February 2009 Grocery Challenge

Penelope_Penguin

kazmeister wrote: »

OMG pigpen you put me to shame :eek: last month we spent £372 on groceries for 4 of us and 1 small dog.

Please, please, please remember - Grocery budgets aren't a competition They're supposed to be posted to assist others, not to intimidate them

Lalaladybird wrote: »

I'm sure most of you will faint clean away at the thought but I am a bit shocked myself. I just loaded up the trolley as usual and then passed over my credit card to pay for it all. How long would this last you?

Can you afford this £66 a week for food doesn't seem bad to me. If you can't afford it, take a look at the OS cheapest meals threads (a quick search will assist).

You'll have to put some time and research into this yourself - we don't know what you like to eat, or what shops and markets are easy for you to get to

Do take a look at the Grocery Challenge thread - it'll take you a while, but if you're really determined it'll be time well spent. There are lots of budgetr recipes on the front page, and lots of help from other posters. I'll add this to that thread later.

Penny. x

kippers

Last week i realised i only had approx £30 left until DH's payday on the 24th feb. It was my DD 11th birthday on the 12th amd we are away on a self catering holiday for five days next week and i really thought i would have no chance!

Well i checked everything in my freezer cupboards etc and managed to cook for the week with things i had and i managed to fill 8 hungrey 11 yr olds-h/m pizza, sausage rolls (whoopsies from ages ago), carrot sticks cucumber sticks, cheese and pineapple, potato wedges and little sausages and for pudding i made value ice cream sundies (in wine glasses) with jelly, squirty cream and value strawberry & choc sauces (the icecream and cream and sauces i had to buy).

I'd already bought prizes from the pound shop a little while ago for games and i'd already bought gifts fro her friends to take home (in the sales after xmas).

I made a Highschool musical cake with left over icing and marzipan from xmas and i was really proud of it.

Now holiday tomorrow....i've been baking all day...cakes, biscuits, pasta sauce, bread and i manages to get some diet coke cans from asda (thanks to the grabbit board) for £3.00 for 16 cans (its the only drink my DH will drink-the rest of us will have squash)! I will be taking some frozen mince beef to defrost during the day for spag bog at night (by the way the hol at butlins has only cost us £16 thanks to tesco deal tokens).

The things i've got left to buy from Tesco when we are there come to £9.30 (i've just checked on there website.

Therefore if all goes to plan we should have £14.36 left when we get back until payday (24th) AND i've still got some meat and bits and bobs left!


If it all goes to plan i shall be soooooo proud of myself! But i must be more careful next month!


(sorry it's a long post)

kazmeister

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

Please, please, please remember - Grocery budgets aren't a competition They're supposed to be posted to assist others, not to intimidate them

Thanks Pen Pen - I know its not a competition, I'm honestly impressed with pigpen's ability to keep her grocery budget down. Shame her aims not better when she's throwing a fluffy golden mule at me for not flying cos it hasnt hit me yet I'm still a lazy slob

gizmo111

I stopped shopping in Teso and started going to Iceland and Aldi and reduced my bill by over £100 per month. I online shop at Tesco around every 6 weeks for things I cant get at the other 2.

silvadebtfree

hiya

can you not cook enough to last 2 days?

Penelope_Penguin

kazmeister wrote: »

Thanks Pen Pen - I know its not a competition, I'm honestly impressed with pigpen's ability to keep her grocery budget down. Shame her aims not better when she's throwing a fluffy golden mule at me for not flying cos it hasnt hit me yet I'm still a lazy slob

Sorry, my comment was really aimed at the OP I see so many people who comment that they want to get their budget down to £XX a week as that's what "most OSers" can do, and then feel a failure if they can't. Grocery budgets should be worked out thus:

1. What do I spend now? (count up all your spends for a week)
2. How much can I reduce that by this week?
3. How much can I reduce next week?
4. And next week, etc, etc.
5. I can't reduce any more - can I afford this and is it sustainable? If so, that's my new budget

Lalalaladybird - take a look at the Grocery Budget thread. You'll find your spend isn't so far from what others spend

Penny. x

rosieben

kippers, that's amazing, well done! :T

I'm inspired by you to use up what laying in the freezer and put the savings towards a new wm which I'll need to buy soon, off to recheck my stores and rewrite my shopping list for tomorrow.

crazyaboutsaving

Hi Ladybird,
Wow, I feel the same way! I've been wondering what else I need to do to cut back on grocery spending for my OH and I. We spend about 250 a month on food and I keep thinking this is too much but can't seem to get the bill any lower. We shop online at Tescos, meal plan, and use as many value brand products as possible. We even try to limit the number of meat dinners as they are generally more expensive. I've even started making HM bread and bake lots of HM snacks like muffins, sweets, etc. I feel like I should post a "grocery SOA"!

anguk

We spend roughly about that amount each week, perhaps a little more, for 2 adults & one teenager and for me it's not how much I spend it's how little I seem to get for my money nowadays! I have a budget of about £75 a week and I seemed to be able to buy so much more with that 6 months ago.

The past few weeks we've started to get all meat from the butcher and the money seems to stretch a bit more, this week I'm also going to get fruit & veg from the grocer & see if it'll stretch a bit more. Unfortunately I can't do without the supermarket altogether because it's the only place I can get flour, tins, butter etc from.

laineyc_2

Managed a NSD today. Sunday seems to be the only day I can manage it. Ihave ham inthe SC. The leftovers will be used tomorrow night and seved with Spanish tortilla and salad. I have a huge Asda shop coming on Saturday. That shoul set me up for next month so I am not too worried about being over on my first attempt.