February 2009 Grocery Challenge

mummyyof5

A NSD again for me today,been to Wilkinsons with OH to get shelving for the porch (ours has collapsed) but this was from a seperate budget.

WelshWoofer

Oh well! Thought that was it for the month but I have lapsed yet again and spent £2.30 in Aldi on grapes, potatoes and cherry bakewells:o

That's definitely it for the month - NO MORE!!!!!!
Sig updated (I'm ashamed to say!)
Must try harder..........:p

LittleEmms

Well I came in slightly over this month due to shopping for a few extra bits in terms of feeding guests and not just myself. In doing so, I still haven't gone too much over. As its definitely a short month for me - and will be four weeks - I'm aiming for £130 for March (going to wait til I achieve this before dropping it) and know I can keep to this as I have some stewing beef & mince still left in freezer.

Well I'm off food shopping tonight, before I get paid, and therefore have to put it on credit card but will pay it off immediately on Wednesday... I'm doing this because I can't keep stopping at the garage for things - that's what bumps up my grocery spend and I am busy Wed, Thurs & Fri night.

Overall I don't think I did too badly as this is only my second month of budgeting!!

Good luck everyone who is still in February challenge and for those who join me in March!

Baileys_Babe

Boodle wrote: »

Have just updated my signature: I have the shop order in for £26.26, and this should well do us until 3 March. I am not too disappointed to be only about 15 quid over, but I think I prefer to shop instore as planning the week's meals from tuesday just doesn't sit right - I like to my week to run fri/sat-fri/sat. This experiment was really to see if the low £3.50 delivery charge was worth it for money saved by not shopping instore, but we have actually realised they have a £25 minimum delivery order so I found myself having to bump up the shop to qualify! So I think we might just make the trip to Asda next week after all

Just a thought, could you not extend your week beyond 7 days so you still qualify for delivery but have fewer deliveries a month. Not sure if this would work for you, but it may, it would also mean less delivery costs per month.

Jane2112

Not declaring just yet. I have to do a 'top-up' shop on Wednesday and as I dont get paid till Thursday I will count that in Feb's money.

What do people do with the money left in their shopping purse at the end of the month?

I put mine in another purse and then once it has grown into a tidy sum, move it to a savings account. Anything to be able to leave work early :rotfl:

PennyGrabber

Hi all. We just had 'corned beef pasta' for dinner, an invention from my daughter (who's 3!). I asked what she wanted for dinner, bearing in mind we had half a tin of corned beef left, and she said pasta, sauce and corned beef cut up into it! I'm well chuffed with that, as I had some pasta sauce left in the freezer from a while back, and pasta hardly costs anything as I buy it in the 3kg bags. Also put some grated cheese on it, but I use less of that too, now I have a new fancy grater! I reckon the whole meal, for the 3 of us, cost about a quid!! We're celebrating with an apple each... and maybe some icecream!
Looking forward to my tesco delivery tonight, must go and turn on my outside freezer now in readiness.

With regard to the breast feeding thing, I don't think you do need more calories, or so my health visitor said the second time round. Something to do with women's bodies being ultra clever and adjusting stuff. It worked for me, as I ate extra calories first time round and gained loads of weight, and didn't second time round and was fine. Still, whatever works is best, I reckon!
PG x

tessie_bear

good evening......hope everyone is well....we are ok....nsd today i need a few this week as skint until friday......we had a cheap tea today...half price chicken pie from coop...it was ok but tbh i prefer my own hm one so i dont think ill buy another one....we had hm rice pudding for tea which was lovely...i like it with a spoon of syrup in it:p

i have cooked a curry for tomorrow which smelt lovely when it was cooking....i got pitta bread to have it as cheaper than naan...i must have a go at making my own....cant decide between spag bol or chilli for the next day....decisions decisions

need to think of cheap (free) activities for tomorrow for me and my baby (hes 3) night check out the libary and if nice go to the park....oh its pancake day so will need to get some batter sorted....we are having lemon and sugar and jam and maple syrup combinations....not all on one pancake that would make us sick and fat....

happy pancake flipping
tess

OrkneyStar

PennyGrabber wrote: »

With regard to the breast feeding thing, I don't think you do need more calories, or so my health visitor said the second time round. Something to do with women's bodies being ultra clever and adjusting stuff. It worked for me, as I ate extra calories first time round and gained loads of weight, and didn't second time round and was fine. Still, whatever works is best, I reckon!
PG x

I have read that you are supposed to eat more when bf'ing, not a lot, but certainly some more. You certainly do need to keep fluids up (ideally water). I ate a little more but the baby weight came off easily (shame I seem to be putting a little weight on again- still it is a cold Northern Isles winter and padding needed!). As you say each to their own of course and we are all different!
x

Flat_Eric

Boodle wrote: »

Have just updated my signature: I have the shop order in for £26.26, and this should well do us until 3 March. I am not too disappointed to be only about 15 quid over, but I think I prefer to shop instore as planning the week's meals from tuesday just doesn't sit right - I like to my week to run fri/sat-fri/sat. This experiment was really to see if the low £3.50 delivery charge was worth it for money saved by not shopping instore, but we have actually realised they have a £25 minimum delivery order so I found myself having to bump up the shop to qualify! So I think we might just make the trip to Asda next week after all

I won't declare my budget until the month is over (just in case) but can't see we will need to spend much if anything between now and then. Not on groceries anyway

I found your post very interesting.

I think part of the reason I have such a stockpile of food (and no money!) is that when I did a home delivery shop, I would spend enough to qualify for free delivery/or a certain amount off my shopping and thus spend accordingly whereas if I just ordered what I needed, my shopping would be much cheaper. I used to get "click happy" and things ended up in my basket (and being delivered) that I would never dream of buying if I was stood in the supermarket!! You know so easy because I didnt have to carry it home!

I also found that because I ordered so much, it would be a nightmare to sort when delivered and thus difficult to spot mistakes with my order until after the driver had left.

I dont have the grocery challenge cracked just yet but Im making good headway. I am much more aware of what Im spending, always hunt down the "whoopsies" when I go to the supermarket and double check and triple check my (shared) home delivery order for items that I dont really need and can be deleted. I am slowly getting round to the mindset of this is what I have in the cupboard, what shall I make with it rather than, hmmm what do I fancy for tea?! and then promptly going to the supermarket and buying it plus a basketful of stuff thats caught my eye.. I have lost count of the number of times I have gone to the supermarket for one thing and I have spend £30 plus!

I did think shopping daily would be a cheaper option but found it a tie visiting the supermarket every day. Im very indecisive so would write out a week's menu one day and rewrite the whole thing the next.

Unless I write a list when I visit the supermarket, I tend to wander round and thats when those extra bits sneak into the basket.

Things are improving and Im hoping that March (my 6th GC) will be my best yet

Sunny_Donny

Hi All
I'm declaring February at £176.80 - £1.80 over, but I'll not stress too much about it.

Mrs M - could you put me down for £175 for March please.
Will try and avoid Mr A & Mr T in March and just do Lidl and Netto as much as possible and see what happens.