March 2018 Grocery Challenge

Im at 307/310. Hmmmmm. Next Get paid on the 26th. My budget was reduced from 390 this month due to various issues. Think 310 was to hopeful. Especially as it's included two birthday teas and cake. I'll see how close I can get it though. Only top up items and toilet roll are needed really and I have the begginings of an emergency fund that can be used so we won't starve. Hopefully back to usual budget next month although I think I've just been done for speeding so I might be screwed again.my fault I know.

Spends so far this month...

3rd.
A!di - £3.94 for dog biscuits (for 4-legged friends I see at work, a box lasts almost a year!), marmalade, jar of pasta sauce and a garlic baguette (for tea that night with pasta and vegetarian meatballs I already had in), potato wedges (for tea the next night) and soya milk.
Her0n - £4.58 for a tub of 0reo ice-cream (for supper that night), some jaffa cakes and a block of cheese.

4th.
A!di - £3.05 for some rtc cheese topped rolls (was actually charged full price, so went back next day and was given a refund for the 50% overcharge), tea bags (which I was desperate for having forgotten the day before) and a tin of a marinade powder.

4th.
Her0n - £1 for a tub of custard ice cream (went down well over the weem with some individual christmas puddings I'd bought in clearance from Icel@nd a few weeks ago)

8th.
A!di - £1.21 on a loaf of bread, pack of custard creams and pack of oatie biscuits.

10th.
A!di - £2.25 on some tortilla chips (have a jar of salsa in my cupboad that needs using up), a jar of mayo (finally remembered to pick some up - down to final scrapes of jar in fridge!), baby potatoes (for tea that day), a pack of cola laces and another pack of custard creams.
Her0n - £6.28 on 6 bags of peanuts, 2 fruit cakes, an rtc tub of tuna mayo and an rtc pack of haslet slices.
Cosct0 - £3.49 for 3 packs of 4 bean burgers. OH picked them up on the way to mine as I'd been sent to a different office away from the store, and clearly didn't hear me ask him to pick up 2 lots! Still, at least I've got some

11th.
A!di - £3.64 for soya milk, marmalade, honey and a large tub of mushrooms.

Total spend of the month so far £29.44

Doesn't sound a lot, but it's still more than I wanted to have spent by this point Going out shortly expecting to start picking up long-life items for a week away (self catering well away from affordable shops, so we take as much as possible) and some ingredients to bake some items before we go, and then pick up some more long-life items after work one night this week (hopefully at 'my' base near a large Mr T at least one day), then fresh and frozen from local A!di and Icel@nd last minute before we go. At least a week away from shops should make that a very low spend (hopefully no spend) week.

£28.43 spent since last update.
OH spent £7.46; loaf of bread, milk, giraffe loaf, chicken soup (2), shortcake, Ben and Jerry phish food and fig rolls.
I spent £20.97; gluten free vegan bread (2), Alpro caffe milk (2), vegan gluten free cornetto(2), Alpro caramel desert, vegetable crisps (4).
Yep mostly junk, but on offer and barely bought. It was £6 for my two loaves :eek: . I will freeze some for later. The vegan gluten free cornetto are on offer £2.50 a pack instead of £3. So Bread and ice cream cones were £11 alone .

Me - £43.32/£77.50. £34.18 left.
OH - £25.05/£77.50. £52.45 left.
Total - £68.40/£155. £86.60 left.

JingsMyBucket wrote: »

What about the cost is frustrating you? Is it the calculation of individual meals, the weekly shop costs or something else?

A bit of both, I seem to have lost track of what is cheap, but also not sure how to estimate costs before shopping.

selloptape wrote: »

A bit of both, I seem to have lost track of what is cheap, but also not sure how to estimate costs before shopping.

Depending on where you shop you can check prices on line.

All the big supermarkets have their own websites as does Iceland, so they're easy. I use mysupermarket.co.uk to check Aldi and Lidl, though nowhere near all their items are listed.

I also tend to hang onto receipts for a while and/or keep a spreadsheet of what I bought where/when/cost so I can refer back to see what I last paid for something. That gives me the most accurate picture for Aldi, Poundstretcher, B&M, Home Bargains/Quality Save and other such outlets.

Having price histories means I can fairly accurately estimate the cost of a meal plan before I go shopping - I'm just not very good at meal planning so don't do it as often as I should