December 2010 Grocery Challenge

dobs

Hello, not been here for a while due to not being able to stick to my shopping budget each month! However, been spending so much on food lately we are really going to try and budget from Jan, please can you put us down to do the challenge for 200 pounds? Sounds alot but there are 5 of us, plus nappies, dog, rabbits and guinea pigs to cater for! See you all on the other thread, and have a fab xmas!!:j

Baileys_Babe

Hi can I rejoin for January 2011. In 2008, 2009 & 2010 I took part but never completed 12 months in a row:o, this is my challenge to my self to participate for ALL 2011.

I think an annual budget will work better for me as we buy alot of our food in bulk.

Our budget is for 2 adults, DS aged 5 and DD 20months and will cover:
Food
Toiletries
Medicine both over the counter & prescription(both adults have long term conditions, but neither of us need so much medication where a prepayment certificate would be worth while)
Cleaning materials
Alcohol
Take aways
Meals out
Our budget is a whooping £5200 for the year.

We eat mainly organic fruit, veg, milk,oats, flour and some breakfast cereal. Tea, coffee, sugar, cocoa, dried fruit are all fair trade and organic. Our meat, fish & eggs have to meet my partners very high welfare standards. I realise this all costs us extra money but we are fortunate enough to be able to afford this. We do buy from supermarket basic ranges mostly tinned goods, as well as own brand cereal and pasta.

I would like to come way below this huge figure, so I'm going to have to work at it.

In addition to the 4 of us, we regularly have friends to stay for the weekend, as well as being in the middle of a major building project (only 6-9 months more work if we are lucky) which results in masses of tea, coffee, milk & sugar being consumed as well as lots more cleaning to be done.

I plan to update my progress at least weekly, good luck everyone, we can do it.

natsing

Hi All

Declaring Decmber of £132.50!! Would like to stick to £150 in January please

mummygems

Well I managed to get out today and went to the bigger Tesco for the last of my Christmas shop and the bread/milk i will need this week.

It was manic to say the least! People really do go mental at christmas time dont they lol. What is it with all the chocolate for christmas? I always wonder about that, I know when we were kids we always had a tin of roses and since living away from home I have always gotten a tin of something but I never really know why, a lot of the time there are chocolates left until June the following year!

The roads here were actually ok and the car park had been totally cleared which was nice. If the temperature drops tonight then its going to be very scary to drive tomorrow as its going to be sheer ice everywhere. I hope it doesnt freeze as I have a hospital appointment to check on baby tomorrow.

Pay day for us on friday but I wont need to do a shop now until nearer New Year so am hoping to keep the Jan budget the same and see how we get on.

In February our baby is due and he has to be born in London as he needs an operation so not sure what to do about the grocery budget for Feb as we might be able to stay in London with him whilst he has his operation etc. Maybe February can be missed off as I wont be able to plan what DH and the Grandparents do for my girls whilst I am away. Will have a think about that.

Off to total up how much christmas is going to/has cost us this year eeeeeek.

elf06

Ok so I have been looking at all the people declaring for this month and posting their Jan budgets and its got me thinking about mine (even though I have another 10 days left on this one ) and I am really torn between carrying on the way I have been (although I did go AWOL for part of this year) or whether to set myself a yearly target. I often stock up on deals when they are on and app f00ds etc when they have discounts so it may make sense for me to set a yearly target. Does anyone have any thoughts on which works best?? I would still come on weekly/every few days and update my spends............

seasalt_2

Just updated my signature and am 74p over budget! Still a couple of things to get but could (should?) manage without.

Still dithering about whether to buy a small chest freezer in Jan sales and whether it will, eventually, pay for itself.

Pros: Could freeze more of what I grow. Not everything freezes well though.
Take advantage of reductions - large chickens for £2 today but not a square inch of space in my freezer to put one.
Go shopping less often (save fuel and time too)
Cook ahead/freeze leftovers etc.

Cons: Cost to buy. Approx £150 (not on sale)
Electricity to run
Space to put it (can solve this one with a bit of creativity)
Temptation to overspend on reductions etc!

Tbh, I want one and if could get one from eg freecycle (not here), I would probably jump at it but it's whether or not I can justify the cost. Any thoughts?

ETA This would be in addition to our fridge-freezer.

Hippeechiq

Hello & Welcome All Newbies :wave:

elf06 wrote: »

Ok so I have been looking at all the people declaring for this month and posting their Jan budgets and its got me thinking about mine (even though I have another 10 days left on this one and I am really torn between carrying on the way I have been (although I did go AWOL for part of this year) or whether to set myself a yearly target. I often stock up on deals when they are on and app f00ds etc when they have discounts so it may make sense for me to set a yearly target. Does anyone have any thoughts on which works best?? I would still come on weekly/every few days and update my spends............

Well, it clearly does work for some people, as there are several who take part in this thread who do annual budgets.

Personally, I think if I tried, I'd find myself at the end of the year with no money because I would buy too many bargains during the year. Not that I would buy things that I don't use anyway, but I still think I'd be in danger of running out of funds - I need to have a monthly budget to keep me on track, something "short term" to aim for, but that's just me, and it must work for some, otherwise they wouldn't do it

seasalt wrote: »

Still dithering about whether to buy a small chest freezer in Jan sales and whether it will, eventually, pay for itself.

Pros: Could freeze more of what I grow. Not everything freezes well though.
Take advantage of reductions - large chickens for £2 today but not a square inch of space in my freezer to put one.
Go shopping less often (save fuel and time too)
Cook ahead/freeze leftovers etc.

Cons: Cost to buy. Approx £150 (not on sale)
Electricity to run
Space to put it (can solve this one with a bit of creativity)
Temptation to overspend on reductions etc!

Tbh, I want one and if could get one from eg freecycle (not here), I would probably jump at it but it's whether or not I can justify the cost. Any thoughts?

ETA This would be in addition to our fridge-freezer.

Hi seasalt
I have had a 2nd freezer for the last (cough)teen years and I wouldn't be without it. Mines upright with 2½ drawers and it's always full, and what's in it is constantly used/rotated.

They're great for extra bread/milk/cheese/gluts of f&v/batch baked/cooked goods, turkeys, your monthly meat, any gateauxs and desserts that you might buy this time of year (and I do - after all, it's my Christmas too) or any other bargains that you come across.

So I'd say, stop giving yourself a hard time over it and go for it. It will pay for itself over and over again

I've bought so much over the last few days (including an online shop) that it's gonna take me a while to update my figures - but roughly totted up in my head, it's not looking good considering we still have 10 days (or I do) left to the end of my December budget.

Quick grumble about my online shop - a few things not available, but one of them was 2 x 10 Packs of Stella fgs! :mad: and I find it totally unacceptable that they be out of stock of alcohol at this time of year! You know - it's not like all the SMs haven't been ramming Xmas down our throats since September, so Xmas can hardly have taken them by surprise fgs!

The nearest shop to me that sells it is Te$co a mile away, and the closest they stock to what I ordered from A$da is one box of 18 bottles (no 10's, not in stubbies)......and I have no car - how the hell am I supposed to carry an 18 bottle box of Stella on foot with a backpack?

wssla00

seasalt wrote: »

Just updated my signature and am 74p over budget! Still a couple of things to get but could (should?) manage without.

Still dithering about whether to buy a small chest freezer in Jan sales and whether it will, eventually, pay for itself.

Pros: Could freeze more of what I grow. Not everything freezes well though.
Take advantage of reductions - large chickens for £2 today but not a square inch of space in my freezer to put one.
Go shopping less often (save fuel and time too)
Cook ahead/freeze leftovers etc.

Cons: Cost to buy. Approx £150 (not on sale)
Electricity to run
Space to put it (can solve this one with a bit of creativity)
Temptation to overspend on reductions etc!

Tbh, I want one and if could get one from eg freecycle (not here), I would probably jump at it but it's whether or not I can justify the cost. Any thoughts?

ETA This would be in addition to our fridge-freezer.

Seasalt- I got one from my local second hand shop for £50 including a guarantee. It has helped me loads as I now only shop for meat/fish etc once a month and then can just remove things as and when. It also means I never cook something just to "use it up". I would go for a second hand one if you cant find one on freecycle as they are just as good, especially coming from a good second hand shop or a charity shop electrical store

angelatgraceland

elf06 wrote: »

Ok so I have been looking at all the people declaring for this month and posting their Jan budgets and its got me thinking about mine (even though I have another 10 days left on this one ) and I am really torn between carrying on the way I have been (although I did go AWOL for part of this year) or whether to set myself a yearly target. I often stock up on deals when they are on and app f00ds etc when they have discounts so it may make sense for me to set a yearly target. Does anyone have any thoughts on which works best?? I would still come on weekly/every few days and update my spends............

Well I do a combination of both which is what I would recommend to you. I set an annual budget and split it roughly into 12 -or 13 if you are paid every 4 weeks.
I also stock up/bulk buy offers so some months are higher than others but after a few months of doing this it does seem to even out.
If at the end of a quarter Ive gone over, I work a tight budget the following month to make it level out. It works for me.
what I have been wary of this year though is overstocking and not checking the dates and wasting stuff-no savings there! My favourite for stocking up has been baked beans and sugar this year but @I never buy more than I will use in 3 months.

seasalt_2

Thanks Hippeechiq and wssla00. I live on an island so not always easy to source secondhand/freecycle etc - or freight charges make it impractical - but I am definitely going to get one from somewhere! Thanks for the encouragement!