August 2010 Grocery Challenge

greent

cw18 wrote: »

Many thanks for this - I don't need nappy bags, but am running short of 'scoop' bags. Might be worth trying these at least for the garden, meaning I can save/use the 'proper' ones when out walking the mutt

Hardly ever used to buy any such bags at all - but then I started taking re-usable bags to the shops and shopping a lot less..... so in some respects my attempts at Frugal living are to blame for this expense

My mum always uses value nappy bags for her dogs when out walking

Hippeechiq

seductivesmile wrote: »

Thank You MrsGibbs, it has to get easier, and i have to find the silver lining in my storm clouds.

It's a slow process seductivesmile but you will get there hun :grouphug:

laisbojar83 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Been a while since I posted anything.
Well, dont even know from where to start.
The whole month was going so well.. I had managed to save 240 pounds, for the first time ever!!
Saturday morning talking to hubby about how things were improving and even said: IF NOTHING HAPPENS, WE SHOULD HAVE A NICE LITTLE POT before Christmas.
Got ready, went out.. when we looked at our car I nearly fainted! Someone damaged the windscreen beyond repair and knocked our side mirror (driver`s side - so no way it was another car!). Because we are both quite young, I am 26 and hubby is 24, we WOULD have to pay he insurance excess 280!! Well, it doesnt get any better.. if we claim through insurance the premiums will go sky rocket high.. oh the joys of youth lol. So, we have decided to not go through the insurance which is going to cost us 383!:eek::eek:
Thats all the money I had managed to save plus everything that was left to keep us going until payday, apart from 40.00.
Last summer holiday weekend, at home I am feeling so down at the moment, its like that everytime I try to save money. Something has to happen.
Now I have to feed all of us until the 01st with 30.00 because 10.00 I am going to put on the gas card and I will have to use my electricity emergency to keep us going until then, as there is only 3.00 left! I just feel like swearing and screaming soooo much :mad:
I will try and stretch the money. Have touse my Nectar points - have 10.00 there and my copper coins too.. there is about 6.50 in 1 and 2p`s (was saving those for Xmas

Oh dear - that is rough Like another poster said though, I guess you just have to look at it, that had you not saved the money, then you would really be in a muddle. It's harsh though, when you had managed to save some money. I lost my job in January, and our car failed it's MOT in April. We can't afford to get it fixed or buy a new one, but if we lived in the deep countryside, like we used to, we'd be stuffed, and OH wouldn't be able to get to work. As it is, we live in a town now, so although I'm gutted that I no longer have a car for the 1st time in my adult life, at least OH can get to work via bus, most things I need are within walking distance, but if I need to, I can get a bus to just about anywhere, so that's my silver lining

scruffypet wrote: »

Thanks Hippeechiq for the useful info. I havn't tried online sopping before but I will definately have a look at it.
I have started using some menus this week and I hope if I can get into a routine, I should be able to lower my budget each month.
I will look out for the new thread in September

You're welcome, and well done on having started to meal plan :j Look foward to seeing you over on the new thread

MummyEm wrote: »

Well I am definately over the £400 budget for the month. Currently at £440.78 but that does include 2 takeaways, one sunday pub lunch, few extra teas and cakes out due to summer hols etc. Also ended up having my sister stay with us for almost two weeks so that upped things too.

All in all pretty pleased with the month. Before having children 3 years ago DH and I would eat finest and Waitrose ready meals every night and spent a small fortune on food, I dread to think exactly how much we could have saved .
3 years on, we have a fairly well balanced (always room for improvement), healthy menu all cooked from scratch (apart from the odd take out for the grown ups!). We were still spending over £600 a month on food 18 months ago and although I did try the GC a couple of times, always failed to even get it down to £550 :eek:.

Anyways, this month was a long shot, so whilst over, will still be please is I can keep it to £450. We do still need some fruit and veg and more milk to finish the month but will only be making my own bread and eating from the freezer for the rest of the month so should be ok.

p.s. apologies for the essay!

Well done you! :T

Couple of spends today in £idl £5.61 & Te$co £6.75 totalling £12.36 bringing August spends to £214.80 out of £275

Got an A$da delivery of about £50(ish) on Wednesday, so it really is going to be very close :whistle:

freakyogre

£9.79 spent in Farmfoods on Saturday meaning I have gone over my total for the month. Oops. Not by a huge amount so i'm not too bothered and I will get a lot of meals from what I bought.

Made this last night, but used up what I had so only made it with potatoes (they were going soft), courgettes (from my plant ), 2 tins of tomatoes, some chickpeas from the freezer, an onion and some garlic. I wasn't hungry once it was made so I have portioned it up and frozen it. Very cheap and yummy!

I think i'll go for a walk at lunchtime tomorrow as we noticed there's quite a lot of blackberries down one of the lanes near our office, so I think i'll go and get some before they all go. I didn't think they'd be out yet.

Sunny_Donny

yahoo, the tomatoes are finally turning red so no buying supermarket ones for a couple of weeks.
OH knocked two green tomatoes on the floor and binned them - can't reach in wheely bin to retrieve and wash them and put on the windowsill to go red, but he has learnt the error of his ways!!!!!!!!!!!!

have done the last shop of the month - only got to add £2.07 on for some milk tomorrow night, so pay day on Friday so total for August will be £129.82 (9.82 over but better than expected)
Been extremely frugal, but freezer still has enough food in for the rest of this week and we have enough fruit til the weekend.
Will be going blackberry picking at the weekend if it stops raining as have recipes for bramble jelly to make for chrissy pressies.
Will also be ordering fruit to make Christmas cakes - I like Auntie Delia's recipe, so will be making that sometime in september to put away.
Will post on September board when it is up and running with target for then

Hippeechiq

Long_tall_sally wrote: »

I'm depressed! Just added on my spends today & yesterday of £11 Co Op, £11 Frm Foods & £2 Iceland and am now over £100 over target. And the kids are still moaning that there is nothing to eat!

I bought 4 copies of Monday's Sun and was wondering whether I would be able to do one big shop of £160 using all 4 or whether I would need to do it as 4 transactions either split (if acceptable at the till) or by going in and out 4 times! I was thinking today about one of the reasons that I never seem to meet target anymore where as months ago I did or nearly did. I remembered that I used to always be able to use the Farm Foods vouchers against my Tesco shop which would have been about a £30-£40 reduction plus coupons for other products when Tescos used to accept these. I know that this probably sounds like I am trying to make excuses for myself. I'm not - I know that I would still be over even I could still use these vouchers because I seem unable to do certain things which I know would probably help such as meal planning. I think one reason for this is having different numbers for dinner half of the week when we have OH's kids as well as mine plus not really knowing how much is a portion if I batched cooked & froze.

Sounds to me like you've got a lot on you hands, and I think most of us would be hard pressed to menu plan if we weren't doing it for specific numbers all the time.

Hopefully, someone a bit more experienced/knowledgeable than me might have a brainwave to help you out, as I have never batch cooked. I batch bake, but that's entirely different.

My kids are adults now, but I remember mine used to be bottomless pits when it came to feeding them in the Summer Holidays, and I think a lot of people on here will sympathise with that, and I'm sure it will be a bit easier for all of you who have children school age to budget better, once they have gone back to school.

I think also, you should cut yourself some slack. Your circumstances seem unsettled (in as much as you're never sure exactly how many you'll be cooking for) which makes being "Supermum" a tad difficult and you are trying, and continue to try. Personally, I think that deserves a :T

guccigoo

hi nsd yesterday :j but today went to mr t and got my 4 tins of chocs for xmas...yes xmas :eek: they were buy one get one free so spent £27 with a few other bits. The chocs are well hidden from the kids :rotfl:

suzybloo

Another no spend today so doing quite well - only another few days to go so should meet my target. Will have to buy rolls and milk tomorrow and Mr T will deliver shopping on Wednesday. Didnt have any cakes or biscuits for DH's lunch box so have just made a dozen lemon cup cakes, 2 large (2lb) Banana Loafs and a 12 inch by 10 inch Gingerbread cake with Glace icing, so that should see us through to the weekend no problem. Will maybe buy a plain pack of biscuits but that shouldnt break the bank!!!! I have totally surprised myself this month, so will look at reducing my shop next month by £25, its amazing what planning can do, and I have to say there is definately not so much going in the bin at the end of the week!
Hugs to anyone needing one,

Suz

Hippeechiq

guccigoo wrote: »

hi nsd yesterday :j but today went to mr t and got my 4 tins of chocs for xmas...yes xmas :eek: they were buy one get one free so spent £27 with a few other bits. The chocs are well hidden from the kids :rotfl:

Ooooh - which tins of chocolates? I was hoping to start getting things early, so this would be great. Please say Quality Street

notjustlaura

I'm really pleased (and surprised!) to be reporting another NSD for today (sig updated).

I've done the menu planning and and shopping list ready for tomorrow. The whole process was a lot quicker than last week (which seemed to take *hours*!) and, with the £35 for looking after Tigger, I'm able to get nearly everything I on my list plus petrol and an amount set aside for whoopsies.

guccigoo

Hippeechiq wrote: »

Ooooh - which tins of chocolates? I was hoping to start getting things early, so this would be great. Please say Quality Street

hi Hippeechiq i got roses, celebarations, heros and quality street :j
ive decided im not going to add the chocs to my G budget this month, they can go into my xmas budget.

Also today made HM bread, HM lasagne and HM wedges and the kids said the wedges were better than the shop bought ones