March grocery challenge

Penny-Wise_4

Big Barn may help find some of your local producers and famers markets/vegetable box schemes.

Penny-Wise_4

I have my first star! :T

marsha8

Asda & Morrisons are cheaper than the other "big boys"
Savers(4xAA Duracell for £1.99) and Superdrug are cheaper than Boots or Supermarkets.Wilko(if you have one) is wonderful for prices.
I agree - home made soup is cheaper and FAR NICER (no additives) than bought & at a fraction of the cost.(throw in slo cooker & enjoy the smell)
Make your own coleslaw(shredded white cabbage,carrot even onion if you like it and mayonnaise) much nicer - no odd bubbles!
https://www.fixtureferrets.co.uk may help to sort out the supermarket bargains.

System

Galtizz wrote:

R. Mac - Have you thought about buying wine buy the box, or the case? I did see some offers on the grabbit board a while ago for Virgin Wine, not sure if they'd work out cheaper or not but it might be worth a look. Or try Macro or the others, they sometimes have offers on cases.

I thought we were supposed to be saving money, not drinking the proceeds;)

furrypig

have been following this thread with much interest and have started to look at ways of cutting back on shopping as really want to save for a holiday next year!! Loads of tips for the beginner (me!) and I say roll on Aprils challenge as I really hope to join you all, though I will find it hard as I tend to vaguely plan and just buy what I fancy/whats on offer/what the kids like etc etc. But I think planning is the main thing and I am starting now in preparation especially trying out some yummy recipes!

Thanks yet again to you all x x x

LearningToSave.

went slightly astray last night after hubby made us go to morrisons instead of asda...........but not overspent for month yet and lots of meat etc for meals.....in fact i think i only need to really buy flour and skimmed milk powder to keep the breadmaker going (bought herbs and sunflower oil for it in bulk in makro)and fruit and veg to accompant/bulk out meals..........hubbies grandma coming for lunch on sunday but have budgeted £6 towards the iceland meal deal,hubby loves lamb so he is chuffed
off to market on saturday for the first time so hopefully will get enough spuds to last the 18 days until hubby gets paid again and lots of other fruit and veg too
ooooooooohhhhhhh im really enjoying this moneysaving thing,thankyou so much to everybody who's helped since i joined........hoping i can fully get used to it and then when bubba number two arrives(in 4 weeks..... :eek: ) i can really put what ive learned to good use,hoping to either not increase or just increase budget my small amount then due to napies and formula.

moggins

It's the end of the second week for me, shopping day again tomorrow.

I am still under budget but definitely not as good as last week. I've budgeted for £40 a week for the 5 of us, the 2 cats and 2 guinea pigs. So far this week I have spent £31.94 That does include a fiver for easter eggs and quite a few ingredients for baking from Julian Graves though.

r.mac_2

well, I feel that I am doing well. My budget is £15 for all food (incl lunches).

Last week I spent approx £14
this week I have spent approx £6

My week starts again tomorrow! Have saved the extra cash for 'emergencies' in a special 'purse'.

really impressed with myself so far.

tiff

Over the last few months I have had to buy lots of extras to cook from scratch such as flour, castor sugar, baking tins, rolling pin, dried beans and pulses, stock cubes, worcestershire sauce etc all of which I never had before. Now that I have all these things in the cupboard and I just have to top up each item when needed I'm finding that I now come easily within my budget. I dont want to cut back any further financially, but I still need the challenges to keep me on track.

Mac, you've done brilliantly, did you manage to use up all your store cupboard ingredients yet?

r.mac_2

well, I have used quite a few - but have flour, stocksubes, tinned tomatoes etc still left, with a couple of odd tins/bottles still hanging around.

the freezer is still looking rather healthy with mince, 9 chicken breasts, lots of sausages etc

I am trying to use and replace things so that sudenly I am not left with nothing!

Funny thing is - that since starting this challenge, although I have bought less, I feel that I am eating more!