September 2010 Grocery Challenge

NickJW

Okay...I've been VERY bad with my money this month - I overpaid much more than usual off my credit card, and thought that my budget of £150 for all discretionary spending was sufficient! A combination stress at work and pure lack of willpower has left me with very limited money. It got to the stage where I used my Nectar points for shopping today!

I THINK I will make it until pay day on Friday 1st October - in fact, there is no choice, I HAVE to...all I have is £1 in cash and a £10 giftcard from Tesco from doing Valued Opinions surveys.

I need food but I'm now constrained by the fact that I need to spend at least £10 in Tesco because I won't get change back

I hope you don't mind all the questions but I have my meal plan as follows:

Lunches - Bagels with Marmite NEED: Bagels

Today - Chicken Biryani (have everything in)
Tomorrow - Flatmate cooks
Saturday - Hearty Mushroom soup (pearl barley, 2 packs chestnut mushrooms, porcini mushrooms and 2 carrots) with garlic bread - NEED: 2 carrots + 2 packs of chestnut mushrooms
Sunday: Roast chicken with veg + mash. Flatmate will get wine and dessert since it's a shared meal NEED: potatoes + veg - what's the best cheapest veg I can buy from Tesco? I'm not fond of carrots unless 'in' something btw
Monday: rest of the chicken in a stir fry, have chilli/soy/oyster sauce and noodles to go with it NEED: Stir Fry veg
Tuesday: flatmate cooks
Wednesday: flatmate cooks
Thursday: Chilli con carne bulked with lentils and maybe oats. Have everything in including a can of chilli beans in the chilli sauce + rice (lazy I know! ). I've got 350g of mince - I've never bulked before so how much lentils or oats would you recommend to make it non 'noticeable'? Hopefully it will leave enough for a portion (or few) for the freezer
Friday - PAYDAY!!!

So I've been on Tescos website and have done a cost breakdown as follows:

Chestnut mushrooms: £1 x 2 = £2
Stir Fry mushroom mix: £1
Potatoes (Maris Piper - my favourite) - special offer: £1.60
2 Carrots: I'm guessing about 30p
Veg?: not sure what
Bagels: 2 packs for £1

Without the veg that comes to £5.90 so I need to think carefully what to add to this to get to the £10 limit. I get free fruit at work in a fruit bowl so don't need to bother about that, and only use milk at work for coffee. I've got 5 kilos of rice, and 2 kilos of pasta in stock so I don't need to get any of those. I'll probably just get a pack of skinless chicken thighs for another week because I can see these are down to £3 to make up the budget

Sorry again for the long post!!!

greent

NickJW wrote: »

I THINK I will make it until pay day on Friday 1st October - in fact, there is no choice, I HAVE to...all I have is £1 in cash and a £10 giftcard from Tesco from doing Valued Opinions surveys.

I need food but I'm now constrained by the fact that I need to spend at least £10 in Tesco because I won't get change back

Nick -

I've always found that if you spend on a giftcard in Tesco they don't give you change, but you get the balance left on the card to use another day - so you'd still have £4.10 ish left to spend in there when you wanted/ needed to

NickJW

greent wrote: »

Nick -

I've always found that if you spend on a giftcard in Tesco they don't give you change, but you get the balance left on the card to use another day - so you'd still have £4.10 ish left to spend in there when you wanted/ needed to

Oh THANK YOU greent! Now I don't need to worry about getting my spends up to a certain amount, and can just concentrate on what I need!

EvieSaver

cookie9 wrote: »

Out on Saturday so need to really watch the budget next month too. Thinking of switch to supermarket brand washing powder.

I buy Mr T's own brand No-Bio washing powder (not the value one) and find it really good. At the moment the large boxes (42 wash) is on special offer of 2 boxes for £10 - usually £5.50 each. I use it because I find that F@iry brings my son out in a rash and has a strong smell. I have been using it for 3 years now and our youngest (11 months) has never had a rash at all. I think the advertising by f@iry about their powder being the kindest to baby skin is playing on parents desire to protect their children which is unfair really as an allergy isn't related to a brand.

Hope you find one you like.

Botany

I'm declaring very early this month because it's a 3-week month for me (hence my reduced budget for September was £225).

Even so, I am chuffed because I spent £108.95, which is £116.05 less than I budgeted for.

This is down to the fact that I have cooked a lot of cheap stuff from scratch this month, I have frozen, re-used... I've been truly OS!

Now, if only I could keep this up............:p

katholicos

Today was an NSD which of course means that i didn't buy any groceries today. Went over to stay with my Dad for a few hours while my Mum and Daughter went out shopping and to have their hair done. Mum had taken a bacon and beef lasagne out of the freezer for me and Dad to have for our main meal...it was one of the freezer meals i had made for them and even if i do say so myself it was jolly nice :-)

franby64

Good Morning.

Want2Bdebtfree - re C*op bank - I will try to pluck up the courage!!

Guccigoo - best wishes - hope things get sorted.

Had an A*da delivery yesterday, just basics and now have £21.54 to last til next Friday - I feel an early October shop coming on!

thiscanbedone

Hi, I'm a newby, can you put me down for 300 for October, this will be a big thing for us as I usually spend about 700ish (hangs head in shame). Is it ok to feel quite exited about doing this, I do love a challenge

jintyb

EvieSaver wrote: »

I buy Mr T's own brand No-Bio washing powder (not the value one) and find it really good. At the moment the large boxes (42 wash) is on special offer of 2 boxes for £10 - usually £5.50 each. I use it because I find that F@iry brings my son out in a rash and has a strong smell. I have been using it for 3 years now and our youngest (11 months) has never had a rash at all. I think the advertising by f@iry about their powder being the kindest to baby skin is playing on parents desire to protect their children which is unfair really as an allergy isn't related to a brand.

Hope you find one you like.

Thanks for that post - really helpful as I have really bad psoriasis and have to watch what I use for laundry. I also found [EMAIL="F@iry"]F@iry[/EMAIL] to be quite harsh on my skin. Usually use Pers!l nonbio but will investigate own brand next time.

Just back from weekly shop, used my last £10 off £30 spend in mr T, my total came to £30.17, yay! Stocked up on meat -
2 packs chicken & pack of gammon steaks (3 for £10), 2 packs steak mince, 2 packs diced beef, 2 packs Southern fried chicken - plus Activia 8 packs are on BOGOF.Plus mayo ( value) instant custard(value 6p a packet)! Very pleased with my haul!
Made twinks hobnobs last night, I swear they're a hundred times better than shop bought!

Spiggle

thiscanbedone wrote: »

Hi, I'm a newby, can you put me down for 300 for October, this will be a big thing for us as I usually spend about 700ish (hangs head in shame). Is it ok to feel quite exited about doing this, I do love a challenge

Hello thiscanbedone :wave: (great positive tag there )

Welcome to you and it's fine to feel excited, I still feel excited when I save money! If you (and any other newbies joining) put the budget amount in big red letters/numbers it will get noticed by MrsMcCawber the star who keeps the lists.

Thats one huge jump down in your monthly budget, so very good luck with it. How many are you shopping for?

Top tips:
Always make a list and stick to it;
Keep all reciepts and either note them on a spreadsheet or in a spend book;
Do an inventory/stocktake of your cupboards, freezer and fridge and keep lists of what you have;
Most on here swear by menu planning using up stores and minimising purchases to what you need for your plan;
Don't waste food - freeze any leftovers or turn them into something different;
If possible, make your own bread (saves us a fortune);
We swear by our local greengrocer and butcher but if you have access to a local market use it as it will (normally) be much cheaper than the supermarket (sm);
Home cook meals from scratch (if possible) again saves a fortune (use the recipe lists always at the start of each month's thread thanks rosieben and other threads like Weezls);
Make treats like cakes, biscuits, desserts, etc (in batches where possible to keep in freezer or tins) as they are far more economical than bought;
Don't get despondent if you find your budget is really tight in the first month or so, it takes time to find your level;
Avoid shops - shopping is not a leisure activity!;
If you are going shopping always check your staples like milk, butter, eggs before you go and add to your list if they're likely to run out in a day or so - it's the eternal downfall of us all to just pop out for milk and come back having spent £20;
Keep reading and posting as everyone on here is hugely supportive and will usually have an answer to any questions you may have.

Right I'll stop there but many others will be along to offer their advice too.

franby64 wrote: »

Want2Bdebtfree - re C*op bank - I will try to pluck up the courage!!

I agree with everyone's comments about C*op. I do find some things can be more expensive so shop selectively with them but joining is great and the vouchers and dividends are a nice bonus. You don't have to get involved in the voting if you don't want to. Our nearest large C*op has a petrol station which is fed by BP so (provided the price is right) I use it to get a double bonus, points on my C*op card and points on my Ne***r card. I'm also with their bank for my own (as opposed to the joint) account and they're very helpful. They have a full switching service for DD/SOs etc so I wouldn't worry too much.

Botany wrote: »

Even so, I am chuffed because I spent £108.95, which is £116.05 less than I budgeted for.

Now, if only I could keep this up............:p

Fantastic result Botany, well done. :T:T:T I have no doubt that you will keep it up.

Well done to all the others too who have achieved brilliantly low spend this month. Keep up the fantastic work.

All the best,
Spigs