March 2008 Grocery Challenge

Keeping_Positive

Mummyleads

I would start by mealplanning. Make a 7 day meal list using what you already have in the cupboard/freezer etc and buy what you need. As the other poster said. Start by setting a realistic budget how about £100-120 a week to start with and a bit less for the week you use up the items already in?

I do a smell less than £10 a week shop in Aldi for a few bits that are cheaper but just as good as Tesco.

chimp_choker

mikeD wrote: »

The Government has instructed the Regulator to look at the energy companies pricing in view of the profits that they are making, but again I don't hold out much hope. They all seem to be in each others pockets these days.

The steep rise in power prices are two fold.
1 lethargy of the customers and
2 the power companies allow people to run up bills by "underestimating" the real usage. Then when people come to swap they owe more than £50 to the company servicing them and they will not let you move to another company until you pay off the "debt" This means that you are stuck with them and continue to run up bills. That is why any investigation by ofgem will show no collusion etc.

KITTY_2-2

Is it just me or does anyone else smile when whoopsies are mentioned??

I just remember what Frank Spencer's cat used to do on the carpet :rotfl:

MRSMCAWBER

Hi purplevamp...

The tortillas vary... when the dough is fresh made they seem to roll out smaller -mine usually end up about 7"...minus the bumps n lumps but i have just done 4 out of the freezer, and even though they are a little stickier to work with (nothing a bit of flour doesn't solve ) the roll much further.. i think my frying pan is about 9-10" and they fill it ... mind i am heavy handed and so thy go really nice n thin..

Just had our tortillas with the hm coleslaw and the southern chicken breast and they were really yummy.. hubby has put those on his list of "will eat as often as i want to make them" :rotfl: typical.. i don't usually buy things like the ready coated chicken..whoopsies strike again but have said that when we go to the golf course i will keep checking the Naffi for any more...
mind i breast cooked and sliced across to make 2 thinner fillets and then cut into strips has just fed us both.. and they were only €1 for 4 ... so about 20p to feed 2 ..heck that dinner must have cost a maximum of 50p each -and thats because of the salad :rotfl:

JoJoB

Had a couple of no-spend days due to bad weather and flu, which brings me to the end of my month, about £20 over budget, which I can live with.

So starting on April's budget now - £27 in tesco today.

Bobbykins

Blimey, I don't log in for a few days and the thread has grown HUGE!!!!!:eek: :eek: :eek: . It will take me forever to catch up!

I've had 6 consecutive NSD's :T :T :T - that's a record for me!. I'm busy decorating the living room so haven't had time to shop - luckily I'd meal planned for the whole month and managed to stick to it for once , Plus, DD invited us over for lunch on Sunday, so that saved me a meal which can go onto April's plan (yippee - I LIKE IT!)

JojoB - sorry to hear you've been poorly, I hope you are on the mend soon ((((hugs))))

I am pleased to say I'm doing reasonably well on my budget, I hope to come in just under this month (fingers crossed) - but will let you know in a few days, Mrs M, hope that's allright.

Keep up the good work everyone!

mama67

Weekly milk bill and sack of potatoes added in so sig updated just organic box tomorrow so will add that in and declare at £163.98.

Will have a 5 week month next month so will say £170 Mrs Mc, as boys are also on holiday from school for 2 weeks. Should be interesting, have menu plan done and I think have most meats/fish in freezer alreadyso hopefully will be able to use some to build up "whoopsies or bogofs" for future use.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

i havent been here for a few days...well my weekly budget of £120 for everything has gone out the window.... this week... but that was due to a night out with everything we are over by about £25.

i done a rough break down of our weekly £120. budget.

£20......... petrol
£20......... electric tokens.
£15 ........coal
£15.........dog/cat food/litter

total £70..

which leaves £50 per week for food and laundry bits etc for 4 of us.:eek:

ok in the summer we dont buy coal, but our electric goes up a bit, this year even though the fire is out during the summer, we are still going to buy a bag of coal a week, to ease the cash flow in the winter....

i am now going to try and make the 'famous' twinks hobnobs and some other niceies for our 'sweetie cupboard' this is part of the cupboard where all the chocolate bars and buiscuits are ususally kept...

plus yesturday as there were no frozen yorkshire puds in the freezer ( the cheap no frills ones ) i made some....:j i was soooo proud, as to be honest i allways thought they were hard to do....but nope.... they were yum

sorry i have woffled on in my post.....:rolleyes: ..

mumzyof2

I have spent £9.95 today briging total up to £61.33 out of £120

I have already forgotten what my april target was

(look at bottom line of my sig... 2 hrs i have gone woohoo)

mhe

bobbykins - well done on the NSDs - 6 is really good
SFT - teaching in a prep school is sounding appealing!!!
girl least likely to - i love WOOpsies too - hit ASDA abiut 8 or 9 pm and there are generally quite a few to be had. My best was salmon for 10p - you couldnt leave it there.
mummyleads - 2adults 3 children here as well - was spending 400 a month at least now down to 250 but aiming for 200. Some things iv done....
1. HAve bought a bread machine which is in regular use making bread, pizza bases.
2. Now make all cakes etc for packed lunches.
3. When cook a meal i try to save a portion for the freezer - will feed hubby another night. (HAvent really got the hang of batch cooking cos cooking for five is quite a lot anyway.)
4. turn left over veg into mini cornish pasties for p lunches
5. swapped to shops own brands and have tried some value ranges
6. meal planning - then try to only buy what is on your list that you need that week -not the stuff you see and think is a good buy - unless its a whoopsie!! I find not taking hubby and 3 children helps with this as they were the main culprits for throwing snacks, magazines, beer crisps etc.... into the trolley
7. make soup for my lunch at work - cost per week about £1 so huge saving.
8. have adopted the view that if children eat all crisps in the first 3 days then they have to do without until next shopping trip instead of popping in for more.
9. buy milk in bulk and freeze it to avoid those trips to the shops just for milk that cost £40
10. Examined my first months worth of recipts and highlighted with a flourecent yellow pen the things i bought but didnt really need - then added up what that had come to and gave myself a shock - like MRSM im now trying to save the underspend in a savings account and i like seeing it mount up in my pocket not ASDAS

HTH

Mhe