January 2010 Grocery Challenge

mrs-moneypenny

did hm mushroom soup for me and DH at lunch and doing early tea for the kids and we will just ave a snack later as we are out to cinema (free preview)
i managed an NSD but have a parcel ready to post tomorrow so might have to nip shops then

helen_jelly

Afternoon everyone

Will have to update siggy soon as DH has been shopping - Grrrrrrrrrrr

Purpletent - try and remember that your budget was a guess so it isn't going to be right and we have ALL got it wrong to start of with - I thought I spent about £150 to £200 max a month and it wasn't until I did this challenge and kept all the receipts did I realise how much I spent. Each family is individual and so are the budgets for that family, as it all depends on where you can shop, how may you shop for, what type of food you buy and also what you include in your budget i.e. I don't include eating out or alcohol but other people do or they have a seperate budget for it. What ever you do DON'T get on a downer about it, this is just a learning curve for you and MummaF had some good advice there about organising things the night before or training kiddies not to have stuff when they are out, this will all take time so be cool about it for a while longer. You'll get there eventually just don't expect it all to happen overnight and keep posting on here with any queries as we'll all help out where we can

Helen x

huston_kw

spent 6.11 at local butchers to day so that's 48.88 spent out of my 200 this month.

off to update signature...

sistercas

went to the co-op to pick up some bits and bobs after work and forgot my purse so a NSD for me :rotfl:

LINKYPIE2009

NSD here for me - just debating what to have for dinner.

Hoping to pop to co-op and take advantage of some of their offers either tomorrow or wednesday after work......have enough meat for this month and probably a lot of next month, so gonna stock up my store cupboards instead!

skaps

Just came back from shopping had a few bits to buy and spent £20.32. Am including things like toothpaste and mouthwash in my budget too. Going to update my total now, its less than i thought, mainly cause i had a list and went by myself. Even so i didn't need to get all the chicken i bought, in Farmfoods they are selling 3 1kg of frozen chicken for £10, so i stocked up on that.

Loadsabob

Up to £26.90 for the month so far, but there is nothing to buy food-wise for the rest of this week. It's a four week month for me, so if I keep this up in the second half of the challenge, I will end up underspending by £26.20 for January! That would be nice!

A £10.50 Tesco spend on Saturday, but included £3 on my lady grey teabags, as they were 2 for £3 instead of £2.26 each (though I rarely buy them when they're full price). Also sugar puffs, which I am kicking myself for not having stocked up on at £1 a box when at Poundland out of town a couple of weeks back. They never seem to be on offer in Tesco (and after years of telling myself cereal was a luxury I shouldn't buy, it's now one thing I don't alter to suit what's on offer)!

Thinking twice before spending, which is great, and also thinking "what can I postpone buying until another week".

Will be able to have NSDs now, as today I bought a book of bus tickets, which makes my journey to work 40p each way instead of 50p, and will last me ten working days. Yay!

Taka - no room for new PMs to you, but thanks for your post on freezing portions. That makes much more sense! I often freeze things EITHER in bags or in the containers. But the bagged stuff is bulky and irregular, and the containered stuff is too big... Your suggestion sounds obvious, but actually hadn't occurred to me! It means than when I come to thaw something out for lunch - it's already container-shaped, so I can pop it in one of those frozen in the morning ready to take to work and microwave at lunch time!

Kitchenbunny

Amazingly, today has been an NSD! DH said he'd meet me as he was in town to pick me up from work, but sadly had an hour walking around town before I met up with him. And I didn't spend a penny! Oh, there were plenty of "I could put that away for this Christmas" thoughts, but I stepped on them firmly

Tea tonight is sausage and stuffing pasties with HM oven chips, and I'm looking forward to it. My boots leaked in the slush, so I've had wet feet for most of the day Onwards!

Take care and keep warm everyone

Kitchenbunny xx

Coxy11

Hi,

Updating my total to include a £6.03 spend in MrS. Sabotaging both my weight loss and GC it would seem, as I couldn't resist a reduced box of yum yums and have just stuffed in 4 on the trot .

Hoping that I can stay away from the shops tomorrow and Wednesday. Have a little list of things to buy on Thursday, so will try my best.

Coxy
xx

meanmarie

Sent OH to get cat food (€7) this am and he arrived back with lamb chops and t-bone steaks as well....he will be given the €7 but if he wants to eat expensive meats he can pay for them....we had the chops for dinner and they were lovely!

Marie