October 2009 Grocery Challenge 25 August 2009 at 3:51PM edited 28 September 2009 at 5:43PM in Old style MoneySaving 890 replies 51.9K views

chewy62

Mr. T shop came in at £66.90 which was brill, but only because some money hadn't cleared in the bank, so only had £70, def helped to keep me on track!
(but forgot to get baby milk, oops!):rolleyes:

kezlou

Blairweech wrote: »

Hi all,

NSD yesterday as I am off sick with a bad cough.

I am struggling with the ethical vs cheap food debate - I really want to go organic, fairtrade etc but don't think I can afford it...maybe it is that I lack faith in my cooking skills, and am afraid of mucking it up and ending up having to chuck it out. And I am always tempted by cheap meat and offers.

Any ideas/tips to help lower the cost of organics? (or point me in the direction of a suitable thread)

I tend to buy only fairtrade and eco friendly products but they are some exceptions.I tend to buy own brand non bio powder as i'm allergic to ecover and come out in a really awful rash.
Sainsburys sell basic teabags (fairtrade) for 28p for an 80bag box. I used to only buy tea direct or clipper but taste just the same.Think they are also bringing out they own brand of coffee as well soon.
I buy 200g of fairtrade coffee for £1.56 its far cheap than cafe direct. Also Sainsburys sell fairtrade basic bananas as well.

In terms of meat i try and buy British or local produce whenever possible, farmers markets are really good as they is often a supply a wide range of goods.
Organic fruit and veg? Have you tried growing your own, all you need is a pot some compost and a few seeds. I don't have a garden so mine are kept in pots. Saves me a small fortune esp in the summer for salads and peas and its organic!

Wilkinsons sell eco friendly washing powder, conditioners etc. I buy the washing up liquid from there its 89p and lasts us ages called Green Power. I only buy recycled toilet / kitchen roll and biodegradable bin bags all of which i buy from the pound shop.
It can be done but its takes a lot of work to try and find the best products for the right price.

Firefox :- Noah looks so cute awww
Hi to all newbies!
Mrs M hope your well xxxx

Well spent more money than i wanted this past week have run out of cheese,bran flakes + weetabix so not good so will have ot go shopping at some point. But i do have tray of eggs , 1L single cream from the asian shops for very cheap so thats good. I got a shock on the ASian food store as they are now selling fresh halal HM sausages £4.99 a kilo, marinated fresh fish etc Couldn't believe it so i can see us spending even more money in there :rolleyes:.
Has anyone ever tried mutton (joint) if so is £6.99 a kilo a good price?
Well off to prepare myself for batch cooking (again) see you all in a bit x

*Jellie*

Hi everyone
It's a bit difficult tracking exact spending at the moment as OH is doing most of the shopping and doesn't really get why I want to know exactly what has been spent.
Needed a couple of things yesterday which came in at about £7

plzhelpmesave!

Ive gone shopping mad since i joined the challenge! went into asda yestereday to get some WW yoghurts and naan - ended up spending £26! think monday morning is a good time for reduced stuff as I got loads of bits included some really tasty sundried tomato focaccia 25P, mushrooms 20p, hot dog rolls 42p, raisin loaf 27. best of all i a freezer at the front they had packs of chargrilled veg for 23p and some Vegetarian quarter pounders for 20p - assume its summer BBQ clearance stuff so got some of those too!

Went to home bargains to return something worth 1.79 and gave them another 3.24 as i bought some more extra light, coco rocks and sauces!

not doing very well in the challenge!

russetred

nykmedia wrote: »

It's an obsession, everyone I know who budgets and does the frugal lifestyle bit is completely and utterly obsessed by it to the point that our 'rich' credit card indebted friends and family think we are lunatics. Welcome to the club!

Its a club I'm in too!:rotfl:

mummysaver

Afternoon! Just need to update my total from today, bought a ton of fruit and veg in Aldi and Lidl, 4kg of pasta (2kg for 99p Aldi), branston beans (4 for £1 Lidl), and other bits like icing sugar, UHT and cheese (pilgrims choice £1.99 for 400g). Think we now have plenty of fresh stuff to keep us going, and will be browsing mealplans and recipe books for inspiration in a bit.

Think I count as obsessed about food and being frugal - even my kids are now picking up the habit, eldest ones have started to grab a bottle of water to take out with them now, rather than me trying to foist one on them, well it seems daft to spend money on water when they're just pootling round town with their mates!

Fire_Fox

666paw wrote: »

Another spend Saturday at L!dl for some bits and bobs. Hoping for not much else this week apart from grapes as i've gone throught 1kg since Saturday. Total so far does include a mixing bowl and new scales.
Had 11 NSD out of 17 and about 3/4 of budget spent. Must menu plan better, its fine for a couple of day then the rest of the week can't be bothered. OH doesn't want to know and when asked what he would like just tells me i'll have whatever. My little man is being awkward again with his food so its just a case of buying and trying to see what he likes, he's getting away with it as he's now 16 and getting a little wobbly on his feet and I worry like mad. (my little man is my cat).

Apologies for the long post, I do rabble on at times.

Good luck everyone

P.

If it's dry food then try e-mailing all the pet food companies and asking for a sample for your 'fussy cat' - I did this and have nearly two months of free food!!

donnajt

I've already spent £69 on 3 shops mainly because we went to a family get together and i was asked to makes quiche and pudding for 20!!! Other thn that 4 non spend days.

am off to lidl as they have some fab offers this week that i want to stock up on

Angelfeathers

Right. Have at last managed to get my head round the money available for this month (I think!) and would like to be put down for £350 for October, please.

I know it sounds like a horrific amount for 2 adults, one 3 1/2 year old and one cat, but it does include toiletries, household stuff and medicines too. And although I reduced my spend last month by an incredible £200, some of that was due to having done a big shop at the end of August, and the rest was due to literally running out of money, for everything. So I figure £350 is an amount I'm comfortable with and I'd rather come in under budget than over!

Having said that, I've just done a massive Tesco shop which came to £141.87 (no lovely Daily Mail vouchers or other offers to use this time, and Tesco's own deals aren't as good as they were) which brings my spending for the month already up to £234.54! Which is scary! Still got over £100 to spend if I need to though.

scotsaver

A NSD for me today but I will have to buy some more Bananas tomorrow and will make sure I don't buy anything else as we DON'T NEED anything else.:o

Dinner tonight is Impossible Quiche , I've tried a couple of the other recipes on there in the past and they have worked out so I thought I'd give the Quiche a try, serving it with Jacket spuds and Salad.;)

Have a good evening everyone.:D