August 2010 Grocery Challenge

smiler34

Hi all, Well I managed to get all my bread, milk, veg and fruit yesterday for £1.70 lol cause used my tesco vouchers (I know everyone says it's best to use them for the deals but there was nothing worth having from my point of view) However then went and spent £8 on wine and snacks cause me and dp had night to ourselves so have spent £11.00 so far need to get a couple of things I forgot today so will proabably be a bit more for this week but fingers crossed I can keep it down.

Sam xx

Spiggle

Afternoon All,

Rablovesroo we did the same as you when we started in Feb/Mar. OH used to do all our shopping and the spending was astronomical. I appreciated him doing it but his concept of a bargain was buying a couple of duck breasts at £?!? pounds 'cos they were 'reduced' by a few pounds and they would give him one meal (I don't eat duck). So we implemented pocket money of £15 per week each which he uses for his booze and any 'specials' he wants to buy himself. It works like a dream and has made one of the biggest impacts on our spend I think.

Someone mentioned (smiler34? chocclare?) using their local market for f&v for the first time. You had fantastic bargains. I wish I had a market here but we don't. When I get back to work I'm going to try and find the market there.

There are some fantastically low spends from fellow challengers old and new this month - well done to you all. :T

I'm a bit miffed at myself at the mo 'cos clearing out clothes, bedding, etc has meant extra washing which I didn't count on when I did the online shop. :mad: So we just had to blow what should have been another NSD by going and getting fabric softener from Somerfield. £1.45 spent and I'll update sig in a min.

We're also running low on washing liquid but can carry on for a few days. I just went on My Supermarket to check the prices. We buy Pe**il Sml & Mighty 1.5 ltr which can be bought from A**a for £6, MrS for about £6.80 and a stonking £12 :eek: in MrT. Absolutely scandalous. :mad:

Ok, had my rant for the day! :rotfl: I hope you all have a lovely Sunday.

Take care,
Spigs

Casiopeia_2

Hi, I need to reduce my spending, but I have no idea where to start. We've just had a big drop in income so money is mega tight, and I have to start saving from today. How do people feed a family of four, plus pets (dog & cat), for less than £500 an month?

KITTY_2-2

Yet another spend yesterday. Really need to keep away from the shops!!!!

ChocClare

Casiopeia wrote: »

Hi, I need to reduce my spending, but I have no idea where to start. We've just had a big drop in income so money is mega tight, and I have to start saving from today. How do people feed a family of four, plus pets (dog & cat), for less than £500 an month?

Hi Casiopeia - don't despair, you'll get loads of friendly advice on here.

I would say you could reduce down from £500 quite easily. I manage it, LOL - and I have a family of four plus dog + cat too - plus a husband who feels bereft if there are not lots of goodies in the house and a vegetarian daughter and a son who eats me out of house and home.

What age are your children? Do you have any restrictions on what you can and can't eat? Are you able/willing to cook from scratch or do you have time constraints which make this very difficult?

It is more than possible to reduce your spending by quite a lot without REALLY noticing much difference - you don't have to be living on baked beans and toast for the next month.

Let us know a bit more and I'm sure there'll be thousands of people here to help you.

Usagi_2

Went down to the local buchers yesterday for a look at what we can get for our money vs supermarket, and got 3 huge chicken breasts for £5.50 - I think we can get 2 portions out of each so not bad for 3 meals worth. They do a 3 of £10 deal, so we are fine for mince etc in the freezer just now, but think we might do this next month.

Just back from weekly shop at Lidl - spent £21, but included an extra bag of bread flour and vinegar for doing my allotment pickles.
Also parmesan and wine for a risotto this week... but not very money saving, since we almost have spent weeks budget, but still to get yoghurts and milk in the week... I am really fussy about yoghurts since I detest the taste of sweetners which cuts down the options. Maybe we will go without yoghurts this week...it will teach me not to spend on wine next week

Casiopeia_2

ChocClare wrote: »

Hi Casiopeia - don't despair, you'll get loads of friendly advice on here.

I would say you could reduce down from £500 quite easily. I manage it, LOL - and I have a family of four plus dog + cat too - plus a husband who feels bereft if there are not lots of goodies in the house and a vegetarian daughter and a son who eats me out of house and home.

What age are your children? Do you have any restrictions on what you can and can't eat? Are you able/willing to cook from scratch or do you have time constraints which make this very difficult?

It is more than possible to reduce your spending by quite a lot without REALLY noticing much difference - you don't have to be living on baked beans and toast for the next month.

Let us know a bit more and I'm sure there'll be thousands of people here to help you.

Thanks for the welcome ChocClare.

My children are 15 and 16, and one is vegetarian, both are skinny with huge appetites. We tend to a lot of vegetarian meals, but apart from that we have no dietary restrictions.

I mainly cook from scratch, but tend to buy a lot of extras (crisps, chocolate, deserts, ready meals) on impulse, which is probably my main problem. I need to reduce our food/household spend to under £350 a month to make our finances balance, and I'm really worried that I won't manage.

I'm planning to start by doing an online order based on value meats, flour, etc, to stock up my freezer and cupboards. I've also started making more meals with dried soya mince or mixed beans, instead of expensive Quorn products, but I'm stuck for other ideas.

EvieSaver

Went to C*-*p yesterday for wine, beer and bits and pieces - spent £9.79 so now for the week I've spent £86.28, over my £85 budget . I felt really good when I managed to be below budget with the supermarket shop but this is showing me that it's all these little extra shops that catch us out - 3 little 'shops' already!

Had a good day on ebay though- sold a cuddly toy and 3 unwanted gifts for £43.89 (+ P&P £17.50- hopefully I'll make a bit extra on this too).

Nearly finished making a blanket for my son's teddy out of left over bits of wool - already made one each for both my boys that fits a single bed. I must have saved loads in wool at least.

Going to follow the advice here and make a meal plan ready for my next supermarket shop - fingers crossed it'll be cheaper.

Good luck everyone - thanks for all the tips.

EvieSaver

just wanted to say that my home grown beans have reduced my grocery bill and saved me buying wood today! We are really enjoying our beans and thought we would dig out a vegetable patch - as the area is on a slope we needed some wood to raise the bed up a little at one end so all the soil and water doesn't run away - we managed to get some wood for free in exchange for some beans from a neighbour! Great hey?

wssla00

Hello all £62.14 spend on a waitrose delivery today. I have to say I am impressed. They didn't have the FR chicken I wanted so they upgraded it to an organic one for free then they didn't have the croissants I wanted so the put four singles into a bag and only charged me for one. Finally they found out that the eggs had cracked (well three of them) when they were getting delivered so they took out the cracked ones and gave me the other 6 then refunded the eggs too!

It was very good! I will use them again! I should have everything I need for at least two weeks, however I do need to go out and get some malt vinegar and some bin bags as I had forgotten them on my shopping list.

All in all a good shopping day!

Have a good day all