March 2008 Grocery Challenge

mrs_pokemon

I seriously have to cut back .Our mortgage has gone up and things will be tight.
Last month I spent £360 .We a re a family of five,with 3 hungry boys aged 3,6 and 8.
They never seem to stop eating.:D
We also have a large dog.
Everything is included in this budget,dog food,toiletries,night time nappies for the youngest.Hopefully a few bottles of beer and a bottle of wine.
Hoping to manage on £300 this month and gradually reduce it to £250.

Jacks_xxx

mikeD wrote: »

Hi Jacks. Not sure what formula that was, I assume it was to the one where you got paid some time during the monthe or like me, had two incomes paid at different times of the month or four weekly. If so, here goes.

1. Determine you weekly budget. Only you know what this is.


2. Divide your weekly budget by 7. This is your daily budget.


3. Multiply your daily budget by the number of days in your month. This will give you your budget for the month in question. If you are not using calendar months you will have to count up the days using a diary or a calendar.

4. Example: Weekly Budget = £56. Days in month = 30.

Monthly Budget: £56/7 = £8 x 30 = £240 per month


How you decide what your weekly budget is, is up to you, but I feel sure that will not cause an intelligent, down-to-earth, gorgeous person like you any problems .

Thanks Mike, :A

I'm sure I'll have to ask you again in the future because it's all flown straight out of my head again now thatI've read the last bit!

Isn't it amazing how a lovely compliment can pick you right up? :dance: :j :dance:

Thanks honey, you're fab! :kisses3:

Love Jacks xxx

Girl_least_likely_to

A NSD for me. I did a roast chicken for tea tonight and roasted a massive tray of roasties as the potatoes were sprouting and needed eating up. I have 3 portions for the freezer. Whilst the oven was on I made some cherry flapjacks for OH lunch box for the week and then 2 apple and pear crumbles, made with slightly manky looking fruit, again 1 eaten for tea and 1 for the freezer. I'll do Chicken risotto for tea tomorrow with the leftover chicken, OH has chicken sandwiches in his lunch box and the bones are simmering away as we speak for stock. Job done

BigMummaF

Think I must be pining for Mastermind or summat, cuz I feel the need to ask plenty of questions:D

First, what is 'homity pie' & can you explain how to use mysupermarket & ipoints please GetSortSarah [aka GSS] Do you actually order on mysupermarket, or does it just tell you that Bloggs Beans are cheaper in another store? Sorry to be so thick, but with the poota playing up anyways, I don't want to get the blame if summat else happens:eek:

Hokey dokey....here we go, & in no particular order.....

• I have yellow split peas soaking now, to use tomorrow....can I wash off the red lentils & bung them in the pot with the yellow peas & boil them up together?
• Would it make more sense to cook up the whole packet of lentils & peas then freeze...so I had them ready to mix in with other things?
• If I make stock from eg chicken & freeze it to make soup later, would it be possible to freeze/reheat the left-over soup? I'm thinking here of the only heat it twice rule.....

I haven't actually had a BM but they are giving me the money to get the one I want:j so I feel a trip to Argos coming on. The Panasonic SD254 is £80, where it's £74 from Amazon but we'd have to pay postage so not really much in it....unless you can explain pigsback to me too:o

BigMummaF

Just seen your post GLLT---care to share your risotto recipe---prittie pleeeze?

icandream

earthmother wrote: »

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

Thanks so much for asking after him: he was fine. 10 mins of squealing and lots of tlc later. Some things mums can't take time off from! :rotfl:

I guess I could think about the meals that are most popular to begin with, and see how I go from there - it's a different approach, and a little frightening when you've not done it before. Thanks for replying.

suzialwaysbroke

Well, I have just blown the first weeks budget in one hit at Mr T's as we had 12 for lunch today as it was MDay!! Methinks it will be jackets & baked beans for dinner all this week!! Mind you, DD2 made a mean bread & butter pudding - everyone ate the lot (greedy pigs)

Suzi xx

icandream

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

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

Huge thanks for taking the time to set this out - I may pinch some ideas, if I may. It's really helped me to see just what you mean when you all talk about menu plans. I can see the sense in it... going to scribble some ideas down now. :j

funkyfunkymonkey

BigMummaF wrote: »

I haven't actually had a BM but they are giving me the money to get the one I want:j so I feel a trip to Argos coming on. The Panasonic SD254 is £80, where it's £74 from Amazon but we'd have to pay postage so not really much in it....unless you can explain pigsback to me too:o

Amazon are currently selling the SD254 for £75.85 it's free delivery to UK. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-breadmaker-SD254/dp/B000QV07C4/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1204494775&sr=8-1

Also, if Amazon drop the price after you have bought it you can ask them to refund the difference - I think the limit is 30 days.

FFM

Hollysan

As usual I am late posting my weekly update but Mrs Mc please put me down for £300 as per last month. March will be a short month for us but April will be a long one.

I have just done the monthly Tesco online (managed to get £5 off but all the £10 codes had gone). Should be about £107, but this will set us up for the month.

I have done some batch cooking this weekend, and even made some marmalade this afternoon. I've tasted it - it's delish. Thank you Delia, for the recipe.

OH is away a lot this month, and I will eat with the children, so that will save on cooking - I usually end up cooking twice because the children are so fussy and don't eat what we eat. And we get bored with too much pizza and pasta!

Good luck to everyone, especially the newbies.

Hollysan