July '06 Grocery Challenge

Tracey04

when does the next grocery challenge begin for August

brokenwings

tracey04
if you want to start on 1August you can do ( thats whati do ) but some people do it from pay day to pay day which isnt always the last week or last few days of the month.
basically its up to you.

Well - having been doing this challenge for 10 months this is months has been the biggest success for me
I came in well under target - yes there still a week of the month to go BUT I know I dont have another shop or trip to the petrol pump to do.
wooohooo!

Chell

I had got back on track but am going to struggle this week. Some of DPs family are on holidy quite close to us as their son is in a fishing competition at Rutland. They are eating here rather than spend a fortune eating out all the time. SIL did say she would help with the cost but you know what its like. They bought us a takeaway last night. I have just made a huge pasta bake for later, bulked out with lentils. I'm trying to think what else I can make thats nice but cheap and uses my cupboards rather than £20 at Asda everyday.

JellyJo_2

How on earth do people manage to spend so littlle on groceries? We budget carefully for the most part but our food shopping is often £150 a week! Have no idea how some of you are capable of spending so little - help!!! If we could get by on £60-£80 a week I'd be thrilles (and in credit!) There are four of us - two adults, two children.

JellyJo_2

Um, 'thrilled', that is not 'thrille' - just got too excited at the idea of saving some money, I think!

wigginsmum

I don't tend to buy snacky things which disappear without trace. I cook from scratch. Certain things like lamb are off the menu indefinitely at £11/kg, whereas pork is a third of that or less. A medium chicken can do the two of us for several meals - I cook it in the crockpot, save the stock for soup, shred the chicken, and use it for sandwiches, pasta, curry etc. We eat a lot of eggs and cheese and vegetables.

Shortie

JellyJo: I found it helped to take a one month sample and keep a track of every single thing I bought when grocery shopping. I saved into Excel every time I cam back from shopping.

I then Totalled everything up (i.e. 4 trips with bread became on entry for bread x 4 on the Spread Sheet) and this gave me a chance to look at what we really bought each month, not just what I thought we did. Bit of an eye opener.

Also, being more conscious of what groceries were coming on and out of th house, I've stopped wasting money but throwing old bread away, I freeze it as soon as I get it home instead. Anything looking suss gets made into brad pudding and frozen now too. That way you've got a cheap cake/dessert/snack with something otherwise wasted.

I would really recomend keeping a grocery 'diary' for a month or two. Some things may come to light you hadn't realised.

Also, don't forget it's about getting the mininum spend you can, but not at the total expense to the lifestyle you like. What I'm trying to say (badly, I realise..) is that when all is said and done, you may be able to get down to 60 per week but you may not be happy what you're buying for that much - you need to end up finding your 'comfort zone'

That's how I see it anyway...

Rad

I was aiming for £75 this month but it's going to be more like £110 as my brother stayed for 6 days rather than the 2 that I thought at the begining of the month. He's a growing 16 year old who was playing touch rugby for 4 days. He ate soo much food, I don't know how some of you manage to feed yours on a budget but I'll ask ahead of his visit in October.

flourgirl

As a newbie this has been my first grocery challenge.

I allowed a comfortable £200.for the month for 2 adults food toiletries and cleaning stuff. Everytime I spent anything I wrote it down in a book, so that I could see at a glance where the money was going.

I came in under budget at £184.35, but I know that I can still make savings.
The freezer and the cupboards are stuffed full, so I cannot do anymore shopping if I wanted to, as there is nowhere to put it. So, I'm going to do a Storecupboard Challenge until my holidays (9th August) when I will be away in my caravan for 3 weeks. Then think again in September about cutting my budget further and using up what we have got in.

I'm feeling very pleased with myself as my usual spend is around £300 per month.

spookycat_2

We currently are aiming for 150 per week but that includes petrol, everything for a family of 2 adults and 2 children (4 & 2.5). This week is the first time I think we'll make it, and it's all down to the recipes on MSOS boards.
So I'd like to say a big thank you to all of you who posted suggestions for menu planning!
Does anyone shop organically, eco-friendly etc and manage it on less than we do? If so then any handy tips would be very gratefuly received.