October 2009 Grocery Challenge

elly2

Hi can i come back? not posted for a while but i have been coming in under budget. I will go for my normal of £80 weekly. This is for me,3 teens,2 lo's ,5 cats(2 nursing mums) 8 kittens and a dog(the kittens will be ready to go in a couple of more weeks so i'm hoping the pet food side of the budget reduces slightly at present it is about £20 per week:eek::eek:. Today is payday so i will start my budget today, and try to keep a better record of my spends .

helen_jelly

Morning everyone

Budgets done up to and including Elly2

Thank you
Helen x

september09

Hi there! Can you put me down for £30 for October please. Thanks.

:money:

Kittikins

Hello, think it's time I dipped my toe in the water and set a REAL budget for DD's food for the month.

I'm going to set it at £40 for the month. I'm just about to book up a holiday to Italy for next May, have another one in France next August to pay for and we're off to Cornwall for a few days in October half term!! Luckily I'm canny and am getting cheapish holidays, but they all have to be paid for....so if I can keep all spends more under control, I should be able to do it without selling everything in the house that isn't nailed down!

The freezer is full to bursting, as are the cupboards, I even have an inventory of dented tins pinned to the fridge. I have enough food in to feed an army for about 3 months....really I only need fresh fruit/veg and milk and possibly bread as DD turns her nose up at my home-made offerings (maybe because the yeast is out of date and it might taste strange?!)

My month is going to start today as it's pay day (yay!)

Mrs_Toast

I really need to try again at this challenge as I'm currently on maternity leave. I've just had my first proper pay packet since my son was born and it's worried me slightly.

I'd like to try for £150 and that includes all groceries, household items and baby formula, nappies etc. I did my first load of shopping yesterday and have spent £50.84 but that includes all fruit and veg and a Mr A shop which has filled my pantry for a while. I'm hoping to do alot of baking but with a 3 week old that might be difficult. I did manage to make a loaf of bread on Monday though, I love my breadmaker.

So cross fingers it goes to plan this month as I don't have a choice but to succeed at the moment. Don't you just love maternity pay and my DH's paternity pay was lousy as well. :mad:

[Deleted User]

Botany you have got the right idea and I think you will suceed along with the rest of us in cutting back on things.It's definitely baby steps when you first start, and learning different methods as you go along.You have clearly spent time thinking about how you can achieve your goal which is good, as like most women we are a stubborn lot once we get an idea into our heads.For what ever reason you wish to limit your spending you will be amazed at the results. I know that for most of my long life I have practiced frugality as almost a second nature but its not until I sat and really costed out what I was spending over a month I saw that at £50 p.w. it had been creeping up and I had been just shopping almost automatically at times.you know ,have a walk around Mr Ts and think "Oh thats good its a bogoff, or its on the offer".get to the till and the bill is around £40-50 quid. Then I thought out of interest I would see what I had stashed in the cupboard Far too much and that was hard cash sitting in tins and boxes in my cupboards.I did a freezer list and again:o Oh dear I couldn't believe how many bits and pieces I had just chucked in there 'cos I'd seen it and thought "oh thats not bad it'll freeze well.
I have now found my comfort zone for awhile at £30.00 p.w. so I am saving £80 per month and my cupboards are veeeery sloooowly being used up. I had 9 tins of chopped tomatoes and 11 tins of bean for goodness sake. I maybe eat one tin of beans a month if I remember !!!
Now its meal planing and only buy what I have run out of and then only if I can't replace what I want with something else from the cupboard.
I have had to say the least some 'interesting' meals over the past month but its quite good fun to have a look and see what concoctions I can come up with.Definitely Aldi's for fruit and veg,something I had never thought of before, and I only take enough money with me to cover what I need to buy when I have to 'pop to the shop for bits' as thats the way to overspend as you see other things and think 'mmm thats not bad'
I think that we all have done brilliantly in September, and whatever you haven't bought during that month you obviously haven't missed .
I wonder is there any chaps on board our happy gang of GC'ers or is it just us ladies who are watching the pennies here.I would love to know what men think of what we get up to here. I have a folder on my computer filled with recipes that I have copy & pasted from this forum and its growing now to 32 pages long I have already sent it to my sis-in-law and my DD's sis-in-law so they can see how to save the cash in these hard-up times. I am thinking of using my savings to make our family holiday next year into two weeks instead of one .I go with my DD,Oh and tribe of five children every year on holiday and next year it would be nice if I could make it a fortnight instead of a week.,fingers crossed .Onwards and upwards with the good work ladies /and men if there are any :rotfl:

kindofagilr

Hi I failed at keeping September up to date.

Can you put me down for £200 please, this includes Take Aways

My October runs from 29/09/09-28/10/09 (pay days)

Thanks
I will update later with the spends we had yesterday in ASDA

helen_jelly

Hi everyone

Budgets done up to and including Kindofagilr

Thanks - Helen x

jay20043

Just done a shop and spent £23.50. Have got most of the meat we need for a month except mince.

Should only have to buy little things now as we need to use up the cupboards and freezer.

£56.50 remaining this month.:rolleyes:

ChocClare

Hello chaps - just declared on September, so can I play here too please?

My old man has just gone off to Normandy for ten days and he will return with the car GROANING under the weight of all lovely French food he so misses by living here in Blighty. So October is a bit of a cheaty month, because I won't count what DH buys - it comes out of his French bank account so doesn't affect me :beer:. However, I can't rely on him to buy anything sensible - he'll come home with a dozen pots of his favourite French jam, some sirop de menthe, some olive oil, tomato puree (OK, last two are sensible) and various other things you just "can't" find here. On the other hand, I am trying to run the freezer down so that if he comes back with eight tons of croissants and steack hache, then I do have room for them.

So I think I'll go for £300 this month please - ever hopeful!