December 2009 Grocery Challenge

Flat_Eric

Ive done a food plan for the next week and the only spends that I think will be needed include spuds, eggs and a*nt b*ssies yorkshires (i know i could make my own but im not a confident cook) so anything that causes me less stress wins the day !! oh and I will need some milk later in the week. There will be no popping into T**co on my way to work (because I can't be bothered to make lunch) nor any emergency trips to M * S to buy a naughty pudd if Ive had a stressful day.....

I know that I have lots in my freezer / cupboards so should be easy to plan the following week (which I will do tomorrow) with very little actually needed to be bought. :j so hopefully on track to come well within budget this month.

philsmum

Hi. Can you put me down for £150.00 for December. Not really doing much for Christmas as we are moving house on the 17th so will be busy putting up wardrobes etc. if they arrive on time We are going to Friends for lunch on Christmas day so no worries there, except it will be cooked outside and served in gazebo, hope it doesnt snow, never had full turkey cooked on bar-b-q. Hope everyone has a lovely peaceful christmas. Heres to a Happy and prosperous New Year- Cheers:beer:
Patx

JAMIEDODGER

Could you put me down for £200 in december, I have been well under budget for nov so I am reducing budget for dec:)

skilly

morning all .going to stick to £350.00. for december got lots in dh will be buying drinks for xmas i have not told him yet !.going away for 2 days it my bday monday so i will not be spending ...well not my money :-)

Kitchenbunny

Right, I'm planning my shopping list as Tuesday will be my first shop of the Grocery Challenge as well as the first day of December! There's going to be a choccy from the Advent Calendar as a reward if I can do it well I'm going to do some serious planning now.

Mealplan - already posted it in the mealplan thread - done!
Check what we've got in in relation to what's on the mealplan - done!
Check to see where has the best offers for what is on that list - this'll be a work in progress, but here goes! I have a choice of Morries or Tescadiddles, and need to get the best from each
Stick to my lists!

I feel organised this month. I really hope I can stay organised From the look of it there's quite a bit of meat on my shopping list this week, but it should last quite a few meals. I'm debating going back to the market for my steak (you usually get a tray of it for a tenner so I can get three or four meals for us both out of that - not too bad) and the big trays of pork steaks you can buy on the 3 for a tenner at both places will give us several meals. I've a couple of chicken carcasses in the freezer so I'll be making some stock this month too.

Cutting back on drinking fizzy pop is making a bit of an impact on the weekly bills, as I've not had to include those on the list this week - hooray! We're also trying to incorporate more fruit and veg into our diet, which is helping a little.

I'll post again with how I get on

EC12345 - It'll be good to see how you get on as well. Usually we're around the £200 area as well, but we have a fair bit in and I want to get some of it cycled so it gets used up. That's where the meal planning helps no end for me. Tonight we have lasagne from a batch I made either last week or the week before and froze 4 big portions of it (I must take them out of the freezer!)

Kitchenbunny xx

Ninno820

Hi - can you put me down for £200 again - I have never made it yet but here's hoping - something HAS to go right this month!

XSpender

Morning All

We did our HUGE monthly shop in Mr M and Mr T on Saturday morning so popping into update the signature. It looks scary in that we have spent 2 thirds of our budget in 2 days :eek: but I have stocked up on meat. D/W tablets, tissues, loo rolls, shower gel, meat and tuna on special offer. This also includes £35 on food and alchol specifically for Christmas. Two freezers are now almost full and I am off work next week so wil be filling any remainng gaps with batch cooked meals.

I think I have been converted from Mr T to Mr M as I love their fruit and veg and they seem to have offers on stuff you would buy normally not carp as in Mr T. Only went to Mr T as needed to get a DVD for DH Christmas present so bought enough discount brand D/W tablets and w u l and value tissues to last 3 months and own brand dog food to last all month. Also bought 4 s1mple shower gel as it was on offer and 20p cheaper than Mr T own brand (only type I can use). Got home and found that they had charged me full price because the offer had ended and they hadn't removed the shelf edge:mad: They will refund but it is a big Tesc0 that I will need to make a special 20 mile round trip to visit:mad:

I am not planning to hit a supermarket until I need to get the Christmas meat in and will just get milk and veg locally.

Oops sorry for the long post!

XS x

Frugaldom

Good morning, nice to see still more new people joining this challenge and isn't it exciting that we're onto the last month of they entire year? Where has all the time (and grocery budget) gone? :eek:

This will be my final month of grocery budgeting as it's always been done to a budget and I've ended up in 'damage control' mode owing to buying and stockpiling too many bargains. :rotfl: 2010 is going to be dedicated to spending more time growing, making, baking and trading than buying, so I'm hoping not to be online as much.

Good luck for the final month of 2009. I have no budget so am now 'eating' my spare electricity money if I run out of anything plus it'll need to cover the cost of the Christmas turkey as nobody here has the heart to eat anything that gets bred & reared here. I didn't even have the heart to chop up a carrot that resembled a little M!chelin type man. :rotfl:

mardatha

Dont say that - you NEED to be online ALL THE TIME to encourage people like me !! We spent the extra elect money in Costco last week and I really really need to stick to a strict meal plan this month cos things went a wee bit off course lately LOL !

mummy2mygirls

Hello all havent set a budget yet for dec as need a little think to include all the christmas bits So will pop it on later just had a few questions and thought you ladies might no.... Do tesco offers tend to finish on a sunday?? I wanted to do my online shop but when i put to have it delivered tomorrow everything i had got on offer finished today grrr and it doesnt show you the new offers...
Also if i go to Aldi shopping can i pay by all cards - for some reason i have it in my head you cant?? And i can only remember paying by cash.....
thanks if anyone knows these??