February 2009 Grocery Challenge 28 January 2009 at 2:15PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Old Style MoneySaving 1.6K replies 123.9K views

01001011

I am declaring £69.32 / £70.00 for the Feb GC. I'd like to set a target of £75 for March.

ifonlyitwaseasier

okay declaring at £120 ish, i know we're under that but not sure by how much!!!

have plenty of food in so am going to try a few new recipes this month to try and use up some freezer stock!

good luck all!!!!

nimbo

wow i am declaring my budget this month to be a war zone...

for next month i will aim for £100... again...

you never know i may manage it this time round...

rosieben

I've done some store cupboard restocking so instead of my £80 budget I've actually spent £154 so far; I'm not too worried though as I know it will even up over the year. I've had several weeks when I haven't shopped at all. I don't think I'll be shopping again this month but will hold off declaring just in case!

fedupnow

OK............ failed.

BUT I have quite a full freezer..... I have two chickens and loads of quorn as it was on offer etc. I think I can make it up in March... hopefuly.

February I spent £204.09 that is £19.64 over my budget and it was a short month so I really need to get my act together for March.

£164.81 for March then.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I am really hoping it will all balance out hence my sig.

AuntieH

AuntieH and her clan are declaring £371.36 for Feb (£26.84 under budget :j ), going to go for £350 for March, can you sign me up please.

johnswife

Hi,
I'm new at this but would like to try for £300 for MARCH.

House of 5 adults and FIL comes three days a week for tea.

Does this sound reasonable?

OH has handed in his notice and finishes on 3/3/09. He is starting his own company so we will have no money coming in for about 6 months. HELP!!!!

MrsBartolozzi

Hi Johnswife!
You have come to the right place if you want to get your grocery budget down! £300 does sound reasonable, but it is your first month though, so don't be hard on yourself if you don't quite meet the target - at least you will be reducing!!
It might be a good idea if you make an inventory of your store cupboards/freezer and use this as a starting point for planning March's meals.
You can then write a list of what you need to complete the meals and only buy what is on the list. (oh well, there's the theory lol, but at least this way you might see where you need to cut down if you buy lots of snacks etc).
Good luck to your OH on his new venture and stick around here we're a friendly bunch!

MrsB.

kezlou

Well at the beginning of last week i was almost £200 clear of my target for this month. But i went shopping yesterday and i thought stuff it i'll buy all my tins, stock cupboard stuff now ready for next month.

Have stocked up on certain items such as cat food, cat biscuits, pasta, toilet roll and kitchen roll so shouldn't have to buy any of that for a couple of months at least. I have about 30 rolls of bog roll:shocked: and 6 rolls of kitchen roll.
My one lowly poor cupboard is heaving with tins, cereal and dried pulses, my freezer is full of meat and veg.

Fingers crossed i won't have to do any non-fresh food shopping till April, i'll be devastated if i have to do it before. I have that much i'm shoving it under the stairs, as theys no where else for it to go.

So for this month i'm declaring £389.78 still £11 under budget.
For March can i declare £150 please. i may end up changing that to higher but going to try my hardest to keep it at that.
thanks all for your help.

cw18

johnswife wrote: »

Hi,
I'm new at this but would like to try for £300 for MARCH.

House of 5 adults and FIL comes three days a week for tea.

Does this sound reasonable?

If you're budgeting for food only (and no take-aways or alcohol), then I'd say 'do-able' if you shop carefully and monitor portion sizes.....

31 days for 5 people = 155 days worth of food
FIL 3 times a week = (31 / 7) weeks * 3 days = 13 days
so a total of 168 'people days' of food

£300 / 168 = £1.78

I budget £1.80 per person per day for food only -- but this is based on a lot of "Whoopsies" and use of Value labels (I'm also padding out the value frozen mince with Whoopsied soya mince!). It also doesn't include lunch for DS 2 or 3 days a week during term-time, as he buys something from his EMA rather than taking a packed lunch (which was offered if he makes it). If you have any home-grown produce, then this would help out -- I'm hoping to get some basics (at least salad stuffs) on the go soon