April 2008 Grocery Challenge

russetred

Oh dear a week to go and only £40 left.Will I make it? Not according to Sky News which reckons an average basket of basic groceries has risen by £15 in a year! What have they got in that basket?

clair2305

russetred wrote: »

Oh dear a week to go and only £40 left.Will I make it? Not according to Sky News which reckons an average basket of basic groceries has risen by £15 in a year! What have they got in that basket?

I think they were mistaken, on BBC and in newspapers it says £15 a week, almost £800 a year :eek:

Bargain_Rzl

I think what russetred meant was that in the course of one year, the cost of a weekly food basket has risen by £15

betterlatethannever

Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 is, at this minute running a program whereby people phone in with their tips for eating cheaply.

Think the progs flooded with OS's as all the tips are just the everyday stuff that we all (most:o ) do on here and have been for some time

mandy_moo_1

victory wrote: »

Does anyone work out the spends per week as in say £50 and that has to do for the week and anything over cannot be spent or taken from the following week or do you do it monthly? April 30th we get paid and I reckon I spend £100 a week so cutting it in half, don't know whether to take out £50 say each monday and make that last or take out £200 do a huge asda shop and make that last?

i get my benefit fortnightly, so after paying my bills, i put away £60 for the following week and allow myself £60 for this weeks groceries, IYSWIM.

i certainly couldn't do a monthly shop...for one thing i wouldn't have enough room to store stuff!! i try to never dip into the following weeks money if i can help it. if i haven't got the money, we can't have that bag of crisps,bottle of juice or WHY, thats the way i see it.

the only thing i'm doing differently now is trying to gradually bring my weekly shopping bill down, and if i have any money left over at the end of the week, it goes in my piggy bank, not that that happens very often :rolleyes:

angelnikki

victory wrote: »

Does anyone work out the spends per week as in say £50 and that has to do for the week and anything over cannot be spent or taken from the following week or do you do it monthly? April 30th we get paid and I reckon I spend £100 a week so cutting it in half, don't know whether to take out £50 say each monday and make that last or take out £200 do a huge asda shop and make that last?

At the moment I'm aiming for £70/week which is £350 this month (5wk month). But my weekly spends this month have been:
WK1 1/4: £82.06
WK2 8/4: £84.83
WK3 15/4: £77.79
WK4 22/4: £50.56
WK5 29/4: £TBA - this needs to be £50/£55 to be on target this month (fingers crossed - I have most things in so this should be fine)

If I stuck to my weekly target then I wouldn't have been able to take advantage of BOGOFs and stock up the cupboards at the beginning of the month so this month would of cost more overall by doing it weekly IYSWIM.

So I think it's better to do it monthly but maybe do a bigger shop at the begining of the month and then just topup with stuff like eggs, F&V and milk towards the end of the month. Once a month shopping is quite hard to manage because there's always fresh stuff that you need to get at the end of the month. Maybe fortnightly would be easier if you dont want to shop weekly?

Also if you're spending £100 per week I dont think you should cut it in half, as that would be a bit drastic. Maybe reduce by 10% each month instead until you get to a level you're happy with?

HTH prob just rambling though...:o

Nikki
x

faye1978

Right, Just been to Costco and got the meat which will prob last for a couple of months if I'm careful. I spent £69.05 and got:

6 pack of lemonade and coke
2.2kg (12 large) Skinless chicken breast - £13.95
1.65kg Stewing steak - £10.71
2.75kg Beef Steak Mince - £13.72 (last month I bought 1.5lb mince for £6.50 :eek: )
1.05kg Boneless shoulder Lamb joint - £5.03
7 Thick Gammon Steaks - £6.99
1.87kg Thick Pork Loin Chops - £8.98

I have portioned it all up and frozen it all. The stewing steak I have managed to get 4 large portions from which will probably do a meal each for both of us and 1 for the freezer. The Minced Beef I will easily get 4 meals from each batch of mince and I got 6 batches from the pack if I remember right (may have been 7). There were 7 chops and I think I'll get a good few meals from the lamb and a few sarnies for lunchies too.

That leaves me with £2.94 for May :eek: Although I shouldn't have to buy ANYTHing ELSE NOW ONLY SALAD AND MAYBE FRUIT WHICH i'LL GET AT THE MARKET <---Ooops! Sorry about caps Sausage fingers

Justamum

Didn't manage it again this month! Mind you I have got quite a lot in my storecupboard and freezer. I've made lists of what I've got in and stuck them inside the doors, the mark things off as I use them. So next month I'm going to TRY for £300 (again - sigh!) BUT I'm going to sit down and do a meal plan. I used to do them but haven't done them for a [STRIKE]while[/STRIKE] long time :rolleyes: and they do help enormously. I'll update my sig a bit later when I've updated my accounts on Quattro.

SmellyOldSock

Hello All

well Asda delivered last night - 20 minutes late! Will email them shortly to complain.

Spent £64.50 including beer for hubbie, kitchen foil 36p and milk yesterday £1.15 total of £ 66.01 leaving me with 8.99 til the end of the month!

best wishes
Charlotte

MRSMCAWBER

WHOLEMEAL HERB TRIANGLES
Makes 8
pre-heat oven to 200c/400f/gas6

1. 225g wholemeal flour
2. 115g strong plain flour
3. 1tsp salt
4. 1/2tsp bicarb
5. 1tsp cream of tartar
6. 1/2tsp chili powder
7. 50g soft margerine
8. 4tbs chopped mixed fresh herbs
9. 250ml skimmed milk
10. 1tbs sesame seeds

• sift dry ingredient into a large bowl (tip in any bits left in sieve)
• rub in the margerine
• add the fresh herbs and milk and quickly mix to a soft dough
• turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead very briefly (or dough will go tough)
• roll out to approx 9" round
• place on a lightly floured baking sheet
• brush lightly with water and sprinkle over the sesame seeds
• carefully cut into 8 wedges, seperate slightly
• bake for 15-20 mins
• transfer to a wire rack to cool

you can turn these into sun dried tomato triangles by omitting the herbs and adding 2tbs sundried tomatoes in oil chopped and 1 tbs mild paprika, fresh parsley or marjoram