July 2009 Grocery Challenge

xx_Jo_xx

:eek:

Ive lost my receipts from yesterday..... :rolleyes: typical!

I used my card though and will be able to use my bank statement to tally up the amounts from yesterdays shopping!

the good news is, I think thats me for the month now.....apart from fresh milk and bread.

I went into B&M on a bargain search and they had ready-to wok noodles at 19p a bag!!! To think Ive been paying over £1 for the exact same thing. i think they were sharwoods.....or something similar.

earthmother

Afternoon all

Can I declare myself in for July with £385 please Mrs M


It's a 5 week month for me this time, running from today until 2nd August, which gives me a daily average of £11 to feed a family of 5.

I've done a stocktake this morning, and menu planned most of the month, so I already know most of what I need to spend money on.

I don't need much to start with, but I am going to do a big shop later today and use up the Tesco vouchers that were in the Mail over the weekend - I'll get things I can freeze for later in the month as things are looking a bit sparse by the halfway point.

The last three weeks of this month are school holidays, so I have picnics and hot-from-the-garden children to shop for then, but looking around there are plenty of offers on that sort of stuff right now anyway, so I'm feeling fairly confident.

Good luck everyone

Moniker

Well, I can already see July going pear-shaped and it's not even 1st yet. DD1 is home from hospital and didn't need an op after all but they don't really know what is wrong with her (could have been a kidney stone). Anyway she's home with us recouperating. I had to go back into town to shop again this morning and spent another £30-odd on fruit juice and a ready cooked chicken (it's too hot to put the oven on!) amongst other things. I have been able to harvest the salad stuff from my 'square-foot' garden and that has helped. The lettuce and rocket are great - but I need to re-sow soon or we will run out - especially with everyone wanting to eat salad in this weather.

Have discovered that Lidl is opening soon in my nearest town so I am looking forward to the experience and chasing all those bargains.

Off to the hospital again this afternoon with DH for a check-up and test results. And I am supposed to be on holiday! Oh well I suppose it comes with the territory (wife and mother that is!).

Hope everyone has a great July and enjoys the weather (I hate to be a kill-joy but it's too hot for me!)

love Moniker

MRSMCAWBER

Afternoon all


well I have sorted out Fridays big shop and it went like this:-

• 54 lt sparkling mineral water €6.48
• 600g yellow toms 97c
• 3 huge red peppers 74c
• raddishes 39c
• cucumber 39c
• 3 grapefruit 99c
• 500g organic toms 99c
• 2x1kg nectarines @99c
• iceberg 29c
• huge pineapple €1.09
• 2kg oranges €1.49
• 2kg apples €1.99
• 1kg carrots 99c
• 5kg potatoes €1.49
• huge cauli 69c
• 2 fresh chickens @ €2.69
• 2 prawn rings @ €2.39
• boiled ham €1.11
• 12 tubs cottage cheese €5.64
• 3x1lt fresh milk @ 48c
• 10 tubs organic natural yoghurt €3.10
• 2 bags pasta @ 39c
• salt 19c
• 2 tomato puree @55c
• walnut halves €1.29
• hazelnuts €1.39
• whole almonds 79c
• sesame crisp breads 2 @ 49c
• crisp bake crispbreads €1.35
• wholegrain crisp breads 65c
• rye crisp breads 49c

It came to a total of €51.44 but then I had €7.75 in deposits to get back :T -so I spent a total of €43.69 -which is quite a bit -but all the things in blue will last more than this week (and next)-mind the water might not if it keeps this hot :eek: although I will need more fruit as I have made a good dent in it allready ....

Dinner tonight is leftover chicken turned into pasta salad nomnomnom, For lunch I had a bowl of home made cream of tomato soup i made last week and froze..it was nearly heinz :j

Hope everyone has got off to a good start this month

oohh and a "mum" update... looks like she may well be discharged tomorrow :Tathough she is loving the treatment at the private hospital :rotfl:..having looked at their literature... the room and food alone (before a Dr. so much at looks at you) is £545 a NIGHT :eek:.... no wonder she is having a ball.

right off to update my signature

Moniker -Im with you -its too bloomin hot here too
Hope DD is better soon ..

elizabunny

Feeling very frugal today, a NSD hopefully -which is a rare one for me. Going to use up some left overs from the family barbeque we had yesterday, for dinner tonight. HM Potato salad, HM Tzaziki (not sure if that's now you spell it:o) and some HM lemony cous cous with courgettes and olives. I need to put something else with this but haven't got round to that yet. I froze a huge bag of Kale from the garden this morning and also some HG Carrots, Broad Beans, Peas and Runner Beans, so this will top the freezer up a bit. Hoping to pick a few strawberries from the garden later for dessert. Maybe I can stop stop grocery shopping completely, ha ha ...............I wish!
We're not allowed to keep chickens in our garden or I might have tried that as well, but we have a friend who supplies us with FR eggs at a very reasonable price. It's just the meat thing, I really like to buy the best quality possible, but this means cutting down on quantity quite a bit, need to go veggie I think. DH is hoping to do some sea fishing in the next couple of weeks so maybe some FREE fish if we're lucky. Fresh Mackeral is lovely done on the barbeque.

Have a good day everyone !

Frugaldom

Yeah! I found you all before the thread got to page 10 :j

Hello! I have only £412.47 left of my £1200 annual grocery target to last me the next 6 months of the challenge, so I'm not convinced that I'll manage on an average £68.75 per month for the rest of the year for 3 of us. There could be some really weird meal concoctions coming up very soon. :rotfl:

Hope everyone else is managing and I promise to try keeping up with you all this month

Julimk

We were going to have roast chicken for dinner yesterday, but neither me nor DD could face it & we went for something lighter. I have cooked the chicken this morning & we will have it cold with some salad for tea today instead.

Had some cucumber & toms in but needed a few more salad bits. So a small spend in Mr T today for those, plus 2 l milk, 400g mature cheddar & 1 l strawberry ice-cream (don’t buy it often but in this weather …) A grand total of £4.34. Quite pleased with that!

Hollysan

Mrs M please could you put me down for £400 for July Many thanks.

A NSD for me today as I only left the house to take the children to school. (Working at home today).

July is a long month, and I will have to get sacks of flour and pasta from the wholefood warehouse next week, so this will be a close run thing for us, I think.

Good luck to everyone.
Hollysan

before_hollywood

Mine is a very optimistic £80 for one adult, this at the moment includes cleaning things, but wont in future as my lodger will be helping with the cost of these, i am going to try and get my £80 to include the £20 that will be agreeed to go into a shared pot from 1/8

i started mine yesterday, £3 spent at the corner shop (basic stuff but its bloody expensive) and then had my tea with the parents as i left home yesterday.
did my 'big shop' yes i am northern lol today and my food came in at £38 (the full bill was 78 but that included stuff for someone else)

i hope that all i will need now is bread and fruit through the month, i had no store cupboard whatsoever, ended up drinking diet coke this morning as there was no sugar for a cup of tea

i bought a lot of smartprice stuff- its cheap i will say that much for it, hoping i can keep the spending to a minimum now (and my lodger out my food when she moves in)

i just have to buy things with nuts in as she is allergic

i'm using the net at the parents today (had to come down with some stuff while they were at work, sneaked in on the free landline offer from bt, saving £120, then to get my staff deal broadband moved in a few weeks- top money saving from me)

tea for me is curry with the parents as i have had to come back after doing some errands while they are at work (i dont work mondays)

at this rate i will have food left over, next month if i have net i will be searching for voucher codes

SunnyGirl

Just a quickie to say that in the paper I was reading at lunchtime I noticed that Tesco are doing 2 litres of Fresh 'n' Lo semi skimmed milk for 75p. I think this is a good buy & it's the type of milk I use normally so I'm going to stock up a bit Hope it comes in for somebody else too.