December 2008 Grocery Challenge

Mrs_Money_Penny

Hi All

Just popping in to update. Never seem to be out of the shops this month! Spent another £69.05 in MrS. Still need another shop as still haven't got turkey etc have got drinks in. Need birthday cake as well. Children home from school now as they broke up yesterday so the cupboards will be emptying more quickly. Good luck to all December is always a real test.

gailey_2

Mrs money penny I feel your pain feel like im always at shop this month too but we did decide to shop around and try independants.
Need to update my sig as we spent £100 all together in butchers/green groscershealthfood shop co-op and somerfeild the other day however just shopped cooked meat/sausagesfruit an dveg +deals still need to get some more core grocery as cupboard is baresome stuff for empty freezer!
A turkey for xmas day and got no meat so plan to get some chicken and mince plus few treats for xmas.
Problem is we only got £100 left and I spent £10 yesterday in morrisions as needed more bread so had good rummage for reduced stuff got bread but nothing else seemed like good bargain got some cheap passata for 30p a pack and couldent resist Lloyd grossman sauce as was down to 88p!
Also was proud of myself as daughter was pestering me for drink when shopping normallly I go to newsagents and buy pricey drink but gopt morrsions value 3 pack orange juice cartons for 49p also made rissoto with value smoked salmon trimmings just 88p!
Went in wollies was depressing feel so sorry for staff and customers like vultures think I cheered up cashier by saying im most boring sale shopper as just brought reduced value 15peice tupperware set which will be so handy kept saying to oh this will enrich our life but sadly he does not share my exitement. Then it all got too much for me in poundstretcher when I spotted xmas cookie cutters metal ones for £1.50 about 6 diffrent styles in pack!
The plan is to make biscuits as presents! Oh thinks i need serious help!
But I feel so happy trying to take control of budget and do more cooking its such a sense of achievement.
However need to spend £5 today at corner shop as run out of butter and nearly out of milk but will be good and take my voucher to get money off paper.
Tommorow is farm shop and hopefully asda on monday for hopefully what is last of it but just got £85 left am worrying! Although the normal £200 normally only comes out of hubbys money and hes only spent 100 I spent the other £55. Debating if we should risk m&s as its 2 to dine for £10 which is good value if you pick carefully and chose whole chicken and bag of new potaotes as makes it feed more than one meal.

Coolmum66

Morning all

Just popped on to say I've only spent £42.98 since the beginning of the month. Need to take a (carless) friend shopping later - so will pick up the very few bits that I need! We get paid on 22nd this month - but am nearly all sorted for Xmas food, cupboards are quite full - so hopefully will be well under budget and can throw an extra chunk of cash at the credit card!

Wanted to say a big thanks to all on here - I don't post very much but do lurk very often! Since the beginning of the year I have managed to drop my grocery spends from £60 to £45ish per week. That is for me and teenage son. Neither of us feel we are missing out on food and probably eat better. So - big, big thanks to all.

Take care

Coolmum. xx

CRANKY40

I posted this in another thread just before, but not sure if any of you read the daily.

This morning I was having my coffee in the front room, and my ds came in and asked me what we were getting the poor kids for Christmas (I tell him I'm giving his toys to the poor kids when he refuses to tidy up). He said "We have to get them something you know".

As it's too late to do the shoeboxes, I logged on to ActionAid and we have sent school books to Ethiopia and a chicken to Malawi (at least I hope we have).

Thanks to the grocery challenge, I have enough funds in my bank account to do this. I appreciate the support and friendship of everyone who posts, enabling me to ask my son what he wanted to send, instead of answering "nothing". I've only made a small donation, and there were plenty of other places the money could have gone, but I was so touched by his thoughfulness that I felt I had to do something. Thanks again.

MRSMCAWBER

Morning all

Popped to the NAAFI earlier... nothing much in the way of bargains -luckily I wasn't in need of much -so came away with :

1. plums -whoopsed
2. grapes - whoopsed
3. soya marge -whoopsed -for baking
4. SR flour -spare for store
5. veg suet -ditto
6. colemans English mustard -yumyum -I get through loads
7. Parsnips -for cornedbeef hash
8. big bag frozen peas

and spent €10.85...saving €4.72 on the whoopsed bits -So I need to update my total..
Have finally found out that it is just me n hubby for xmas...so its gonna be super relaxed, chilled -which I could do with right now and super frugal to boot :j ..hubby is threatening to do eggs on toast for xmas dinner now :rotfl: If he offers again -I will take him up on his offer -We love eggs on toast

Dinner tonight is pasta bake -I have just taken some home made tomato and marscapone sauce out of the freezer and will add more veggies and chorizo to it later..Im still trying to make space in the freezers .

We did nip into the garden centre on the way home and picked up 3 more big tubs for veggie growing -not that I need them yet -but thought I would get them whilst I was out...have ordered lots more veg seeds ready for the new year -can't wait to get started properly again :j
anyway -I will get off now, hope everyone is finding time to put their feet up in the midst of the christmas rush

ladyroughneck

Hi All,
Thought i'd just pop in to update my sig for the first time this month, although i do try and keep up with the thread, w**k keeps me busy!:rolleyes:, going well so far at just under £50 for the month out of £180:j mostly helped by that fact that i work in Mr M and my shifts tend to finish at 6 or 7 o'clock, just as they are doing the final reductions for the night! I have been able to put up 4 pints of milk for 19p and packs of sliced meat for pack lunches for 35p and baguettes and roll for 9p:money:, for which i feel very lucky and this has brought my shopping bill down considerably:j
This total also includes a 2kg turkey crown and a lovely joint of beef for xmas dinner:A.

Anne

spendaholic

I suppose I didn't do too badly. Stuck religiously to my list and even put some back, but spent £27.99, so £2.99 over. I would have done it too had I not spent £5 on 2 boxes of cat food. It's normally £3.38 a box but when it works out at £2.50 a box I can't help but stock up. (It's always on the list as a just-in-case-it's-on-offer.)

tessie_bear

good afternoon...hope everyone is well....i have tried to post 3 times on different days and the nasty computer doesnt post and looses my text....im sure its getting personal now:mad: ......anyhow this time of year is mad....event after event shop spend stress repeat ad infinitum....on a positive note i am finding out the joys of slow cookers...they are fab and do all the work for me...i got some reduced mince in iceland (shop not country) to make a couple of chillies....i have this 'game' i play where i store up all reduced stuff for a chill eg bashed tim toms and chilli beans reduced mince and veg and then when i have it collected we have a chilli and it makes me feel smugal (smug and frugal) i read that on here so thank u to whoever made that up.....i must try and think of ways to apply this all reduced principal to other meals....any ideas ? i got some black bean sauce for 19p in home bargains yesterday so might go a stir fry next week.....we had the £10 m and s deal and have used the chicken for 3 meals...and the roasted veg for 2 funny though the pofiterolls (sp ?) only lasted for one pudding take care tess

procrastinator

Two weeks in to my budget and I'm feeling pleased. Last weeks shop was big 70.00 in Mr T and a 7.00 mid week top up. This week I only spent 27.00 in Mr T and 8.00 in Mr S, so these low spends balance out the big one. Have got almost all my xmas grocery shop done. OH has put crisps and other goodies on top of the cupboards where I can't reach so will not be able to sabotage my budget and my diet. Linda Mc veggie mince was half price in Mr S so I filled up freezer. Was going to get her pies but have been learning to make pastry much to DS's delight and found the ones I made were better than bought. Used ramekins so only put pastry on the top, better for the figure that way, had enough pastry to make smaller pies, DS and DD said were great cold. Also made some jam tarts and (sweet) mince pies. Will make these again this week. Will walk to lidls in the week to pick up any cheap veg.

huxley

Hi everyone, been catching up on posts and just updated signature. Everyone seems to be doing well:D We are not doing tooooooo bad at the moment but got a feeling its the calm before the storm! Crisps for christmas are in friends garage so they are safe, tin of sweets is locked in the boot of the car in the garage,we will not eat them beforehand ..... mmmmmm ok we will try not to!