August 2010 Grocery Challenge

scotsaver

That's me done for August, MRSMC £237.30 for Aug, I'm so pleased that I've got a bit to spare, can go out tomorrow and spend the "extra" on some dried fruit, sugar etc ready to make my Xmas recipes once kids back at School.

I think one of main reasons for coming in under this Month was using everything up in the Freezers and also using what was growing in the Allotment and Garden, didn't have the Allotment last year so this has really helped a great deal. Can't remember last time I had to buy spuds, onions, salad leaves, cucumber etc. Just wish my Tomatoes would turn red but not getting much sun and too much rain at the moment. I can see me having to make Green Tomato Chutney soon!

MRSMC please put me down for £250 for Sept. Will have to go careful as Freezers very low and will need restocked. Will have to do some careful Meal planning and will be looking out for loads of whoopsies this month.

Good luck to those still to declare, for those that have gone over please don't lose heart, we're all in this together. See you on the September thread.;)

greent

rachelmk wrote: »

Just back from Mr T and managed to spend pennies under £43 using the Sun voucher.
I seemed to buy a lot of tins and packets and plenty of fresh stuff so it will see us through until next weekend (I hope!).

I have written a meal plan and wrote the shopping list accordingly but I was surprised to see how expensive Mr T is getting. I have been shopping at Mr S for a few weeks (due to money off Nectar vouchers) and went back to Mr T for the first time in what seems like ages.

Just a few examples - a bag of spinach at Mr S was £1 and £1.50 at Mr T. Cereal (both own brand) - £1.20 ish at Mr S, £1.54 at Mr T.
It just seemed generally more expensive for the type of thing I buy. Does anyone else see the same thing?

yes - people often say that Mr S is more expensive, but I don't think it is - and I've found lots cheaper there (and nicer )

Winged_one

Sorry, I was having a moaney morning earlier (not much better now, but trying to show it less at least).

I DID spend at lunch (although not on food) as I got 2 pens I was looking for for my cardmaking, and 2 gorgeous Santa decorations half price which I bought to start the "Bride's Box" for SIL and my sis, both of whom I expect to announce engagements in the coming months (and SIL is about to build a house anyway, so will give it to them for their "first Christmas together in the new house" even if that preceeds the wedding). I did it before for a cousin (as their wedding present) and it was very well received. But some of the bits were difficult to get, and some are very expensive, so I want to get things that would work as I see them.

I am not ready to declare for August yet (I have one shopping trip to go - I'll be happy if I end up under €350 overall), but can you put me down for €300 again in September please MrsMcCawber? Thank you!

Hippeechiq

NickJW wrote: »

Hi All

I spent a whopping 19p on 2 HUGE onions today. I was going to go to Mr S, but saw a shop accross the road opening their vegetable stall outside. I worked out that their onions cost 59p per kilo and in Mr S they cost £1 for a 1kg bag. I'm very pleased with this discovery! I don't know if everything else is as cheap because they are loose, but everytime I need veg I'm going to go to Mr S's website, check the price per kilo and see if the veg shop is cheaper.

That is often the case NickJW I don't think it used to be, but I've discovered in the last couple of months that buying fruit & veg loose, works out cheaper than buying packs most of the time

NickJW

I agree Hippiechiq. I used to always presume that the greengrocers was more expensive (maybe because the one near where I live is one of these organic ones), but this really opened my eyes. It had loads of odd shaped veg, like they showed as being thrown away on the 'Great British Waste Menu' last night, so I felt like I was doing my bit from stopping them from being thrown away.

Edited to add: I forgot to also say Happy Anniversary Greent! :-)

goodlife_wannabes

Hippeechiq wrote: »

Wow! So many of you are bringing your month in on budget. Well done :T

Happy Anniversary greent



Thanks for the suggestion goodlife wannabes I do always have skimmed milk powder in stock as it's handy in case you suddenly discover you're very low on milk.....and also, if you make it up and add it to any remaining milk, no-one notices the difference - especially if you don't tell them

I always use if for making the custard for a trifle, white/cheese sauces or when I make Angel Delight and such, just to bring down the fat/calorific content too.

I'm pretty sure though, that, a couple of months back, when I actually marked on the tin every time I made up 1pint or a ½pint, and then divided the total amount of pints I got out of a tin, into the cost of the tin itself, it didn't work out any cheaper than buying fresh milk, as I remember being a bit disappointed at the discovery - but if anyone knows different, please say, as that would indeed be a big help

I also remember being very disappointed to find out that it's cheaper per pint to buy 4 pints of milk than 6, but I've been finding that out on a lot of things lately.

I had a 2kg bag of Long Grain Rice in my delivery from A$da yesterday for £2.43. When I was browsing their website last night, I discoverd that it would have been cheaper to buy 2 x 1kg bags @ 98p for £1.96, which would have saved me 47p.

I'm so annoyed with myself, as I usually check these things since discovering that buying a bigger pack/bottle of anything doesn't always equate to cheaper.......although I'm sure it used to, didn't it :huh:

oh my, your right!

I've just worked it out. Mr S home brand is £2.17 which makes 4 litres, my local shop sells 2 litres for £1.10. I'm only saving 3p

Unless I can find it cheaper elsewhere I might as well have fresh

Spiggle

Hello All,

Happy anniversary greent! :beer:

Nine times out of ten our greengrocer is cheaper than the sm so I'm not at all surprised by your discovery NickJW. And without doubt buying loose is better and cheaper than packaged. I can never understand putting bananas in plastic bags :huh: when they have perfectly good protection 'grown in'. This goes for most fresh produce.

As for MrT prices :shocked: _pale_ well don't get me started! :rotfl: I've been using them for about the past year 'on foot' and for a good few years online. Even when I wasn't taking note of our spends I still felt MrS was too expensive. But now, my last two online shops have been from MrS as the basket total has been between £6 and £9 cheaper (thanks my supermarket). That to me (and probably all of us on here) is a huge difference. :eek: Yesterday I used MrM as there isn't a MrS convenient to work. There is of course a MrT but they are taking the proverbial.

And the comments on the con on larger sizes are bang on. Yes, I think larger did always mean cheaper (economies of scale and all that) but no longer. Anyone else feel we're constantly playing a game with the sm? It's a sort of hide and seek or from their view 'let's see what we can scam them with this week/fortnight'! :mad:

And now I've ranted determinedly about them , I should say that those are pretty valuable vouchers greent. :cool: A tenner off a £30 shop is pretty good I reckon.

Ok, NSD for me today which means we finally made our target :T which is the lowest we've set ourselves since starting. Things should get back to normal in September but that's not until next Wednesday.

The Waste programme last night was both brilliant and terrifying at the same time. Someone surely has to start doing something about such appalling practices as ploughing perfectly good wholesome produce back into the ground. Did I miss it or did they not mention the fact that many of these farmers are contractually bound by the the big boys (sm) to not sell to others/at cheaper prices for fear of losing orders? Truly criminal. :mad:

Right I'm off. Have a great evening all and greent have a brilliant weekend away.

Take care all,
Spigs

monks

Declaring at £191.69 for August .So, so pleased with this, with school holidays !!!.Have made plenty of picnic lunches,snacks and drinks taken with us instead of buying and sneaked food into cinema. We were away for a little while ,so food then out of holiday fund but did take a few things with us to save money. :j:D:j.PLEASE CAN YOU PUT ME DOWN FOR £250 FOR SEPT THANKYOU to include all food ,toileties, cleaning products, pet food, take aways, snacks out and ds birthday food (me oh dd ds)
Many thanks for everyones advice and tips x

Long_tall_sally

I spent £106 today although I am now onto September's challenge. This included 3 shops in Tescos with three £5 vouchers - yes I had to go in and out 3 times, how ridiculous is that?! Mind you i spent £13 in Sainsburys & one of their BOGOFS didn't go through properly so I had to go to Customer Services who not only took ages to sort it out, didn't even bother to apologise so I was not at all impressed there.

I am really hoping that September will be MY month to come in under target but only time will tell of course. It is obviously very early days!

Spiggle - I agree about Tescos prices. A lot of their stuff is more expensive and I am also not too keen on the quality of some of their meat. I still go there mind, for store cupboard stuff, gluten free food and for their offers.

See you all over on September's challenge.

Flat_Eric

rachelmk wrote: »

Just back from Mr T and managed to spend pennies under £43 using the Sun voucher.
I seemed to buy a lot of tins and packets and plenty of fresh stuff so it will see us through until next weekend (I hope!).

I have written a meal plan and wrote the shopping list accordingly but I was surprised to see how expensive Mr T is getting. I have been shopping at Mr S for a few weeks (due to money off Nectar vouchers) and went back to Mr T for the first time in what seems like ages.

Just a few examples - a bag of spinach at Mr S was £1 and £1.50 at Mr T. Cereal (both own brand) - £1.20 ish at Mr S, £1.54 at Mr T.
It just seemed generally more expensive for the type of thing I buy. Does anyone else see the same thing?

I get most of my shopping in Te&co and also have my home delivery shops from them. (I must try the mysupermarket, which is cheapest supermarket option? as A&da,Sa**sb&&s and Te&co all deliver to my postcode. I was wondering though, how does it work for non-branded goods?)

I do my top up / emergency (oh no - forgotten ???) from Sa&&bur&s and to be honest I find that most of the time the supermarkets have the same price for the same product but I have spotted occasions where something might be more expensive in one than the other and vice versa so swings and roundabouts really. And I have also noted that whilst an item might be on offer in one supermarket, its not in a competitor but is a couple of weeks later (iyswim). I also find that sometimes two different supermarkets will run an offer for the same product but one gives more saving than the other. Its certainly a confusing business though ! and I very much feel that they have us by the short and curlies !

I used to have a somerfield in the town where I live but its now a sainsburys. somerfield also used to be 2 mins from my office and they were always a few more pence dearer than my home town and that really used to irritate me. In my opinion, whichever supermarket you are visiting, the price should be the same.

The supermarket local to my office is now a coop and you can almost always guarantee that they are 20 to 30 pence more than the te&co met% that is also quite local to me - it just means a bit of inconvenience - worth it if it saves money.

Spiggle wrote: »

Hello All,

Happy anniversary greent! :beer:

Nine times out of ten our greengrocer is cheaper than the sm so I'm not at all surprised by your discovery NickJW. And without doubt buying loose is better and cheaper than packaged. I can never understand putting bananas in plastic bags :huh: when they have perfectly good protection 'grown in'. This goes for most fresh produce.

As for MrT prices :shocked: _pale_ well don't get me started! :rotfl: I've been using them for about the past year 'on foot' and for a good few years online. Even when I wasn't taking note of our spends I still felt MrS was too expensive. But now, my last two online shops have been from MrS as the basket total has been between £6 and £9 cheaper (thanks my supermarket). That to me (and probably all of us on here) is a huge difference. :eek: Yesterday I used MrM as there isn't a MrS convenient to work. There is of course a MrT but they are taking the proverbial.

And the comments on the con on larger sizes are bang on. Yes, I think larger did always mean cheaper (economies of scale and all that) but no longer. Anyone else feel we're constantly playing a game with the sm? It's a sort of hide and seek or from their view 'let's see what we can scam them with this week/fortnight'! :mad:

And now I've ranted determinedly about them , I should say that those are pretty valuable vouchers greent. :cool: A tenner off a £30 shop is pretty good I reckon.

Ok, NSD for me today which means we finally made our target :T which is the lowest we've set ourselves since starting. Things should get back to normal in September but that's not until next Wednesday.

The Waste programme last night was both brilliant and terrifying at the same time. Someone surely has to start doing something about such appalling practices as ploughing perfectly good wholesome produce back into the ground. Did I miss it or did they not mention the fact that many of these farmers are contractually bound by the the big boys (sm) to not sell to others/at cheaper prices for fear of losing orders? Truly criminal. :mad:

Right I'm off. Have a great evening all and greent have a brilliant weekend away.

Take care all,
Spigs

I watched the waste food programme with interest and was shocked (although I did know of this practice previously) that items have to be to a supermarket's specific requirements otherwise they are rejected. Who hasn't walked around a farmer's market and marveled at the lovely misshapen veg on offer that is covered in dirt ! I was also quite intrigued at the chap who was talking about the tomatoes who said that this tomato doesn't meet ? standard thus would be destined for the bin or would go in the market value range. I do buy market value range but will ensure I buy more of it now ! clearly its the same quality as the more pricey packs - its just that the shape is a bit different ! crazy. Why have we become such fussy consumers ?

I did enjoy the show but found it a bit long winded (had lots of interruptions so impossible to view in one sitting) but to be honest I preferred the Economy Gastronomy show and I hope this comes back.

I am afraid to say, I fell victim to the dine in for two from m&$ today. I actually bought two deals but given its a bank holiday weekend, Ive decided this will be "our treat". It would be nice to go out for a meal but my favorite restaurant (where I think we would have gone) has closed and the pub local to us serves nice food but is overpriced. So by buying a m&$ meal deal, Im saving pennies in a way because I still feel I have a lovely meal to look forward to but it hasn't cost the earth. Im trying hard to plan nice meals particularly at weekends so I don't feel the need to go out and thus save some money. I love a nice steak but at nearly £15 a pop, a much cheaper option is to cook it at home !

I don't know if it was from this site but someone somewhere mentioned about the menu planner sheet from here
http://organizedhome.com/household-notebook/printable-pages

I love the weekly menu planner with shopping list and will use these to plan my weekly meals from now on. I also like the monthly monthly planner?

I have enough food to see me over the weekend but was tempted to have Tesco and do some batch cooking but by simply looking through my favorites and adding those items I need/ those items to stick in my freezer to make meals with, the total reached an incredible £134.00 so that idea is binned for now. Perhaps my challenge for September should be to eat up/use up what I have ! sorry for the long post.