April 2009 Grocery Challenge

findingmyfeet

hello all, well not been on here for 2 months or so, hanging my head in shame and hoping to do much better. Times are getting tougher and i need more financial discipline. Mrs Mac- could i crawl back on to your list please please please.......and try £300 for the may challenge. thank you

mooomin

£12.54 spent out of May's budget today - all on offers pretty much, apart from the two items I went in to buy (Isn't it always the way!)

This was all bought in Morissons in case anyone is looking for any of the following:

Super Noodles 3 for 80p (I know, they aren't real food, but they give me student nostalgia and when you add some grated cheese, nom nom nom)

Herbal Essences 400ml shampoo which as you can see from the link is not on offer in Boots and I'm down to my last bottle. So, three bottles bought @ £1.63 each.

Hula Hoops 60p for a seven pack. Bought one plain and one mixed for packed lunches which I take to work. It's nice to have an interesting snack every now and again, and at less than 10p a packet it seems like a bargain to me.

Bacon - £1 per pack (6 rashers)

1kg of pasta for 97p (This was apparently half price!) and will work out less by weight than the 3kg bag I normally buy.

Hope this helps someone.

Cornishpixie_2

Hi, As I have decided I wont need anything till after Thursday 3oth I shall declare £302-62 over by £2-62, for April, So really pleased with that. Can I please go for £300 for May. Thats from 1st till 31st. Right off to double check menu plan and look at some more receipes :rolleyes::D

Essex-girl_2

Hello all

Have just updated my sig (at long last) tho my April challenge runs until sunday. Have a tesco del coming wednesday & that hopefully will be it for this week bar possibly a quick shop at the farm shop fingers crossed will come in on budget.

Couldnt get any codes for tesco shop - they have been so scarce lately.

Need to start adding more recipes as we are getting bored lol. Will have a good look on here and start getting more inspiration.

Aim this week is to use up as many potatos as possible as what I have got left in my potato sack are a little soft. Lots of mash methinks.

Rowan9

Retreating into the shadows for the April budget as I've got myself in a muddle.
Will join the May one when I can work out who is going to be home for the month
Thanks
w

elizabunny

tessie_bear wrote: »

i think im on budget this month so i might bring it down further:eek: a bit at a time i think

great to see eliza bunny back...u have been busy by the sound of it

take care
tess

Evening All and thank you tessie bear for the welcome back.

I have to confess to having failed miserably this month and need to get a grip on things. I thought we may get away with £20 overspent but yesterday DS1 and his OH turned up unexpectedly -but a lovely surprise, so we ended up stretching the beef already cooking away in the slo- cooker with an impromptu barbeque. Quite a strange sight seeing my tiny piece of beef revolving on the spit with the addition of some Chicken £2 from Sainsbury's and HM pork, sage and onion sausages and veggie sausages. I managed to quickly make a herb loaf, some herby brown rice and some crunchy potatoes and collect some salad leaves from the GH. We had to have a bottle of wine though for us ladies and a couple of tins of beer for the chaps -ooh and also some icecream to go with the HM apple crumble. So another £10 overspent However, a priceless day, I really do love the time I spend in the company of the family even though they are all grown up now. The best bit was DS1 did the barbeque cooking -he says he really enjoys it and that just left me to fiddle with the bits and bobs whilst DH looked leisurely on:rolleyes:

Anyway PLEASE MRS McC CAN I DECLARE AT £143 THIS MONTH WHICH IS AROUND £30 OVER :mad: AND COULD YOU PLEASE POP ME DOWN FOR £110 FOR MAY.

I am certain I will struggle in May because we have loads going on again and lots of birthdays including mine, but if I raise the budget I will just overspend even more, so I need to try and keep some sort of lid on it. Thank goodness for this challenge I really don't know where I'd be without it. And thank goodness for my garden which is now starting to produce FOOD

Have a nice evening everyone! and good luck for MAY!

WelshWoofer

Evening all!

Just a quick post to ask Mrs M to put me down for £200 for May please!

Am having one final effort at a monthly budget and am vowing to be ultra strict with myself.

I have to be able to do this!

Julimk

I did this week’s top-up shop today, after the month’s ‘big shop’ last month. Ordinarily it would have been later in the week, but I was passing MrS on the way home from work (normally not in the office on Monday – had to go in for training) & there was some whoopsied half price sea bass, which will be a bit of a treat & a change.

Also got some whoopsied beef mince, which is always useful. So I figured that while I was in there I would get the additional bits I had planned to get this week anyway. I am a complete sucker for the whoopsied meat & there was plenty more available, but I really must try to avoid this at the moment, as there is still loads in the freezer already!

Re spreadsheets, I think mine is fairly straightforward with different pages for ‘meat & fish’, ‘fruit & veg’, ‘dairy & eggs’ etc, with a list of the items I have bought, separate columns for each month, subtotals & a separate page for GC totals.

I’ve been trying to post an example but it keeps going skewed. :(Cheryl (cw18) keeps a very impressive spreadsheet, including the amount she has saved on whoopsies.

I also keep a rolling inventory of the store cupboard & freezer stock, so I can see at a glance what I have in & am not picking up items, only to find there are half a dozen of the same already in! :rolleyes:

urg123

Hi Everyone

I am ready to declare. If I just count my grocery spends - I would be be able to declare £84.03. However, I also include lunches and snacks at work and I managed to spend £38.69 on these. In total I have spent £122.72. :mad:

Can you put me down for £100 in May. I MUST achieve this or I might as well just give up!!!

urg x x

cw18

Julimk wrote: »

I’ve been trying to post an example but it keeps going skewed. :(Cheryl (cw18) keeps a very impressive spreadsheet, including the amount she has saved on whoopsies.

To post an example of a spreadsheet, I use some screen capture software and upload the resulting image to photobucket - which can then be posted on here quite easily.

My Whoopsie savings are in my signature as well as in my spreadsheet - but what it doesn't show is how little of it I'd have bought if it hadn't been on Whoopsie, such as the cereal bars from App F00ds (which are going down a storm with DS and my younger GD). The dried fruits from the same source are munched on a daily basis by myself and younger GD - and with neither of us being fans of fresh fruit these are actually a huuuuuge bonus for our F&V intake, but would be far too expensive to buy from 'normal' shops :eek: