February 2009 Grocery Challenge

egon

I am about £10 over the budget. Really happy with the result, as quiet a few things are stock up for the next few month. Just cannot be bothered to seperate it all.

Mrs M did you ever receive the pm I sent you at the beginning of the month? Also, how do you manage your yearly food budget?

MRSMCAWBER

Hi egon

No, no message since I Pm'd you to appologise for getting crossed wires about xmas
I have set myself a figure of €1680 a year (approx €140 a month) -I think a yearly budget will work better for me as I tend to stockpile when I see bargains... so I have months that are quite high and then months where I spend very little. This way I won't feel bad when I have a big spend
If you have a look at the top of the grocery list on page 1 -there are quite a few of us who have gone on to an annual budget:D

Flat_Eric

I am very pleased to report a no spend day today :j

I was up early so took the opportunity whilst it was quiet to update my finances including creating a new food spreadsheet to help me keep track of all those food shops.

As mentioned in a previous post, my budget for March is £100 and although I will be transferring £250 into what will become my food bank account, I am aiming ONLY to spend £100 thus with the balance of £150, I can put this towards my credit card. I think this is a good motivational tactic because I wont want to buy that (insert unnecessary item) if it means I wont have any pennies left to put towards the dreaded CC!)

Ive been busy spring cleaning today, the kitchen will be next - need to update list of food stocks, plan menus etc. Ive found all my old food mags, so will be looking through those for some food ideas.

KAAT_LADY

hi there guys ,,just popped in to see you all .. money management is good this month ,, so hopefully i will be in credit,,been using my slo cooker and halogen oven and am really saving ,,

see you soon

KAAT xx

JayneC

Well not doing so bad with the grocery shopping but other spends have been a bit high so gonna have to get a grip:rolleyes: !!!

OH bought bread and milk so not included that but got some fruit n veg n eggs today £7.13. Need a few bits for lunches but hopefully can get to Wed (my month ends then) after that. Must give myself a budget cos last time i 'popped' into Tesco I spent nearly £50:eek: !!!

Have meal planned and got enough in to stretch until next weekend. I realised that I've got very good at reducing the cost of main meals and but not so good with other food:rolleyes: . I think i might try to work out how much my lunches n stuff cost to see if I can reduce that too;) .

To the person asking bout the cost of big sacks of spuds. They vary between £5 and £7 near me for 25kg. Good value either way though and i find they're usually better quality than the value supermarket spuds - no horrid black bits!HTH

JayneXX

reb

Miss_Liquorice wrote: »

I just realised the spreadsheet I'm keeping a note of everything on, I was adding adding everything up wrong (everything spent on card was a negative figure, and everything spent in cash was a positive figure) - argh! Sorted it out though, and I'm at a much less impressive £96.46 spent of £120 - so it only worked out as spending a tenner more than I'd thought.

Need to go and get green leafy veg for the guinea pigs. I wish there was somewhere close by that could sell the kinds of stuff they eat for cheaper. I'm probably spending at least 70p a day feeding them with fresh stuff, and the whoopsie lettuce keeps disappearing at MrS before I've had a chance to get to it. Also there's an ongoing dispute in the shared flat about who's turn it is to buy toilet roll, and I may end up buckling first even though I know it's not my turn. :rolleyes:

They can eat grass and hay. Free or cheap! Then just spoil them with good tit-bits.

elizabunny

elizabunny wrote: »

Might have to have another little shop tomorrow though

Oh my goodness -famous last words:eek: I have completely lost the plot today. DH and me embarked on our little shop to the butcher. Oh I wish I'd gone straight home after, but we went to look for the Princess chopped tomatoes in Netto. All gone -but that didn't stop us, the sun was shining and it was a lovely day and there was the 1540 Tetley tea Bags for £11.99 :j and thereafter started our mamoth bulk buying shop. In and out of the shops we went -we were unstoppable, Fabric Softener, Shower Gel, Eggs, Milk, Flora Spread.......all offers and all bought in fairly large quantities. I won't even begin to bore you with the rest of our purchases, but its fair to say the February budget is now well and truely BUSTED and probably March as well. However, we still have to buy food in March so I have revised my monthly budget downwards for the rest of the year:eek: to make up for my extreme naughtiness. I blame DH he encouraged me:rotfl:

Anyway aside that I am really pleased with my purchases at least we'll be able to drink tea for the next 6 months:rotfl: I have updated my signature........ooooooh please don't even look at it -it's horrendous. Won't declare yet as still 6 more days to go

Have spent the whole evening making HM sausages.........made nearly 2kg and DH helped -so they will go in the freezer and hopefully do around 7 meals, So at least we'll have Sausages with our cups of Tea. Sorry for the babble.....it's getting a bit late now so I'm off to bed to think things over:o

Night everyone.

MadamMim2013

It's good for the soul to have a little splurge now and again.... especially if it's all for the greater good (can never have too many loo rolls.... lol)
I managed to get free delivery for my tesco delivery and more besides... added up to £10 off with offers!!! I was well chuffed. I'm really hoping we'll stay on target for this month... but who knows a mammoth spree may overcome me......

SAVVYMUMMY_2

Only 6 days to go and have decided to draw the odd £46.00 that`s left, out and that`s it until the end of the month. Hopefully won`t need much(famous last words) and should be a bit easier as the kids are back to school tomorrow, better for the purse strings. Well done to everyone for this month, even with the food price rises.

Not sure what my target for next month will be yet, trying to get this down even further if I possible can. Will put my target down in the next day or two for you MrsM.

crazyaboutsaving

Hello,

I didn't participate in the grocery challenge this month, it's been a bit hectic with a little one on the way VERY soon! I tried to follow along quietly though and hoped I'd still stay on a target I'd set, but found myself spending WAY more than I thought! (I targeted for 200 for me and OH, and spent 300!). I know the cost of food is rising, but is it rising that much?! I've set a meal plan for each week, I buy as much value brand as I can, I've even started baking HM bread! I'd like to join the challenge for March with a target of 250, but am unsure i can hit it if I don't know where I went wrong this month. So now I'm beginning to wonder, maybe 250-300 a month for two adults is becoming a reasonable spend for food?! :eek: