August 2008 Grocery Challenge

Herewegoagain

Hiya guys,

Mrs mc, thanks that looks great, but whats a remoska, hearing it all the time, lots of peeps talking bulk buys/bulk pot? whats going on
OS/Mrssnowy, thanks getting my head round it I think.
All those under budget:T :T :T and to those who didn't make it this time, good luck for sept, bet you saved money anyway:j
BB thanks for the muffin info, will give it a go:T
Mrs hayes, Well done with persevering with comp, they can be a s*d can't they;)
Ruby, you haven't failed, you've nearly acheved:T and septs another chance, just think what you've saved by trying:cool:
EL & Savvy, freecycle is a good place to look as the others have said, good luck;)
Astonished, like you do I include everything, much less confusing that way:D
Carolt2, thanks for that, am now looking at suggestions and will check out Aldi tomorrow too:T

KAAT_LADY

SEE YOU TOMORROW

cammumof3

webitha wrote: »

hiya ive been reading this for a few days now and am interested in taking part, what i need to know what would be a ggod figure to start from for 2 adults 3 kids, who will eat anything and everything, except DS wont touch weetabix lol.
Ive tried to keep receipts for a month but they either get lost, drawn on, or i forget, i est that i spend £250-£300 a month

HI webitha

I have a diary where I write everything down, what I have spent, what I saved on BOGOF's,WHOOPSIE's and what I saved from any vouchers, I write this down weekly, then add it up at end of month. I write the total at the end of the month.
I staple my reciepts to the week we are in, so I can look back.
Plus I have got my self a second purse, my old one is my purse and my new one is my shopping one.
I put my 50 pound each week into my shopping purse so when I pay for my food I put the change back into my shopping purse and all my reciepts aswell, then I dont loose them and my shopping money dont get mixed up with my money.
HTH
Caz

cammumof3

SavvyStudent wrote: »

Eagerlearner - we're looking for a cheap freezer too! Currently have one of those tiny ice boxes and its so demoralising throwing stuff out and not being able to buy in bulk Cheapest we've seen is £80-90 range I think

L

Just a thought.
But have you tried Freecycle for your area ?
Caz

cammumof3

gunsandbanjos wrote: »

I imagine it will have just a dough setting, can you make pizza bases etc in it?

To be honest I have never tried, to do pizza base in it, but do intend to as I have looked and I have a dough setting BRILL.

I have made my pizza base all by hand before,
Guess what I'm going to be doing tomorrow
hehehe

Caz

cammumof3

Astonished wrote: »

Hello all

Can you please give me a clue what you 'include' in your grocery challenge budget? I've seen some of you say that you don't include this that or the other? Should I just purely count groceries?

My £400 target for the month was inclusive of everything - food, loo rolls, bathroom products (deodorant, shampoo etc), wine/cider (:o ) laundry products, dog food, rabbit food, chicken food - everything but clothes or household items etc.

If I go on just pure groceries i.e. food items then I reckon it'd be a darn sight easier for me to come in under budget...:D

What are your thoughts?...

HI

I include all food shopping, nappies from Aldi or Lidl 5 pound something and they last me 2 weeks.
All toiletries, wet wipes. I have reduced the amount of wet wipes I use by using a flannel to wash my little ones (19.5 months) hands and face after food and have a little towel to dry, I keep them on the radiator, easy access.
Dry dog food for 2 dogs, 1 bag a month.
we dont drink alcohol and I dont buy coke or any other fizzy drinks. I rarely buy squash but I do buy juice.
We both smoke but I dont include that in my weekly budget.
There are 2 adults, 11 yr old, 8 yr old and 19 month old, plus 2 dogs.
We get by on 200 pound or less a month, some times my weekly shop is less than 50 pound.
I used to buy all frozen food, processed stuff but now I buy a lot of fresh and am trying to make my own, I still buy a little frozen like chips and some other stuff.
I dont include take aways as that is our treat, but even that has been reduced from all the time to may be once a month.
I have 2 lunch boxes when the kids are at school, sandwich, fruit and home made flap jack with fruit in them (like fruit bar) but a lot cheaper.
Home made cakes I put in lunch boxes too.
I dont have to include every veg as I grow my own.
HTH
Caz

almar_2

Usual Spend £600 - August Target £450 - Spent £490 - not too bad for a first try, I have saved £110 off our usual £600 so am very happy.

Thanks everyone

almar

Can you put me down for £430 in the September GC please

cammumof3

PHEW, just finished reading all the posts and have replied to a few and now there are loads of posts from me, sorry.

I went shopping on Tuesday and spent 43.90, when I had gone through the check out I noticed on my bill that there was 2 lots of 4.66. It was the 2 (2 to cover the baking I intend on doing) lots of Lurpack butter I had picked up, so I went straight to customer services and asked if I could get my money back and buy something cheaper, I told the lady at the desk there was no way I could afford to pay that much for butter and when she scanned it she said 'blimey 4.66' yeah exactly my point.
So I got a refund for 9.32 and went and picked up 2 lots ofstork at 1.30 each.
So my shopping came to 37.18.
Have updated my sig and I am well under budget at
170.25. YIPPEE
But my month don't end untill the last day of the month.

Thanks susan946 for kind words.
Tomorrow I intend to be doing a lot of cooking, so well see.

Caz

Herewegoagain

cammumof3 wrote: »

HI webitha

I have a diary where I write everything down, what I have spent, what I saved on BOGOF's,WHOOPSIE's and what I saved from any vouchers, I write this down weekly, then add it up at end of month. I write the total at the end of the month.
I staple my reciepts to the week we are in, so I can look back.
Plus I have got my self a second purse, my old one is my purse and my new one is my shopping one.
I put my 50 pound each week into my shopping purse so when I pay for my food I put the change back into my shopping purse and all my reciepts aswell, then I dont loose them and my shopping money dont get mixed up with my money.
HTH
Caz

Good ideas I started with the diary when I had my LBM, but have not kept it up as do it in my head most of the time. but you have gone into more depth and I might do it again your way and maybe put saving into my savings IYKWIM:rotfl: ( can't fix the receipts in though as they have to go into accounts)
HWGA xx

Sian_the_Green

Astonished wrote: »

You feel free to ramble - having to pay over the odds for normal every day stuff like pasta (£1.69 for the last bag of penne!) just about breaks my heart but I love pasta so what do you do!! However, I am making a concerted effort to concoct my own gluten free recipes rather than paying ott prices in the shops - and it is involving loads more home cooking for me which is saving me lots of pennies - every cloud has a silver lining...:D
.

Hey, a friend made me some cornbread and it was really delicious, might be a cheaper alternative to that really expensive flour. This is an American recipe so the units might need a little translation but I can assure you this stuff is worth it . I know the Asian food section of our supermarket has massive bags of gram flour really cheaply, maybe that would be worth a shot for some tasty carbs
http://www.recipetips.com/recipe-cards/t--1987/wheatfree-cornbread.asp