March 2012 Grocery Challenge

sistercas wrote: »

we are a family of 4 adults , how do you manage on your budget ? mine is way over that and i struggle to keep to it - well done i am impressed :T

Thanks - I'm still a beginner and hope to get it down further.... The story so far:

I tend to buy in bulk (we have a fab cellar) eg a 20kg sack of spuds is £3 or so and we can get through it before they go too soft. Flour I buy by the sack and bag up into loaf size bags. I tend to stick to whats in season or on offer - its a bit of a joke at the dinner table that I never pay full price for anything! We eat very little red meat, very few tins (other than tomatoes and kidney beans) and I never buy ready meals or ready prepared food - always make pastry from scrtatch etc etc. We ignore best before dates and are really committed to using up left overs. I have two small freezers - both with inventories stuck to the door. DH and I both love a "ready steady cook" challenge and often google whats in the fridge with the word recipe afterwards! Being all adults theres no fussy eating.... you eat whats put in front of you and are grateful - or go hungry:D

We limit take aways to one a month and never buy coffee/sandwiches. Toiletries are fairly basic unless they've been given as gifts - (we dont bother with lots of products soap, body lotion, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste and deoderant are all we tend to use) and cleaning products are equally simple eg stardrops, lemon juice, vinegar!

I dislike supermarkets and would rather buy from the grower direct and do at every opportunity. Ald* is the exception to my rule!

Alcohol - we tend to go to France at least once a year with the estate car (we have family there) and fill the boot with as much as we can - last year we got a fab merlot and a lovely cinsault for E16 for 10 litre box and bought over 100 litres :eek:

and most of all - we really enjoy the simple living / frugal challenge. Waste and extravagance just doesnt feel comfortable and we are really content with our lot and dont envy the people who are burdened by possessions. For me life is about creating memories - not aquiring furniture / clothes / big house. Good job really as we cant afford any of those anyway!

And of course - this thread and everyone who contributes are a source of constant inspiration and hope - thanks everyone.:T

Hope that helps - good luck with your own personal journey - and remember if you go over budget.... its not a failure but another opportunity to improve even more than you have already (we all remember the days before we even worked to a budget!!)

Sorry for long post - had my typing fingers on!

Night everyone - sweet dreams and hugs to everyone who would like one.
x
K

carolinerunner wrote: »

Kylieminoag, thanks for that lovely post,:D my heart agrees with you lots but my head is sometimes swayed in a different direction... btw re big bags of veg, I know this sounds tragic but I prefer not to buy carrots, spuds etc with soil on, just being lazy, can you buy big bags that are ready washed?

:question:Question: what am I going to do with the 750g smoked gammon boneless joint I got YS from M&S today? Not that cheap but had just made some pea and bacon soup and was feeling all hammy... all the gammon recipes I can find are either for steaks or big joints. Could I slice it into steaks and cook as per those recipes?

Thanks, goodnight, and big hugs to all those who could use one:grouphug:

I got a 5kg sack of spuds from Costco and a 10kg sack of carrots from Rosspa and they were nice and clean.

Yes you can slice it into steaks just make sure your knife is nice and sharp.

Still not spent anything yet this week, I do need some vegetables though, am down to one carrot and six mushrooms now. I think I will amble to the farm shop tomorrow and see what they have, they usually have plenty. I can't believe tomorrow will be Friday already and my week off work is coming to its inevitable conclusion Still, 3 more days left to enjoy.

Today I have spent 7 hours photographing and listing stuff for Ebay and I took next door's dogs out for a very long 2 hour walk again. Consequently my aim of doing some baking hasn't happened so I will do that tomorrow instead. I think I may need to replenish some of my cooking stores and will do a list as I go along, but nothing urgent there, really.

What I do need to get cracking on too over the weekend are my soups for lunches, I have leeks for leek and potato and some sweet potato for my fave chick pea and sweet potato soup. They really make for much cheaper lunches at work (instead of spending a £5 a day for stuff that used to give me horrible indigestion).

I saw my first new lambs today and the sun was glorious - I timed my holiday perfectly!

im in again

im declaring £474.85 for Feb so went over by £74.85

im going to have to say £500 for March with it having 5 saturdays.

Hi everyone

Can I be put down for £200 for March please:)
Last month went really well with my overall spend being less than half of what I budgeted for (so the rest went in the holiday fund) and my cupboards and freezer and still quite full so there is no point doing a big shop till I need one (I am finding this is the way to go so that I don't buy extras that I don't need) so this weekend I will only need milk and veg.
This weather is good cos I don't want as much stodgy food and don't feel the need for a pudding (good for my waistline and grocery budget)
I hope everyone is doing OK
Have a good March everone
Cuddles:):):)