October 2008 Grocery Challenge. Please read first two posts.

MRSMCAWBER

Hi mumzy

I will go and change it -I was using yesterdays post as below -have only just read your other post -so will go and change it

mumzyof2 wrote: »

Good Evening Everyone, hope everyone is okay.

I have put a Asda delivery in to get delievered tomorrow. Its around £43 even though my target is £25 a week but should last me 2 weeks. So this week can you put me down for £50 for 2 weeks, starting tomorrow till 31st October.

I came in under target this week with £

[Deleted User]

Hi all

I have been staying away from home this past week and am amazed at the number of posts I have missed. Have been sticking to my budget fairly well but caved last night and ordered a takeaway pizza - it wasn't even that nice. That'll be the last for a while.

My total so far is £142 so i am totally converted to this challenge - it definetly works. I am away on holiday next week and have a different budget for that so looks like I should come in under my £200 target this month. Might have to buy another freezer though!

Allie23

Herewegoagain

Hiya guys,
Finally had to do a shop, out of F & V and odds and s**, spent £11.12 which makes my total spends so far £22.51. Will go and update sig. Challenge going very well and freezer still got loads in it, will I ever get to defrost, maybe I should look on freecycle and pick up another one so I can at last defrost this one he he
Hope your all doing well, hugs to those who need it.

HWGA xx

candygirl

Just spent £8 at Booths, on leeks, potatoes, bread n rolls, carrots and apples:eek: :eek: Can't believe how much everything is going up now:eek: :eek: I've got a few bitsin the freezer to fall back on, which is just as well in the jobless state i'm in at the mo.I know there are peeps worse off though:o

echelon101

An absolutely massive shop including, 1.2kg of cottage cheese from waitrose, which came to a small price of £13.81

I went to Aldi, Waitrose and a Halal Wholesale

Some bargains;

Carrots, 1kg, Aldi 39p
Savoy Cabbage, Aldi 39p
Tomato paste, aldi, 25p
1.2kg cottage cheese, waitrose (oppys + buy 2 50p off) £2.88
About 1kg of bananas, 59/kg, halal
100g ginger powder, halal, 69p
100g cinnamon powder, halal, 69p

pigpen

Well I have £200 left for the rest of the month.. and I don't think it will be enough!!

KAAT_LADY

afternoon all

I have to tell you that I got a box of mushrooms at £2 and when I have sliced them to freeze there are 71/2 lbs of mushrooms now thats a good buy ...I have had to freeze them as we are going out and no time to make soup and other things with them ,, I will have to look on the recipes page for some more recipes,,will get off now and change signature

I still have (£134.43) WOW andonly 1 week to go ,,it must be 2 surely ,,will have to check

see you soon

KAAT x

candygirl

Just been to ALDI and spent £20 so adding that and my other spends to my total.It's not looking good this month though:eek: :eek:

echelon101

I had fun in Waitrose today with my cottage cheese it went like this;

1. I saw a deal that said "Buy 2 Waitrose Cottage Cheese 250/600g get 50p". Though "BONANZA" and bought Waitrose Low Fat 2x600g @ £1.52. The offer was placed right below the Low Fat cheese.

2. Got to till and paid...which unfortunately came to 1.52x2 instead of (1.52x2)-0.5. So went to check the deal and the asked the assistant for clarification on the deal, she like me assumed that the offer also applied to Low Fat.

3. Went back to the till and asked to exchange for 2x "Waitrose Cottage Cheese" 600g tubs that were three products down. The deal went through but, without realising they were more expensive, I was going to be charged an EXTRA 44p, even with the deal.

4. Obviously thought this is a bit "off". So me and the cashier went back to the section and found 2 whoopsied Waitrose Cottage Cheese at £1.69. I then bought them and the discount was applied so only paid £2.88 which is less than I would have paid if I bought some frozen fish but the same amount of servings.

So in total I saved 12p, £3 for 800g Fr Fish @ Iceland for all that trouble....

angelatgraceland

spikeysoul wrote: »

Hi am fairly new here but I supppose I have been doing this for a while - I'm terrible with maths so after my husband lost his job I calculated that after everything was paid we had £30 for everything else. Not great but by taking the money out in cash and budgeting that way we have stuck to it. After recalculating it turns out we pretty much have all my DLA left which is actually £63 so I have a nice little rainy day fund/christmas fund. I am going to stick with this as my budget but have decided to see if I can keep it below this. Wish me luck - I'm disabled with no car so shopping is a bit of a military operation.

How do people balance special offers with what you actually need - and how do you go about getting best price when you can only really go to one shop?

Well firstly-well done! Now the balancing act-itf its a really good special of a product I normally buy and I know it has a good shelf life I buy it regardless of whether I need it. I did this a couple of years ago with some half price coffee. Some thought I was mad buying 24 jars of Gold blend at £1 a jar but as they were normally £2.69 my argument was-where else will I get interest at 169%?
Thats fine if you have a few quid over of course-if you don't its not so easy-but when you get into the habit of this its easier on the budget longerm.
When Ive only been able to get to one shop the best price thing is a real problem. All I can do there is to only buy what I absolutely need and cannot do without. Check the sizes of products against the prices. Sometimes bigger doesnt work out cheaper. You say you are bad at maths-look on the shelf labels and it tells you how much per 100g a product costs. Say that a jar of jam costs 50p per 100g and a bigger jar it says 56p per 100g then the smaller jar works out cheaper!
Don't hesitate to ask store staff-they won't mind at all.

Popped into Asda yesterday as I had run out of tinned toms. Ripping us off with 29p for chopped toms and 18p(I think)for the whole ones. Well I will chop them myself for that! Also got some tins of spaghetti and beans for emergency quick snacks. Felix pouches-pack of 24 just £4. I normally buy tins but these are nice and fresh for a fussy ageing moggy. Spent about £14 total.

Breadmixes were on offer-I think it was a hovis brown bread mix for 38p but there were none left. The white mixes were on offer at 2 for £1. Im trying a granary mix also-full price. Stocked up on flour and bread flour(which is on offer). Came out with a rather odd seletcion of food. Spag,toms,flour,breadmix,garlic puree and cat food!
Had to go out today for DIY stuff. Broken locks! At least DH can fit them.