Frugal February

[Surzy]

Post Christmas and January Pay-day my bank balance is still looking a bit sad so I thought i'd set myself a challenge of eating on the cheap for a month.

I live in Sheffield with my Husband and I work full time - so I plan to take my lunch to work with me and save myself a fortune!!

My target spend will be £50 for the month - but really i'm aiming for £10 for the week with £10 as emergency milk and eggs money just in case!!

If you want to join in - post your budget and the number of people in your household.

Share any cheap and tasty on-plan meal ideas that you may have and may all our bank balances and waistlines look a bit healthier at the end of February!!

 

[Mrs.S.]

This sounds fab!!

Luckily my freezer needs defrosting so if I'm eating cheap I can ensure that I empty the contents of that too!

There's me, hubby, 2 kids & a dog in our house!

I won't count the dog though so will say £100 for the 4 of us! Does that sounds reasonable?!

Good luck all! xx

 

[Surzy]

I'll be making my 4 weekly meal plans this weekend with my shopping lists to stick to (a challenge in itself!)

I'll post them here for you to see and if it helps you to take some inspiration from it - i'm on the look out for new recipies to make into new family faves!!!

I think if this works i'll try and keep it going all year - and i can save up for a nice holiday for Christmas

I usually spend around £80 per week on groceries - but i must admit that I am quite wasteful and end up throwing a lot away :-s

 

[Surzy]

Great to have you on-board Mrs S.

£100 sounds like a good budget!

 

[Mrs.S.]

Yeah we probably spend about the same. Although lots of it is junk or convenience stuff for hubby/kids.

May try and be a bit cleverer too and make jellies with fruit etc for lunch boxes. I reckon they'll be pennies a portion!

Do ya reckon this could help with portion control too?

So I'll be conscious when I make food to save some for lunch, so will serve slightly smaller portions for dinner?!

 

[Surzy]

I think you're spot on with the portion control angle - my plan is that when i'm dishing the evening meal out to also have my trusty tupperware box handly and put the 'work' portion out at the same time

This will stop me going back for seconds just because it's there!! I'm rarely still hungry but don't like throwing away food i've cooked!!

 

[Gillian576]

Oh I'd love to join in too. There are 7 of us though! I'll work out our budget and come back soon.

 

[Jo*]

Watching with interest, we are not wealthy in any way but I have not a clue how much I spend. I have a full freezer and a fridge freezer so this is an ideal time. Two adults here two teens bigger than me in height and on physical courses at college so eat more than hubby and I. I aim to just start watching amount I spend and use up freezer stuff. Great idea and good luck.
Aldi pork at 1.49 for 400g sounds like a good start if you have to buy meat easily bulked out for two main meals!

 

[Surzy]

Gillian, Jo* - nice to have you on-board!

An inventory of current 'stock' levels is a great idea - i'll do that this weekend too.

I have a very bad habit of 'stockpiling bargains' that I never get round to eating!

I can feel a lot of savoury rice being eaten this month in various forms!!

 

[Jo*]

hehe for me all the pasta n sauces I never ate savoury rice, pulses and all those reduced bits I just have to have. I think I panic that there may be a food shortage and my cupboards are rammed full as is the freezers.

 

[Surzy]

hehe for me all the pasta n sauces I never ate savoury rice, pulses and all those reduced bits I just have to have. I think I panic that there may be a food shortage and my cupboards are rammed full as is the freezers.

haha - I think i'm planning for The Apocalypse :ashamed0005: sometimes when I see the cupboards! Tho it served me well when we were snowed in in 2010!!

 

[SWLizzy]

Loving this idea!

I'm always up for a foody bargain! I get annoyed how much me and hubby spend on food. I think we might as well be given our wages in supermarket tokens!

We have cut our shopping bill recently by switching to Aldi for 95% of our shopping so we have gone from £70 a week to £40/50 a week!

I have given us a budget of £200 for all our food and drink for the month - which includes breakfasts, dinners and evening meals. However this still sounds quite a lot.

I will be looking forward to any tips you guys can share so that we can save a little.

xx

 

[lanugowife]

I am so up for this. I'm on maternity & SMP kicks in from this month so my income is going down loads making this a perfect opportunity & great to share hints & tips. I'm guilty of buying one meal at s time & so spending far too much - prob around £70 a week on food for 2 of us... & we are not rich so some careful planning should really help bring this down. I'm going to budget £150 max on food for the month but will bring it in as low as I can, like a little competition with myself - anything saved from the £150 budget can go towards a mini break for the 3 of us. My £150 does include nappies & toiletries if that makes a difference?! Is it sad I'm a bit excited about this?! Lol! xx

 

[bubblensqueak]

I want to join in 2!!! There is 3 of us in our house we currently spend about 300 pounds a month on food. So I think if I could get this down to £150 a month I would be happy. But I think if I could even get it down to £200 pounds I would be doing well!!! Looking forward to sharing some money saving tips with you all!!

 

[Surzy]

BBC - Watchdog - Be a savvy shopper

Quite a good article on the perils of the supermarket!

 

[Sam:)]

I think I will join you all if that's ok. I am gonna aim for £10 a week in feb, had to spend loads on my car (cam belt and clutch) so want to get a bit of money back in my savings

 

[Surzy]

I am so up for this. I'm on maternity & SMP kicks in from this month so my income is going down loads making this a perfect opportunity & great to share hints & tips. I'm guilty of buying one meal at s time & so spending far too much - prob around £70 a week on food for 2 of us... & we are not rich so some careful planning should really help bring this down. I'm going to budget £150 max on food for the month but will bring it in as low as I can, like a little competition with myself - anything saved from the £150 budget can go towards a mini break for the 3 of us. My £150 does include nappies & toiletries if that makes a difference?! Is it sad I'm a bit excited about this?! Lol! xx

Not at all - welcome in - i'm very excited!!

 

[Surzy]

I'm keen to see how creative I can be with my ingredients - how to stretch things that bit further and make use of all the stuff that's been lurking at the back of a cupboard for a while (years lol)

I don't want the experiment to turn into a will power battle - just how long can one person live on jacket spuds alone - or how many days can you make a pan of soup last etc ... but getting back to the way that my gran used to make her limited budget last.

A roast chicken - example - nice meat and 2 veg day, a chicken risotto the next and a nice chicken noodle and sweetcorn soup ....

Just examples but how I hope this pans out - lets get shopping around - lets use the markets if we can for fresh stuff and only buy what we really need!!!

 

[Jaq]

I'd like to join too please. I live alone in the week and then OH comes to stay at the weekend. Going to allow £25 a week as i eat a lot of fresh fruit and veg. I already get this from Aldi and Lidl though and I'd recommend for anyone to try doing a shop there if they haven't already - it's so much cheaper!

Will be good to start eating my way through the freezer!

 

[Surzy]

Really looking forward to getting home tonight and rummaging through my cupboards, pantry and freezer