any shopping during the week unless I'm in the car for work anyway. I actually think this is a really good habit to be in because I find it very very hard to get in and out of a supermarket without spending at least £10, some of it on stuff I really don't want and my waistline really doesn't need!

I can wholeheartedly endorse mealplanning and when I get around to doing it my life is like clockwork. But I can't always get around to doing it

Anyway glad things are starting to sort out for you...

oh and just as an edit, not sure how your OH is on these things but I find with mine it's best to tell him in the morning what we are having for dinner to prevent him from thinking outside the fridge! Then he's looking forward to what I know we have rather than coming up with reasons to go to M&S!