July 2008 Grocery Challenge

Lizzieanne

I'm in again this month for £375.

Good luck everyone!

Scenic_Route

Hello All

Hugs and blessing all round.

Had an Asda delivery (£54.16) for the month over the weekend and picked up all the meat from Mrs H's shop (£42).

Have made spag bog, chilli and 2 lasagne's and the freezer is stocked full. Bulked them all out with grated white cabbage and a few oats. Managed to grate my thumb too:o .Also managed to get some flour and caster sugar so I'll be baking later in the month when there is some space to freeze the goodies. Oh said I can have anythign from his cupboard stock for baking so I'm looking forward to rummaging round and seeing what I come up with:j

Herbaholic

Morning all

I've done the grocery challenge last year, but I sort of fell off the wagon and our finances REALLY show it! We can't keep living beyond our means, not if we ever want to get on our feet, so I'm back on the GC if you'll have me again and I promise to stick with it this time I'd like to start with a budget of £300 this month, any leftovers go into my 'savings fund' which buys kitchen gadgets, meals out and other treats. I have a well stocked freezer, lots of staples and gritted determination. My month started on the 28th June and goes on until 27th July.

In an attempt to control spending we had a stay at home weekend, and it was lovely, we've got round to doing things that we've been meaning to do for ages, sorted stuff out, took rubbish to the tip and freecycled other stuff to make space, amazing how much of a 'feel good' factor you can get from sorting out cupboards and decluttering rooms. We also did a search online and saved £70 on the car insurance, cut the TV/broadband/phone bill by £15 a month and worked out a complete spending budget, taking into account all bills, food, even made provision for dentist and vets bills!!!

I'll give the homemade washing powder a go angchris thanks for the tip, DH tided his workspace and the counter top was stained, I don't 'do' scouring type cleaners and he informed me we'd have to go to Asda to get some as his Mum swore by it! I put my OS head on, reached into the baking cupboard and handed him a pot of bicarbonate of soda. I got the 'oh dear she's gone potty' look, but I gave him his instructions and left the room. Next thing I heard was him muttering how it was working but not very well, I told him to use elbow grease as well, he asked me which cupboard it was in :rotfl: !!!! I went to show him how to apply the elbow grease ::sniggers::, he finished the job and was impressed with his clean and shiny counter top. You should have seen his face when he saw me pouring homemade lavender vinegar into the mop bucket to mop the floor and asked me where I'd got purple vinegar from lol!

Put the BM on as well yesterday for the first time in ages, and made cumin and linseed bread which goes perfectly with the leftover roast chicken from yesterday for todays sarnies, added a dollop of spicy mango chutney and we have some impressive sarnies for next to nothing. I've also clocked up 3 no spend days in a row, which for me is unheard of. All thanks to meal planning for the month and finding other things to do, DH found a load of wool in the loft whilst sorting things this weekend, so I'll be taking up knitting again, homemade scarf and hat gifts for xmas look set to follow. I'll stop burbling now and go and get on with the business of money saving, which I think involves some home baking and checking the progress of the veggies in the garden today.

Herby

smetf

Morning all
Just been catching up on all the posts, not essay writing :rolleyes:

Got big Mr T shop arriving tonight, was very annoyed trying to do it last night as site crashed and wouldn't let me checkout but managed to get it done before school run (luckily did via mysupermarket.com so was still there!)

Need to get some fruit for week and planning lots of baking inspired by everyone's great ideas here- will I get better at resisting eating it all? :rotfl:

Happy GC everyone

Smetf

nellis10

Hi! Can I join the July Grocery Challenge? I have a weekly budget of £50 for all food, household & treat spending for 2 adults and one VERY fussy pasta eating 4yr old!!!

I'm thinking of raiding the last of the old feezer and doing some big bulk tomato sauces that can be easily defrosted...thinking of making some homeade pizza bases too as I ahve laods of flour that need to be used up too!!!

Many thanks!!

pnq06

Oooh can I pwetty purleeese join this months challenge?!?!?

I am usually too scared to look at shopping receipts BUT after living on next 2 nothing for nearly 2 weeks I am pretty sure I can cut down hugely this month and every month after!!!

I am going to try and spend no more than £120 and thats for 2 adults and a baby... I already breastfeed and have just started using reusable nappies so I'm sure I can definately cut at least £20 out :j

fertyskids

Good morning everyone. help again please.

the bread i made on sat, everyone except me refused to eat as they had to cut it. instead of throwing it i made breadcrumbs, but i dont know what dishes you can use them in. i know you clever lot use them for everything can someone please enlighten me.

also i peeled and blanched out of date carrots x3 bags. all in the freezer now !! Thnks to this thread....

also spag bol on - includes mince, tomatoes and red kidney beans also a bit of grated carrot. what else can i use to bulk it out and i think i can use the same reciepe for cottage pie/chilli - again how can i do this?

thank you so much for all your support i feel a bit better today, this is my 2nd NSD...Hooray!!!!

karen

jackk_2

How come when i spent more, my freezers etc were less full . It's the end of the month, and old mother hubards cupboards are full . Do you all have this phenomenon going at??, very bizarre!!! :rotfl:

Jackie x

newlywed

Oooh I missed the new thread

My month started already - £300 for me please, thanks.

Little_Belle

I came well well over budget for June! But I did my first shop in Lidl this week (I didn't think I was a shop snob till I walked in there and felt very very uncomfortable - usually I am a Sainsbury's only person) BUT I will I am sure get over that feeling, as after spending £40 on a shop that would have cost me about £60 in S's (it included dishwasher tablets etc) the price difference is too much to be snobish!

(Although the customer service might have been better, being served by a girl that was more interested in her watch and sighing, than even attempting a smile was not very inviting!)

Sooo... I am more confident that I CAN come in budget this month, I CAN I CAN I CAN...

so, £200 again for me...