March 2009 Grocery Challenge

Julimk

Put me down for £140 for April please.

It is a 5-week month for me. Came under £120 the last 2 months & under £100 in January. So if I add the £20 I was under my usual £120 in January to the £120 it gives me £140, but still an average of £120 a month this year, IYSWIM.

I have spent over £90 of it already! Have done a big monthly shop including stocking up a little. Plus some whoopsied cheese spread, bacon rashers, salmon fillets & silverside joint in Mr A. I do like it when the cupboards are full.

Looking back at my figures I spent over £80 on the first shop in Feb & that was also a long month, but still ended up under £120 in the end, so should be OK. Will really just need top ups of milk and f & v.

fletch3163

Well, yet more shopping for me:eek: . Looks like the horse has well and truly bolted. Am still below my target figure but it gives me butterflies to think how it's not going well.

Spent £58.78 in M&S today :eek: :eek: :eek: but this was for flowers times 2 and a meal deal and extras for MIL. Goodness, toffs are careless:o

We're just back from the movies (Marley and Me - avoid where possible) and I don't now have time to put my ginormous chicken in to cook. Mind you, I'm stuffed full of maltesers and M&Ms

I hope you all had a lovely Mothering Sunday.

orchid-96

Still just about within my budget, my month ends next weekend, but I can't remember when I am actually ending! I am pretty sure I started on Sunday 1st March for this month so will take my month end up to the end of Saturday....it should make me stretch things till Sunday which should help with the budget...

Hope all the Mummys have been spoilt today x

mooomin

Hi all,

Nipped into Sainsbury's on my way home today and bought:

2 quiches (2 quiche? Not sure of my plurals!!) for £3
Frozen peas £1.65
Sandwich ham £2.08 (And that's the basics range) :eek:
Leeks £1
Carrots £0.60
Crisps £0.55 as I hadn't had breakfast

So, total spend £8.88 and my first spend out of my April Challenge money. Luckily our flatmate bought milk and bread today, so no spend there until at least Tuesday and the only other thing I'm needing at the moment will be eggs, but I can wait until later in the week to buy these.

Thanks for all the chicken suggestions, I didn't have much left as we fed five with the chicken I had, but I made some stock by boiling up the carcass and this has gone into the soup which is bubbling on the cooker at the moment - it smells amazing!

Happy Mothers Day to those of you who this applies to

JayneC

Hi everyone,

Got my F&V from grocers yesterday and some bacon from butchers and a few bits from Tesco , am now up to £217.89 so should come in under budget cos will only need milk and bread between now and Wed, when my new month starts.

I plan to get a 'monthly shop' of non perishables (usually around £50-£60) from Tesco online and then will split my remaining money into weekly amounts. THis has worked quite well this time and I've also kept any non grocery money in a separate purse which I think has helped too.

Had roast chickn today. i use the breast meat for the roast dinner and then break up the dark meat and am planning a stir fry with it this week (+1 portion of chick stew as OH doesn't like stir fry!)I often do a chickn pie tho just cook some peas n carrots add the cooked chick and thicken with gravy granules then into the pie. Then make stock with the carcass and make a chick/leek/potato thick soup which we have with dumplings and is suprisingly filling. 3 days worth of meal with a chick that cost £3.50!!!

cw18

Have a couple of days shopping to add to my spreadsheet and signature - which are quite hefty as I did some stocking up. This includes 6x1kg rice from my local S/flds - one of the few 50% off items in their closing down sale - so only 1p/kg more than the Mr T value (which I don't like) for a better quality.

But trying to keep waste to a minimum caught me on the hop today -- had promised the boys yorkshire puddings with the (50% off Whoopsie I took out of the freezer) roast beef tonight, but when I went to start making them at around 4:30pm (half an hour after all the local shops close) I realised I used the last of the eggs in omelette earlier this week :eek:

So I now need to go out for eggs tomorrow, so I can replace the one I borrowed from a neighbour :rolleyes:

nmlc

Evening all

Just want to DECLARE FOR MARCH AT £406.95 a massive £56.95 over budget. Will keep trying please count me in for APRIL FOR £350. My month starts on Friday 27 March. I need to keep trying and being more self controlled ......... easier said than done! The problem is not made any easier by rocketing prices. Joking aside I will keep plodding on, just feels so much better to be aware of the current situation and planning ahead instead of feeling shattered and ringing for expensive takeaways!
Hope everyone had a lovely weekend, sun has shone all weekend here, but is definitely getting cooler.
Keep safe and well
nmlc

Miss-spent_2

Ging to declare today. Actually come in under budget but I had to find another £60 from other sources for this weekends shopiing. Not sure where I went wrong. It is either because we ate out more or because I have not added a week's receipt. Either way I will wait until pay day on Thursday to organise next months. Its going to be a tough one because I want to put a full amount into a new ISA.

This has been a difficult month

elizabunny

Evening all. Hope all Mum's had a great day today.

A sorry little amount left in my budget this month now, still under so far, but we have been feeding extra people for most of the month and so I really can't be down about it. In fact, I'm amazed there's anything left. Foodwise, stocks are quite low in most area, freezer rapidly emptying and several 'basics' now gone. I think I will end up going over a little or I may just decide to call time early and start on next month's budget, we'll see how it goes.

Today DS1 and his OH cooked MD dinner for us which was lovely so a cooking free day and a cheap day on the meals front. I have a small piece of Brisket, 2 Pork Chops, 4 Eggs, 4 Sausages, 3 tins of tuna and a piece of Cheese left, plus some other staples. I think I will need to be really inventive to squeeze 10 main meals for 2 out of this:rotfl: However, I think it could be done especially if we have some meat/fish free days.

The veggies are coming along nicely in the GH plus just sown my first row of carrots in the new raised bed:j Also picked 4 good handfuls of baby salad leaves in the last week.

3 NSDs in a row and hopefully another tomorrow if I'm good.

Goodnight all!

brummiebabe

Woo..hoo....have actually come in under budget for March....only by £4.67, but 'every little helps!!!!':rotfl:

Am therefore declaring that my total spend was £370.33:T - this actually included £10 on Easter eggs - which I normally wouldn't have got out of this budget...but as I had some left, I thought I might as well!!!!

This is probably the first month that we've actually lived on our monthly income and not overspent - not bad considering we've had lots of kids birthdays, takeaways (naughty I know...:o) and Mother's Day to account for.

Am not sure what April will bring as it's the first month of my DH being on reduced pay:mad: - hopefully this might change over the next couple of months. Will look at my budget, then post on the new challenge - mine starts on pay day (25/3/09)