May 2010 Grocery Challenge

jet77

Hi,

Can I throw a spanner in the works and join really late? I'm supposed to be monitoring my grocery shopping spending and it's supposed to be £30 pw (inc dog food, toiletries, washing liquid etc) plus I get a veg and fruit box delivered fortnightly which costs £26 which is £186.33 per month for me 2 children and 3 dogs. So far this month I've spent: £137.34. This leaves £48.99 ... £26 of which will be a veg and fruit box which comes on 21st May leaving £22.99 cash for the rest of the month :eek: I'm counting the veg/fruit box as already having come out of budget cos it's paid by DD so grocery budget currently looks like this £163.34/£186.33

I've got big bags of pasta and rice and really need to bulk out meals and make every bit of food in the house last so that I can stick to target.

I've meal planned for the next week and have every intention of making this work :money:

FelineFantastic

Um *waves hand* Can I join late too please!

Actually I am starting my May month from tomorrow which is pay day (don't ask! Makes everything wacky being paid mid month!!)

Can I be put down for £200 please- you are wonderful MrsM :A.

I did this forum a couple of years ago and loved it and then things went mad and I stopped- can't in the world think why now! Anyway, need to cut back on spending and so this is the perfect place to start!

Back to page 1 for the recipes now! I have lost just about 2 stone in the last year and this will help me keep it off

Winchelsea

Hi everyone - hope all is well.

Have been too busy to come here for past few days, but have kept a note of my grocery spends - total since I last posted is £19.56 - will add to sig.

Have been cooking from fridge and cupboard - spends have been mainly fruit and veg (including organic box), and I did buy dried yeast today as running out. Do other people use Dove Farm yeast? It's £1.20 a pkt, lasts for ages and makes lovely bread. First I've had to buy for 2 or 3 months, and I make all our bread.

purplevamp

Just a quick update of £3.10 from co-op. Got some bagels for 30p and 6 rolls for 20p. Also had some OJ down to 35p and a special on doughnuts 2 bags for £1 (10 in total). Still doing well with the budget this month, and hoping to underspend but still have 18 days to go.

Kadeeae

Stopped in at Mr. A for some milk and ended up getting 10 packs of butter too. :rotfl:

For the butter lovers (I'm stashing mine for future bake-a-thons) out there..... the Anchor block butter 500g and the spreadable 500g too are just £1.14 per pack. Usually I get own brand, but that's 85p (+/-) for 250g so a much better deal on the Anchor

5kg in the freezer shall do me nicely

Spiggle

Hello all and welcome to all the newbies. :wave:

I'm feeling absolutely shattered and a little down at the moment but OH is doing his best to cheer me up. I'm trying hard to find the right justifications too. I feel terrible about just having made the biggest shop since we started the challenge. I went to MrT after work as planned, with a list, and still ended up spending £75.84! :eek::eek::eek::(:(:(

So now the justifications, we have enough loo roll for the next three months and I could open a laundry and cleaning business with the amount I just bought! This was to get to the £30 so I could use the £6 off voucher. The total for household 'essentials' was £31.56 before the £6 came off.

But I'm really disappointed in myself that I got tempted into buying some extras that weren't on the list. Frosted wheats at £2, jumbo hotdog sausages (GD loves hot dogs) £1, 3 knorr stock cubes at 99p each, 3 not from concentrate juice 3 for £4 and some whoopsied cherry toms at 75p. Thats £10.72 I wasn't supposed to spend.

On the plus side, as OH keeps telling me, I also got the 5p off a litre for petrol next week when I fill up.

It just seems so much money to have spent and there are no meals in there. Well to my eyes at least 'cos OH has just read this and disagrees with my analysis - and he is the chef in the house!

Also spent another £5.33 at the tobacco counter (on the list). So sig is updated but we're going to have to be really tight for the rest of the month now.

I think I must be tired or something. Not like me to be like this at all. And the sun has been shining and it is a lovely evening too. So going to get changed, have supper and relax. I might then feel better.

Oh, rosieben I did get tinned pears and cocoa powder so guess what I'm having this weekend?

Sorry for the moan folks. See you tomorrow and have a good night,
Spigs

slowandsteady_2

Hi,

Hugs, Spiggle, we all have days like that, tommorow is a new day, and you have your lovely hubby to cheer you up!

Well ive updated sig, i feel like ive been on a mammoth spending spree today but dont have much to show for it!

Had a last minute birthday gift and cards for FIL so that was £15 gone

Went to M and S for underwear, set me back £27:eek: but only place that i find decent underwear in, and its not an every day occurence

Have spent nearly £38 in Mr T overall today on bits but some excluded from GC i.e. alcohol and those birthday cards

a tenner for a diesel top up and a tenner for phone credit

then i went to Wilk£inson and was very excited to find a kitchen clock that i really liked last week that was £9.99, massively reduced today to £2.31:j and also so some bottles of radox shower gel at half price so got three!

Then i had to have two keys cut for my dad, when did having keys cut get so expensive! My dad likes to have a set to my house in case he travels up and we arent in, he has been asking me since we moved here a year ago!

I think that was it:o:o

So i have spent way too much money today, but this is a rare thing for me to spend so much in one go, and it wont be happening again for a while!

Worse thing is i have to do my 'normal' weekly shop tommorow!! Wont need much though, just meat really, milk and maybe some salad stuff. Im going to get everything from the market i think.

Night all x

freakyogre

£1.75 spent in Sainsburys on some houmous and hand soap.

hex2

slowandsteady - re the radox. I used to spend a fortune on radox then my DH bought me a bottle of badedas as a present a few years ago, it is better for sore muscles, and you only use a few drops against a big glug of radox so an £8 bottle lasts me at least a year of nighlty baths. Fellow Pratchett fans will appreciate that this is a Vimes theory of Boots situation!

Kadeeae - that is a bargain for butter but if I went to Asda I would get carried away with other stuff.

I had to go to Mr Ms for work today and ONLY bought the dolce gusto pods that Mr S failed to provide on the monthly order. Impressed with myself, I didn't even look at the offers. This is a serious change in attitude. If I don't need things then they are NOT a bargain.

Last A&C box tomorrow - cant go back to Lidl mouldy rubbish or co-op overpriced so we are going to try a local Non-organic box for £11 a week. If it is useless then we will go back to A&C at £18. In the 7 weeks of veg boxes we have eaten a lot more veg, increased the variety, tried some new things, binned nothing, and only resorted to emergency petit pois a few times so overall a positive result.

My new hens are finally laying :j.

pipersky

Hello everyone :wave:

Nothing to report!! Another NSD...

:j:j:jYIPEE:j:j:j

Good to hear so many people doing so well this month Anyone who is feeling down about not sticking to budget, just think how much you were spending BEFORE your lightbulb moment!

Remember: 'You're not a failure because you didn't make it, you're a success because you tried...' :j