February 2019 Grocery Challenge

I did my final tally for the January Grocery Challenge earlier, then counted the contents of the GC Purse: £22.20, which is actually £4.24 higher than our calculated under-spend for January! How on earth did that happen? It must have rolled quietly forward from earlier months. Normally, if we had any money left at the end of a month, I'd expect it to be less than £2, so don't bother increasing the subsequent month's GC budget. However, given the size, please Elsie, may I increase my February budget from £120 to £142.20? Many thanks.

- Pip

Ginmonster wrote: »

I've never actually looked what it's made of but it's made by Heather Mills' company VBites. It's got loads of garlic, smoked paprika and chili in for sure and it's really tasty. It comes in a packet of little chunks which I add to pasta dishes, bubble and squeak, Spanish omelette, salad, whatever needs a spicy kick.

Will look out for it then. I was asking cos I can't eat Quorn, it makes me sick

Oooh, lots of new names appearing in the Challenge, welcome all. :hello:

piglet27 wrote: »

Apart from 1/2 tub ice cream and some veggies which are going in a sc chicken meal tomorrow, the freezer is empty so going to de-ice (help efficiency) and then use the extra £50 as and when to re-stock as I find good deals.

:rotfl: You must be the only one on here who's managed to empty the freezer! I'm impressed.

White_musk wrote: »

I also went into the Chemist but am not adding that to shopping as it was cold meds.

Luckily, we don't often need chemist stuff but it can be expensive when you do, so I stick 50p every week into a jar to cover the cost. It came in handy a couple of weeks ago when we needed paracetamol, hot lemon drinks and cough medicine. £3.85 and that was for sm's own brand too.

Cleaned out the fridge yesterday (pre-shopping) and used up lots of oddments to make a veg soup, very welcome in this cold weather.

First shop of the month today with DH spending £8.90 in the market and me parting with £6.72 in the Co-op. I'd planned on buying a chicken but there were none to be had . Gobsmacked, as our Co-op usually seems to have them coming out of their ears! Didn't help that the woman on the checkout said there were several ys ones yesterday. :mad: Oh well, change of meal plan then. Also got a box of suet as there's not much left in the cupboard. It's been a while since I bought any but, wow, when did it shoot up in price so much?

Meal plan done/re-adjusted and nothing else needed this week. :j

Please can you putme down for £300 again this months, was under budget last month but we had lots left over from Christmas and received lots of treats as presents which enabled the budget to be stretched. Feb is going to be a tough month as DH has just paid a mashoosive tax bill more than we were expecting so had to shuffle some money and we have had to order more heating oil, although that doesn't need paying for until the end of the month as we have an account.