September 2009 Grocery Challenge

earthmother

I'm declaring for September - £285.95


That's just £5.95 over budget - which is the closest I've ever got, and to be honest if I hadn't picked up a couple of 'welcome home' treats yesterday (my 8yr old's been away with the school on his very first residential trip this week), I would have come in under by a few pennies.

Now to see if I can do it again next month or whether it was a fluke


Helen - can I set my budget at £350 for October please

helen_jelly

chewy - thanks

Budgets done up to and including Earthmother - thanks everyone

Helen x

JayJay14

Helen - please put me down for £150 for October.

This will be 28th Sept - 28th Oct, cos on 29th October OH and I go to Southampton for a cruise:j
So we will be eating our way through the freezer with a shop at the end just before we go to keep DS going as he is moving in to take care of our dog while we are away.

Off to update sig

Gillywooly

Hi there
Can i join for October?
We usually spend about £300 on food a month, so can you put me down for £200

natsing

Hi All
Declaring £118 for September- yay first time I made my target, but I'd like to up or total for October to £130 please

mooomin

Evening all!

Back from Costco/Tesco. The tins etc are all put away and the meat is awaiting portioning and freezing. This is going to be a big list....*deep breath*

Costco

Catsan £7.80
Loo Roll (40 rolls for £10.34, split with friend) £5.17
Frosties (2 muckle big packs) £4.79 Mr Fresian is a 13 year old trapped in a 30 year old body
Brioche £1.79
Tea (320 Twinings everyday) £1.90 Was BOGOF at £3.79 so one bag each for me and my friend!
Mince x 2 £22 (Works about about 5kg of mince!) I forsee a lot of chili, bolognaise etc in Fresian Towers this month....

Total spend = £43.45

Prices above include our coupons which got us BOGOF on tea and £3 off per pack of mince.

Tesco

A spend of £45.52 in Tesco today. This included the following:

Condensed soup (For sauces)
Canned tomatoes
Shower gel
Lentils/porridge/broth mix
Beans/chickpeas
Pasta & Rice
Tatties
Chicken (Lots!) 2 x chicken breast, 1 x chopped fillets (whoopsied) and a whole chicken for dinner tomorrow
Sausages (24 for £2.78)

There was plenty of other little things, but all in all I'm quite happy with this.

Total spend today was £88.97 which is actually less than I thought!!!

I need to go and update my signature now!

cw18

Nipped to A1di for 3x 1 litre milk today - total spend £1.47, which leaves me with £5.26 for the next 4 days if I'm not going to have overspent my 'year to date' budget at the end of this month........

Will have to go out for potatoes at some point tomorrow, and will probably get a couple of chille con carne mixes (from Lid1) as I want to get a batch cooking session out of the way in the next couple of days, but that's all I should need before month end

Julimk

Have had a couple of NSDs, which is of course great. I am over £20 ahead of where I was this time last month, with over 50 HM meal portions in the freezer & the freezers & storecupboard very well stocked.

DD has confirmed that it is OK for her to take soup with her pack-up, so tomorrow am going to have a look for a couple of wide neck flasks (one each), as it will be good to have a hot lunch over the winter, though today was very warm & sunny.

Tomorrow I am going to make some broccoli & cheese soup (DD’s request) and some carrot & coriander, as I have loads of carrots that need using sooner rather than later. Have taken some lamb’s liver out the freezer & will make that into pate & also bought smoked mackerel with my big shop for pate. No additional spends needed for any of these!

Have also taken a whole chicken out of the freezer for tomorrow’s dinner. Bought wraps with the big shop, as planning fajitas with some of the leftovers, which is one of DD’s favourites. Will also make chicken curry, which is also something DD has requested. Hopefully there will still be enough meat for cold cuts, so should get 4 meals & stock out of the chicken.

A huge thank you to everyone on here. I have, literally, reduced by grocery spend by half over the last year since I started the GC & we are eating better than ever. :AA win-win situation! And I mean literally in its real sense, as I was previously spending about £300 so current budget of £150 is half!

[Deleted User]

Still got a little left in my 'food purse' to last until Tuesday.Only spent £1.74 today so have £7.94 left .Nothing to buy tomorrow, but must get to Aldi's and get some Veg & Fruit on Monday.

So out of my £120.00 I have spent £112.06 over the past 26 days .I am quite pleased, as I have started to show a bit of space in my freezer which is good, and the tins in the store cupboard are starting to look a little less.I couldn't believe until I actually did a stock check when I started almost 4 weeks ago how much food I really had in the cupboards and freezer. I shall have the same amount of money for a four-week cycle starting this Tuesday and see if I can cut down on some more of the stuff that's stored. i speak to a friend of mine most nights on the phone and we compare how we're doing as she's not on the net and we swop ideas and tell each other where the bargains are to be had
It really is unknown money that's in the cupboards.Mind you I have had some strange concoctions this past few weeks but I don't mind as I really have saved quite a bit as I used to spend between £45-55 a week almost without thinking .Now I really only buy what's essential for the following few days,milk bread ect.
I think we have been doing exceptionally well this month as I have been seeing how some of you all have coped and I think we should all take a pat on the back. Well done ladies :T

slowandsteady_2

Evening all, long time no read! Have had a crazy few weeks have quit one job and started another so am back at work after nearly A YEAR off through mat leave and sick leave! Dont i know it. New job is fine but have taken a 50% pay cut and a job im well overqualified for just so i can be happy! It means a lot and we will survive. They really good and are giving me a bit of time and eventually il be working in my previous job but there.

Any way i declare FAILED FOR SEPTEMBER. This is for a variety of reasons but mainly because i got a large back payment from benfits agency for 13 weeks of ESA so i decided to get as much in as i could fit in my cupboards before i went to my new job and lots of baby bits.

I have decided to start my Oct challenge from Monday when my last payment from my previous job goes in, have been on sick for months but full pay but will get 3 weeks pay i thing dont know if i will get my accrued annual leave pay this month but i hope so. The new place pay on last friday of month

So have gone for £200 for oct please!

Am basing that on £40 p/w for everything. Being back at work thankfully stops me browsing the shops! Think my original budget for Sept was harsh, ive failed all the gc so far cos i cant find that happy amount we NEED rather than what i WANT to buy

Have done last big shop for Sept from N£tto-

frozen chips 1.5 kg 89p
lager 2.99 (oh treat)
apple biscotti x 2 49p (for lo, she loves these)
huge pork shoulder joint £9.87 (gone in freezer, will last us at least a week when cooked, might save till xmas)
5 kg potatoes 99p (fab price!)
907 g bacon £3.79 (i love netto bacon more than anywhere else!)
2 x small chickens £1.59 each (one for us, one i'll cook for my dad and take him tommorow)
handwash 59p
frozen fish in butter sauce £1.89 :eek: (for dd to try as we weaning her)
banana 1kg 84p
corned beef x 2 69p each
plum tomatoes x 7 @ 29p each
lambs liver £1.02
veg stew pack 99p
white wine £2.99
typhoo t bags 200 pack £1.99
bodyspray 47p

total 37.07

Also got phone top up out of 'my' money

So happy with that.

Having batch cooked mince meals tonight, sun and monday, liver casserole tues, chicken dinner and leftovers wed and thurs then dont know my shifts after that so will depend how many lates/earlies im getting as to what i'll cook.

Am trying dd with our own food after her current supply of jars run out as getting too expensive and making me lazy. Thankfully she loves anything so shouldnt be too hard!

Hopefully will do it this month, have no excuse not to as i literally dont have time to browse so shouldnt get to supermarket more than once or twice;)

Good luck and many thanks to those running thread

P.S. How do you resist the allure of takeaways? They are a big weakness of mine but cant justify the expense really and hate the feeling of guilt about the cost when i do order one, which is more often than i should! Thanks x