April 2013 Grocery Challenge

Hi, I have just joined this site and am aiming for $150 AUD for April starting from today. I live by myself, and groceries are apparently more expensive in Australia, so this budget may not be entirely realistic.

I have spent $52.08 AUD on groceries to cover the next fortnight. This covers vegetables, fruit, porridge, noodles and stock cupboard ingredients for a bolognaise sauce.

Normally I cook in bulk on the weekend and freeze portions.

tessie_bear wrote: »

The freezer is holding up well from the costco meat shop. i have been very pleased with everything we have tried so far.

OH and I are totally converted to their fresh chicken (we've both had boneless thighs, and he's had drumsticks as well), turkey (I got a reduced to clear crown at the end of December) and minced beef (the scotch stuff that was on offer in the last book is amazingly lean).

We've also tried a few cooked meats for sandwiches, and have prettty much stopped buying those from supermarkets as well. Luckily the sliced beef (definitely our favourite) freezes well, as a pack can then be eeked out over 2-3 weeks due to not having to watch the date on it (nor pinching an odd slice every time we go into the fridge for something like milk for a brew!)

Some spends to report since my last post including £10 on alcohol (probably less but didnt get any change from DH so will call it a tenner) to celebrate DH first big bonus in his new job and £19.46 in Mr S on over chips, hash browns for Easter weekend fry up, eggs, ham, fruit and garlic butter. Oh and the four GF hot cross buns that jumped into my basket:)

We will be visiting Mr T at the weekend to use my 2 vouchers and to take advantage of the 25% off wine promotion and get a couple of bits to put away for our holiday and a toy I want to get DS for his birthday in May to make up the total. Just need to hide the wine in the garage or DH will guzzle the lot twice as fast as buying it weekly;)

I will also need to add in tomorrow's fish and chips lunch for the three of us.

I added up my change pots last night. I had intended to use this money to pay for our food on holiday and I have £86!! :j

PrincessLou wrote: »

To be honest i'm really dreading it - last time he went shopping by himself when i was too ill to go he came home with completely different items to what i had written on the shopping list and had managed to spend twice as much haha.

I know he tries his best. Fingers crossed though haha

My partner is exactly the same. I search the websites and do screenshots of the exact products I want and ask him to check the dates and he still comes back with different items with only 1 day shelf life left plus 5 tubs of ice-cream that I can't store. He says its too much pressure once he's in the supermarket. This is a grown, intelligent man with a highly pressurised job.
I try and make sure that he never needs to do any top-up shops now but sometimes its unavoidable. Hope your OH does a lot better than mine.

Hello April - big thanks to Billie-Jo for flagging the new month's thread for me on March, I couldn't find it for toffee doing a search!

I'm not starting this month's GC until the 1st, but wondered if you could knock me down to £375 this month? I've been doing really well since the new year after switching to Al*i and meal planning - it's been a real eye opener! New Baby #3 due this month (the 6th, though I reckon we'll be lucky to get passed the weekend!), so not sure how that will effect the spends this month (can imagine us relying on internet shops and a fair few takeaways), but we will try! Happy GCing for April people - and have a fabulous Easter xx :T:T