December 2010 Grocery Challenge

Chloris

I am declaring for December £361.43, a massive £38.57 under budget. This is largely due to DH not being able to get to Mr M to do our Yule and New Year food shop because of ice, traffic etc. So very good for the budget, not so good for the dinner table.. ARGHH. I am hoping for a serious thaw on Wednesday so we can do a big shop then as we are very low on everything. I have run our freezer and the batch cooked stuff down as I could not face the shops and cooking due to a family bereavement. I have checked and surprise surprise there are no online deliveries left for before the 25th. I am quite tempted to take Monday 27th!

Its not the end of the world. Just a pain in the bum.:cool:

Will have to work out the budget for January. But it feels like a long way away.

Best wishes to all who are ill or have family who need care.

Good luck everyone and enjoy the festive season.

Georgiegirl2012

Spiggle wrote: »

Hi and welcome youngmummy,

We all have different budgets that suit our households.

I thought it might help to outline where we've come from and the top tips I've learned. I hope it might help.


Always make a shopping list and stick to it

Keep every receipt -

When tempted ask yourself do you NEED it or just WANT it

Use my supermarket to compare prices (limited to four of the biggies)

Always have a list

Use Approved Foods online

Invest in a breadmaker

Use the recipe lists

Shop locally

Meal Plan

Don't waste food

Withdraw the cash you want to spend

Don't go to the shops to browse

Keep posting and reading the thread Always remember the sm is not your friend - it wants to profit from you and take as much of your money as it can coerce out of you!


Spigs

I am fairly new to all this, and would like to give a huge thank you to so many people for all the advice and stuff that is all over these forums. I know there is much to be learnt, but I would like to say particular thank you for the above post (heavily edited) which I've copied to a word document and printed out so that I can refer to whenever I feel the need for a bit of guidance because once I start reading these forums it will be about 6 hours before I move. Suppose that's one way of saving money!

But to bring it back onto the subject - I intend to join the grocery challenge in Jan, yet to figure out the budget, but I'll be back.

angelatgraceland

Aaagh Ive lost track! November and December. I do have most receipts but life has been hectic and now Ive got the flu. However-although Ive lost track Im still on course! Im guessing that I will end the year just about inside my budget-not a lot of difference either way but hoping it is slightly under. I will try to update my spends and add extra for the forgotten items(I will be hard on myself). whatever the result I will allow myself the same budget(3rd year in a row)for 2011 so Im really cutting back bearing in mind 2 years worth of price increases.
Still cooking some meals from weezles site and made the spicy bean pate again last night plus some peanut butter. Made pizzas today using up fridge contents. I recently invested in some proper pizza tins-the type with the holes in for a srispier base and YES, they are worth it and the DO work. Bought a nice cake tin in Waitrose too with removable base-the clip type-not tried it yet but sure I will like it. My new kitchen is now finished so Im much better off in many ways than last year with new kitchen and new central heating. Thats 2 huge expenses of course during 2010 and with all that going on that is why Ive lost track a bit with what Ive spent on groceries. Ive been very good in the supermarkets though and stopped overbuying-the cupboard stocks are greadually sorting themselves out-although Ive yet to get the hang of exactly where Ive rehomed a few things in the kitchen.Waiting for the snow to go so I can collect a treadmill from a Freecycle member to replace the gym which I cut from the budget! Lots of work the last 2 weeks has helped the bank but not my flu!

leeds1947

i would like to join the grocery challenge starting january 2011 with £200 per month. Myself,student daughter and two cats.

Souk08

Should be under budget this month again as only 2 days to go and only spent £47.63 but I'll keep you posted and defo joining again in Jan.

Georgiegirl2012

Hello - told you I'd be back. I think I manage on £200 a month, and that's for household stuff, cat food, toiletries and food. That's my starting target, and hopefully, by the end of the year I'll get it nearer to £100 a month. I have 2 sons and 2 cats, but the one son is away at uni for the majority of the year, and the other son seems to do what he likes a lot of the time, but he does sometimes eat food I've bought - other times he'll buy his own.

Quick question about fruit and veg (F&V?) - for those of you who have boxes delivered - do you find this worthwhile? I did it for a little while, but always had stuff left over, but then I wasn't on a creative money saving spree then.

Also - how long do you think you could keep a jar of mincemeat before using it? Does August 2009 seem rather to long?????:eek:

rosieben

welcome to the newbies, MrsMcawber will add you to the list next time she's here;

re the mincemeat, its designed to last, so I would sniff and taste but if its unopened it should be ok

JulieGeorgiana

This month 26th Nov - 23rd Dec I can declare £219.20 (80p underspend)

I have only to get Mushrooms and lettuce but will be using the £2.50 I have on my Nectar Card

Now I have to scuttle off and work out a YEARLY budget for next year... And maybe I should collect and save my nectar points next year and spend in on Lump sum at Christmas... will have to think about that!

Budget 24th Dec - 20th Jan £160 (No butchers this month!)

Spiggle

Moniker wrote: »

... stopped off on the way to get some stuff from the local C0-0p ... I didn't expect to get the chance to go to the shops - but you know what it's like! Everyone in there was shopping like the shops were going to close tomorrow, and I felt like the guy in that Kipling poem , "If" (If you can keep your head whilst all around you are losing theirs...!) - it was hard not to be swept up in the 'excitement'! ... Driving in this weather is so tiring - I just want to curl up and go to sleep and wake up when it's all over! ...

Hi All, :wave:

Sorry I haven't posted for a few days (I have been reading) I think in my last post I said I wanted to curl up and sleep. Well sleep I did! I've had a bit of flu type virus. Had to call off get together with all our friends Saturday :sad: as I just wasn't awake and likely to pass it on to everyone. Too risky and the snow and ice would've made it treacherous for them travelling anyway. So Moniker, I have every sympathy with your desire to just curl up and go to sleep! :shhh:

Our DD took OH to our local Coop yesterday to just get bits and bobs and he had a £2 off £20 voucher so used that. I'll update the spreadsheet in a while and then the siggy.

But as you say Moniker, the OH and DD reckoned it was scarily frantic in the shop - with people stressing and filling trolleys like the shops wouldn't be open again! :huh: I suppose we can forgive the fretting as we really don't have weather like this in our town normally. The towns around yes but us no. The only other times have become 'legend' - "Where were you in '78/81?' - the only other occasions in my lifetime!

Yesterday morning we actually had icicles - foot long ones - hanging from the guttering! :shocked: Never in 50 years have I seen that here not even in the legend years as then it was just phenomenal dumps of very very deep snow that trapped us but not the consistently freezing temperatures. Ah well.

leeds1947 wrote: »

i would like to join the grocery challenge starting january 2011 with £200 per month. Myself,student daughter and two cats.

Welcome sazzledazzle, Leeds1947 and quintwins you have come to absolutely the right place for support, advice, tips and hugs when necessary! Quintwins and Leeds1947 you may want to edit your post and put your budget in large red letters/numbers so that MrsMcCawber :A sees you when she next logs on. She's not on as regularly as many of us but is an angel for keeping the lists going. :T

Georgiegirl2012 wrote: »

Hello - told you I'd be back. I think I manage on £200 a month, and that's for household stuff, cat food, toiletries and food. That's my starting target, and hopefully, by the end of the year I'll get it nearer to £100 a month. I have 2 sons and 2 cats, but the one son is away at uni for the majority of the year, and the other son seems to do what he likes a lot of the time, but he does sometimes eat food I've bought - other times he'll buy his own.

Quick question about fruit and veg (F&V?) - for those of you who have boxes delivered - do you find this worthwhile? I did it for a little while, but always had stuff left over, but then I wasn't on a creative money saving spree then.

Also - how long do you think you could keep a jar of mincemeat before using it? Does August 2009 seem rather to long?????:eek:

Hello and welcome Georgiegirl :T (loved the song when I was younger! ) I would agree with rosieben :A (another star who keeps the recipe lists at the beginning of the thread up to date) on the mincemeat - sniff it and see provided it hasn't yet been opened. :rotfl: It should have plenty of natural preservatives in it (and maybe a few non-natural) so give it a try.

I can't help with the veg boxes (years and years since we had one and did the same as you back then! ). A local market is usually the best place to buy fruit and veg. I am envious of those who have one near them. Failing that a greengrocer is next best. I really find sm f&v very expensive.

Oooh, that's just reminded me. When I was in MrT last Thursday I was absolutely horrified. You may remember when OH was off with the DVT he had to walk every day and picked at least 12 ounces of blackberries every day for weeks. Well, MrT had 150g packs of blackberries all the way from Mexico at the 'bargain' price of £4 for two! Four pounds for 300g of tasteless mega air miles tired fruit. :eek: I was so shocked I actually rang OH there and then to tell him. This money saving can get a bit obsessive on times! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I'm really glad my list of tips is a help to you. Everyone on here will help by offering an answer to a query, a tip to resolve a problem or an ear when it all just gets too much (as it does for us all at times ) So, good luck Georgiegirl2012, Leeds1947, quintwins, sazzledazzle, and any other newbie I've missed. I look forward to sharing the money saving journey with you throughout 2011. :T

Right, I must do some cleaning! So keep safe and warm everybody and I'll see you later.

All the best,
Spigs

WelshWoofer

Hello again!
I have to get back into controlling the food budget - its gone a bit bonkers lately - spent £78 instead of the usual £50ish on the weekend due to no list and hangover from Xmas do:o
So for the rest of the month and for January can I please be put down for £50 a week - I find it easier to do weekly than monthly and it cheers me up and gives me a little boost when the shopping comes in at lower than £50! Odd I know, but I need a more short term challenge to stop me getting bored and letting it all slip.

There's 2 adults and a small greedy dog in our household and I include all food, dog food, toiletries, household and laundry stuff but not alcohol.

Just in case I don't manage to get back on before Xmas - hope everyone has a lovely time and many thanks to all of the very generous ladies that give up their time to keep us going.:T