April Grocery Challenge 2006

[Deleted User]

I have tried to keep track for two months now but I got lost on the way. I got myself a notebook today and I am going to write all my spends in there. Not individual items, just the total on the bill. It will also help me to transfer them onto ms money

I tried the devon rose fortnigtly organic meat box a few times but I wasn`t that pleased and I found I was eating far more meat than I usually do. I also put weight on. Back to `normal` food for me from yesterday ie more veggie meals. I am expecting not to spend as much this month as the meat was >£68 for one month

£200 is my aim this month. Two adults and one elderly dog

r.mac_2

gosh - it has been ages since i have actually done this properly. No - it's no use me trying to look for excuses

this month my grocery challenge is £10 a week. There are four week in this month, so that is a grand total of £40.

there are two reasons that i have gone really low with my budget figure
a. I am on holiday for 10 days with my parents (I am a student again and they will feed me for that period)
b. i have a packed freezer and really need to use that up before restocking it and buying more things.

so it should be easy..............famous last words eh?

AlmightyCorgi

Does anyone include petrol??? Ive been getting by on fumes for the last few days so need some but dont know if i should be including it in my challenge???????

snowball2

Newbie GC member

worked out we spent £400 in supermarkets alone last month for 2 Adults & 2 Kids :eek: I must take control of my Tesco CC addiction!

So to take it slow and wean me off tesco i am starting with a budget of £350 this month

zar

re: petrol - some people do, I keep track of petrol separately. DH does 70 miles a day to work and back, so not much chance for us to cut down - it's usually £200-£250 a month. :mad:

Well, last month could have been worse, overspent by £7. :rolleyes: Was trying really hard so I will stick at the same target this month: £300 for 2 adults buying mostly organic meat and veg and including eating out/takeaways and alcohol. I know we'll find it hard, as we are on holiday next week and my parents and sister are coming to stay for Easter, so it's going to be hard to keep spending down. Also we have given up alcohol for lent, so when Easter comes it'll be very tempting to go and spend lots in the pub! :beer:

bulchy

Been shopping today, drew £100 from bank, to get 2 weeks shopping. Got a few cleaning products as well, soap powder and soda crystals, also shamp and cond, and pack of 12 toilet rolls. Got £46.10 left to buy fruit/veg/bread/milk as needed. Hoping thats all we will need to buy for next fortnight, might need to buy bleach and shower gel, but holding out until they run out, usually I would have bought some 'just in case'. My daughter gets £2 a day for her dinner money, the son takes a packed lunch as does OH. Might try to sweet talk her into having packed lunch a few times a week, but its difficult when all her friends go out of school for lunch, How do others get round this??? Will use the child benefit to pay for her dinners though, and to pay for my keep fit classes , £2 a session twice a week.(CB is paid into post office account monthly,I draw £25 from my post office account everyweek, and let the rest build up for christmas.) Its gonna be hard, but I think we'll cope :-)
Got some alcohol, but used debit card to pay for this, box of wine for myself and bottle of whisky for OH, if we do as well with shopping as we did last week,will include alcohol in with shopping next fortnight.
Think I've accounted for everything.
Sue

Ayeshalush

I'm going to give this a go too. I gues I spend about £100/month on groceries - I'm going to try and do it for £75 during April.

I've spent £3.59 today and hoping not to go near a supermarket for the rest of the week - so that's a good start!! :j

shetitasatic

I'm going to try the challenge formally this month too.


I've totted up March receipts and they come to £170 for all food, cleaning etc for 2 adults and one !!!!!cat. I was hoping to cut back on this but it's my turn to have everyone for Easter tea and my son is celebrating his 40th birthday the following week and I've got sister, bil and my Dad coming for the weekend, so even being careful I reckon I'll be lucky to keep to the March amount

I'm going to get my favourite recipes out and plan all the meals very carefully before I do a big shop next week.I do like to do extra special meals when I have visitors so it will be an interesting challenge!!

russjacks

1st January this year we started a healthy diet, loads of fruit, veg and wholesome goodeys. Our weekly bills were always big but changing are diets didnt make any difference i thought they might get worse.
Thing is what kind of food must you all be eating? our montly bill comes to around £440.00. When i look at all your starting bills i can't understand how they are so low to start with, are you all just eating ready meals, frozen foods and cheap pizzas from farm foods or good healthy food?.
We do most of our shopping at asda and a small amount from sainsburys. We tried Lidl and found most of there food to be a bit crap. Am i destined to always have large grocery bills?, or can some one out there show me the error of my ways, point me in the right direction to good food which costs a lot less. how on earth do you get your bills down as low as you do? co's i want some of it.
If you reply please tell me were you shop pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeese.

Please help.

outrageous_monkey

I shop mainly at Asda. Have you tried Smart Price fruit and veg. It is cheaper and just as good. I'm still new to OS myself so still learning. HTH