August 2010 Grocery Challenge

gillian62

I would love to join in for September. Monies are very tight now and I am hoping that this will keep me to budget. I have a budget of £50 per week, but if we have any extra money in, that can increase slightly. There are 4 adults and a 12 year old DS in my family. So I would like to try a total budget of £250 please.

EvieSaver

Good morning all, does any one know if the £5 Tesco voucher is in the Sun newspaper again today? Still annoyed at myself for missing it last week.:mad:

mongmoney

Morning all, I would love to join in please. I want to set myself £200, for me and my 3 cats.
Is starting the month with food in the freezer cheating???
I'm trying to get better at cooking something that I can then portion up for the week. I did a beef stew yesterday, going to do a big curry this pm. What else have others found works well for this?
Good luck to all DFW's out there.
:money:

sofababe

I'd like to declare £138.38 for August.

I'm going to try for £130 in September but have already done my A*da delivery order for £100.04 but that includes enough food for the month so just need to get fresh veg & milk as I go along hopefully.

Spiggle

mongmoney wrote: »

Morning all, I would love to join in please. I want to set myself £200, for me and my 3 cats.
Is starting the month with food in the freezer cheating???
I'm trying to get better at cooking something that I can then portion up for the week. I did a beef stew yesterday, going to do a big curry this pm. What else have others found works well for this?
Good luck to all DFW's out there.
:money:

Hi mongmoney

Having food in the freezer is not cheating at all. Most of us advise you do a 'stocktake' of cupboards, fridge and freezer at the start of your challenge. That way you know what you have in - you can also stick lists inside cupboards or on the freezer door if you want to.

Doing a stocktake starts you off on the right foot for any future shopping - when doing your shopping list (THE most important tool in your armoury!:D) you can check the lists for what you already have.

One area where a lot of us end up spending more than we intended is the 'just popping out for ...' where we forget milk or bread or one of the other staples. So when you do your shopping list always check your staples and if they will run out tomorrow then buy them in one go.

Another useful tool is to set yourself a target of non shopping days (NSD) per month. It's just an extra push.

Browsing in shops can be fatal to your challenge so as much as possible don't do it.

Others on here will give you lots of advice regarding menu planning which really helps a great deal. The recipe lists (always at the front of a new month's thread) give fantastic tasty tried and tested recipes. There are also a lot of other threads that give advice and recipes such as Weezl's thread.

For me, whether you shop online or on foot, ALWAYS make a list and STICK TO IT. You will be amazed at the difference this one small act will make to your shopping habits. If you get tempted by something not on the list (and we all do ) ask yourself 'Do I WANT it or do I NEED it?'

Good luck to you and all the newbies who are joining us - you have come to exactly the right place for support, advice, hugs and inspiration.

Always remember, whether you make your target or not you can just about guarantee that what you have spent will be lower than if you weren't looking.

Take care,
Spigs

[Deleted User]

Hi All
Declaring at £250 - just over this month. Please put me down for £200 for September please. Thanks.

gdyr1945

Hi everyone, so far this month (mine goes 18th -17th) have spent £145 and hopefully I have enough of everything (including bread and milk in freezer) so as long as I can keep away from food shops I might just make that 'it'. By the end of the 3 weeks left we could be eating some very odd combinations! I do have problem of buying the "oh that might just come in handy" or "that is a bargain" and I have found it is amazing just how much all those unnecssary buys add up to. Fingers crossed please.

Long_tall_sally

No spend day today as I have a poorly foot!

I have a load of carrots to use up and was thinking of making a soup. I thought perhaps a carrot and coriander soup (although I don't actually have any coriander at the moment) so does anyone have a recipe for one or any other soup that uses up a lot of carrots? Oh just thought, I could also try a carrot cake.

Spiggle

Hi All,

Well, I think I'll declare now as we've been to town to get a few bits and bobs and we won't need anything now until after Tuesday when our month ends (payday yippeee!!! :j).

So, declaring a budget busting £307.74 for August please MrsMC.

As I explained a day or so ago I'm not too worried by this as if the £69.68 spent on the party is taken out (and really I should have put it in an entertainments budget ), we just scrape in under budget by a couple of quid. Considering what we must have spent last August when it was just an ordinary birthday (probably would have been £600-700 :mad: for the month not to mention the £1400 holiday that month too ) I'm quite pleased.

The other thing is that although I don't usually talk about the annual target I set (mainly 'cos it was totally arbitrary in March ), we have just concluded our first six months or 50% of the year and we have spent much less than 50% of the total. :T

Ok, sig is updated. Have a fantastic Bank Holiday whatever you're doing. It seems the weather is just about playing the game so I hope you manage to get out and catch a few of those elusive rays.

Take care,
Spigs

NickJW

£2.57 spent today - needed to go to a larger Mr T a bit further away to get some big pasta shells to fill for a stuffed Philadelphia recipe (I have a pack in the fridge from a BOGOF and need to find a way to use it up!), because Mr S doesn't have them. Got some other things as well and updated signature

Cooking the Chinese stew now - well, I've prepared it and it's slow cooking for 2 and half hours

Just one more spend needed tomorrow and then I'll declare my budget - I know I'm over budget but I'm happy with what I've spent because I haven't been wasteful at all.

I'm in a bit of pain at the moment, because like an idiot I rubbed my eyes after cutting onions, which wouldn't have been QUITE as bad if I hadn't have chopped a red chilli up before! My eyelid is red raw, and I've tried rinsing it with water. This didn't work so I've plastered camomile lotion over my eyelid. I look quite a sight...NOT! I guess I should be thankful I'm not planning on going out tonight (that's saved until tomorrow)...I would have cancelled if I was...NO-ONE is going to see me like this. :rotfl:

I hope everyone is enjoying the bank holiday weekend - the weather isn't that great, but isn't it nice just to have an extra day off