March 2008 Grocery Challenge

mama67

NSD yesterday and today will also be as both boys are playing football matches.

The meat was cooked yeterday whilst I was baking so just have to do veggies when we get home later.

Made a rainbow cake using strawberry floavouring, blue and green food colouring.
I also made a sultana sponge. These will be used for snacks and packups.

Diane_239

hi,
i've set my budget for march at £250,for all the shopping going to start writing a meal plan for the week has i normally just head to the supermarket and chuck any thing in the trolley,already get cleaning stuff and toiletries at work going to get fruit and veg from market and meat from butchers instead of just filling up at the supermarket.
i shall look forward to the end of the month to see if i have saved any money so here goes.
good luck everyone.

Little_Belle

Well I had a big shop this week but had lots of meat in it as have made pies for the freezer. I made 9 pies so one a week that will last a while would have made more if I had a chest freezer but i'm 'not allowed' to get one according to OH. had a second attempt at making some rolls too but I just cant get them nice and round they always end up flat - if i can't perfect it I am going to be forced to buy ready mades again

onwards and upwards I guess..

icandream

Hi all
Thanks so much for welcoming us newbies everyone - I feel very motivated by all the posts.
However, I am feeling slightly exhausted/put off by the thought of starting a meal plan. I seem to have less and less time and I don't really want to start getting involved in looking at another thread (I know there are meal plan threads, but they are so long, it's frightening) as I'm already trying to keep up with 3 threads, including this one :rotfl: Could somebody just talk me through it. I know that sounds pathetic, but I've never done a meal plan, just grabbed and paid at the supermarket, but even I know that's not going to help me stick to my budget for this month - and I so want to do this.
Gotta go - littleun's just fallen off his bike.

earthmother

Well, although my month doesn't officially start until tomorrow, I took the opportunity of spare time (next few days are hectic) to go and do some shopping.

I've spent £59.36, but that includes a weeks worth of milk, cheese and cooked meats/lunchbox fillers, 4 weeks of Sunday dinners, juice and cereal, and a fortnights worth of potatoes, bananas and yogurts - all on bogof or multibuy deals courtesy of Mr T and Mr S, and a couple of tubs of fancy ice cream (Mother's Day treat, 2for£3) from the Co-op

So, it's a bit of a hit to the budget this early on, but shouldn't be a problem.

I've left myself £10 to cover the last few little bits for the next 7 days (hopefully won't need it all), then split the rest between the other 3 weeks.

Lemon_Tree

well February was a complete wash out for me, but this month i really have to stick to a budget for the sake of my bank account and my sanity.
I'm setting myself £100 to be realistic including everything. I want to come in well under that but this is the most i'm allowed to spend.

earthmother

icandream wrote: »

Hi all
Thanks so much for welcoming us newbies everyone - I feel very motivated by all the posts.
However, I am feeling slightly exhausted/put off by the thought of starting a meal plan. I seem to have less and less time and I don't really want to start getting involved in looking at another thread (I know there are meal plan threads, but they are so long, it's frightening) as I'm already trying to keep up with 3 threads, including this one :rotfl: Could somebody just talk me through it. I know that sounds pathetic, but I've never done a meal plan, just grabbed and paid at the supermarket, but even I know that's not going to help me stick to my budget for this month - and I so want to do this.
Gotta go - littleun's just fallen off his bike.

My meal plan is fairly simple - we have about 10 'base' meals that cycle through the weeks (rest of family not overly adventurous when it comes to food - annoying at times, but makes shopping simple, lol). I normally just start with stocktaking the cupboards and freezer, and seeing what I can make from that, then just filling the gaps in with as many offers as I can find - I've had whole weeks where I've not bought one full-priced item in the past

I normally do a 2 week plan - this month is my first 4 week one, and then the cupboards will be bare so to speak, so I hope I've got it right, otherwise I may be on a forced diet by the end of the month, lol.



PS - hope littleun's ok

dawnylou

Good luck all!! I will be aiming to keep my shopping below £200 this month

MRSMCAWBER

Hi there

EarthMother... that is how i have filled my freezer with fresh meat.... last month i took advantage of the whoopsed meat -free range corn fed chickens for €3 :T etc... i now have enough meat/fish to last us over 12 weeks ....

Ican dream...

I have worked out my meals for March -i make a list of 7 meals a week -i don't specify what day -as i can bet something will mess it up, so we have 4 different menus...but 4 things will turn up every week as they are our faves

this week we have -in no particular order :-

1. roast chicken dinner - leftover chicken portioned up for meals later in the month and carcass made into chicken n sweetcorn soup
2. prawn salad with potatoes
3. salami pasta bake -a classic for using up odds n sods from the fridge
4. HM sausages with oven roast potatoes n onions and veggies
5. home boiled gammon, hm coleslaw, salad and potatoes -rest of the gammon sliced and frozen
6. hm turkey meatballs in hm tortillas with salad
7. thai steamed salmon with noodles -salmon wants using up out of freezer

I sit and decide what meals we are having.... then make a quick note of what i need to pick up.. so will put down "veggies for so many meals"( then choose according to what is on offer-or looks nicest)
A quick check through the cupboards to make sure you have the bits n bobs like stock cubes etc you might need (to save those extra trips to the shops;) ) and then im done....
It makes shopping so much easier..and no throwing in extras ..just in case...as you know you have planned for your meals

Once you have done it a couple of times you will be amazed just how easy it makes things..
Im sure you will be into the swing of it in no time at all.... and you should get loads of help of of here too

Jacks_xxx

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

Hi all,

first of all JACKS re the bagless delivery personally I wouldn't do the box by the door thing, this would give them a choice and I would want to make them have to take it through to the kitchen. And if they don't take it through then I would deliberately take it slow on emptying the crates after all you are paying for this service...you wouldn't pay the mechanic if he bought the part and didn't fit it. BTW does anyone else find that female delivery drivers moan less ??

On the plastic bags if you have local charity shops they might be grateful for them. I reuse the supermarket ones for the bin but the odd shaped ones (which are nearly always heavier) I leave into the charity shop and they are always pleased.

I did a Sainsbury shop tonight in hopes of a reduced price section but no luck. However I did have a £4 off voucher if you spend £40 and they had the misprice of mozzarella at £1.05 instead of £1.39 so I bought ten packs We had been running low so this was a real boon. The shopping came to a total of £36.02 which means that I had made it over the £40 mark by 2p :j wish I could claim good planning but it was def more good luck. This isn't quite all the basics - they had only fancy loo roll and kitchen roll and we need both - but it was a pretty good stock up all the same. And I have another £4 off £40 voucher for next time

Hope you are all doing well!

PS I filled the car with petrol while I was there :eek::eek::eek:nearly £60!! I am now driving very very fuel efficiently and will not be in the car tomorrow!!

WooHOO on the mozzarella front honey! :dance: I know you guys go through a lot of that stuff.

You are so right about the deliveries!

We pay what? £3.99 - £6.25 to have our groceries delivered -depending on how stupid o'clock we have our delivery.

The driver is getting paid to deliver it...

and the company who wants our custom promotes the service as being delivered to our fridge door, and even asks us in our online preferences if we want the driver to come in or not.

So why the heck are WE struggling to carry it all in whilst the driver stands and watches tapping his foot impatiently???? :eek: :rolleyes:

The charity shop is a good idea too, I've already sorted the bags into "good ones" and scrappy supermarket ones. I know that the charity shop will put them back into circulation, but I don't really know what the supermarkets do with them?

I shall stand firm with the delivery driver this week though!

Love Jacks xxx