December 2010 Grocery Challenge

Shysarah

Update time for me.. I do not know how i manage to spend so much when it is just me. I am going to be a lot stricter from next year and do meal planning etc which is my biggest weakness right now.
Also have a friend staying this weekend who will need to be fed. Am doing simple pizza tonight as he is coming from work so won't be here till 8/9pm. Then tomorrow I am going to make a big bolognese or chilli. Hoping to have some spare to pop in the freezer.
Been to two supermarkets in two days,.. not good.

Mr T £11.29 but did pick up a huge piece of stilton for £3 and reduced peppers and mushrooms!!
Mr S £22.21 Pizza, bread, bacon, coffee, tin of sweets and profiteroles for guest desert

hmm better go update my sig..

Is it me or have prices shot up this past few weeks?

xx

de1amo

By the sound of the weather there it looks like the xmas food buying will be survival rations if the forcasters are to be believed!

İ just got back from Mr tescoturk--spent more than i should have due to all the promotion prices! we spent 50 quid abouts and the star buy was a small bottle of rose wine for 8 quid!!!!!-its a concession to my wife because she misses the same kind of wine we bought for 4 quid in the uk!!--we got lots of cleaning fluids because our new cleaner starts on Monday --my wife wanted me to hoover this morning in preparation!!--i question sometimes women's logic!--
--i also spent 600 quid on a new computer which kinda shatters my budgetting for the month but i got a 50quid voucher for my next trip there as a consulation which will buy my wife a few more bottles of wine!!---i also got a 10 pc off voucher for groceries bought between the 21st and 31st of dec--so things are cheaper in the big stores with offers like this happening!--its all new and wasnt the same this time last year.

Spiggle

Shysarah wrote: »

... Is it me or have prices shot up this past few weeks? xx

No Shysarah I think prices are noticeably higher. We just got a few things in Coop and it came to £14.67 :shocked: which even OH said seemed high.

So, that's it for today's shop but we'll be off to the butcher and grocer tomorrow so next NSD will be Sunday now.

I've been trying to find a jet wash as the car has so much salt on it I have visions of getting up one morning to find the paint burnt off but everywhere I go it's closed. And mostly no sign to say until I've trudged in to buy the token. :mad: I've gotta pick the beautiful GD1 up from school today so I'm tempted to take it to the car wash. Trouble is it's so far that the car'll be covered in spray again by the time I've driven back. :undecided

Sig is updated.

Hope everyone is ok,
Spigs

Menolly_2

Hippeechiq wrote: »

Just want to say that I love your post.

I love the sound of your Christmas......the food, the booze - especially the Sloe Gin :drool: the gorgeous home made cakes, the divine sounding Red Onion Marmalade, the home made bath bombs and candles........what a lucky family you have. You seem so well organised and clearly very talented

You make me feel totally inadequate and lazy, lol, but well done you :T

Awww, thanks, honey - :o, DH and I really enjoy trying different crafts and the bathbombs and candles were this years new project!
To be honest, I don't think I'm really that organised - a lot of what we've been doing/making has been a reaction to being made redundant and not finding any new employment - it stops us from getting too down-in-the-mouth! And maybe, just maybe, one of our crafting projects may lead to a new career.....you never know

meanmarie

Spent €75.08 yesterday in Lidl....so have €114.92 for the rest of shopping until end of month, including turkey and ham, fruit and veg...think that I will manage depending on how long my 4 visitors (DD1, DS1, DDIL1, DGD2) stay, think that it might even be a whole week....have at least 2 dinners in freezer.

Good luck to everyone.

Marie

~moneysavingnovice~

Haven't updated all week as I've been on a business trip. Managed to fit in a weekly shop on my way home though! Up to £169 now, which isn't great but it's no disaster either.

Got 2 tubs of pan10 conditioner in Mr S for £3, which would normally cost £8 so good saving there.

Will be taking stock at the end of the year and setting realistic budgets for 2011 (rising prices and all!- bit of a side note: I worked out my fave tipple has gone up by 40% in the last 18 months in Mr S- insane!!!)

Flat_Eric

Shysarah wrote: »

Mr T £11.29 but did pick up a huge piece of stilton for £3 and reduced peppers and mushrooms!!

Is it me or have prices shot up this past few weeks?

xx

Prices seem to be going up all the time and I suspect supermarkets love Christmas with us all spending so much and buying as if the shops were shutting for a month and not just one day ? I don't really remember but I am guessing that shops (supermarkets in particular) didn't used to open on Sundays ?

Spiggle wrote: »

Hi Flat Eric,

We are being really stingy with Christmas this year and we have been reducing it for a few years now. We used to do the buying of loads of things and we'd still have them in the cupboards come Easter and in some cases summer! We have only bought a couple of extra goodies so far which are guaranteed to be eaten/drunk and I have listed the spend on those separately from my GC spends.

If we were going to be at home for Christmas lunch (been kindly invited out for this year by a close friend) we treat it in the same way as kippers above but with far more expensive meat in the turkey and usually rib of beef and a ham. Obviously presents come from a different budget. Hope that helps a bit.
Spigs

I probably had over £100 of alcohol in my basket :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: but I should add this included wine to give as xmas presents, wine to take when invited for various family xmas catch ups and three boxes of beer for £20. and not forgetting the xmas bottle of sherry !! :rotfl:Apart from this, I hadn't added anything extra apart from a jar of cranberry sauce and some branston special pickle? no tins of biscuits, no tins of sweets, no crackers for cheese (sorry wallace), nowt. Everything was run of the mill household / food items. I have canceled the order now - the total when I canceled it was close to £250.00 :eek: although I think some of the offers hadn't been applied - I was having heart failure ! I can't face going into my overdraft so soon into the month when there is still so much to pay for this month.

kippers wrote: »

I buy things over the year, starting with my xmas puds and anything else i can get in the January sales (but you do need to check sell by dates). I get my frozen turkey crown from Aldi in Oct (£8.99 this year). I do make my own mince pies and xmas cakes which are far nicer than shop bought. I wait for Jacobs crackers for cheese to be on special offer (usually in Nov)...and they always are.

I have been very careful this year not to buy things we don't use and buying things like cheese selection when they are on special offer, i bought tesco classic cheese selection yesterday for £3 (usually £6).

I look on xmas dinner as just a 'poshed up' sunday roast and this way i don't get stressed and don't spend too much.

Hope this helps

I seem to remember last year vowing that I would *save* a bit each month to pay for xmas but sadly that fell by the wayside. This is the first year where I have been so disorganised but it frightens me how much everything costs. it looks like you are getting a good deal but could I have been getting a good deal when my bill was a quarter of a £1000 ?????

I am so relived its canceled - it will mean a bit of faff buying stuff but hopefully I will be able to keep better rein on the pennies.

rosieben

thanks catznine, found your recipe for Fool proof Muffins on the other thread so its now added in the front page index

kippers

Flat_Eric wrote: »

I seem to remember last year vowing that I would *save* a bit each month to pay for xmas but sadly that fell by the wayside. This is the first year where I have been so disorganised but it frightens me how much everything costs. it looks like you are getting a good deal but could I have been getting a good deal when my bill was a quarter of a £1000 ?????

I am so relived its canceled - it will mean a bit of faff buying stuff but hopefully I will be able to keep better rein on the pennies.

Don't beat yourself up over this...just do it different next year.

As regards to this year, take a look at your list and see what you really need rather than buying things you may or may not need and then go on 'my supermarket' to find the cheapest items (if you have the time that is, as it can take a while).

As regards to alcohol, i've been told by lots of people, that aldi do some lovely wines and spirits. People on here have confirmed it over and over again. Why don't you make a list and ask the kind people on the food shopping & grocery board if they recommend the aldi versions of each of the bottles you need.

Hope you sort your shopping out

skilly

morning all,just a quick up date now up to £148.01 ...had to pay for 2 veggie boxes that i had forgotten about and a small spend of £12.00 at a chinese store and i've just remembered a loaf and 2 pkt of steaky bacon now to add as well :rotfl:going to go now before i remember any more.