January 2012 Grocery Challenge

rosieben · 5 January 2012 at 9:19AM

NickJW, I've added your Sweet lime, soy and chilli pork recipe to the index :beer:

janiepopps · 5 January 2012 at 9:20AM

Off to do my first shop of the year today armed with priced up list which comes to £14.92. Am taking my full weeks money with me as would love to find some chicken, turkey or beef reduced for the freezer.

Was clearing the kitchen last night and found a pan with some steamed root veg in. Was so tempted to feed it to the chooks, but resisted and tonight it will be fried till crisp in a little oil & butter and served with some spicy potato wedges and fried eggs (oh, and baked beans for the bean monster).

What I'm finding most amazing is that although I am following a meal plan, I have to keep pushing back the days as I'm continuously using up leftovers before making a whole new dish. Love it!

I can't quite believe how addicted to this thread I am, still not sure what I find so interesting about other peoples shopping lists, but I'm hooked :rotfl:

Have a great day and stay safe in those winds x

mrs-moneypenny · 5 January 2012 at 9:31AM

morning all
nsd yesterday but had to get soya milk and bananas on tuesday so got to add them to my spends,
yesterday was jacket pots for lunch and lindaMc sausages with potato croquettes and asparagus for tea spent so much of the day de-christmasing the house didnt really think about food till DH got home so grabbed something out of the freezer quick the asparagus was a new years eve bargain from morrys - two bunches for 50p so was happy with that

patentgirl · 5 January 2012 at 9:40AM

Morning all

Love the recipe Nick sounds fab and easy, Did my first shop yesterday after have 3NSDs in January so far quite annoyed with myself but unfortunatley we have to eat!
Since I was made redundant end of the year I am now trying not to do one big shop a week as found was throwing stuff away buying too many offers not having enough room in either fridge or freezer so now I am going shopping every couple of days and so far appears to be working alot better spending far less and because of having extra time I am trying to go back to butchers,green grocers,£land, fish shop instead of just popping into supermarket so spend so far is £15.47 since Dec 26 start of my budget
Good luck everyone

mrs-moneypenny · 5 January 2012 at 9:52AM

read an article in essentials this morning a coupe were trying to get their spending in check the man made the rules that they lived by for a month, basically she had to do only one shop a week at tescos that had to be done instore to save the £5 delivery fee, no topup shops if you havent got it you do without, no meals out or takeaways and no makeup or pressies for kids partties over £5.
i think they would have saved more if she came on here a few times and checked out this thread.
suprised no mention was made of batch baking or shopping later and checking out reduced sections or price checking

SueP19 · 5 January 2012 at 10:30AM

mrs-moneypenny wrote: »

read an article in essentials this morning a coupe were trying to get their spending in check the man made the rules that they lived by for a month, basically she had to do only one shop a week at tescos that had to be done instore to save the £5 delivery fee, no topup shops if you havent got it you do without, no meals out or takeaways and no makeup or pressies for kids partties over £5.
i think they would have saved more if she came on here a few times and checked out this thread.
suprised no mention was made of batch baking or shopping later and checking out reduced sections or price checking

???? Did she save lots money or was it a case they ate like sparrows for a month :rotfl:

My OH has no idea and the only time he has come shopping with me, it was £25 more :mad:

jedi82 · 5 January 2012 at 10:34AM

Morning everyone, haven't been on in a few days as haven't spent anything on groceries (except 79p for a bottle of water for DH to take to work to keep refilling) since last big shop on Friday. I have done my online order for MrT to be delivered tomorrow and although it is £100 again, I am confident that the next two weeks will be a lot lower so will stay within my £350 target.

I did go to Boots yesterday and spent £13.03 on vitamins but am not going to include that in my grocery budget as my lot have been so poorly over christmas that at the mo I think it is a neccessity.

Have a good day. Jedi x

rachbc · 5 January 2012 at 10:37AM

sort of a NSD yesterday - though my DS13 is back from 3 weeks abroad so we got Domino's - hubby paid out of his money thoguh so I'm counting that as entertainment budget rather than grocceries!

mrs-moneypenny · 5 January 2012 at 10:42AM

SueP19 wrote: »

???? Did she save lots money or was it a case they ate like sparrows for a month :rotfl:

My OH has no idea and the only time he has come shopping with me, it was £25 more :mad:

didnt really save much
week 1 savings
£5 on home delivery charge,
packed lunches for week saved £25 (but didnt say shed taken into account extra food bought)
frozen food Vs takeaway pizza saved £18
week 2
low key family birthday party for childs 2nd birthday instead of hiring village hall and having caterers saved £180 --really who would for a 2nd birthday anyway?
no top up shop saved £20 --but they had fish fingers and hash browns two nights running

week 3
oil of olay vs dermaogica when shed run out saved £15
using the sunday roast when friends came over instead of having baby sitter and going out saved £15 but they had frozen steak and kidney pie for sunday lunch

week 4
no blowdry (did own hair) saved £25
no waxing (bought diy strips) saved £15
no professinal manicure (did own nails) saved £6
child ill so couldnt go to minders or any pay for outing so went libaray instead saved £6
buying a nephew a cheaper birthday pressie ( a cattapault instead of an etchasketch) saved £5

says total saving for month were £365 but doesnt mention food shopping apart from first week the last week seems like the only money spent was preparing to go to a 40th birthday

flippin36 · 5 January 2012 at 10:44AM

Well my mission for the month is to utilise my freezer and hunt down the yellow stickers. I could never be bothered with going late at night and searching through the reduced chiller but after going to Morrisons after 6 one evening I came back with allsorts for the freezer. I'm converted!

Crusty bread loaves (19p), 18 eggs (19p had to do a massive baking session to use them all up), sandwhich meat (25p don't normally bother as I use whats left over from a joint or we have cheese or tuna but for 25p a packet was chuffed!) I also picked up 5p yoghurts (though these needed eating straight away - don't think we can freeze yoghurt?) Huge block of lancashire Cheese (89p - enough for a fortnight), warbatons crumpets (30p). Large fresh ham and pineapple pizza (89p)

Everything that could be frozen was put into portions first, so I don't need to worry about using up a whole loaf in a day for example. I'm also freezing mushrooms, peppers, onions and celery quite successfully also in portions, so I can add them to casseroles etc when I need them - quick and no waste!

My first week is up and I am under budget at £55 (budget £62) but i bought an extra bottle of wine for NYE so it would have been cheaper and my freezer is quite full.

Tonight we are using things up so its bacon carbonara. Bacon (£1 at morrisons at the moment), use up some single cream, value spaghetti, mushrooms, onions, and peppers from the freezer, cheese (yellow sticker) served with crusty bread (yellow sticker) Cheap and easy!

Have a huge dentist bill to pay for so am doubly determined to come under budget this month!

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January 2012 Grocery Challenge

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