September 2010 Grocery Challenge

dazzle21

Ok so we still have cash in our GC tin, even though we treated ourselves on Sunday to fish and chips (one portion between 2adults 1 toddler! princely sum of £4.30) and last night we had a takeaway pizza as DS was poorly and by the time he had settled in bed I gave in to my craving for a greasy pizza... feel bad as £14 would have bought alot in 'real' food..think I may add some pizza's to the shopping list so we can still 'treat' ourselves without spending £££.
Have yet to add up our exact spend, but we're only using money from the tin so when it is gone it is GONE! Have a vast stock of nappies and washing/cleaning/loo rolls! Which is good, although with the weather getting colder it just makes me want to squirrel away even more!! Not sure whether to head to supermarket today, trying to resist the urge as we have alot of food in the freezer, but does anyone else find themselves drawn to the supermarket when the weather is cold?!!

majjak

I'm another one who's fallen off the wagon , didn't keep receipts and have no idea how much I've spent over the last 2 weeks (not an enormous amount but I really wanted to keep track). It's my own stupid fault, I really need to get a grip on this challenge :mad:.

So, I'm re-joining next month and I'm going to keep EVERY SINGLE RECEIPT! I think (though not an excuse) that writing down spends is the wrong method for me as I forget to write it down once I've got back from shopping trips. I get waylaid doing something else.

On a more positive note, I've been shopping at Lidl for my fruit and veg and their various other offers (Branst*n beans @ £1 for 4, m*ller yoghurts plus various other bits and pieces) - stocking up as they're such good deals. I've also found a 'meat man' who sells meat from his van every Friday and Sat (sounds dodgy but it's not, he's been there for over 20 years and if the queue last week was anything to go by, then I'm happy). The meat tastes wonderful too, I think he's an independent butcher from what I can make out. Anyway I got 48 rashers bacon, whole leg of lamb, pork belly, 12 sausages, 6 lamb chops, 2 corn fed free range chickens, chicken thighs and drumsticks, 2 huge pieces steak, 2lb steak and kidney (for pies) for just over £40. :j

Please feel free to give me a kick up the bum over on the Oct thread when it starts

elf06

majjak wrote: »

Please feel free to give me a kick up the bum over on the Oct thread when it starts

Its started

Craftyscholar

I have been keeping a rough check on my monthly grocery spends for a while, mainly to make sure it didn't creep up, but I need to try and bring it down.

Can I ask a couple of questions please before I sign up for the GC?
Do you count in toiletries?
Do you count in meals/coffees when you are out?

I have a Sainsbury and an Asda beside each other in one direction and a Lidl about the same distance in the other - Tesco a bit further away and have tended to work on the principle that it was better to shop in one place with one lot of petrol used.

elf06

Craftyscholar wrote: »

I have been keeping a rough check on my monthly grocery spends for a while, mainly to make sure it didn't creep up, but I need to try and bring it down.

Can I ask a couple of questions please before I sign up for the GC?
Do you count in toiletries?
Do you count in meals/coffees when you are out?

I have a Sainsbury and an Asda beside each other in one direction and a Lidl about the same distance in the other - Tesco a bit further away and have tended to work on the principle that it was better to shop in one place with one lot of petrol used.

Its up to you what you include in your challenge. Personally I include all groceries, cleaning products, toiletries etc but have a seperate budget for gifts and another budget again for entertainment. My entertainment budget is small and if I go over this then it becomes included in my GC however not everyone will do it this way. I find that this is what works for me. I also may increase or decrease my budget (not half way through a month) if I know something additional will be needed or there is something on however this really depends on what extra cash I may have

HTH

muffin_man_7

had a small shop yesterday as my daughter has got cooking today i'm over budget again but i'm getting better im going to wait till thursday before i declare my final total for september as i will need bread and maybe milk also need to go through my receipts and see whats been used and what is left to go in xmas/winter box i'm hoping to make a big batch of veg stew as this will go well for keeping us warm in winter and can be a base for other foods too also a big batch of veggie spag bol and divide up half with mash on top freeze for days when cooking a problem never frozen spaghetti before but will give it a go as i always do too much never thought of freezing before i started this challenge
I'm going to try splitting my shop for october in 3 every ten days with milk bread and spuds being the exception unless dates good and i'm going to go back to payin seperatly for frozen and chilled i used to do it years ago but with only 3 of us i didn't think it would matter so much we shall see hopefully i will be on target or at least closer here's hoping

Phoolgrrrl

doing quite well at the mo 95/100 for september, rounded up cuz OH bought some stuff and not sure exactly how much.

Have next months meat in already and 4 portions of ratatouille to have with pasta or make into lasagne. Shoppin for this week all done. Will move over to October thread now:D

EvieSaver

Just done my final shop for September and my total for the month is £293.14, that's £13.14 over and I don't have any real excuse. I basically bought things to save me time which would have been cheaper if I'd made them myself. Hopefully next month I'll be a bit more organised and I'll be under my target by ££££'s . I'm not going to lower my target I'm just going to see it as a true challenge. Here's heading into October with determination!

cookiemum

Well added in a few little spends and my total for September is £257.59:j. I can't quite believe I'm within budget but very pleased. September has been such an expensive month with kids fees for clubs and school trips so I don't feel I've got more money but imagine how skint I would be if I had been over budget!

Quite looking forward to October now in a strange way:)

seasalt_2

I'm over budget too. Spent £319.36. And next month is a five weeker (five fridays!) so will have to aim for £60 a week. Gulp. Alcohol is what has pushed it over! That and store cupboard stocking up. Am also trying to put a little bit aside for C'mas altho usually get Co-op divi in December which is a big help. Right, £300 for October again, please but perhaps I should go and declare that on the Oct thread.