August 2008 Grocery Challenge

Herewegoagain

Hiya guys,
Another NSD for me so that makes 14:j

Still trying to use up things in the freezer and am still ending up putting meals back in:eek: :eek: how can I be mse and use up things, it's like the loaves and fishes, it just keeps growing:eek: and I would be really chuffed with that usually, if I wasn't trying to empty the freezer, so round and round I go, when will it stop:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
HWGA xx
PS. Last day of my aug month tomorrow, ????????can I make it a NSD or not!!!!!!!!!! Watch this space.

Chell

*BigBird* wrote: »

Hiya, not sure if anyone other than likabu replied - didn't get online again after yesterday morning, so I have a bit of catching up to do. I use vetuk.co.uk to get my cat food. They offer free deliveries on orders over £39 (used to be £29 but has recently gone up :mad:). But I will get 2x 4kg bags of Hill's Nature's Best which comes in just over the limit at £39.58 so I'll get free delivery. That will last 114 days (he has 70g per day) so works out at less than 35p per day, for one cat (the other is on a special diet which I also get from vetuk and works out at a similar cost, but I already have a spare bag of that food) I think my little darlings are worth that amount, especially as I think Hill's food is much better quality than tinned stuff.

Thanks for that. My parents dog has prescription food - £52 from the vet every 20 days. On that site it is £45.88. :T

lainz

Hi

Can I declare at £50.56 and can you put me down for £100 for the lot in September and see how I get on with that.

Pay day tomorrow - yippee!

Chell

I did my weekly shop today - £49.88 at Asda. There was a few extras on there as we are going to Cadburys World this week and I wanted to take some picnic bits with us to eat on the way as we are booked to go over lunch time then could end up stuck in traffic at tea time.

I had tun out of mayo, tomato ketchup, brown sauce, all things that I don't buy often so it made the shopping bill quite high. I might go over this week but I was well under budget last week.

I've been preparing the Hovis bread mix in my breadmaker then baking it in the oven (too big for bm). I don't like the BM loafs as they are too small, a rubbish shape and also the mixer blade breaks the loaf. Since I've got into the habit of baking bread with the mixes I thought I might start to make bread the same way. I was shocked at the price of bread flour in Asda today. They had basic strong white flour cheap but all the brown varieties were really expensive.

OS, I've been making Millies cookies this week, must stop though as I need to lose over a stone in weight! I did hazelnut and chocolate yesterday, they are gorgeous.

We've got guests for the day on Saturday so I'll do a huge veggie pasta bake and some homemade treats.

fluffysox

Blondie_Bear wrote: »

Grrrrrrrrrrrr just done my meal planner with the food i have remaining and i've just found a bag of potatoes! still in date, ide just forgotten bout them. Is it okay just to make mash with them and freeze it?

Yes mash is fine frozen- I freeze in portions in bags;) . (I always make too much in the pressure cooker then freeze the excess)

Webitha
As others have said, any starting point is a good one, but err on the side of generous eg. £300;) . If you are successful, you can lower your target by ten or twenty pounds next month. As for what to include, we all make up our own rules and decide on a target to match. Personally, I include food, laundry and cleaning products, toilet rolls and most toiletries.
I don't include beer or wine any more because I feel these are luxury items and can come out of "pocket money". (Basically if OH wants beer he has to pay for it. Likewise if I want to treat myself to new makeup or a bottle of wine, I'll pay for it) Also if its included in the grocery budget, I find it too easy to not notice how much money is being spent on alcohol- the wine helps me forget all:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: .

rubydoiwannabee
I don't think that's a failure at all. Well done for coming so close. School holidays are an easy time to go way over budget:eek: - if you can manage to come close in August (and on your first attempt) it should give you a bit of confidence for September. Give yourself a pat on the back:T :T :T

NSD (on groceries) again!!!
Proud of myself today, went to Tesco for a few non-grocery items. And pleased to say did not buy any grocery items. Replaced my broken toaster with a new one- under £4 and paid for with my clubcard vouchers. Also bought some four packs of beers, Cobra, Sol etc at £3 as I'll use these as part of Christmas boxes;) . (they are well hidden from OH:rotfl: )

tq16

Fineally found tesco value curry sauce this week :-) yay made fish curry with it this eve, huge hit even with the dd's at 4p a tin I will be stocking up on monday. Tried the value oven chips this week also and dh preferred them so more money saving :-) though we don't have chips that often as the dd not very keen. Really keen to start sept gc as freezer pretty full. Hoping for another month under-all money left going towards christmas-though plan on getting dd to make most pressies this year?-any ideas?

mrssnowy_2

(((Herewegoagain))

nicki_2

I spent another £6.96 on groceries today So totals so far (new month doesn't start until Monday)

GC - 107.24/80
TC - 54.70/40
Extras - 175.64 (Includes a top up on a NHS voucher for glasses :rolleyes: )

fertyskids

Hi Savvy student we brought ours from the freeads for £35. Or try freecycle they often come up on there. i hope this helps. karen

catnap53

Put my target down by 50 pounds for August, should have put it up .

Declaring at 305.49

Excuses - DD birthday food, (although we had at least 3 meals from it and have about 16 pounds worth of it still in freezer, but not full meals), and the other excuses are not valid!

Had to go out on Monday for milk and bread (white sliced for DH, 3 for 2.50 on the large display, charged 3 pounds, so went back in, waited ages at customer services and caused a big discussion about the price to get my 50p back. I only bought that one beacuse it was cheap, it is not his favourite.)

Spent too much on other stuff too, 13 pounds worth on my list. spent 36. I thought I was getting better, but obviously had a relapse.

I only had 5 days when I spent anything from this budget. Fridge, freezer and store cupboards still full though, so definitely need to meal plan for September to use some up.

I can do better, I know I can.

Zzzz