January 2009 Grocery Challenge

Lucycat

Just checking in - I'm doing much better, hopefully going to come in just under although my OH & both kids have their birthdays at the end of the month so I'm on red alert for sudden urges to splurge! I enjoy baking though & always have cake ingredients in - plus the three of them within four days means I can stretch the party food a bit! :rotfl:

Hope everyone else is doing well - I'm never going to get through all the posts now but will catch up soon, roll on bedtime!

redmel1621

Dh bought the milk and orange juice from somerfield, although also came back with chocolate and egg custards. Well I did, sort of ask for the chocolate, as I seem to be losing weight - unintentionally, so thought it might stick a bit back on for me.

I can't remember how much he spent, but I got £1.50 and some change back, so I will round it up to £8.50...Off to update sig.

I will definitely manage much better next month - firstly it is a far shorter month, secondly, I have taken the dog food out of the grocery budget as it is more economical to bulk buy it online. The cat food will stay in but that is quite cheap anyway.

Mel x

elizabunny

wmf wrote: »

Well, I'm not likely to make it this month but intend to keep adding to my total so I get a final cost instead of bowing out. I have a freezer full of HM meals, fish, quorn etc and also have loads of veg. I need to get some more fruit for my packed lunches but that should be it this week. Next week weekend I'll need to go out for some more shopping though so that will tip me over.......:rotfl:
Off for a read through the posts for inspiration.
w

Hi wmf -your totals look similar to mine and I think I'm bound to go over. On the other hand, I'm still really pleased because I am being so much more careful since I started the challenge and would probably have been well over budget by now. Anyway we're not chucking in the towel are we ...at least not yet.:D

I nipped out into the garden today and threw in some lettuce seeds, spring onions, tomato seeds, radish and basil seeds. All very ambitious I know for the time of year, (but they are in a greenhouse with a soil warmer underneath). Anyway it made me feel loads better and I also tidied up the perennial herbs, all the while reminding myself how great and moneysaving it will be if they all grow. I just can't wait:j to supplement my food budget. Also found two containers full of Rocket in the GH that seem to have survived the winter so far, it looks ok and the bit I tried, tasted ok, so I just might use it for soup or salad or something. Kept finding walnuts everywhere which is strange as we don't have a walnut tree -must be a bird with a big beak!:rotfl: Pity they hadn't looked more edible -I'd have bagged then up.

Made 6 portions of Minced Beef Cobbler today (4 going in freezer) and had a NSD, so my meagre remaining budget is preserved for another day. Have a good evening everyone!

goldfinch68

Hi elizabunny. Planning on growing lots in the garden again this year. We grew rocket last year and it was so successful we were eating piles of it everyday before it went to seed. So expensive to buy in bags now and tastes much better homegrown. Only have a small garden but managed to grow potatoes, tomatoes, rocket, runnerbeans and sweetcorn.

Spent £73.30 in Tescos today, loads of veg and tins/jars and stuff to stock up the cupboards. Hovis wholemeal strong bread flour was cheaper than the Tesco flour, going to get my old breadmachine out tomorrow and make a loaf. Made a lovely veggie balti curry from my old Weightwatchers recipe book tonight, even the kids enjoyed it as it wasn't too spicy :T

Really looking forward to seeing how we do budget-wise for the month. Embarrassingly have no idea how much we spend on an average month. Got bank accounts sorted now, one is for groceries only and when the money's gone - its gone!!

sashanut

Went into staff shop again on Sat - resistance is futile - perhaps freezer capacity might stop me in the end:rotfl: although if my contract finishes at the end of the month then we can look forward to some very low GC budgets in the coming months as we eat the contents. If it doesn't then I will have to get more selective!

Sent DH out today for a couple of bits along with the sunday papers knowing he would not get anything else.....he went to Mr M's & found bargain milk - Arla 2lt semi-skimmed for only 97p didn't he do well:T Not sure if it is in all Mr M's but worth looking out for. Spend was £3.71 on groceries, will update sig.

Went out today & we got a free lunch, not very nice though & DD didn't eat much. Luckily had a HM lasagne & so could have that when we got home, much more like it & didn't need to spend any money.
Mon Tue & Wed are work days so potentially spending, after that should be a few NSDs to balance it out. Good luck all & congrats on how you well are all doing..:D

miss_keep_counting

Hi all!

I’m new here at MSE and have decided after a lot of lurking to start making some positive frugal changes. Please excuse my big post!!

I’m a bit of a big spender when it comes to food, I recon I can spend up to £120 a month (maybe even more sometimes) as I often buy quick on the go takeaway food or share takeaways with friends as treats. That said I am generally very healthy and I’ve decided to join this as my first challenge as I want to improve my food to go along with my new fitness regime I have no idea what my new monthly total will be…. How do I go about setting one?

I don’t have a heck of a lot of freezer or fridge space as I’m currently between rented accommodation and paying rent at my dads, but the upside is I can use butter, bread (though rarely eat either) nick the odd bit of fruit and get offered left over meals! Yay for MS. I’ve also cut out sweets from my diet as I figure this was costing me £2-£5 a week for my habit, and I’ve also banished my winter takeaway posh coffee fix saving me a lot more money. Now it’s just for the takeaways and impulse buys….

I’ve had a look at my spending this past month and realised little things like having water on me will save me from the very rare times I buy it when out when gasping (never buy fizzy, no no) and forward planning such as bringing breakfast to my mates when staying will save me from grabbing a sandwich after leaving hers. I was wondering if others do this if staying at a friends who doesn’t eat breakfast? I always have mine and can’t live without 3 meals a day!

I’ve also decided rather then bringing packets of sweets and crisps to friends houses I’m going to start baking cookies/ brownies so I can control the ingredients and costs and have left over to contribute to my household. I’m going to scour the boards, but any cheap and healthish recipes you can link me to?

Annnnd… lastly yes I am 21…. And I’ve decided to give up alcohol. I’m not a big drinker at all, I may go out once a month or less or have a few glasses of wine with friends, but I’ve decided I don’t need it or even much like the taste of it, so unless I’m tempted by some yummy bailys which I love, I’m now alcohol free. Any tips for healthy alcohol alternatives when out at a bar or pub? The obvious orange juice springs to mind but I’m not sure if there’s such a thing as alcohol free cocktails??

For this week I have enough fruit and veg to last me, almost enough cereal and I have 6-8 frozen meals from left over dinners/ bulk soup and pasta I made. I’m going to aim to use up all my left overs and *gulp* only spend £5 on emergency top up food if I need it.

Lastly, any opinions on whether ASDA or Sainsbury is cheaper/ better for fruit and veg?

Thank you!

elizabunny

goldfinch68 wrote: »

Hi elizabunny. Planning on growing lots in the garden again this year. We grew rocket last year and it was so successful we were eating piles of it everyday before it went to seed. So expensive to buy in bags now and tastes much better homegrown. Only have a small garden but managed to grow potatoes, tomatoes, rocket, runnerbeans and sweetcorn.

Hi goldfinch68 =did you manage to gather the seed when your rocket went over? Freebie crops for this year:j


miss_keep_counting -Welcome! You will find loads of help and ideas on this thread -it's really great. How about setting a budget that you think you'll be comfortable with to begin with -see how you go and then maybe you will come in under this and can bring it down the following month.

I am using Lidl for fruit and veg at the moment as they have had some big reductions.

angelatgraceland

Well miss_keep_counting-its certainly sounds as if you know what your weaknesses are and how to tackle them! That is excellent knowledge!
As far as how much to set yourself you say you can spend up to £120 so how about setting yourself £100 the first month? Its just a starting figure.
Make sure you keep a spending diary and don't be too hard on yourself.
Re the alcohol-well Im not keen on it either and I can take it or leave it also -tho a lot of people find this hard to understand.
As long as you are doing what you want to do and its good for your health and your pocket it shouldnt affect others too much. As far as drinks in pubs go, how about J2Os? They come in many flavours. Or pineapple and lemonade,orange and lemonade,pineapple and gingerbeer-allsorts of combinations.
If you feel out of the crowd you could always have wine and lemonade in a large glass at a push.
Good idea on taking brekky with you to your mates. Sandwiches are soooooo expensive.

miss_keep_counting

Thank you for the ward welcome!

elizabunny I would love to be able to shop at lidl, I used to work near one but there's none nearby. I may have a bit of a google though as I get free bus travel and will travel reasonable distance for a few bargains as long as I can carry it! That and there is a market a bus ride away so I may try and get there at closing time every few weeks.

angelatgraceland thank you my mum always said think of changes as a way of life and so I think cutting £20 off the budget sounds like a good start and so does keeping a spending diary, I've got a small diary I carry with me and I'll start noting spends in there.

One of my friends has also given up alcohol but hers was a far more drastic cut out, she's said it's saved her at least £100 this year as she's very social so I'm hoping that by joining her it will keep her on track too, we spent a few hours at a london pub today and managed to get by on a glass of pepsi each where as before I'd have gladly spent £10 or more. I'm thinking J2O's will be my safest bet and mixing some lemonade sounds nice, at least it will give the illusion I'm drinking, thank you for the suggestion.

And yes! I spent £2.50 on a sandwich and cringed. It wasn't even that tastey, although it was healthy, so yes I think I'll prepare next time

Julimk

Declaring at £99.41 for January.

So I did it, just! I have spent the weekend cooking & haven’t spent anything! There are now 60+ individual portions of HM meals in the freezer plus a couple of gammon steaks, a couple of beef steaks & a packet of sausages, so that’s our dinners sorted for the next month. It is more than we actually need as DD eats at the childminder’s 3 times a week.

I have also made cookies, flapjacks, quiche & pate for pack-ups, should be enough for at least a couple of weeks. Still have in basics like milk, bread, butter, cheese, potatoes etc.

DD was helping me with the cooking yesterday, especially the cookies, which turned out all shapes & sizes. But she was a bit bored of it all today.

£120 for February please.

There are a few reasons for going up this month. As I am running mid-month to mid-month I won’t feel the benefit of February being a short month until ‘March’, so it will be a 5 week month. Also, I got my 2nd freezer this week & I have also used up quite a lot of stock with my batch cooking – I am actually out of tinned toms!! So I want to build up a little bit of stock.

I don’t need to even be as low as this; I was spending £300 a month pre-GC though I am still not clear on how I was doing this as even then I was hardly buying any branded products & was batch cooking!! I was also already using ‘value’ or equivalent. Have tried some more since being on GC, but some don’t have the quality I want. I would like to shop smarter & get high quality stuff for less, rather than reducing the spend just because have gone ‘value’ IYSWIM.

My budget & requirements are quite low, but there are saving from bulk buying. So the plan for February is to do a monthly shop at the beginning of the month with everything I am likely to need & then just buy milk & maybe 1 or 2 other fresh bits as needed.

Have run it through mysupermarket & when I printed the shopping list it gave the option of running the comparable lists from Mr T & Mr S (my only options) highlighting what was cheaper at Mr S (as I started at Mr T). So will do a split shop.