March 2008 Grocery Challenge

newlywed

littleangels3 wrote: »

please could someone help me with the meal planning how do i get organised ive decided my challenge for april will be £350 this will be for 2 adults 3 kids, 1 foster child,
any help greatly appreciated xx

As has been said - I find it easier to meal plan with a list of meals I usually cook in front of me. I've typed these up and divided into categories - eg mince, chicken, fish etc. Then I try and work out which take longer to cook (and put them in for a weekend day as I have more time). Then scatter the other meals through the month - trying to make sure we don't have too many similar meats in one week. Days I need really quick meals, get entered first and other stuff works round that

savingfortravel

Girlleastlikelyto
My nephew used to joke my cupboards look like the reduced section of Mr T. Buying less whoopsied items now-trying to stick to list-but still can't resist a bargain (recently mushrooms and bread-at such times I long for another freezer). I am a little too polite at times waiting for others to browse before getting stuck in there-thanks for the tips.
Got 2 vouchers from Lurpak yesterday-one for a free tub (250g), the other for money off-was beside myself with joy-they were just in with the junk mail, we never get food vouchers... sad isn't it.....
SFT

Kaz2904

Funny you should post your recipe MrsMc. It was one of the things I was dreaming about last night was how many meals I could get out of 1kg of mince for 4 of us. I reckoned I'd try 8 meals to begin with and just bulk and bulk and bulk!
So far I think, Chilli, shepherds pie, spag bol, fajitas (using your tortillas) maybe a lasagne and then a repeat of these meals in a different order!
I've got 2 kg of it so would hope that it can last 16 meals. Then I only have another 11 main meals to do. Tonight DH and DS are having Jacket potato with Tuna and salad for tea. DD and I will share a jacket as she was sick again this morning and I'm trying not to be sick!
DH wants fish and veg 1 night which leaves me enough fish to do 3 fish pies.
I picked up some whoopsies and I have some liver etc in the freezer.
Maybe I can keep on budget for April?

Zend

Well, just realised that I had budgeted £150 for food and had overspent by £17, but I had put £20 aside for Xmas, which I had not intended to do this month, so I'm actually under budget:j .

Mind, OH is calling into Morrisons tonight to get meat for his sandwiches. Goodness knows whar he'll come home with:D

willow_girl

Have just updated my sig for March and have managed to come under budget again . Would have been more but did buy one of the whole salmons from Mr T last week. It had to be done . Going to have 10 meals from it so I think it was worth it and it'll make a nice change.

MrsMc could you put me down for £200 please. It's a 5 week month for us. I know I still haven't reduced the budget but I like to know there is money at the end of the month to put into the savings tin. DH doesn't seem to mind or is it that he doesn't know :rolleyes:

razra

mumzyof2 wrote: »

are u on the no smoking thread?

No didnt know there was one

Nearly cracked at work today:o was just on my way to try and scrounge one when one of the dishy guys congratulated me, I was a bit until he said for giving up smoking, now I havent told a single person at work so asked how he knew , he just said cos you smell really nice today:eek: and there was me thinking I never smelt of smoke cos I used chewy and body spray:o so that promptly stopped me scrounging one

well done you you must be approaching your full 24 hours now:beer:

and Ive now managed 3 NSD's, through my own choice not through necessity:j

weemissy

Hi everyone
thanks for your all tips on saving recipes as I go along - going to try these when I've worked out what you are all talking about:rotfl:

MrsM def going to bulk with oats and more veg, we always have value or SP for brekie, so brill idea and thanks for the coleslaw - will do this too, your post did make me laugh and I've not done much of that today:T

Off now to make chicken stir fry as per meal plan of course, mmm or oaty chicken stir fry perhaps:think:

helliecopter_2

At last I've decided I'd like to join a monthly grocery challenge. I've been pondering an amount for days now and have come up with the figure of roughly 15euros a day to feed 2 adults, 2children & 2tiny goldfish! We're going away for 4days/3nights so won't include those days as going to disneyland paris and guess food will be very expensive. Am going to take lunch for the drive to Paris, but will have to buy on the way back.

Running my month 27th - 26th. Worked out and set my budget as Euros420 - inc E30 for cleaning bits, loo rolls & misc household stuff. It seems like I'm cheating this month as my freezer is fully stocked, but I do plan to restock the freezer as and when I use it. Comapred to other challengers it seems a lot (£300) for only 4 of us, but it's my first month and I normally spend £450+.

I've already done a complete freezer / cuboard stock check, worked out a meal planner for next 2 weeks and my shopping list for Sat. I'm keen to get started.....:j

MRSMCAWBER - I noticed from your previous posts that you live in Germany too - I wondered if there are any tips or advice you could give me about shopping on a budget over here.

izoomzoom

savingfortravel wrote: »

Girlleastlikelyto
Got 2 vouchers from Lurpak yesterday-one for a free tub (250g), the other for money off-was beside myself with joy-they were just in with the junk mail, we never get food vouchers... sad isn't it.....

We got these too :j :j :j

You do know that you can use any money-off-coupon at Tesco's even for if you are not buying the product listed.

I usually use the self service till, but had to use a cashier a couple of weeks ago. I handed over my coupon, very embarressingly, but she didn't bat an eyelid :rotfl: .

If I had 1p for every coupon that I have previously thrown away I would be RICH !!!:D

purplevamp

Kaz2904 wrote: »

Couldn't sleep very well last night and was mulling over stuff in my head.
I realised that I have added £2 of christmas presents, £2 of picnic food and £5 of educational books for DS. None of these should come from the grocery budget. So I have an extra £9 to add back on. That makes me feel a little better!

:rotfl: That sounds like me. I dreamt the other night that I was going to start a thread on here about surveys. I even dreamt about myself typing the words!!!

Back to the topic in hand...I spent another £3.16 today on fruit shoots and bananas, which were 13p each not like the ones I bought yesterday (4 for £1.29 :mad: ). We have been reusing the old fruit shoot bottles but they sometimes get accidentally thrown away by the dinner ladies so we have run out :rolleyes: . Hubby also informed me that he spent £3.19 on a burger and coffee on Monday night, then he came home and STILL ate the dinner I'd saved for him. He wasn't expecting it, hence the burger, but ate it anyway :doh: .

This leaves me the grand total of £7.50 for the rest of the month - may just do it.