September 2008 Grocery Challenge. Please read first two posts.

suzybloo

Hello folks just dropping in to note my spending this week, Wednesdy was £22 is Mr T, more than I should have spent, Thursday was £9.80 in Somerfields and Tesco do delivery tomorro which comes in at around £45. In total this month I have spent £245, out of £300 - might just scrape by. Will have to print my money off vouchers tomorro - new Saturday chore! Even if I just scrap by i is a lot less than the £400-450 I used to spend - and threw half the stuff out!!!!

Julimk

I have been buying 'La Doria' fruit cocktail @ Mr T for 23p. There doesn't seem to be a value fruit cocktail & is cheaper than the value tinned peaches (28p). Have been setting it in jelly - 1 can fruit & 1 jelly = 6 pots.

Whilst it is very cheap it has proved maybe too popular with DD who has eaten 12 this week!

I have bought her an apron & oven mit (very girly pale turquoise with fairy cake in pastel colours) which she is extremely pleased with.

Siggy updated; less than half the budget gone with only 10 days or so to go, so fingers crossed. Main shop over the weekend but will get DD involved with meal planning etc & should be OK.

Juli

gillaman

Hi everyone

Spent £6.72 in Mr A Sunday - f&v, milk, cheese and Smart Price bleach at 28p - seems to work fine.

Plan to ask my ds tomorrow about Asda "reduced items" policy (he works for them).

Bought some toothpaste (expensive but SLS free) and my favourite Wicken Fen veggie sausages in Holland & Barrett yesterday. Don't often buy them as they are normally £2.19 for six (not good for a family but OK for me as they do 3 meals or 2 and a sandwich). The tomato flavoured ones were £1.79 though so got those. It was 10% off for oldies so final total was £3.67. Then went to the town Tecos and bought a box of their meat-free bacon slices. They've gone up in price but will last me some time. Also got a small baguette. Had some for lunch with toms and lettuce. Can use for lunches or to add to omelettes, risottos etc. All told I've spent £77.55 this month out of a budget of £120.

Will need more fruit next week, but maybe not veg. Hg toms coming to an end but I may take Mrs M's advice and get some seeds for indoor toms. Freezer is still stocked so should come in under budget.

Made a scone loaf today but need to make proper bread - doing this by hand now to save leccy. Also trying not to bake cakes/biscuits. Never used to buy them otherwise I put too much weight on, so not sensible or MS to keep making them.

Well done to those who have already declared and are under. Those who aren't - don't panic, start again next month armed with all the info from this thread.

fluffysox

Well, spent under £14 in the past week, mainly on OH packed lunch supplies, milk and fruit. Didn't do my normal weekend shop because I was away for the weekend. Cupboards are still full- I've been trying to empty one as I have a lodger moving in so haven't bought tins in ages but they just don't empty:rotfl: . My hope is that if I pull everything out I can see what I can use up asap and put the rest back in a more effective way. However I have emptied one of my three freezer drawers and there's always loads of space in the fridge- I keep allsorts eg. bottles of squash in the fridge just to take up the room- empty space in fridges is supposed to waste electricity as the cold air rushes out when you open the door.;)
The Grocery Challenges are really helping to improve my bank balance, I must have spent more than I thought before starting this. As somebody on here said a few weeks ago- don't shop to feed your cupboards! :A

angelatgraceland

Well done Juli! I hope it inspires your dd-I'm sure she loved it-something of her own to use. Ive also been buying the La Doria and its good with an 8p jelly.
Ive also used mandarins at 11p per tin-can't remember if these were Tesco or Asda but the family said they were excellent with the orange jelly.
Wanted a nospend day today but ended up buying food again lunchtime as I was too tired last night to prepare my lunch. However, I only spent £4.70 and it wasn't all on lunch.
I went to Co-op and bought:
grated red leics cheese £1.62
Burger in bun twinpack on bogof £1.89
Reduced lemon tarte citron £1.19 so most of it came home for the family.
So not a lot of damage, and as I had actually postponed my Asda order until Sunday its a far cheaper option as I would have had it delivered Weds just gone.

jackie_w

Hi

Well another £16.85 spent during the week, have had about 3 NSDs so far this week, so, thats not too bad. Should hopefully be on budget for this month, however, next month will need to be a big month, because Ive hardly anything left in the freezer, although cupboards are filled with the basics.

Feeling a bit more pleased now about how my month is going. Off to read through the rest of the thread now.


Jackie

Sunny_Donny

Hi all
Did £20 spend in Tescos yesterday, but everything in the trolley was reduced!!! Should have been over £36.00 at proper prices.
JTomato plants still have loads of tomatoes on, pepper plants just flowering now!!!!, keep lifting carrots and beetroot. All onions gone. Pulled enough bettroot to make 1 large jar of pickled beetroot last night so hubby happy. Picked icecream tub of blackberries yesterday so these in the freezer.
Very happy with spends as my month ends on 26th (next pay day) so should come in under budget.

Just off to market now to get apples and bananas.

huxley

Hi all just updated signature, I'm still under but its going to be close, the new game is spot the meat on the dinner plate! Everything is being bulked up with what ever I can find I love my slow cooker chunky casseroles are definetly survival food at the moment.:D

*BigBird*

I have £43.78 left in the pot for September. Just been through my meal plan and tweaked it a bit to use up more stuff from the freezers and cupboards to reduce what I need to buy between now and 31st. I was going to get the stuff to make my christmas cake, but will resist until October - I am determined to come in under budget for the first time this month!!:D

I went to Aldi for the first time a couple of days ago and was really impressed with the quality of their fruit and veg. It's a couple of miles from work in the opposite direction to where I live, and going after work isn't really an option as I'll get stuck in horrendous traffic when I head for home (so using more petrol:rolleyes:). However, now that the weather is getting colder, I figure I can pop down at lunchtime and as long as I don't get frozen stuff, it'll be OK in the car til I can take it home (plus we have a fridge at work for anything that really needs it)

Still haven't found any pickling onions We need to go into the nearest town today, which has a MrA, so I'll pop in there and see if they have any. But I MUST NOT buy anything else. Not even the 50p offers because I don't need any of them and I WILL COME IN UNDER BUDGET THIS MONTH!!!!!

Have a great MSE weekend everyone

puss14

Have spent nearly everything in left in my budget:eek: $108.20 leaving a grand sum of $3.05 left for the rest of the month. I am sure we will be fine as I have heaps of food and have garden vegies to help and plenty of long life soy milk. I am actually pleased as not going to the supermarket means I wont be buying junk food. Next month I am going to reduce my budget to $370 which is a 10% reduction on this months $400. I may not be doing as well as other members but considering myself and my OH, 2 dogs and a cat were spending $550- $600 per month on groceries etc, I think I am definitely doing better. Thats the main thing, being aware and trying to do better:D