February 2006 Grocery Challenge

ladywood

Made it! Pay day today and am just inside £200 budget - but covered in that was a meal out we had as a treat for Valentine's Day! Also hit the petrol and personal allowance budgets.

Best thing about this is that it hasn't been hard. Planning, taking lunches, buying fresh food not preprepared. We have been eating fantastic meals, we've been enjoying cooking and are feeling much more healthy!

All thanks to OS ! :T

Anniek1969

We get paid weekly so my shop is usually Saturday a big shop and top up two or three times a week. Can easily spend £100 to £150 per week, so I'm starting tomorrow and trying to keep my budget down to £60 for 2 adults and 2 kids.
Going to write out a menu plan and a shopping list and stick to it. You don't realise how much money you waste when you pop into the supermarket to get bread and end up spending money on things you don't need.
Have a seperate budget for eating out and alcohol but going to try and cut back on that too.
Really fed up having no money left by pay day. Got 2 of my daughters birthdays in the next 7 weeks so will really have to stick to it to save some extra money for them.

tallulah_beaulah

Don't know how i've done it - but I'VE DONE IT! :j

Budget for February: £221. Actual spend: £181.10!!!
A massive £39.90 below budget! I can't believe it!

I have to admit there's a little bit of figure "jiggling", dh's wages came into the bank two days early, turning Feb into a four week, instead of five week, month.

I'm going to really try batch cooking for the freezer in March and see how much further I can reduce the overall spend. I'm so proud of myself coz before finding this board a week's groceries could easily be £80-£100!

Thanks so much OS, this has been my first grocery challenge, looking forward to the next one! :T

MATH

I've done it FGC : Budget £180 Total Spent £165.12 Feb Saved £14.88

Mainly shopping at Aldi and popping to the Co-Op or sending Mrs MATH into Asda for the odd thing Aldi don't stock. I should really reduce the budget again but I've noticed that since we been on diets to loose the Christmas stodge that it is costing more to buy low-cal/half-fat than regular. So I will sitck with the same budget for March.

**purpleprincess**

I finally know what the grocery challenge is!!! :j

I'm going to try this! I'm going to keep all my receipts from my shopping in March and then start the grocery challenge come April!

Any tips anyone???

squeaky

**purpleprincess** wrote:

I finally know what the grocery challenge is!!! :j

YAY !

I'm going to try this! I'm going to keep all my receipts from my shopping in March and then start the grocery challenge come April!

Any tips anyone???

Have a look at the "Monthly Challenges" link in the blue bar at the top of the page. All the previous challenges are listed there and they are full of hints, tips and advice

ladywood

The thing that has really helped me is meal planning. Know roughly what you are going to eat during the week - that way you can put together a list and stick to it. Has also helped in making use of leftovers - there are only two of us and we don't have a freezer at the moment - so we used to end up wasting a lot. Now when I am planning I think about how to make use of leftovers - either in another meal or for lunch the next day.

I also write down the day I will need perishables (especially meat) on my shopping list so I can make sure I get something with a long enough use by date.

Good luck!

skystar

My February month (which was five weeks) finished on the 19th and I came in at £206.04 for a combined food and diesel budget of £260.00. So I have saved £53.96. Total was split £129.96 for food and £76.08 for diesel.

Gambit

Well this has been my first grocery challenge and the final score on the board is £126.24 - £26.24 over budget! :undecided Think I was naughty as although I started off the month menu planning, I stoped after the first week or 2 :rolleyes2

But even though am over budget, I still think I have done pretty well as I'm sure I used to spend more then this before I started reading this forum! I now go into shops and dont come out with much more then I wanted to. And I def dont make up meals in my head as I walked around the supermarket. I see now how much of a no no this was

I'm only feeding myself so am sure I can bring this down some.T his month I think am still aiming for £100 but am budgeting for £120 in case I go over again... Lolabug, am very impressed with how well you do. Any tips?

frosty

My budget was £200.00 for 5 adults and 2 dogs and the cat.I only spent £186.00.