January 2010 Grocery Challenge

brodie1_2

shopped for a 2nd time today!!!!!!!!! l had to pick dh up so popped in next door at tescos. Brought value sr flour and own brand polish which I had gone in for. Had a look at whoopsis and got 2 pacs of own brand cumberland sausages 52p each, 4 packs of sowters sausages 74p each, king prawns 75p, strawberry tarts 50p ea pac (got 2 pacs)finest milk drinks 22p each, some rolls. Irn bru 9 cans for 2.50. It came to 14.79.
So I guess we will be having lots of sausage casserole and sausage stir fry:D
Earlier at somerfield when I got yet more loo rolls the lad on the till showed me the handle on the side of the bag,,genius.....in all my trips of carrying it I had never noticed the handle:o

jan gc 240/174.25

elizabunny

Hello everyone

Just a small whoopsie shop today from co*p Coleslaw 30p, Cheese slices 25p (don't usually buy these but they'll do in DHs packed lunch for a change. Sprouts 25p and a pkt of biccies for 47p. Total spent £1.27.

HM Veggie soup for dinner followed by Roast Chicken, Chips and Coleslaw. Also had a lovely slice of HM Apple Cake with Greek Yoghurt.

Hope everyone is doing well with their budget. Just off to update sig. now.

Have a good evening everyone.

PennyGrabber

Hello everyone. I've not been around for over a year now, but ready to come back!
In that time, I've been divorced by my "d"h, found another man, and had a breakdown at work, resulting in two months off, although it should have been more...

Anyway, glad to be back!! I'm looking forward to going old school again, and it seems like my cupboards are rammed full of stuff, so I'm going to use things up this month, and set myself a medium-low target for next month, with the aim of using stuff up. My biggest failing is to stock up on bargains, offers etc, and then not use them! That is my main challenge for this year - i feel weird normally if i have a less-than-full cupboard, so it's quite a big challenge for me, silly as it sounds!
Hope 2010 brings everyone everything they deserve - remember, you deserve things if you work hard for them and appreciate them!
Take care all,
xx

slscarborough

Right I am going to way over this month but just going to keep it as low as possible. Unfortunately Oh doesnt help by spending a fortune on his lunches so we have had words tonight. Have basically said that if he wants a holiday this year then he needs to start spending less!!

Anyway as from March OH will be at home and I will be back at work so need to educate him before that happens.

My problem I cant resist the offers!!

Rachel021967

Today I gave my daughter £2 for lunch and I spent £3.72 and £13.16 at Tesco Express. I bought bread, Wheetos, grapes, Finest Yoghurts, cucumber, bananas, red pepper, organic tomatoes (reduced), water, Lemonade, Kit Kat, nestle Drifter and Breakaway. I need to get more fruit for Wednesday's pack lunch and I have a Tesco delivery on Wednesday coming to £90. I think I will go over by about £20 this month.

angelatgraceland

I can't keep up with this thread as its moving so fast! I got tempted and went to New Look the other day. Spent £32 in the sale but dd bought one of the items off of me as it was marked size 14 but was more like a 10. So thats down to £27. I did get some bagains-just can't say I "needed" them!
Paid for some fence panels and fence paint-£105 and Ive also included a membership fee for beekeepers of £29 in my total so not strictly all grocery but Im trying to just keep an annual spend/budget rather than trying too many different budgets. It worked for me last year as I knew what I had left from everything rather than kidding myself I was doing well on a few budgets and overspending on others. That is why my spend limit is so high-£500 pm or £6000 per per year as its to cover everything but the bills.
Anyway-Ive still got £147 left until the end of the month but I have to fill 2 cars with petrol-tho mine wont need much as Ive hardly used it lately.
Next month we have car service and MOT and Im (probably)taking this out of Febs budget-unless there are any repairs which I will not count. Hopefully there aren't any great expenses in March so it will balance out.I have a week away in Germany for me and dd in middle of Feb so this will not be counted and I will stock up on food well beforehand-that should help the Feb budget. Still using stock cupboard items and have a little room in the freezer too. I just need to find a load of cheap bread to make some savings next time I shop. Had a rather lazy day of non cooking and just did burgers and tinned spaghetti for tea-not going to make a habit of it but once now and again won't hurt. Made some jelly the other day-I find it always pays to put it in sundae dishes so the "kids" can just grab their portion. A rather cheap desert for about 2p each portion(just value jelly and cake).
Imtempted to walk to work on Weds instead of taking the car-as long as it isn't raining. My family will think I'm bonkers! Truthfully-it's not as far as I remembered it being-does that sound silly? Sometimes what we fear doing really isn't so bad and if I walked more I could scrap my gym membership which Im supposed to resume in Feb and get my exercise free! Maybe walking to work 3 days a week is indeed the answer.

purpletent

I think I will go over my budget this month (my first month) but I had underestimated alot what we actually spend.
I did a huge Suma order with some friends today, so awaiting delivery of organic bread flour, loads of seeds, dried fruit, juice, 5l laundry liquid, tins of beans etc. It is not the cheapest, as it is all ethical, often organic, fairly traded etc. You also have to buy large amounts, so I split the porrige oats with a neighbour (it comes in a 10kg sack!). Anyway, what I have ordered will last a few months and it all has a long shelf life.

I also got my first Approvedfood delivery today, which was quite exciting! It did arrive a week after I ordered it, so they are not quick. I think next time I will try not to be tempted by the heavy items like juice, as the delivery price increases dramatically when you order over a certain weight of products. Anyway, I have loads of nut roast mixes, broth mix, risotto rice, crackers, cous cous etc from that order.

I also went on a 1hour walk to buy free range eggs direct from a farm! (£1 for 6 I bought a dozen) It was nice to see where the eggs came from - there were lots of chickens roaming freely around a field. (And I burnt off some calories and enjoyed the winter sunshine)

I am also pleased that I made bread and butter pudding and stuffing with stale bread today. I also had a few mushrooms which were not going to last much longer, so chopped them up small and added them to the stuffing mix - which worked well.

I am still throwing some food away, but am getting much better at recycling it into something else where possible.

I will still be overdrawn at the end of this month, but am doing better than usual and will hopefully will not have to dip into the overdraft every month soon.

Sunnyday

PennyGrabber wrote: »

Hello everyone. I've not been around for over a year now, but ready to come back!
In that time, I've been divorced by my "d"h, found another man, and had a breakdown at work, resulting in two months off, although it should have been more...

Anyway, glad to be back!! I'm looking forward to going old school again, and it seems like my cupboards are rammed full of stuff, so I'm going to use things up this month, and set myself a medium-low target for next month, with the aim of using stuff up. My biggest failing is to stock up on bargains, offers etc, and then not use them! That is my main challenge for this year - i feel weird normally if i have a less-than-full cupboard, so it's quite a big challenge for me, silly as it sounds!
Hope 2010 brings everyone everything they deserve - remember, you deserve things if you work hard for them and appreciate them!
Take care all,
xx

Welcome back :hello:
sounds like you`ve been through the wringer and come out the other side smiling, hope life treats you better from now on.!

Well today will be another NSD - i`ve a pound in my purse and thats where its going to stay

I did forget to take the sausages out of the freezer to make toad in the hole for tea tonight so i`ll have to pinch something from another day when i check the meal planner later but no great loss.

SD

AllBuyMyself

Almost up to my limit after this week's spend - but I think I might actually be able to do it. Have just counted up in my head and I have at least 20 meals in the freezer and storecupboard. So may get away with only buying milk, fruit and veg.

goldfinch68

Hi all

Just updating my signature, thinking we may just about come in on budget for our first month so happy with that. Changed our bank account this month as thieving Halifax have brought in their new charges of £1 each day if you are overdrawn but hubbie's employer managed to send his salary to the old, closed account so we are waiting for it to ping back and into our new account. Nightmare - with direct debits looming on the horizon and 50p in my purse! Enforced NSDs!!