April 2008 Grocery Challenge

bertiebots

Hi can I join this month please:D ? I hung around last months challenge but didnt officially join as I had to get a grip with how much I really was spending (not what I thought I was :rolleyes: !) I am feeding a family of 5 ..thats 2 adults and 3 kids (who eat like adults and some!!) 2 cats and 2 dogs and my food budget also includes all cleaning products etc. I am going for £220 and am hoping to come in under .I have already halved my weekly shopping bill thanks to os:eek: !

My month goes 22nd to 22nd so I have already started!

juliejim

I'm going to try and be organised this month and join in again! I've even got a little pad with a pocket for doing my shopping list and putting my receipts in - see I will be organised if it kills me!:rotfl:

Put me down for £250/mth please MrsM for me, DH, DD (6), DS (4) and 2 dogs. Will start on the 1st though as that's when the money gets transferred to the joint account.

Thanks

Jue

clair2305

Can I join for April please with a budget of £130. This is for me, OH, son and goldfish - it doesn't include toiletries (my toiletries that is).

As this is my first month I will keep a total of all that I do actually spend, used to spend £100 (we have a big freezer) but have noticed it creeping up...I know it's not a lot but I want more money for us to enjoy, not worrying about if I go for plush loo roll or tracing paper!!

Also found I've been throwing stuff away (fruit, veg), but like to buy fresh, hate going shopping every week, cos then I end up spending more, you know with the extra pack of biscuits or something you happen to see whilst you're there, so any tips of freezing fresh stuff (what's good, not so good) would be great, like to buy deals but then if I have to throw half of it away it's not a deal is it.

Payday is Monday (31st) so I will count from then.

Any tips would be great. Will read Feb posts.

Do we count eating out?

dinx1972

Hi Mrs MCAWBER, please put my down for £320 for April please, have failed on both February and March, but hopefully this will be the month that I crack it and actually come in under budget:rotfl: :rotfl: . Will be sticking to my meal plans more religiously and buying milk to freeze to stop the local shop trips.

pink_princess

hi please can you put me down for £475 for april this is my first challenge and am abit wary of making it to low
sorry i have no idea how to put my total in red help on that would be great
were so in need of tightening our budget as we need to save £5k :eek:
baked beans and toast here we come lol

getting-sorted-sarah

Whooo, this month is taking off even faster than last month! No time for baking or meal planning, just going to have to sit here all day reading!
Good luck everyone!

Just have to mention guys - because I know you'll understand, whereas my real world friends give me funny looks - Lidl have 24 Charmin loo rolls at £5.69 - I now have enough to last till summer........

getting-sorted-sarah

pink_princess wrote: »

hi please can you put me down for £475 for april this is my first challenge and am abit wary of making it to low
sorry i have no idea how to put my total in red help on that would be great

Hi PP! If you highlight your text then click on the A in the middle of the bar above the text box while you are writng your message - you get a choice of colours. Hope this made sense!

mrs-moneypenny

pink princess

when you are doing a posting thier is the letter A with a black line underneath it just above the square you are typing in. click on the little arrow at the side of that it will bring down a box full of coloured squares, click on the red one and anything you type after that will be in red or type your message then after typing highlight what you want in red then bring the box down and click it. i hope you can understand what i mean.

MrsMP

mrs-moneypenny

sorry sarah i double posted with you

Kaz2904

I'm in for £200 €€€€€€ Ctrl Alt and 4 works for me too!
As you can see I'm already well into my budget and am just hoping that I can scrape through by the skin of my teeth!
DD has a party for 2 tonight and I have to send her with presents wrapped in Christmas paper :eek: because DH wrapped the last birthday present and didn't tell me he'd used up all the paper apart from 10cm left on the roll :mad: !
Never mind heh!
My freezer's full and I'm hoping to get away without much shopping for the rest of the month. Still have a full fruit bowl and lots of dried fruit which is better for the holidays. Loads of frozen veg and millions of parsnips!
Still putting cheap coffee into the nescafe jar and DH doesn't seem to have noticed yet. Hope not to need more but we'll see.

Kitkat, we love fish pie and it's dead easy to make- I generally do 2 at a time and add egg and cream and they usually last us 2 meals too!

Boil the eggs and potatoes. Mash the pots and shell the eggs. Then 1/4 them. Peel and julienne a few carrots and cook in a frying pan with a couple of onions and some liquid. Add some spinach (i use frozen chopped coz it's cheaper). When all soggy add little pot of double cream (or white sauce)
Chuck it all in an oven dish or 4 add chopped eggs, any fish (i sling it in raw) give it a stir, and top with mash. Chuck it in the oven with cheese on top if you like. Cook for 1/2 hr to 40 mins.
Serve with veggies or alone.
I love this cause you can bulk it out and add lemon or other flavours to it too.
It's nice with sweetcorn mixed in too and it's reasonably cheap to do when it's stretched like this.
Fills us all up even on very hungry days!