May 2010 Grocery Challenge

newlywed

hi, can I be put down for £300 this month please? Thanks.

Redundancy money is running out and still no job yet

longtermlurker_2

Keiss_21 wrote: »

longtermlurker - what you include is up to you. Some only include food, others add the household & toilet stuff. Others also add pet and wild animal food...it's all up to you how you work it. I include all food, household stuff and toiletries, as well as the dog and wild bird food. I also include the seeds and compot I get for growing food in the garden, but not the flowers...does that make sense? I aso don't include meals out as they are such a rare occurence and are usually part of a special celebration.

A spending day today, Mr T is delivering later, so will add the total spending today once I have all the receipts.

Enjoy the weekend

Thanks. I will probably include the pet food then. I have got some chilli seedlings on the kitchen windowledge but I'm not sure when to put them outside. We also have some bean seeds DD got from school but they are still in the packet.
Last year we were given some tomato plants so I put them in planters in the back garden so the dog couldn't wee on them so he dug them up instead:mad: Will be puting things in the front garden from now on.

We don't go out to eat. In fact I don't go out at all if I can help it.

rosieben

Welcome to all our newbies and welcome back to our returners!

longtermlurker, as Keiss said, its your challenge so you run it how it suits you best. Some people keep separate budgets for things like pet food or entertainment / birthday / meals out. In my GC budget I include all food, cleaning. laundry and toiletries; I also include the weekly chippy lunch I have with my elderley rellie, but I don't include the (very occasional) chinese take out treat.

If anyone's looking for meal ideas you might like to check out the Complete Cooking Collection and there are loads of great recipes omn posts #5 and #6 on the front page of this thread.- there are also some useful hints and links in Pinks' posts on the front page.

Good luck everyone! and have a great bank holiday weekend!

longtermlurker_2

Thanks so much for that link. There is loads that my lot will eat:D

WelshWoofer

Went shopping and managed to stick (more or less) to the list and spend £42 including treats for tonight.
We were going to the cinema but have decided to stay in with Mr S popcorn and sweeties and a movie instead saving about £20 on tickets and stuff to scoff.
Have plenty of food in for the week and have menu planned and may even get a few extra meals for next week out of the shopping if I'm careful. We're away next weekend and so its only Mon- Fri the following week to think about for food so hopefully a lower spend next week? Hmmm, never seems to happen!

Anyway, one shop down for May and on budget!

Keiss_21

longtermlurker wrote: »

I have got some chilli seedlings on the kitchen windowledge but I'm not sure when to put them outside. We also have some bean seeds DD got from school but they are still in the packet.
Last year we were given some tomato plants so I put them in planters in the back garden so the dog couldn't wee on them so he dug them up instead:mad: Will be puting things in the front garden from now on.
We don't go out to eat. In fact I don't go out at all if I can help it.

Don't put the chillies out until they are bigger and the weather is MUCH warmer, remember, they come from Mexico and need heat and shelter from strong winds. I grow mine in my unheated greenhouse, but if the weather is good, I might put some out this year. They prefer pots to grow-bags I find, not liking their feet to be too wet. Black pots are better to terracotta ones as they heat up faster (honest!).

As to the dog, can you put a small fence round your veg-patch? For our first dog (a VERY bouncey English Springer, who dug up EVERYTHING!), we put up an 18 inch chicken-wire fence round our veg, and he was very good, only every jumping it a couple of times,,,and after a good rollocking, didn't do it again! Our present Golden Retriever is only ever interested in eating the rasperries...she comes in with a purple head some days!! I also have fenced and gated off the bottom half of the garden where the veg and fruit are, essential when Floss was much younger, but these days the gate is hardly ever closed and she doesn't stray onto my raised beds at all.

Saying that, when I was growing up, we had 2 Golden Retrievers, a mother and son. She would wander down the rows of peas and strip them off, eating the peas and spitting out the pods, with her son following dutifully behind eating up these pods...it was soo funny to watch!! :rotfl:Mum despaired at thlack of peas though!

Good luck with all your veg and fruit growing, there's nothing like your home-grown food.

longtermlurker_2

I will keep them in the kitchen for now then thanks.

I did think about fencing an area off but he is very big and likes to do circuits of the garden. If anything is in his way he tends to go through it. He isn't very bright:rotfl:
he other thing is we don't get a lot of sun in the back thanks to next doors out of control forest:mad:

Spiggle

Keiss_21 wrote: »

Hya Spigs, are these sweet or chilli peppers? You can freeze both quite easily, I don't bother with blanching, I just chop up the sweet ones, ready to put into sauces, soups, pizzas. I spread them out thinly on a tray/chopping board covered in cling film and freeze them before bagging up later. The chillies you can air-dry, having them as decorations about the house and/or freeze them whole. Hope this helps

That's brilliant, thank you Keiss 21. :A

They will be sweet peppers (I have an aversion to hot food as well as vinegar ) and we'll probably eat much of the crop but we do use them a lot and during the cold months they are one of our most expensive veg purchases both in cost and food miles. So your tips are absolutely great and have already been shown to OH.

Longtermlurker, I include all household purchases such as food, cleaning products, toiletries, and wet cat food (Wh***as). But my cats have a special dry food diet which I don't include in the challenge (at the moment anyway ).

Booze is also excluded as OH and I have £15 pocket money each per week to spend as we see fit. His is spent mostly on beers! The pocket money has been a turning point for us as it has hugely reduced stress and arguments as I no longer 'care' iykwim what he spends 'his' money on so I don't gripe and snipe at him about it. The main rule is when it's gone it's gone. Oh, and no subs either!

But as Keiss and rosie have said the important thing is that the GC is your GC and you decide what is right for you to include and exclude. If I were to offer any advice from the little time I've been on here (3rd month just beginning) it would be this:

Don't go shopping without a list
Do make an inventory of everything you have in your cupboards, fridge and freezer
Don't go shopping without a list
Do keep all receipts and note them down (some use a book others use a spreadsheet)
Don't go shopping without a list
Do ask yourself whether you NEED to buy a product NOW
Don't go shopping without a list
Do try to limit the number of times you visit the shops - this seems to be very effective for many on here
Don't go shopping without a list
Do set a reasonable and achievable budget - you can always reduce later but too stringent a budget at first and failing may discourage in the long run - an unachievable target = a stick to beat yourself with!
Don't go shopping without a list
Do keep posting on the forum because the people on here are fantastic at supporting, guiding, hugging and just generally being there when you need them

I hope that helps a little. Welcome and good luck to you and all the other newbies joining this wonderful forum and challenge.

We've just had our first spends of May at the butchers, grocers and chemist and have updated sig to reflect the £11.42 spent.

All the best,
Spigs

greent

welcome and good luck. longtermlurker

Reporting in with my first spend of the month: £67.58 at Mr S. More than I intended - but I did fill a large trolley with things - I deviated off list by buying store cupboard stuff on offer and a couple of treat items on offer ready for half term.Ooh, and nappies. Oh, and we now have a cleaner:o - not very mse - and she likes cillit - which was 1/2 price, so I bought several bottles

I do still need to pick up a couple of things in Mr T tomorrow with the Sunday paper, and will also check A!di's f&v. Haven't properly meal planned for next week yet, but will do so after the aldi trip :-)

Whoopsied Waitrose chicken tonight with rostis and mega-whoopsied salsa (left over from another meal). yummy :-)

gien

Great Advice Spiggle - I shall be acting on it but I think you forgot to mention that it's always good to go shopping with a list;)