July 2012 Grocery Challenge

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  • keza
    keza Posts: 1,309
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    Soworried wrote: »
    Morning, I hope everyone is well.
    Keza, It sounds like your oven is cooking unevenly. It is free standing? If so put a spirit level on the top and turn the feet until it is level.
    If it is already level then I would put an empty baking sheet on the shelf below when you bake. That should solve it. Or to be more economical put a quiche or pizza on the shelf below that you want a firmer base on. :)

    I need to update my signature with a £2.35p spend on milk and chocolate. I really need to stop spending for the rest of this month.

    thanks for this. its a free standing gas cooker. i did turn the muffin tins round half way thru cooking coz they were browning quicker on one side. i will try this idea next time thou :) they cooked my twinks fine last week but i seem to have trouble with muffins bases burning and sticking to the paper. thanks x
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  • Bluegreen143
    Bluegreen143 Posts: 3,041
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    sb88 wrote: »
    I'm looking at revising my target for August!

    The last two months I have gone over £130, I have a feeling this month it will be £160.

    You all do so well with your budgets! I am not sure why I keep over running my grocery spend, so I am going to look at my recipts and see where I am spending too much.

    Is there anyone else with a grocery budget for 2 ?

    Had to sacrifice two chicken breasts last night, my dog has had an upset stomach and so has been on a diet of chicken and rice last night and today.

    I budget for two! And a cat, lol. I've only been doing this for 2 months so don't know what my eventual 'rock bottom' budget will be, but I used to spend £300+ :eek: (this includes toiletries, cleaning stuff, cat food and our food, but not alcohol or eating out). To my perspective, you do really well, as I spent £260 last month and was chuffed at that! :rotfl:

    But I know it must be really frustrating to not get it as low as your target. Maybe it's like dieting, where you hit a plateau and it suddenly becomes much harder to shed even a few pounds? Keep at it anyway, I'm sure you'll get there :D and maybe one day I'll spend as little as you lol!!
    Part time working mum | Married in 2014 | DS born 2015 & DD born 2018 | Allegedly attempting to be mortgage free - diary here
  • Soworried
    Soworried Posts: 2,369 Forumite
    My £200 budget is for 4 people. I do not know if it is possible yet but it is what I am aiming for.
    £36/£240
    £5522
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  • meg72
    meg72 Posts: 5,164
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    sb88 wrote: »
    I'm looking at revising my target for August!

    The last two months I have gone over £130, I have a feeling this month it will be £160.

    You all do so well with your budgets! I am not sure why I keep over running my grocery spend, so I am going to look at my recipts and see where I am spending too much. QUOTE

    It is a good idea to checkyour receipts to see where the money has gone,but have to say that 160.00 is not bad at all,
    Slimming World at target
  • mrs-moneypenny
    mrs-moneypenny Posts: 15,519 Forumite
    have updated my sig with the weekend spends, shouldnt need much else this week, were eating out tomorrow night and DD2 is away for week on a job training course. trouble is i did the usual fruit and veg shop so need to make sure things get used

    did a sweet potato and leek pie yesterday turned out really nice
    peel and chop sweet pots into chunks slice leeks. lightly fry for 10 mins till softening. add a veggie oxo cube and a tub of double cream bring to boil for a few mins to reduce slightly make pastry top and bake for about 30 mins,
    SPC~12 ot 124

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  • NickJW
    NickJW Posts: 680
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    Hmmm - quite a few spends to report from the weekend:

    50p in the corner shop on Friday on a pack of chewing gum
    £3.79 on a sandwich meal deal in BoOts at Kings Cross fir the train on Saturday
    89p on some sweets for my little sister on Saturday
    £13 in Mr T on Saturday
    £1 on a bowl of peppers from the market on Sunday
    £3 on bagels and cholla bread from Brick Lane market

    At least I'm sorted for sandwiches for work lunches this week

    Will also need to pop to Mr W tonight to get extras for dinner tonight. Have chicken thighs defrosted from the freezer.

    Will go and read through the thread to catch up :D
    Grocery Challenge Jan 24 0/300

    Grocery Challenge 13 -spent £1453.06
    Grocery Challenge 12 -spent £1565.51
  • savesummore
    savesummore Posts: 1,132 Forumite
    sb88 wrote: »
    I'm looking at revising my target for August!

    The last two months I have gone over £130, I have a feeling this month it will be £160.

    You all do so well with your budgets! I am not sure why I keep over running my grocery spend, so I am going to look at my recipts and see where I am spending too much.

    Is there anyone else with a grocery budget for 2 ?

    Had to sacrifice two chicken breasts last night, my dog has had an upset stomach and so has been on a diet of chicken and rice last night and today.

    Hi Im a budgeter for 2 (plus a very fussy cat!!) This is my 2nd month and last month we spent £385 :eek: and this month will again be over my £300 target :eek:. This is all cleaning, food, toiletries, cat food and eating out but not booze) so im in awe of your budget and aiming to be like you :rotfl:

    I think your doing really well :D
    O/S weight loss 2.5 /10lbs (11st 8.0- 08.02)
  • sonastin
    sonastin Posts: 3,210 Forumite
    I'm starting to feel a bit more positive about this month. I reckon I've got enough in to get through this week without having to go shopping. And that should leave me with £55 for groceries for our camping trip, plus ~£75 in the "eating out" budget. I don't think I'll make it to the end of the month in-budget on either of them but the eating out budget was set knowing that I'd spend more in July because of the holiday & make up for it by spending less in other months. Totally expected the GC budget to be waaaaaaay over last week but I seem to have pulled it back so that it might only be a bit over. And when we're on holiday, OH sometimes pays for groceries. Although he's feeling the pinch this month so he might not. (He tried to say I should contribute to the diesel to get us there yesterday ~£100. Until I said he needed to pay his share of the event entry ~£90 EACH! Haven't worked out who is paying for the campsite yet!)
  • tigerfeet2006
    tigerfeet2006 Posts: 14,030
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    sb88 wrote: »
    I'm looking at revising my target for August!

    The last two months I have gone over £130, I have a feeling this month it will be £160.

    You all do so well with your budgets! I am not sure why I keep over running my grocery spend, so I am going to look at my recipts and see where I am spending too much.

    Is there anyone else with a grocery budget for 2 ?

    Had to sacrifice two chicken breasts last night, my dog has had an upset stomach and so has been on a diet of chicken and rice last night and today.

    Maybe you have been ambitious as a starter and need to revise upwards to come downwards again. It can take time to gradually get to your target. When I started a few years back I was spending up to £700 a month on food (I couldn't even admit it was that high when I started I was that embarrassed.) That is for 5 of us. A couple of months ago I had it down to £350/380 but it has taken peserverance and learning tips as I went along.

    At the moment we are completely brassic because of the costs of relocating but I am so grateful for everything I have learnt on here as it has got me through the last few months. My budget at the moment is what I have in my purse which this week was £40 and I have spent £36 and that should last me 10 days with maybe having to top up on veg. but I am going to try and manage. I have run out of GF cereal but have made some bread as I had the ingredients in stock and they are having toast instead.
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  • Coxy11
    Coxy11 Posts: 4,837
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    Hi everyone,

    Another top tip to help keep you out of the shops :D We ordered some racking for our garage and it took us ALL WEEKEND to assemble it and sort out all the [STRIKE]carp[/STRIKE] stuff we have - both ours and the scouts :o

    Popped to the petrol station last night which has an M&S, and bought a small packet of sliced ham for DD and DS2's packed lunches. £1 spend going onto my total.

    Need to get something quick and easy for tea tonight. We had fish pie on the mealplan, but a friend is coming to stay and he is veggie. Will go to C00P before the school run to get some pizzas and salad plus some milk. DS2 going boating with cubs this evening so need to be out by 6pm.

    Have a good day everyone.
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