September 2010 Grocery Challenge

suzybloo

Juliegeorgiana, I always put whats leftover into a tin and its amazing what you have when you open it. when the tin needs emptied I use the money for holiday spends in the summer or for christmas. If I left it to roll over into the next week/month I would come to expect the extra and not learn to keep within budget.IYKWIM!

the moneytin I use is one from the pound shop - my grandson even puts any pennies he takes out of my purse in it!
OH away to the shop for tatties, bread and milk and bacon if he remembers as bacon rolls for lunch. I havent had a tesco shop for two weeks now and dont really need anything as all meals are covered for this week. this meal planning is definately working, probably if I hadnt been doing this challenge I would have been about £200 just out of habit of doing a weekly shop!!!

sistercas

today will be a NSD as am not going out for anybody

i will need some spuds and guinea pig food but i will pick that up on tuesday when i go to lidl

jg well done on your shopping this week , if i have anything left over it goes in a pot along with my £2 coins, i then use them about twice a year for something special , it paid for a meal out for 6 of us when we went to a panto , it paid for a trip for me and DD to london . i try and use it for something i couldnt have afforded normally and then i really appreciate it

Spiggle

Morning All,

Thanks for the replies on the slow cooker and Hippeechiq thanks for the link.

We went and had a small spend yesterday on veg and doz eggs totalling £5.94 and sig is updated. I've included today as an NSD 'cos I'm not going anywhere today!

Feeling it's a bit tight at the moment as we're almost halfway through budget and not yet halfway through month. We'll also have a bit more of a spend this month on the cats' special diet.

I've done a 'full' version of this on my debt free diary but long story short, I checked prices on the big sm sites for their food and the prices are similar (a penny more at PAH :mad:) for the size we buy (1.5 kg) at the local pet shop. However, at another mega pet store I discovered 5 kg sacks. After a quick phone call to the local they confirmed that they can supply it at a penny less than the regular price from the mega store and no delivery charge. So we're foregoing the cashback from Quidco (and the £4 reduction as the sacks are currently on offer at £28) so we can support a local shop (no we don't live in Royston Vasey!!! :rotfl:) that we really value.

The other thing that is affecting our budget and NSD is OH being at home and all the running round we've been doing. Tend then to pick up things for him while he's at home. I'm not complaining really, after the scare of knowing how close I was to losing him, how could I? Sort of puts life in perspective IYKWIM.

So, loads of washing again today and all out on the line same as yesterday. I love the smell of washing dried in the sun and breeze especially bedding that has had the boil wash treatment. I think its a hangover from my dear departed Mum, there's something virtuous about a line full of clean sheets!

Talking of virtue, OH has been using his pocket money (he hasn't been interested in having his usual beers) for the last three weeks to buy us meat we wouldn't normally splash out on :A so that has been a real treat and hasn't affected the budget. We had sirloin steaks, then last week a leg of salt marsh lamb (comes from about 25 miles from where we live) and this week a joint of topside. Ain't he sweet?!?! :T

Ok, I'm off now and will probably pop back later on. I'm going to watch the Grand Prix from Monza while the machine does the heavy work of washing. :cool:

See you later and have a great day,
Spigs

Long_tall_sally

Well, I am feeling rather pleased with myself! I, yes I, have managed to do a meal plan that takes up to a week on Friday. This is after taking into account what food we alraedy have, what days I am working, how many we have for dinner and what activities the kids have after school. It's certainly not the most imaginative or even the most healthiest of meal plans as there are a few scampi & burgers days within it BUT it is using up food from the freezer & shows that I don't actually need to buy any meals until after payday. The freezer will however be pretty empty after that after from some strir fry chicken & some more burgers & scampi which for me is a little bit of a scary thought! If you don't mind I will post it here.
Tomorrow - chorizo & pasta bake
Tuesday - fish in batter for us, something else such as omelette or fishfingers for the kids.
Wednesday - Sausage casserole for everyone except DS, sausage & mash for him. Never actually made a sausage casserole before!
Thursday - Scampi & chips, G/free pizza for DS
Friday - Whoopsied steaks & chips
Saturday - prawn curry for us, something else for the kids.
Sunday - Roast shoulder of pork, roast potatoes etc
Monday - Chicken thigh casserole with either rice or potoatoes.
Tuesday - Pork chops & mash.
Wednesday - Burgers & chips
Thurdsay - Scampi & chips (oh dear lots of chips!)
Friday - Sweet n sour pork with rice.

Long_tall_sally

Sorry also meant to say that I haven't thought about veg yet but will try to!

I sent silly Oh off to the Co Op to get some carrots this morning for dinner today & asked him to look for some whoopsied scones as I was just finishing my last packet (which cost 55p). He came back with not one, but two packets of scones that cost £1.10 each! Grrh!

On a more positive note, I have been secretly substituting my DD's Weetabix this week for Sainsburys own & she hasn't noticed. She eats 3 for breakfast & 3 for supper nearly every night so to begin with I was putting 2 branded & 1 Sainsburys own, then 1 branded & two SAinsburys own and then finally 3 branded. Result! That's both her cereal & mine (porridge) successfully down graded!

potz

Dammit - things seemed to be going so well, then I popped to the supermarket this morning for a few things we needed. I did write a list, and stuck to it (apart from a few things I remembered I needed to bribe the kids at school) but it still came to £47 meaning I have £58 left for the rest of the month. I was feeling so positive, but now I'm not sure i'm going to be able to stay under budget for the month.

Oh well - its been an expensive month with DH being ill and needing treats to keep his spirits up. I will just try to do the best I can.

Long_tall_sally wrote: »

On a more positive note, I have been secretly substituting my DD's Weetabix this week for Sainsburys own & she hasn't noticed. She eats 3 for breakfast & 3 for supper nearly every night so to begin with I was putting 2 branded & 1 Sainsburys own, then 1 branded & two SAinsburys own and then finally 3 branded. Result! That's both her cereal & mine (porridge) successfully down graded!

Good on you Sally! With that number of weetabix a day you must be making quite a saving!

gdyr1945

Spent the morning moving food from old frezer to new one!:j Found all sorts of odds and ends in the bottom. Have randomly frozen veggies when I have been going away. Lots of carrots, 1 chilli, one pepper, 1 apple, 2 tomatoes, added some lentils, an onion and washed out a mango chutney jar and am making large batch of soup for lunches. Will taste and 'blitz' when cooked.

Thanks Rosieben for Creative Organizing site. Have sorted out 30 of our favourite recipes from the 'millions' (slight exageration) I have cut out and kept over the years. Also checked out Amy Dacyczyns site; very interesting. I am so optimistic now.:T At long last I feel in charge!
I feel so much closer to all the wonderful people making contributions to this site than to my friends. They all have 'good' pensions or salaries and do not understand the problems/challenges of living on a very limited budget.

NSD's are no problem for me as I have to drive for 20mins to get to any shops so in order not to spent too much on petrol I try to make one organised shop per week, hopefully on a day when I have to travel for other reasons.

cw18

gdyr1945 wrote: »

I feel so much closer to all the wonderful people making contributions to this site than to my friends.

Ditto

They all have 'good' pensions or salaries and do not understand the problems/challenges of living on a very limited budget.

In my case a lot of my friends (and family) claim they're having to live on tight budgets and are struggling, but when I see/hear what they're buying (and I see grocery baskets of quite a number of them, as they shop in the store where I work) I find it hard to bite my tongue rather than make sarcastic comments about what they're spending on luxury items :eek:

hoobydoobydoo

Just done my weekly shop at Mr M and spent £79.32, which was a little more than I had hoped to spend. It does, however, include enough crisps to last until half term in lunchboxes and a couple of stocking fillers!

Called at that very cold country on the way to use up £4 of vouchers I'd had for over a year. Spent them on staples that I knew would be dearer at Mr M's and just needed to add £1 of money to the total.

This is my first month on the challenge and my target is to spend less without feeling we have to go without IYSWIM. I am trying to only buy things we will actually eat and then make sure that we actually do eat them! The next couple of months will surely be harder as I start to stock up for Christmas - although I try not to buy too much extra stuff as we only eat it (not good for waistlines) or throw it away (not good for purses).

Off to update sig
Hooby

EvieSaver

cw18 wrote: »

Ditto


In my case a lot of my friends (and family) claim they're having to live on tight budgets and are struggling, but when I see/hear what they're buying (and I see grocery baskets of quite a number of them, as they shop in the store where I work) I find it hard to bite my tongue rather than make sarcastic comments about what they're spending on luxury items :eek:

I feel just the same, all my friends and family spend like crazy - and not just on groceries. Thing is though that no-one I know (except OH and this site) even has the slightest interest about saving money, which as it is something I enjoy the challenge of and like to talk about/discuss ideas I feel that a lot of the time I bore them all!:o. Even though I told my parents how they could save £100's on their energy bills they still don't do anything about it. Makes me mad but oh well:mad:.

I love reading all the comments on here. Makes me feel normal!:j