September 2008 Grocery Challenge. Please read first two posts.

Just updated my sig, last week I was slightly over my weekly budget but the cupboards were bare! I'd had a really good month in August and was well under budget, this was obvious when you looked at my cupboards last week. I'd run out of loads of basic ingrediants.

I've just been to Morrisons and bought all the items for my meal plan till Sunday except I need some fresh pizza toppings and salad at the weekend for when SIL is visiting. I've still been making my own bread, feeling very impressed with myself.

I can now drive again (couldn't due to c-sec for 6weeks) so hopefully I'll been able to organise myself again rather than buying whatever fits in the pram and having to keep popping back to the shops.

Hi all
Update from me, Mr T has just been and came to £39.20 so have updated sig. Should come in fine this month despite my earlier panic, will prob need more milk and more fruit in the week but with £17ish quid left that's fine.

Have started planning Oct menus and am trying to keep to similar levels of spending I think, we have a week away booked with friends which will be quite pricy- alcohol stocks to take with, and last year (when we did the same) we ended up spending around £100 on grocery shopping. Think I will have to either up the budget to cover this or not include it- not sure yet.

Have got more into the habit of using bm through Hovis mixes, and keeping something baked available. Hobnobs defrosting at the mo, bm beeping, hm soup defrosting. DD1 has got friend home from school tonight, ds is out, making wraps with beans/ cheese/ tuna available as fillings so will get the wraps sorted this afternoon.

Hope everyone Ok
(thanks for tomato puree tip gunsandbanjos I always automatically pick up tube- will look out next time )

Smetf

gunsandbanjos wrote: »

Dont know if anyone else has noticed(i'm sure you have) but i always used to buy tomato puree in the tubes because i 'thought' it would be cheaper than the little tins, erm no, its not actually. As i discovered in Mr S yesterday the tubes are nearly double the price per 100g:eek: Tubes are 23p per 100g and the little tins are 12.1p per 100g Hope that helps someone, i stocked up on the tins before they whack the price up.

Off to update sig.

Hi G&B - I must admit I did know that they were dearer, but I usually buy the tubes because they're easier to store and just open and squirt then put back when finished.. (not very MSE I know, but quick and simple for simple me! )

Been shopping for a few bits this morning - only about £10 on F&V plus a couple of things that seem to have run out in about 2 mins flat! where does it all go? will update siggy in a bit

Pretty plead with myself this month, £30 left and only one more shop to go! We have enough rice, pasta and noodle for next month at least and should have some meat left as well. Goin to try some Lidl meat. we are doing lidl for junk and iceland for frozen veg tonight, prob won't be touched till next month but will see if it can go in this month total.

If I cook chicken that has been frozen raw how long will it keep in the fridge?

We had a cooked roast chicken last week from the M&S deal and the next 2 nights dinners (risotto and curry) were so much faster as chicken already cooked.

Thanks

Hey all,

I posted previously in this thread to say I wanted to take part, I've just sat and looked through my credit card spreadsheet over the last year and I was shocked how much what I spend on food a month varies ( I use my credit card to pay for everything then pay it all off straight away, I'm too paranoid to use my debit card now! )

Jan - £160.42
Feb - £204.04 :eek:
Mar - £148.29
Apr - £132.60
May - £201.71 :eek:
Jun - £151.15
Jul - £197.77
Aug - £112.50
Sept - £143.42 ( so far but need to spend around £20 tonight which will tidy me over until October )

There's only 2 adults ( well we have 2 guinea pigs as well but that food we tend to buy from the fruit & veg shop so thats seperate from above )

I want to aim to spend £150 a month, that should be enough for 2 people right?

I am fussy though, I'll only buy free range eggs and poultry and don't buy processed food which is maybe why by bills are so high