October 2009 Grocery Challenge

brummiebabe

Am joining in again for October. My budget is £400. Overspent in September...but it was a 5 week month:o - anyway onwards & upwards!!

We are a family of 5 (2 adults & 3 children - one in night time nappies.) My budget includes all food, packed lunches for all, cleaning/washing stuff, toiletries and my contact lens solutions.

Had a MT T delivery on Wednesday...£96.99 (but include 1 months+ worth of nappies, wipes, loo rolls etc etc.) Have then spent £10.35 at Mr S today on my contact lens solutions. So far grand total spend is....£107.34:eek:

slowandsteady_2

Evening all, i had a trip to Mr M today this afternoon, am working 6 days a week but only 6 hours at moment till i can either reduce my hours or find something else where its more flexible (interview Tues afternoon!:D Not being arrogant but am pretty sure i'll get it!) as i only want p/t with baby and although only been here in new job 5 mins its lovely but obligatory 12 hour shifts are not for me, but its either that or 6 day weeks, so time to move on before i get stuck and my baby forgets what i look like!

I decided im bored with sandwiches for my tea break, so decided to get a few tins of soup to put in my flask when i havent made any, but they had some good deals so got some in my trolley-

soreen malt loaf x2 reduced @65p each (for my dad)
nappies £5
paper 52p
paper 42p *can see im job hunting!
pampers wipes-box of 12 packs of 63 wipes £7 (special offer, will last ages)
Branston beans pack of 4 x3 79p each
tuna chunks pack of 4 half price x2 £2.60 each
pot noodle x 2 @ 88p each
condensed soup x 6 44p-49p
baby food x 3 65p each
'munchkin' squash 69p (have no idea what im gonna do with this, had some vague idea of a soup or mashing it for dd)
lindt lindor chocs (for my sister as a thankyou for babysitting tommorow) £3
squash (again dont know what im gonna do with this. I only ever had butternut squash!) £1.00
lager £3.00

ACTUAL GROCERY SPEND -£23.53 (dont include nappies, wipes, paper etc in grocery)

OVERALL TOTAL FOR OCT £45.61

Really must update sig cos i have to keep finding my previous posts!

Have a late shift tommorow so wont be spending anything, but am off saturday however dont need anything and dont have any room in my freezer for whoopsies so boo!

Might go Aldi though for some fruit if i can be bothered on Sat!

Good night!

ChocClare

OK, first day in and I'm already £18.07 down!

DH is in Normandy and DS is going out tomorrow night so he begged a takeaway tonight (usually have one on Fridays).

I made American pancakes for the kids' breakfasts and found they were all still there when I got home tonight - because, it transpires, we haven't got any maple syrup :rolleyes: so I bought some in Sainsbury's. £4.57. £4.57 for a bottle of maple syrup :eek::eek::eek:
I usually buy it in Aldi's when it's on special offer for Thanksgiving but it's just a bit too early. Oh well, I suppose it does last - they are under strict instructions to use it a drop at a time...

Julimk

Did the week 2 top-up shop today & came in at a grand total of £8.05! Just a few fresh bits & making sure have enough today for pack-ups. Still struggling with what to put in DD’s pack-ups, as she won’t eat sandwiches or similar. And she tells me that I need to vary it or she gets bored, which is why she hasn’t eaten it. But when I vary it she still doesn’t eat it & tells me she just wants the usual. I feel I can’t win!

But my cupboards & freezers are still well (over) stocked. But it’s all to the good, as it is like a security blanket for me knowing I have plenty in & it means that I shouldn’t need to spend much over the rest of the month.

Kittikins

Well day 1 and I've been a-spending £8.32 in Mr T's, should keep the wolf from the door for a day or so....

helen_jelly

Evening everyone

Budgets done up to and including Brummiebabe

Cheapskate - Good luck with the delivery, hope you and baby do well

Thanks everyone
Helen x

cw18

nannyboo1 wrote: »

So if I grate it first before freezing it (or rather hubby can) then it saves time doing it when I need to use it as well. Brilliant

I rarely grate it before freezing. But 'cos I use/freeze mature cheese (the stronger the better here), I rarely have to get my grater out if it's been frozen..... any attempt to slice it is more than enough :rolleyes2

huston_kw wrote: »

anyway I went to the coop for bread and wait for it... I only bought bread :j

Well done :T That's something I really, really need to get to grips with doing this month

rachelmk wrote: »

It's my wedding on Saturday

Congratulations :T Hope you have a fantastic day





Went to Mr T this afternoon to do a shop, which included almost all the frozen stuff I need this month (didn't have room for a few bits I need in the second half of Oct ), and all the packet stuff.

When they sent my last C/Card statement, they were 'kind enough' to enclose several £4 off a £40 spend vouchers - but I rarely spend that much in one trip anymore :eek: I've already binned at least one (expired), so decided to see if I needed enough to use the next (before it expires on Sunday). DD kindly added £5.90 to my list (which she paid me back for tonight), but if I only bought what I needed (but with enough for a multi-buy offer if I needed at least one of the item this month) I was still only coming in around the £30 mark

So I decided to be really naughty, and doubled up on some of the offers (bogof cheese, and multi-buy packet sauce and savoury rice) - plus, as they're on 8 for £2, DS has 16 Corner yoghurts for the month rather than the 8 I'd told him to add to my list (simply doubled up on what he'd asked for). Total at the till was £40.30 before the voucher, so actual spend for me was £27.40

I also spent £2.53 in H/Bargains (dried cranberries, and a splurge on some salted peanuts to take with me at the weekend when I'm out at a 24 hour fund-raiser for Breast Cancer Awareness), 55p in Mr M (loaf of bread and 6 wholemeal rolls, both on half price or better offersnow) and 34.86 in A1di (2x1 litre milk, tub of vanilla ice-cream, and an undecorated rich fruit cake that I'll add marzipan and icing to for Christmas)


So total GC spend today was £38.34, which equates to just over 38% of my October budget :eek:

But, on the plus side, I've just double checked what I have in against my meal plan (which I'd done once before shopping anyway), and I reckon I can probably get away with no more than another £30-£35 this month

All I need now is (weekly) milk and bread, plus a few frozen bits to get (small bag of chips, 2 garlic baguettes, and another bag each of frozen peas and sweetcorn).....

Just need to stop myself from doing Whoopsie runs, which is going to be hard as it's become a bit of an addiction in the last 12 months


About to go and see how [strike]much[/strike] I'll need to buy for November (and finish meal planning for December, then work out my shopping list for then). I figure that if I do get tempted to go Whoopsie hunting this month, then it won't be as bad if I've got a shopping list for the rest of the year and only buy things from that y

jackieglasgow

How much were the salted peanuts in HB? My OH loves them, and we've been buying the 27p bags from MR T which are lovely, but if there's more money to be saved..........I'm planning on passing near a HB tomorrow, may pop in JUST FOR NUTS if it's worth my while!! I promise, JUST NUTS!!!!

chocolatebum

could i join in this please, browsed around last months and feeling like joining htis month

my budget is £700 (wow seems a lot) that is for a 5 friday month and is for 8 people and a dog, also have october hols and halloween this month so have allowed extra for this. This also includes all toiletries and cleaning items

mumto2monkeys_2

Please can I join? I'm new. I would like to spend £250 this month. Given that I used to spend £600 or more, it might be a squeeze. However, I've spent last month conditioning husband to eat lentils, so it could be do-able!
There are four of us and two cats who only eat sensitive stomach biscuits (Which has knocked off £25 already, and I've hardly got going.). Of the two offspring, one is a baby so nappies and formula are part of my shop. We're currently roadtesting Lidl nappies, which seem to be fine so far. It will be nice to finally break my pampers active dependency.

I would also like to add an official thank you for the homemade hobnobs recipe I found on Old Style. I can bribe family to eat just about anything by promising these for afters!