October 2010 Grocery Challenge

Long_tall_sally

I have COMPLETELY lost the plot this month! Bought some of the half price weetabix boxes from Mr Ts (to add to the ones that I already had from Asd*s and tinned tomatoes, plus milk, toilet rolls & chocolate bars from Farm Foods & bread, tuna & ketchup from Iceland so all in all another £34 spent. I used to log all my grocery spends individually to work out where was usually the cheapest place to buy things from so I have started going through all my receipts, doing this again and comparing to my log from a year or so ago. I know a lot of things have gone up in price but to be honest, so far from the receipts that I have done, I am still paying the same price for a lot of things. Some examples of these are
2 Warburtons wholemeal loaves for £2 - I know Hovis is cheaper at Farm Foods but I am not that keen on it.
Robinsons squash - two for a £
Nicky toilet rolls from Farm Foods - £2 for 9
Toothpaste - never nore than a £
Chocolate bars - around 25-35p each bought in multi packs
various margs - spreads - around 50 -70p each
Gluten free cereal - £2 a box
Weetabix - lately at less than £2.50 for 72, i.e. less than before
wine - no more than £4 a bottle
Individual Walkers crisps - £1 for 6
Sensations large bags - £1
Orange squash - 59p Farm Foods
Porridge - much cheaper now as used to buy a brand name
2lt Coca cola - around £1 - £1.50 a bottle
Fairy wasing up liquid - £1
Fruit & veg - have always boughta lot of this from market or Aldi or Lidl
Cheese - lately less than £3 a packet
Baked beans - around 25 a can
tuna - £3 for 4
Milk - £1.50 for 2 at Farm Foods
Mince - just bought some at £1.19 but generally £1.99 each at Lidl where as I used to pay £5 for two at Mr S
Shower gel - never more than £1

So why is my shopping bill more than it used to be?! I did used to achieve £450 a month sometimes a year or so ago!

Sorry for the long post. Off to catch up on the previous pages now. x

rosieben

moonpixiewitch wrote: »

I used to use the juice from the tin of fruit thickened with arrowroot !:D thats all quickjel is anyway I think .

yes you're right :doh: thanks for the reminder! I have arrowroot in the pantry so i won't be buying any more quick jel at that price!

adelight

Long_tall_sally wrote: »

So why is my shopping bill more than it used to be?! I did used to achieve £450 a month sometimes a year or so ago!

Are you buying more overall? Kids eating more if you have any?
Are more luxury purchases like crisps and wine sneaking into your shopping? I personally don't notice when I start buying extra snacks and alcohol, and the composition of meals(ie, more meat, expensive veg) until I look at my finances!

LannyLee

Well speaking of more expensive food bills, to try & cut down on cost we've statred to order a veg box R1verford & it's being delivered today, it's £8.95 for a mini box & I was wondering if anyone on here has had them before, are they good value?

I have been buying from the market, but I tend to be tempted by the large bowls for £1 & end up not being able to use it all before it goes off & having to throw it away, i'm hoping that the better quality & smaller quantity will help me to stop having to do this.

And before you ask I have about 20 pints of veg soup in my freezer, we'll be eating it until the new year

moonpixiewitch

Chloris wrote: »

Regarding budgeting, I often wish that people would provide info in their signature eg how many people, food, toiltries, cleaning, alcohol etc. It isn't a competition but it would inspire me! /QUOTE]
off to edit my signature now ! what a fab idea :beer:

~moneysavingnovice~

I don't fancy the lunch I've bought with me today at all BUT I'm going to force myself to eat it and avoid the shops for the sake of the GC. My, how I've grown!

NickJW

~moneysavingnovice~ wrote: »

I don't fancy the lunch I've bought with me today at all BUT I'm going to force myself to eat it and avoid the shops for the sake of the GC. My, how I've grown!

Lol :cool: I had some reduced Moroccan Couscous from Mr T for lunch with salad. It was bleugh (FAR too sweet), but I refused to go and buy something else...just sucked up, closed my eyes, and thought of England :rotfl:

jintyb

NickJW wrote: »

Lol :cool: I had some reduced Moroccan Couscous from Mr T for lunch with salad. It was bleugh (FAR too sweet), but I refused to go and buy something else...just sucked up, closed my eyes, and thought of England :rotfl:

That made chuckle.......the things we do eh?
At least it wasnt as bad as my colleague who brought in beautiful HM pasta with basil and mozzarella only to heat it up and drop it all over the floor, then she discovered she was wearing black ballet pumps but two different shoes:eek:......my day suddenly doesnt seem as bad after all!

Hope your dinner is an improvement on lunch;)

XSpender

LannyLee wrote: »

Well speaking of more expensive food bills, to try & cut down on cost we've statred to order a veg box R1verford & it's being delivered today, it's £8.95 for a mini box & I was wondering if anyone on here has had them before, are they good value?

I get a medium veg box once a week or sometimes once a fortnight from R1verford and I am pleased with the quality, freshness and flavour of the veg and if I don't use it all in the week it keeps well.

There are only 2 of us and the med box is suitable for 3-4 but I am a veggie and we eat a lot of veg. It is good value if you make sure you use it all and the box price compares favourably with supermarket prices if you were to get it all individually. I need cherry toms for next week and it was cheaper to add them to my box than buy from Mr T.

I did start getting milk too as I couldn't find anyone who did 2L bottles of skimmed organic milk but my local Mr M stocks it now and its about 30p cheaper there.

2 NSDs for me, meal plan done and I have been reaquainting myself with the store cupboard challenge thread as I am determined not to spend any more than I need to for the rest of this month or next month. My cupboards and freezers are full and I want to swap the freezer in the garage with the one in the kitchen when I get the new kitchen put in at the start of next month so I need to use as much as I can to make them easier to shift.

This weeks shopping list has been costed on mysup3rmarket and I will go to Mr M first then to Mr T and only get what is on the list:A

Off to attempt to make a honey and mustard sauce and piccalilli.

LannyLee

XSpender wrote: »

I get a medium veg box once a week or sometimes once a fortnight from R1verford and I am pleased with the quality, freshness and flavour of the veg and if I don't use it all in the week it keeps well.

There are only 2 of us and the med box is suitable for 3-4 but I am a veggie and we eat a lot of veg. It is good value if you make sure you use it all and the box price compares favourably with supermarket prices if you were to get it all individually. I need cherry toms for next week and it was cheaper to add them to my box than buy from Mr T.

I did start getting milk too as I couldn't find anyone who did 2L bottles of skimmed organic milk but my local Mr M stocks it now and its about 30p cheaper there.

Thanks Xspender, i'm hoping it will have the additional benefit of making us eat more veg as well & more varieties as we tend to buy the same things week afater week from the market