March Grocery Challenge

raeble

I'm going to aim to spend no more than £50 from today until the end of next month.

Gambit

Hi everyone, good luck for this month especially to the first timers since there seem to be a lot this month! :T

This is my second month at the GC after being £26.24 over budget last month! :doh: I have changed my budget to £120 this month but my overall aim is to get it down to £100. I am working off the calendar month so mine starts tomorrow...

Good luck everyone!

squeaky

Hi everyone

Just a reminder that I'll be unsticking this thread some time late today - by which time it'll be the featured challenge in our Monthly Challenges sticky.

You can find the challenges via the link in my signature any time you see it or...

..you can use the Monthly Challenges link in the Blue Bar at the top of every page which looks something like this:-

moozie_2

Well as a newbie to MSE, I'm trying desperately to make savings. I have found all sorts of receipts and entries in the bank statement for last month but by no means can I work out how much of it was on groceries :huh:

So, I'd like to join the challenge for March and see how we go. For two adults for the whole of the calendar month, we'll aim for £250. This will include all supermarket shopping, cleaning stuff and any additional shopping like Holland and Barrett's.

Good luck everyone

Gambit

Welcome moozie, I'm sure that the GC challenge will help you save some cash. This is only my second month doing it but I have already noticed a change in the way I shop for the better!

Some tips have already been given on this thread but what I have found worked for me is trying to do a menu plan of what you will eat for the rest of the week. This helped me go into the supermarket & actually come out with what I want & not just buy on impulse. Another thing which may help is using a slow cooker as that way you can cook in large quantities and freeze your meals for days when you get in from work & dont want to cook. Have a look at this as it may help:

[thread=131302]Slow Cooker Thread[/thread]

Skintmama

I didn't do the challenge in February as My mum was staying and I am just hopeless at keeping track of things when we have visitors. Should amend that to especially hopeless :rolleyes: So no idea what I spent!

This month I am going to try for £275, working out at about £50 per week for humans, counting from yesterday. That will include DS's school dinners (he's human lol). I am going to keep a seperate account of cleaning materials this time and also not be using it for parking, pocket money etc.

We are 2 adults, 2 teens, 2 dogs, 2 sheep, 2 chickens and not sure how many fish. We also feed the wild birds too, about 50 of them and they are scoffing themselves at the moment in the cold weather. Actually so are we

Good luck everyone!

[Deleted User]

I have tried for a couple of months to stay within target but didn`t succeed.

A couple of weeks ago I did a pantry inventory. All the bits and pieces in my cupboards. Spices, condiments, pulses, flours and so on. It took me two days and I then wrote them down neatly on A4 sheets. I laminated them and used white board pens in a simple slash, crossed slash and 0 code. When I see a 0 then I know to re-order. It is already saving me masses of time and money as there is no more impulse buying

I can also see at a glance that I have 7 tins of beans and 11 tins of tomatoes etc. I don`t meal plan but I do base my meals around what I already have in store

I have a fridge list which I don`t code but it helps me to do a shopping list. I have organic veg and fruit boxes every week and an organic meat box every fortnight

It is also helps me to plan my budget if I set some money aside in another box for hairdressing, papers etc as I used to dip into the grocery challenge money

I hope this helps somebody. It is certainly helping me

rchddap1

OH paid for my last Feb shop.....so technically speaking I only spent £84 of my £100 budget. I will transfer the savings into another account next month. March should be a nice and quiet month...as we have most of the stuff that we need (freezer full). So with luck I'll be able to put some more to one side the following month too.

omega_2

Really, really need to come in below our £185 budget this month. Preferably WAY below. So far have spent £51.63 (large Tesco shop and a separate forage for 9-10 meals worth of reduced-for-a-quick-sale meat), and I’ve got £7.96 committed to nappies later on in the month, so will aim to spend no more than £25/week over the next 4 weeks.

Cupboards are reasonably well stocked. Items on my “anti-shopping list” for March include toilet rolls, all cleaning supplies, all toiletries, coffee, baking supplies, oil, herbs, spices etc. So I’m confident WE CAN DO THIS!

moozie_2

kittie wrote:

I have a fridge list which I don`t code but it helps me to do a shopping list. I have organic veg and fruit boxes every week and an organic meat box every fortnight.

Hello kittie

I found your post very useful, thank you. I might actually do that tonight while my OH is visiting his mate

I would very much like to know where you order your organic fruit and meat please. Would you say it's much dearer than supermarket shopping?

Thank you very much