January 2006 Grocery Challenge

brummiebabe

I kinda lost my way a bit in November and December, but am going to join in again on the 1/1/06!!

My monthly budget for January will be £300 - although I'm hoping to cut this down further!!!! This is for 2 adults and 2 kids.

Will need to get back into on-line shopping - as I found that really cut my spending down!

We are in the enviable position of starting the New Year TOTALLY debt free and are going to make sure that we live within our means from now on!!!!!:D

vastsarah_2

just looking to see what everyone else is spending on their shopping .
mine is starting tommorrow,but i have a birthday for a soon to be 9 year old to sort
so might go over,no more than £20 tho.
sarah

Lydia.42

I'm new to this bit of the site, been surfing the debt pages......'nuff said for now. :eek:
I braved our loft this week, and have dusted off the bread maker (used twice), and an old slow-cooker - used even less.
Did a shop today, and hope to make a dent in the stuff stored in the cupboards (even scarier than the loft!!).
Will set our budget at £300 as of today.
Wish me luck......look out 2006, here i come!
:beer:

kiwichick

Lydia.42 wrote:

I'm new to this bit of the site, been surfing the debt pages......'nuff said for now. :eek:
I braved our loft this week, and have dusted off the bread maker (used twice), and an old slow-cooker - used even less.
Did a shop today, and hope to make a dent in the stuff stored in the cupboards (even scarier than the loft!!).
Will set our budget at £300 as of today.
Wish me luck......look out 2006, here i come!
:beer:

Hiya Lydia,

Good on you for having a go. We all wish you the best of luck and if you have any questions please ask away, someone here is bound to have the answer.Its only my 3rd time doint this and I've picked up lots of tips.

I would defo tryand cook bulk in your SC and freeze the leftovers for another day. I would also try doing the PMS challenge. I only did the virtual the first time as I didnt have any real spare cash to put aside for what I'd saved but seeing a figure there of what you have achived still gives you a massive boost and helps you to keep on track.

Good Luck,
Al.

Lydia.42

Thanks Kiwichick, everyone seems so friendly on here :j

One problem i have at the moment is we only have a small freezer (3 drawers) packed full of stuff that i will try and sort this month - reckon some hasn't seen the light of day in months.....also i have 2 large joints of beef, which i am storing for my Mum (she bought a huge piece of meat for Xmas but had no room in her freezer), so i have even less space at the mo.

On this point i have a quesion - My Mum moved house about 2 months ago and has bought a new freezer to fit her kitchen (small freezer - hence why i have 2 of her joints in my freezer). Her large freezer (about 5ft high) is just redundant in her garage. So my query is......do i see if i can take it off her hands and start stock piling cheap goodies, and bulk home-made meals??? Me and the other half both enjoy cooking, and he works shifts so we are going to try to start doing our own 'ready meals' for him to take to work.

Do you think this would be a good idea? We have room for it (just not in the kitchen)
Thanks
L

louise_1981

Hi
I am not sure what I am doing here, but I know I need help. Boyfriend and I moved in together 6 months ago, from uni, never used a budget, but I think we need to. Spending around 200 a month, both eating seperate meals. His mum says it is too much, my aunty says it is about right. I think it needs to be reduced, by eating the same stuff and him not relying on frozen meals so much (big ask).

So, what I want to know is,
*what are other couples managing on? there is only us, no car or pets

*do people find monthly or weekly shops are better for staying on budget? I do currently shop online with tesco, as no car, very little time and no temptation.

* are steamers and slow cookrs a good investment? where is the cheapest place for them?

I know big ask for the info, but I do feel very confused.

Thanks in advance

Louise

brokenwings

ok im back into the challenge this month after totally losing my way in december.
i have just done a store cupboard/freezer inventory and have 8 steaks, 8 lamb chops, 12 pieces of battered cod, 4 chicken pies, four bags of cooked mince ( made as shepeherds pie base ), four bags of stew, three tubs of hm soup, one chicken, 24 sausages, 4 m&s crisp bakes, cheese, 3 tins of biscuits( gifts ), almost a whole christmas cake, 1liter tub ice cream,mixed veg, peas, broad beans, runner beans, 9 tins soup, 2 steak / kidney pies, tinnned crab meat, 15 servings of porridge.
have enough tea, flour and baking goods to last the whole month... oh and a large sack of potatoes.. and unlimited onions as theyre from the garden hanging up in strings in the shed,

SOOOOOO
my intent this month is to only buy some bacon, cold meat, one brisket, milk and bread, a few cleaning products and dog meat.

therefore

my target for two of us and the dog is £75 MAX.


good luck with it everyone...

calleyw

louise_1981 wrote:

Hi
I am not sure what I am doing here, but I know I need help. Boyfriend and I moved in together 6 months ago, from uni, never used a budget, but I think we need to. Spending around 200 a month, both eating seperate meals. His mum says it is too much, my aunty says it is about right. I think it needs to be reduced, by eating the same stuff and him not relying on frozen meals so much (big ask).

So, what I want to know is,
*what are other couples managing on? there is only us, no car or pets

*do people find monthly or weekly shops are better for staying on budget? I do currently shop online with tesco, as no car, very little time and no temptation.

* are steamers and slow cookrs a good investment? where is the cheapest place for them?

I know big ask for the info, but I do feel very confused.

Thanks in advance

Louise

To me £200 sounds a lot but then there we manage of £100 a month for food and extra £10 for things such as washing up liquid, loo rolls etc. Which we rarely spend.

What is not helping your budget that you say you eat seperate meals is there a reason for that. Is one a veggie and the other not. As you need to sort it out if not it will be a huge drain on your budget. Not that I am suggesting that the meat eater turns veggie or the other way around.

I have a three tier electric steamer and use it at least 3 times a week. As I cook meals like steamed veg and pork chops or veggie sausages. And for sunday lunch a joint and roasties in the oven and veggies in the steamer. And you can use the water that collects in the drip tray for making soup or gravy.

I also have a slow cooker. Bought from argos was £11.49 but had nectar points so cost me £6.45. At the moment it is used for rice pudding that takes less then 2 hours and cooking gammons etc.

I think you will find meal planning will help. Write down all the meals that you will both eat. Then you know what you have to buy and how much to be able to eat the meals. Start with one week and then build up.

As I said we have roasts on sunday so that means we normally have enough meat for at least one more meal if not two. So I plan to use them and extra veggies for making more meals. E.g extra veggies to make soup with water from steamer drip tray. The left over roast meat is packed up in meal size portions and frozen for another meal.

I find a write on/wipe off board in the kitchen very handy. Allows me to put my meal plan for the week. And to write down what I need to buy. And with meal plans if something comes up you can switch days around.

At the moment I shop about once a fortnight and buy fresh veg/fruit once a week. But I have a car and have this thing about wanting to see what I am buying.

I think I have answered most your questions or hoped I have.

All the best.

Yours

Calley

kiwichick

Lydia.42 and Louise_1981 I'll do my best to give you good advice, I've only been doing the challenge for a couple of months so am sure others will be able to help also.

1-Definately nab that 2nd freezer if you can, a lot of posters here have found that if you go to the supermarket in either the evenings or late sunday afternoon you can gets lots on offer. Sainsburys seem to get as low as 10p for stuff at the right time of day. If you have the space to store it and will use it then buy it! I ammoving in the new year and have been given a 2nd freezer from my SIL which I cant wait to get my hands on. We have no room for it here.

2-I have changed from shopping weekly in-store to doing one MASSIVE shop per month online and then buying locally for things like milk and fuit/veg as needed. You can always get codes from the vouchers thread which cover the cost of delivery and maybe even a bit more if it is a big spend. This willcut down on little extra you tend to buy. I found I ALWAYS picked up a bag of crisps or choccie when nipping in to get milk. Doing this also enables you to buy in bulk for things like laundry powder, loo roll, nappies and wipes etc which often works out cheaper.

3-I have invested in a slow cooker, got the 6.5l Morphy Richards one from Amazon for £24.51 delivered. Itis for a family of 5 though so if it is for a couple I would go for smaller, I know they do a 3.5l one too. I use mine to make big lots of soup, freezing in containers for a quick lunch or tea. Its easy to take to work this way too and reheat in microwave when there. I also do big curries (if you use CQ's curry sauce recipes from the recipe thread they are just like ones from the takeaway) and casseroles etc. I have enough to feed us allfrom there and to freeze for another meal or 2. Its easier to grab something from the freezer at breakfast time and leave it to defrost while your at work than to think about cooking when you get in. Stops you nipping into the takeaway on your way home.

4-I know that the first time I did the challenge I only kept my receipts and didnt change the way I shopped. Then at the end of the month I could tally it ALL up. I was REALLY shocked. For a family of 5 (2 adults and 3 kids) I had spent £543 :eek: I've since managed to come in at roughly £380 the 2 months since then. Its still too high and I am working on ways to cut it further.

5-Make sure you write down EVERYTHING yous pend. I had a tendency to "forget" about the trips to the corner shop as I never get a receipt from there. Since writing it all down I've realised I was spending about £10 a week on rubbish.

Sorry this has been such a long post, hope it makes sense!
Al.

kiwichick

Cheers Calley, that tip on the whiteboard in the kitchen is a good one! Guess whats on my shopping list now?