September 2010 Grocery Challenge

[Deleted User]

Hi I have actually two Scs as my Dd gave me her smaller one when her family increased in size.I also have a 3.5 litre one that I bought a couple of years ago. I can't reccommend them highly enough .I find them brilliant for soups stews ,in fact cooking almost anything.I usually do a casserole all ready, and when I go to bed at night switch it on low and by breakfast its cooked beautifully and my kitchen is nice and warm as well.
I treated myself to a Remoska two years ago and apart from baking cakes my oven is hardly used anymore.Admittedly I live alone, but I have more than saved what I spent on it via the electric bills being reduced.My last leccy bill was just under £30.00. I bought the Standard size 'moska and it cooks my dinner for me most nights.Its great for crisping up a jacket spud which I have m'waved until just soft.

~moneysavingnovice~

Just did my second weekly shop of the Sept GC which came to £58. I was annoyed though because the deal they had on the dog food our pup likes had sold out so had to pay £6.50 for that instead of £5, and no deals on coke either so cost us £7 instead of £5 grr. Still got some toiletries too so not toooo bad.

Only half way through the weekly shops for the month and over half way through the budget which isn't great- the £20 I spent on that bottle of Tia Maria yesterday didn't help

Please let me come in on budget!!!

cookie9

£28.24 damn it ! Went to Mr T early morning and to be fair above total does include Christmas chocs which were half price so £5. Was a bit under last week so still on target. Will be eating from the freezer next week to save spending much more and even got frozen peas so can have some veg too. On the plus side did get two lovely full sized bars of chocolate from S**ds of Change for free. Have to think about my menu planner which is slightly off this week as my parents are visiting.

JulieGeorgiana

Just bought a Pressure Cooker... I have to try and spend less on food (I have given myself 6 months) to put the money back in the pot I stole it from!!!

I am hoping it will save money, because I rarely cook stews and casseroles simply due to them being time consuming! But they require so little meat as to actually save money!

My husband and I decided to spend money on an Electric one, as Gas is so expensive!!!

What a Challenge!!!

Wish me luck!

Long_tall_sally

Laloopi / ChocClare - I like the sound of that pantry principle by Amy Dacyczyn. It sounds a bit more suitable for scatty people like me who can't ever seem to get round to meal planning! Saying that I have also bookmarked the Creative Organizing site posted by Rosieben to also have a look at. (Thankyou!)

Spiggle - Glad your Oh is doing ok.

NickJW - hope your job situation is ok. Hopefully that will be the last of the rundancies at your place.

Elf06 - sorry to hear your son is ill. Nothing serious I hope.

Hippeechiq, Potz, Julie Georgiana - thanks for your comments. I agree with you in that it probably isn't worth working lots of extra hours for an extra £100 a month but I do feel a lot of guilt sometimes because my Ex hasn't paid any maintenance for over two years now and sometimes I feel I should make more effort to at least do something to help mine & OH's money situation but as the new school term has only just started and the relevant number of hours needed for students sorted for now it probably wouldn't be possible at the moment anyway. Also, much as I love the job, I 'm not sure that I would have the energy to work with autistic children, as I do, 5 days a week. Think I shall just keep perserveering for now. Who knows one day I might just make this grocery challenge!

On that note, I have just updated my signature following a £14 odd spend in Sainsburys & £9 in Tescos yesterday (where I saw someone being stopped for shop lifting!) and £4 today in Farm Foods & £7 at the market. Forgot to get carrots at the market & may have to send OH to the Co Op in the morning.

Have a good evening everyone.

katholicos

Spent £1 today on food as me and DD were looking around some charity shops and got a bit peckish. Fortunately we spotted a good deal, 2 vegetarian 'sausage rolls/pasties' for £1.

Will update siggy in a min.

boultdj

Another $6.50 gone to Mr.M.

elf06

Thanks everyone for your comments DS is much better now although still no eating like 'normal' (which is no bad thing for my cupboards - seriously how much can one small person eat?????:rotfl:)

yesterday was indeed a NSD and today should be aswell. I do have to pay £4 for my gym class but that is budgeted for and comes from another budget and I take my own water to avoid paying £1.40 for a bottle from their machine :eek:

I do need a couple of bits form Mr T but not sure if I will head there today or wait until Tuesday.................hmmm decisions decisions

Hope everyone is well - have a good day all

highland_fling_2

Good morning everyone,
at last I have caught up reading the thread.
Still on GC target, have spent about £30 so far.
Off now to do this weeks meal plan, have a few late nights at work this week so will have to be really organized.
Best of luck everyone.

JulieGeorgiana

OMG!

Normally I am a savvy shopper... but when I programme my 'next weeks shop' into mysupermarket.com I always go over budget and over the week I add, remove and tweek to stay in budget!!

I've done my next two weeks... and I can afford to buy everything I need plus stock up on cleaning products and have enough left for a cook book I want (£4.50) and still have £12.00 left!!

After less then a week on this site!!!

The question now is... what do I do with the money I saved? Put it aside for next month... or spend it on bulk buying stuff i'll use!!!

Hmmmm!