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April 2018 Grocery Challenge

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  • RedFraggle
    RedFraggle Posts: 1,309
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    First shop for April, mostly unnecessary but only £14.70. Let's not talk about the £4 box of dairy box as an Easter treat................except to say it was nice and we ate it on the sofa watching TV in 2 hours.

    £285.30 left!
    Officially in a clique of idiots
  • cw18
    cw18 Posts: 8,615
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    I've continued to ponder how to work my budget given the food festival blowout on Sunday, and have finally decided I'm going to have to include it in what I'd planned to set my April budget at and just work on damage limitation (which means I've no choice but to use up food I have in the house as far as possible for the whole month!) I have enough in the bank to be able to 'forget' the spend, but it'll impact my car repair / car replacement / boiler replacement funds. And given we have plans to go to another 5 festivals before the end of the year I can't afford to 'forget' any of those as well.

    I even think I've found a solution to needing tea-bags ;) I have so many herbal tea-bags it's unbelievable, so I'm going to start attacking those. Left a minor problem in that if I don't have 'proper' tea in the morning (and normally at least once in the evening) I get stinking headaches, but I have a huge box of Earl Grey and a bottle of lemon juice in the fridge. As time passes I can usually drop the evening brew, but the morning is an essential and I only have 17 of my 'proper' teabags left.....

    So my budget for the month is £100, and I've already spent £98.84 :eek:
    Cheryl
  • Can I join in please? I have no idea how much I spend on food over a month but I know it's far too much. I'm currently doing Slimming World (lost 27.5lbs so far :j ) which can work out a little more expensive but I definitely could be cutting back. There's only me and I usually cook for my boy once a week or so, I love nothing more than feeding people but really need to cut back on this. I do try to meal plan but obviously not well enough as I do tend to have a bit of waste. Spends will include all food, toiletries, cleaning products and unplanned meals out/takeaways (another downfall of mine!).
    So far this week I've spent £3.49 on a few bits to make a curry on Sunday and £43.85 on food, £3.49 on toiletries & £1.99 on cleaning things today. I've tried to meal plan until Friday and will hopefully have a few meals for the freezer. Total spend for last few days £52.82

    Lx
    January Make £20 a day - £0/£620
  • NewShadow
    NewShadow Posts: 6,858
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    cw18 wrote: »
    Left a minor problem in that if I don't have 'proper' tea in the morning (and normally at least once in the evening) I get stinking headaches, but I have a huge box of Earl Grey and a bottle of lemon juice in the fridge.

    I gave up all drinks but water for Lent.

    Averaged 3 litres of tea per day (6 sports direct mugs) to nothing. Apparently this is not advised...

    I honestly thought I was dying for about 4 days - I even googled the symptoms of a brain aneurysm and meningitis. In my defence I did also have a cold :p

    After that - absolutely fine.

    Now I'm back to having a couple of cups a day, and I'm sure it will creep up as I settle back into my routines at work, but it was good to see I could do it if I needed it.

    :beer:
    That sounds like a classic case of premature extrapolation.

    House Bought July 2020 - 19 years 0 months remaining on term
    Next Step: Bathroom renovation booked for January 2021
    Goal: Keep the bigger picture in mind...
  • K9sandFelines
    K9sandFelines Posts: 2,562
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    £270 please; but aiming for it to be more like £250. Spent £5.84 (receipt in coat, so need to double check) today in work on half price easter eggs and two packs of YS granny smiths.
    GC £150 a month for food, toiletries and cleaning Jan £134.58 Feb
    Forever learning the art of frugality
  • I made some pasties today, using J4mie 0liv3r's shortcrust recipe - they were delish! I made too much pastry, so instead of leaving it in the fridge, then chucking it away, I'm going to freeze it, to use in a few weeks. In fact, im off to do that now, and to add a pie to the meal plan for later this month!
    PG x

    Would you mind posting a link for that recipe please? I think I might like to try my hand at that this weekend. Also, how did you freeze the extra pastry?
    cw18 wrote: »
    I even think I've found a solution to needing tea-bags ;) I have so many herbal tea-bags it's unbelievable, so I'm going to start attacking those. Left a minor problem in that if I don't have 'proper' tea in the morning (and normally at least once in the evening) I get stinking headaches, but I have a huge box of Earl Grey and a bottle of lemon juice in the fridge. As time passes I can usually drop the evening brew, but the morning is an essential and I only have 17 of my 'proper' teabags left.....

    I was going to suggest... just drink the tea you have. :) Then again, I’m not a black tea drinker so I don’t have the same attachment to the caffeine others do. Maybe you can alternate herbal teas and black teas in the morning for the month? That would last you a while then. It would also give you an opportunity to finally enjoy all the “nice teas you’re saving for special occasion”, if you see what I mean.

    OH and I splurged a bit tonight at an organic store and spent €19.78. I’ve heard that was a good year. :rotfl:

    Totals so far:
    €40.83/ €400.00
    1 / 10 NSD

    I’ll update my sig in a bit. I’m hoping to get a few more NSDs in this week. Our fridge is packed with food and I think I may only need a few bits this week. In that vein, here are a few things on my mind to use up stores, listed in no particular order:

    Mushrooms with wild garlic, cream, and pasta
    Boxed vegetable and lentil soup with sliced ham (both from tonight’s purchase)
    Mexican black beans with avocado, cheddar, and Greek yoghurt as topping
    Broccoli soup (from freezer) and sausages

    I’ll just have to get berries, bananas, cilantro, parsley, and maybe some stuff for pasties. We have U.K. friends visiting our city this weekend but they’re staying in an AirBnB one block away from us. I think I may ask them over for dinner at some point, hence the Mexican black beans.
  • cw18
    cw18 Posts: 8,615
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    NewShadow wrote: »
    I gave up all drinks but water for Lent.

    Averaged 3 litres of tea per day (6 sports direct mugs) to nothing. Apparently this is not advised...
    I also use Sports Direct mugs for my 'normal' (and Earl Grey) tea :D Also for the stronger fruit teas (mainly those using black fruits), as they're too strong in a standard mug.

    I've detoxed down to the one in a morning before, but dropping that never happened. If I did I wasn't fit to drive home from work due to the head banging - and several days it was as much as I could do to stop myself curling up in a ball in the middle of the street while out delivering the mail. Painkillers don't touch the pain, so the one mug of tea in the morning stayed......
    Cheryl
  • cw18
    cw18 Posts: 8,615
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    I was going to suggest... just drink the tea you have. :) Then again, I’m not a black tea drinker so I don’t have the same attachment to the caffeine others do. Maybe you can alternate herbal teas and black teas in the morning for the month? That would last you a while then. It would also give you an opportunity to finally enjoy all the “nice teas you’re saving for special occasion”, if you see what I mean.
    I had a herbal yesterday morning, and was only just fit enough to drive home. Thankfully Earl Grey should suffice in the mornings, and one of those in the evenings with the rest being fruit or herbal will almost certainly keep me sane :)
    Cheryl
  • PennyGrabber
    PennyGrabber Posts: 1,288 Forumite
    Would you mind posting a link for that recipe please? I think I might like to try my hand at that this weekend. Also, how did you freeze the extra pastry?

    Hi Jings! I saw the recipe on one of his tv programmes. He did a savoury and a sweet shortcrust at the same time.
    Savoury - 500g plain flour sifted, 200g lard, 50g grated cheddar. Use a food processor or your hands to combine. Add a pinch of salt, some herbs (he used thyme, I used mixed), two eggs and a splash of milk (I should've used three eggs as ended up using loads of milk). Mixed until just combined, tip onto floured work surface and pat together, then wrap and refrigerate for half an hour. To freeze it, I just chopped it into usable pieces, wrapped it, then put into a freezer bag, so effectively they're wrapped twice. I figure I can always take out two or three bits if I need them, but I can't take out a small bit if it's all frozen in one lump.

    Hth, let me know if you want his sweet shortcrust recipe, although I haven't tried that yet!

    PG x
    Grocery challenge for family of three - me, dd(12) and ds(11), feeding dp 2 or 3 x a week too. Only food, not toiletries. Jan £87.97/£100 Feb £0/£100
    Frugal 2018 needed! Saving and NOT spending
  • Thank you PennyGrabber, that's really helpful. I was planning on getting more butter this week anyway and will get some from Lidl.
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