August 2010 Grocery Challenge

ChocClare

smiler34 wrote: »

Atm I am spending about £100 per week for me and my partner and our 3 children (4, 3 and 11 months) Honestly is that excessive?

Anyway, where do I start?

Ps please put me down for £300 this month x

I don't think that's excessive - it's what I always spend if I'm not "thinking" about budgeting. If you don't meal-plan, then you're going to end up spending that, I'd say. If you do meal-plan, it's amazing how much you can cut it down.

Are you giving the children "different" foods from you and your OH? When my kids were little, I seemed always to be cooking, as I did something for them about four-ish and then had to start again for me and the old man. In the end, everyone had the same as I rebelled! Got the kids more interested in different foods, too (though DH did have to put up with blander foods than he was used to for a while...).

Meal-planning doesn't have to be that expensive - you can all eat roast chicken (or versions of it for the littlie), and pad out with things like potatoes, yorkshire puddings, stuffing, sausages, veg, bread sauce and gravy. (Yes, I know it's August, but the weather here today is making me long for some comfort food!) Husband and kids had varying versions of each on their plate, so you had a kiddie version and a grown-up version. I also used to make HM chicken nuggets for them, HM pizza, spaghetti and HM meatballs, shepherd's pie, macaroni cheese etc. etc. The children both went through a phase where their favourite food was spaghetti with ketchup and cheese - I replaced this with plain HM tomato sauce and cheese ( you can hide lots of vegetables in HM tomato sauce) and it's cheap as chips.

Meat is very expensive at the moment I think, so you could maybe try replacing a meat meal with a veggie meal once a week? Start with familiar things (like macaroni cheese for example) and they won't be too terrified. My lot love Spanish omelette - fried onions and potatoes from the garden and eggs from the hens = free meal.

In terms of "big" purchases, supermarkets repeat their BOGOFS and special offers on a rota. If you go online (even if you don't buy online), you can start to get a feel for when these come round. I NEVER pay full price for washing powder or tea or loo rolls, for example (pretty basic needs in our house!) as I buy loads when they're on special offer, and then don't buy them again until the next time they're on offer (within reason of course - I couldn't go without loo roll - or tea for that matter :rotfl:) You can then start to work this into your budget. Also cheese. Paying full price for cheese is anathema to me - it lasts for months even if you don't freeze it.

Anyway, I've wittered on enough. Just to say, if you're used to spending £450-odd a month on food, £300 might be a bit of a low start for you? Might you be better to aim for £350 and then crow if you come in well below?

Whatever you decide, remember to put your figure LARGE and in RED so Mrs M can see it and she'll add you to the list.

Good luck - you'll do brilliantly with all the help on here!

verynewmoneysaver

I have a mini-fruit and veg box once a fortnight. I'm hoping to be able to keep this on. Had one today so 10.95 added on, total £77.58.

365days

NSD day yesterday. Had run out of bread but had forgotten about packet of wraps in cupboard so had them instead.

Because I'm actually looking at the receipts (so I can add them on here) I have noticed the difference between supermarkets prices. Milk Sains-£1.53. L*dl £1.09. Over a month that is a huge amount extra to spend. So I am learning-However went for bread and milk at L*dl and ended up with a few 'Friday Snacks' Total spent £4.47.

Tea tonight Roast Chicken with new pots, green beans and carrots from garden. Tomorrow will be My son's Chicken Fricasse Dead easy and kids love it- Cooked chicken warmed through in a can of chicken soup with sweetcorn and peas mixed in-served with rice.

scotsaver

Logged on to update my total as I've bought a few things in Sainsbur*s today.

Been up to the Allotment and picked a few more Courgettes so will be grating those to put in the Freezer to add to Curries etc at a later date. Will also be looking for that Choc Courgette cake recipe that someone mentioned on here.:p

Dinner tonight usual for Friday, Fish, HM chips and mushy peas.

MadamMim2013

Managed to spend £14.33 in A*da after work, was please with the milk & bread offers and loads of reduced veggies:T
but it was hubbys baccy that added £4.75 to the total:eek:
I can take that off my total tho as baccy is on a seperate budget!! :rotfl:

guccigoo

well i need to update my sig from the last 2 days, i had a spend in mr s the other day which came to £4.04 and then my asda shop yesterday £39.35 including delivery.

We went on a day out today and on the way back i took the kids in mcd's which came to £10.30 so will include that in my budget as it saved me cooking after a long day

hopefully wont need to spend anything tomorrow, well thats my plan anyway

TinkerTailor

:wave: Hi everyone,

I'm new to MSE and would really like to join in the grocery challenge as I really need to cut down on our spending.

I normally shop online (Ocado) and just worked out I spent £580 on shopping in July. I shop weekly and so each shop is around £130.

Plus, I did some top up shops so probably spent around £625 in total :eek:

That's for me, DH & two children (5yrs & 2yrs) and does include shampoo etc, cleaning products & night-time nappies.

I've already had one delivery in August - really cut back and only spent £70 although I'm not sure how long this will last!!

So for the rest of this month, I'm going to:

- stop the Ocado and try and find the cheapest place for the stuff I buy
- reduce the amount of meat we eat. I only buy organic meat so it does tend to easily add up. I'm aiming for 3 meat & 4 veggie meals a week.
- meal plan. I already cook a lot from scratch and while I have a rough idea of what I'm going to be doing I don't properly meal plan. This means stuff does get thrown away or not used up. Plus I want to include some more cheaper meals like risotto etc.
- make sure I've got lunch stuff in. I normally start off the week well making lunches for DH but it tails off by the end of the week as I start to run out of things. This means he ends up buying it at work. Same with the weekends - we often take the kids to the park etc and then buy lunch out. Want to be more organised and have some nice picnic food in so it's not tempting to buy whilst out.

And I think that's it for starters!!!

So please can you put me down for £500.

Thank you.
TTx

CupOfChai

Hi all, was going to pop in after work today for a couple of bits I needed, then do my big shop for next week on Monday evening as I'm away over the weekend. Then I thought where's the sense in that?! :rotfl:

So it's all been done today, total spend £15.16 which brings me up to £40.03 for the month so far. Note to self - STOP buying odd "treat" things that are not on the list! I don't care if they are good for you and delicious AND on offer, if it's not on the list it's not going in the basket! It wasn't so bad though, it was only one thing that I will use. Always somehow use what I have in, as I hate waste.

I have however been very good and made a packed lunch ready for my day out tomorrow, where in the past I'd probably have just gone and bought e.g. an M&S sandwich and pre-prepared fruit pack. :j

Hippeechiq

Hello, welcome and good luck TinkerTailor & smiler34 :wave:

Sue14

ChocClare wrote: »

You're very disciplined! I think I'd have spent another £4 on freezer stuff just to get it free! Will you be able to use the voucher again at least?

Unfortunately I didn't add it up as I went round, so didn't know what the total was until it was all put through the till, otherwise I would have made it up to £40. The voucher is only valid until Sunday, but I do have another one that is valid for next week so maybe I'll use that one.