April 2010 Grocery Challenge

NJW69

Just been to Netto and spent £107!! how I don't know.

Anyway when I take off the things that don't come out of my grocery budget i.e. wine, toiletries and cleaning stuff it was £86.58 which was better.

I also went to Farmfoods and got bread and milk at £2.50 so I've added both to my total and I'm on £180.08 for the month which leaves me £20 until month end which is just about doable I think.

I got loads of everything in so it will just be bread and milk a bit of fruit and maybe a chicken.

burntfingers_2

My spends for the 16th was £17.65 (meal out whilst inhiberated offered to pay for friend too!!) :eek:

Saturday spends was for 2 pepsi max £0.98, 2 packs of sanitary towels for my dog (she is in season) £0.42, and 2 pork pies for my son £1.80, plus £1.00 car parking total £4.20

Sunday Mr L*dl spent £17.10 this included fruit and veg which should last a couple of weeks, bleach, baby wipes.

The next fortnights menu looks like this:
Sunday Roast pork with veggies.
Mon Fish/prawn/egg pie with veggies,
Tues Jacket potato with beans (me)
Weds leftover pork from sunday, SW chips and peas/beans
Thurs Son jacket potato with cheese and beans
Friday Bacon and egg, tomatoes, mushrooms
Saturday pasta bake and garlic bread
Sunday Roast chicken and veggies
Monday Chicken fried rice
Tues Jacket potato with tuna/salad
Weds Corned beef hash
Thurs Chilli and rice
Friday fajitas and wedges
Saturday shepherds pie/veggies

Aiming for NSD on Monday, Weds, Friday, Saturday & Sunday this week and Monday, Weds, Thurs, Fri and Saturday, Sunday the week after so basically 11/14 NSD's.

freakyogre

£1.19 spent today - 80p on a big cauliflower at a car boot this morning and 39p on a bottle of cola at Aldi. I don't really drink many fizzy drinks anymore, but really fancied that.

I was tempted to get some sausages at the car boot as a butcher is there every week with loads of different things at really good prices, but my freezer is full, so I will get some in a week or so when i've made a it of room (haha!) They're lovely sausages though, got to test one as went back to my dad's and he made us brunch

Long_tall_sally

Went to the co-op this morning at 10 o'clock when it opened because I needed a birthday card for the party DS was going to. I have never been that early before & there was quite a few good bargains that were still here from last night. I got a family sized chocolate sponge with fresh cream for 50p, 4 crumpets 30p, a smoked cod fillet for 63p which I put in freezer, a large pot of double cream 45p, pack of stir fry veg for 35p, bag of cabbage & leeks 45p and 2 vanila slices for 31p. There was also quite a few large loaves for 60p but didn't get any of those. I think I will try going again at that time another Sunday morning!

Spent about £8, signature updated.

Billie-jo

Saturday spent £8.59 in the butchers which was about what expected and then went into M*rrisons and got some bread, tomatoes ( we eat tons of these) sliced ham, juice which had forgotten we needed when did main shop, cheese and few other bits and then saw some reduced pork. It was almost half price and be enough for two meals for all of us and possible three So in all a total spend today of £27.51 which brings total up to £196.89 out of £300 but only got one more big shop to go as the one after will fall in next months money. So unless I go completely mad should manage as just over £100 left and month ends on 28th

Today has been a NSD and have altered my signature.

Got a freebie today as friend brought some cereal bars and didn’t like the yoghurt topping so gave them to me. Offered to pay for them and she said she would only throw them away if we didn’t want them. :T
We sometimes have these for breakfast if we are short of time and other times just have them as a snack with cup of tea.

Made the malt loaf whilst the meat was cooking and have just had a small slice to taste it. Like Spiggle suggested put in more sultanas which were soaked in tea and with DH being diabetic I reduced the sugar a bit thinking it would be ok as the malt and syrup is so sweet anyway. However I did forget what was said about the treacle until it was mixed together. It didn’t look dark at all really so put in a few drops of gravy browning. DH and me have just had a small slice to taste it and it is - Delicious. Lovely and moist and according to DH is as good as the one you can buy :eek: Now that’s a statement I can live with.:j

vodkawitch1

Bought two of the Marks and sparks £10 meal deals today plus £6 spent on flowers. The wine from the meal deals will go away for birthday pressies and parking is free on a sunday.

Penelope_Penguin

mrsgreentoad wrote: »

first of all, hello:) im new to post but read for over a year . my weekly shopping bill is around £120 there is me hubby. 17 year old and 4 younger kids 13,10,7 and my baby whos 4 are shopping runs out by thursday i go shopping every sat,, any ideas

Your budget doen't sound too bad to me As this has fallen from the front page of OS, I'll add it to the Grocery Challenge thread. This will give you help and support to keep your budget within manageable levels. There are loads of frugal recipes on the front page.

Good luck, Penny. x

alipops1986

Another £5.34 spent! :eek:

slowandsteady_2

Hi!

Well another day and another trip to the shops!

Went to Mr M today hoping they would have a few things i wanted (nope, didnt need lol) on offer and they did yipee!

Got the 12 muller yoghurts for £2, 4 pack Branston beans £1 and some 30p mushrooms and rooster potatoes (love those), and what i actually deliberately went there for-Special K-on offer two boxes for £4. Im back on my Slimming World plan and thought they might make a change? Anyhow, £18.11 spent, got a lot of staples too, so not too bad, but does send me over target. Never mind, last month i made the mistake of stopping adding to my signature so completely lost track but im going to carry on updating my sig anyway this month.

Ive been thinking about my grocery spends for a while while doing GC and whilst i was doing this last year as well, didnt quite get the hang of it till this year, but im learning where i think im going wrong. I think ultimately im being to harsh with my budget. I think i have done brilliantly the last twelve months or so and the groceries just seem to not be following suit with all my other new skills ive learnt from MSE.

I am not really choosing (what i consider for a family of three and two dogs) a fairly low budget purely out of complete necessity (unlike the last 6 months or so of last year) but because i am

a) so frightened of ending up in the position of being on JSA and/or having to ever wait for any essential benefits to be paid if we are in that position again, that i am getting quite obsessed with getting my food bill down to, what seems to be for us, an unrealistic bare minimum. I KNOW i can do a weeks basic shop that will sustain us fine on £30 a week max, because i have done it, but that doesnt mean i must carry on. Although I am only just starting to build our savings up again after the last few years, we will not starve, it seems to be quite a fear of mine that i have enough food in, and i do with my storecupboard and freezer but i still worry and hence need to save every penny, perhaps to the detriment of somewhat better/more varied food. I think former years of deciding if i should buy food or pay the rent has took its toll on me!

b) so keen on above mentioned money saving that i cant quite bear to spend too much on food shopping now, when i know i can make x, y or z for much less than i can buy it!

So for May, i am going to up the budget and see where that leaves me, i dont think my current budget is wholly sustainable long term for our family, now i have thought about it, so will be spending a bit more.

In addition i am going to order an organic veg box i have found from a localish scheme at a reasonable price, and it will be fine for us and will hopefully reduce my spending at shops anyway as it will reduce the need to go, so i should win both ways-fresh organic food and less spends!

Thats the plan anyway!

Sorry to waffle on, just helps me to get my thoughts down on 'paper'!

I will leave you in peace now and go and catch up with the forum!

Night xx

wssla00

43p spend for me today on a sausage roll- was hungry couldn't help it!

Anyway hoping for an NSD tomorrow. I have defrosted all my meat so will try and cook up some batches for the week too

Slow and Steady that makes total sense! Just be kind on yourself.

Well, I'm officially on half pay now so will need to be very strict next month- I'm sure I will be able to do it. I can usually make a meal out of nothing (though usually its an argument LOL) I will just need to keep checking in on here- luckily the garden is starting to come into its own so spinach and lettuce are up and ready to eat so will use some this month! Can't wait for my fruit to er...well...fruit LOL

I am going to make some cheapy treats this month to get away from spending money on chocolate hopefully that will make a difference!

Enjoy the week all