December 2008 Grocery Challenge

cw18

I find I do better shopping little and often -- but ONLY 'cos I can get out to our two local shops two or three times a day to check the reductions !!

I've only done one 'big' shop in the last few months -- and that was at the end of October. I was at Mr T, and decided to stock up on non-perishables to get over the £50 spend (and hence get 5p a litre off my petrol that I was in desperate need of - had driven up on fumes ), and couldn't believe how hard it was to actually spend that much. I used to spend £70+ a week (on food just for that week) without batting an eyelid, so just shows how much my shopping habits have changed in the last 16-24 months

Sylvan

:rotfl:It can be hard can't it? I was having trouble spending £40 at Mr M's when they had the petrol voucher. Ended up buying 6kg of rice (mind you 99p for 1kg of basmati is a bargain anyway.:D)

highland_fling_2

hi everyone,
re many small shopping trips versus one big shopping trip. I really think I will have to stick to the big one as visiting more often just increasing the amount of opportunities for me to be tempted by things I don't really need. I am even trying to freeze my milk etc so as I don't have the excuse of "just popping in on my way home". I know I am pathetic but I really struggle with will power.
Of course I will miss out on "whoopsie" items but if I organise my shopping list properly I should still be able to have a variety of meals made with good food at reasonable cost.

oligeo

I've spent £90 so far , of my £400 for December. I'm new to this challange, and used to think nothing of spending well over £100 a week.
I've been inspired by all your tips, and am vowing to my husband that I'll come in well under the £400, it would be fantastic if I could, and we'd be able to pay off some debt alot quicker than previously thought :j .
I shouldn't need to go shopping for another 7 days. Fingers crossed.

Sarah

tessie_bear

good evening....i had a go at chilli in the slow cooker today and it was really sucessful.....just chopped everything up and chucked it in.....i used a pint of passata that was cheaper than 2 cans of tomatoes i made enough for 4 of us to have twice...thats good value i thought.......slow cookers are fab for just getting on with it when u are busy with kids im finding i have had a nsd today which is very rare for me i usually buy something as i go out to entertain my son who otherwise likes nothing more than wrecking the place (hes nearly 3)

jackiegibbo

spent £73.50 in asda and lidl over the last few days but some "bits" are for xmas dinner so its not as bad as it looks honest.Hope everyone is well and good luck with your challenges:D

donnajt

Right, this is my 3rd Grocery Challenge and I am turning all peculiar about what I will and won't buy!!! And really nagging OH and dd about portion sizes eek!

After declaring a Nov spend of only £162.92, I have decided to set my December budget (cos of all the extras you need) at £275, I currently have £45 in Tesco food stamps but I am going to try my hardest to keep hold of them until January so that's a mini challenge for me!

I haven't been near a supermarket since Nov 26 - I am super-excited about that! However, i will be stopping at Iceland on Sunday...

Week 1 (so far) Mr T online shop = £45.92 (£229.08 remaining)

poffigirl

Hello All

Not had a chance to post for a few days but I've been catching up on the threads and getting inspired!!

This is war against my spreadsheet that's telling me I can't afford to not go back to work full time after the baby is born. I am determined that we will find a way to cope!

That my mission too JennyBee, expect i don't want to go back part time, don't want to go back at all! I have a 2 year old and a 5 month old, both DD's, I think going back to work would be a rest TBH but I'm enjoying being a full time mum and don't want to resort to nurseries.

I've been baking tonight!! I went to Mr T's today, (my ban on Mr T didn't last long) and bought some muffin tins, they were £3 each but i think They'll pay for themselves in the long run. I'm a real sucker for cakes and pre GC I'd sometimes go to Mr T's just for an excuse to pick up some cakies, but now I'm going to try and make them myself! I made some carrot cake muffins as I'm trying to get some Veg into DD1, they turned out ok but i think i need to get more air into the mixture as they didn't rise much. The biggest test will be tomorrow when i give them to DD1!!

I've just added up my spends so far this month and they come up to £109 already, mind you I did get a souper douper big pack of nappies in Boots and tins for baking. Also my freezer is still quite full of Meat and we've just been shopping for fruit and veg. We had frozen Lamb shanks for tea tonight with Potatoes, Carrots, brocolli and cauliflower, there is quite a lot of veg left over, so we're going to have Bubble and Squek with sausages for lunch and then Sausage casserole made with sweet potatoes and butternut squash for dinner numnumnumnumnum!!!

Blairweech

Another no spend day for me.

And whilst dinner was in the oven, I whipped up a spiced apple cake (making use of the oven while its on)

The freezer is getting emptier (still PLENTY of meals left in the house though) and I am actually rally enjoying not spending money

Have been looking at the 'Live on 4k for a year' thread over on DFW and think I might join next year, as I want to start saving up a deposit for a house

gailey_2

Thnaks everyone for advice I havent done a grocery challange since august as got down we kept going over budget and thourght maybe 200 for 3 unrealistic however after reading few post on here I can see I can cut back.

My biggest enemy is corner shop as pricey and ended up spending £7 tonight on not much and been really low this week on food but skint so eating the limited foods we got left which has been a challange!Our main problem was we had harldy any fall backs in freezer or store cupboards so I think I now know I need to shop wiser.
We dont eat too much conviencae food these days but like to have odd ready meal or frozen breaded fish/chicken as useful standby but we prefer fresh.
However fresh only lasts a week we live like kings then struggle.
We buy fresh meat but freeze some
mostly anything thats on multibuy that we like especially bogoffs.
Buying more rtc and buying reduced bread and freezing I also buy bread mixes as standby.
Then theres the amounst spent on croisps/biscuits and sweets which needs to be cut back and buy more fruit/nuts instead.
Decided I need to do following

spend money on good quality basics like herbs/spices,oil,passata,tinned tomatoes,pureepizza basesflour,baking stuff.

Try and vary meal plans more and include more vegetarian or bulk out with lentils as meat so expensive. Ensure i got back up frozen quorn in freezer.

Start freezing milk and chese so I not tempted shopping again.
Bake more cakes and biscuits
bulk cook and freeze

Things I dont want to comprimise on is meat should be rspca and eggs free range sadly cant afford organic veg.
Right Im going to set december as 275 as its xmas and we get extra bits like smoked salmon,tins of sweets,lots of lovley chese,nuts and alchol.
How much extra has everyone else accounted for in dec?
Our usual ideal budget is 200!
Going to go aldis tue and spend 50hubbys wants to go to iceland which is usually big mistake as he spends lot and buys far too much partyfayre every year so might go by myself.
Wil try slicing gamon joint too, also cliche I know but want to lose wight in january.