June 2010 Grocery Challenge

highland_fling_2

rentawitch wrote: »

Petrol doesn't count for the Grocery challenge does it?

no I don't count it in mine but some others might

elizabunny

rentawitch wrote: »

Petrol doesn't count for the Grocery challenge does it?

Not in mine either......Phew I 'd having nothing to spend on food. You put in your budget the items you want to keep tabs on. Some include more than others but it's up to you. I exclude wine and beer because they're not a necessity, we don't buy them much and only when we can afford them as a treat.

missy_dee_2

Hi all

Quick update. Got back from a 5 day break at centerparcs on Friday so charged £40 to my budget for the food I took & the bit's I bought whilst there. Spent a bit more than that but charged the rest to 'holiday spending' as a bit limited to what we could buy. Spent a fortune overall so will need to make sure I stick to the food budget for the rest of this month!

Spent £2.80 today on a T*sco ham salad lunch meal, some skim milk & a reduced pre-packed salad for tomorrow lunch( I ate so much junk at centerparcs just want to eat really healthly this week). Rough Meal plan for the week
Mon - chicken with stuffing & loads veggies
Tues - chicken salad ( I'll make a chicken soup for freezer)
Wed - Baked cod ( from freezer) with veggies
Thurs - sausage casserole
Friday - salmon ( from freezer)

Well that's the plan.....so don't need to buy anything till Saturday....famous last words!!

Good luck everyone
Dee X

recovering_spendaholic

Went to Tescos this morning and spent £41 but got loads (including a new sweeping brush) and won't need anything else for a week. Next week will be lower spend anyway because DD1 is on holiday with her friends in Spain and it will just be me and DD2. I reckon, due to the fact that neither of us are half as fussy as DD1 we should be able to eat from the freezer or cupboards quite easily. I made some flapjacks and falafel last night and both of them were a total disaster. The flapjacks were really really greasy and the falafel just wouldn't hold together and I ended up with a big pan of mush. I have frozen the flapjacks and will crumble bits of them into fruit crumble toppings to use them up, but I think I will have to bin the falafel which is a pain. When I was in Tescos earlier I noticed they had an ethnic food aisle (I went to the big Tesco Extra not my normal regular sized Tesco) and some of the stuff there was loads cheaper - I got a HUGE 2kg bag of cornmeal (polenta) for 89p and they had big massive bags of rice for £5 and dried pulses for £2. I got the polenta because it isn't too huge but I would have nowhere to store the rice etc and it would take us AGES to use it all up - shame.

nickynoo08

Aaarrrgggg!!! I used to be sooooo good at this challenge, what went wrong:o.

I've not been on this thread for the last few months, 1 cuz i was staying under or just on budget everymonth and 2 cuz i've recently had another baby, but thigs just seem to have totally gone to pot this last month. My usual grocery budget is £150 for everything - i've got oddles of toiltries (only need OH's stuff), oddles of nappies and wipes (i stocked up on offers whilst preggers;)) and yet this month i seem to have spent loads on not a lot of stuff. I did my meal plan and wrote my list and yet somehow we've managed to end up in mr T's spending money 4 times in 2 days:mad:. I'm hoping its just a bit of a blip this month as at the last minute today OH decided to invite my mum and brothers for tea so we had to buy a few extra bits for them. Anyhoo i've got a not so whopping £32 left in the pot for the month, worst thing is i still need to get baby milk which will cost me £15 so i really only have £17 left for food, milk bread etc...

Right i'm off to make a list of all the food i have... I'll be back:cool:

cw18

Not reported in on here since Wednesday - mainly due to helping DD with a house move since I finished work on Friday.

Thursday was an NSD
Friday I spent £1.39 on Whoopsies from the bakery in Mr M (where I work), which should have cost £5.00 exactly
Saturday was an NSD, as OH bought the pizza I had at his place (should have been tea at around 7:30pm - ended up being more like supper at 9:45pm due to the house move not going as quickly/smoothly as it could have!)
Sunday should have been an NSD, but OH and I ended up baby sitting my GDs while DD and my Dad were carrying on with the move. We were at her house, and she announced she had bread and ham in to make butties for lunch...... then remembered she had no spread. She also didn't have anything but ham, and OH doesn't eat meat. So I had to spend £3.12 on spread and cheese in a small village C00p, but brought what was left home with me as she made no offer to reimburse so she could hang on to them
Today has been another spend day - had very little milk left, so had to pick some up after work (but had expected this, as last bought some last Wednesday). The only other thing I knew for sure I'd need this week was potatoes, so I picked those up as well in an attempt to maximise NSDs later in the week - only to realise while cooking tea I'll almost certainly need more frozen veg before I next need milk Spend on milk and potatoes was £3.18, but I also spent 80p in the canteen at work (where they sell off some things that are past the sell-by date). For this I got 3x750g bags salted peanuts, 2xpacks Best Florentines, and a pack each of Lemon J@ffa Cake Bars and Mr K Choc Chip Cake Bars, and a pack of 2 cheese & onions rolls from the 'pie shop' (8 items at 10p each)

Need to check the shelf prices of my 10p goodies while at work tomorrow, so that I can update the Whoopsie Spend/Value of my spreadsheet/signature.

huxley

Hi all was aiming for a nsd used the left over chicken and stock from yesterday with couscous, salad from the garden made a potato salad and threw some some chopped chives and cheese into the dough mix in the breadmaker to make a loaf to go with tea, so it should of been a complete nsd but.............. lloyds pharmacy online are doing 2 lynx deoderants for £3:o so I ordered 12!!!! I know but they do last them and ds2 will pay the £1.50 each time he needs one ....... mmmm do I sound like I am trying to justify this to myself:D

Winchelsea

Have been away for the W/E staying with DD1, and had a really nice time, very relaxed. DH (in hospital) was visited several times, by DDs 2, 3 and 4, so didn't have to worry about him.

Went to Mr S. today, but only spent £8.04. Restocked the fruit bowl, got some eggs and dried fruit, also some IAMS cat food that I had a voucher for, and, got washing soda and cheap vinegar. I use the vinegar as cheap conditioner for the coloured wash (but use the white for whites).

I almost bought bread, but didn't. I normally make it all, either in BM or by hand, but since DH has not been here I 've hardly done it, as the last loaf ended up mainly as (delicious) bread pudding. Anyway, I decided to make it, and when it's cool will slice it and freeze it in 2-slice little packages.

Have just thought - for those of us who work on a calendar montrh, tomorrow is half way. I plan for a NSD, so things don't seem too bad.

cw18

Winchelsea wrote: »

Have been away for the W/E staying with DD1, and had a really nice time, very relaxed. DH (in hospital) was visited several times, by DDs 2, 3 and 4, so didn't have to worry about him.

Glad to hear you managed some time away

When my (late) DH was having chemo (and spending time in a different hospital between sessions due to reactions to the treatment), friends and family kept stressing the importance of 'me time' to me. Unfortunately we didn't/don't have other family locally who could make regular visits if I weren't around, but I know just how much all the running around can take it out of the person 'stuck at home'

nickynoo08

Ok so i went through my cupboards and freezer last night and if we're careful and a bit creative i reckon we've got enough stuff to see us through, with the exception of milk, bread and fruit. Anyhoo i defo wont have to set foot in mr T's for at least 4days.