January 2011 Grocery Challenge

helen_jelly

Missus Aka - I have spent quite alot of money this month on bulk buying and I include the amount in this months budget, it makes it easier for me to remember what it is that I have spent - to much fiddling around to spread it over the relevant months - I think it depends on what suits you best, if you have a system that can incorporate you spreading the cost then go for it but if you like it easy then just add it to this months total and know that when you are using the stuff later on in the year, you've already paid for it [I look on it as free stuff then lol]

Need to add £5 for DH beer last night and then thats me officially overspent. I'm sure that if I took my bulk buying out of my total then I would be able to knock off about £30 and even more if I took DH's beer off!!!!

Helen x

nickynoo08

Have only just noticed that both sainsbugs and asda have got loads of offers on their baby stuff at the moment so have decided to increase this months budget so i can stock up on baby milk and nappies. Not sure how much i'm gonna be spending yet i'm just wanting to make the most of the discounts so i'll update once i've spent.

Tiniker

Hello everyone, can i join in for February please. Can you put me down for £450.

Thanks, looking forward to the challenge! :T
Tini x

Mothership

MummyEm wrote: »

Have just ordered lots of meat for the new freezer from Donald Russell. Sounds Lovely, I can't wait to try it. Thanks Mothership who mentioned discount code and sale earlier. Spent around £86 but that is for a lot of meat. DH and I have recently talked about our meat eating and he is coming around to the idea that a smaller amount of good quality meat is the way to go. This is a big step from the mountain of meat I used to have to feed him! The Donal Russell stuff isn't cheap but I think about comparible with the discounts to our local butcher ( all very overpriced around here).

We are trying to eat better on our budget and source more locally. We now eat eggs from an egg farm down the road. Really lovely and cheap at £1.60 for a dozen very large eggs. Much cheaper than SM.
I may also have found a very local farm that could supply us with freerange chickens but need to investigate costs a little further. I only buy FR chicken anyway and am happy to spend more money as I know I can make it stretch for several meals. It's amazing that we used to spend £8-£10 on a large FR bird from Mr T and only get one meal and perhaps a couple of sarnies out of it! When you start looking past the big SM you do realise that there can be big savings to be made from independants.

I do realise that we are very lucky in that we have a large budget. I have been able to reduce it just by planning and not doing lots of top ups but at the same time improving quality. For us we don;t want to give up too much quality whilst we can afford it. On the otherhand, I now know that I could shop for significantly less if we had any dramatic change in circumstances. I would love to buy all organic and local but this just doesn't work for us just yet. With two young children we get through 3-4 pints just of their whole milk every 2 days . I can get this for £1 from L**L/£land whereas local organic milk is almost £2 :eek:

We do also plan to grow more veg this year. We moved house last year and have a much bigger garden so this could significantly help with costs. This is also the year that I will attempt homemade jam and apple sauce etc. All headed in the right direction, and enjoying it too

Having said all that I would still like to drop our budget down a little more by another £50. I will have lots of meat in the freezer so it may well be achievable!

You wont regret buying meat from Donald Russell, we have been eating the freezer (and will be for the next month) to make space for the new meat. At the moment I've only been buying their online offers, but everything we've had has been really lovely. Until I discovered them, I bought most of my meat from M+S the prices are much the same. The first thing we tried was the mince, even when it was being browned you could smell the difference, it was just pure steak, what I was most pleased about was the lack of fat.
I recommended a friend who bought steaks and invited us up for dinner, the OH and I nearly slid off our seats we were in foody heaven.
Orgasmic was the verdict of all the diners.
If you recommend someone you get free gifts, I asked for two large chopping boards, they are on their way.
I've not been able to buy any of their steaks yet, but will be, as space becomes available. My OH told me if I'm buying steaks to get them from Donald Russell, I was really surprised at that . As he complains about everything LOL.
The only problem I have now is getting him to eat the stuff thats in the freezer, the mince and meat I've got I've had to do chillis/bolognaise/curries with. I made his favourite mince and totties with M+S mince and he moaned the face off me all through the meal.

So be warned once you've tried their meat, that will be you, hooked!

goingontoolong

Hey guys,

I am off to Mr T's for my first shop of the month today, plan on ensuring that I stock up this week on the cupboardy type things that I will use all month. Not wanting to go over £40 but that may go out the window! I am meal planning, but my problem is remembering that people eat between meals too lol. I can spend £15 and think that I have done great but then have to go buy other stuff to eat at snack times or just when hunger strikes!

I am on the Slimming World plan at the mo so dont really buy crisps etc but I kind of make my own, so I am going to make a big batch and bag them up for snacks rather than nipping to the shop and ending up with whatever rubbish we fancy! I may go over budget this month, as I am buying in stuff for work lunches rather than having a separate budget for that so I'm not really sure how that's going to work out!

I will let you know how I get on when Im back!

GOTL x

Ilona

Forgot to check in last night, it all moves so quickly here, just spent half an hour catching up.

Yesterday I walked to town, 6.4 miles, leaving car at home. Visit to the library and Arts Centre, only spent £4.95 on cat food, stocked up. I get mine from the discount stores, B + M, Home Bargins. They have four tins of Feline Fayre tuna for 99p, and my cats like it. Got the bus home, free with my pass.
Ilona

mandco

why is it that I seem to get near the end of the month and the plan goes out the window :huh: need to tally up the damage but pretty sure I'm over budget and still have over a wk to go :mad:

That said I have brought a few bits on offer like soap powder that will last over several months ( still not sure wether i'm gonna continue to work these bits into my current month budget or the following months budget in future)

at least today is a NSD though really need to work on having more each month as that will really help with the budget

I find its the small shops where I go in for a couple of items and come out £10-£15 lighter that really make a dent in the overall spends esp as half the time dont really need the extras but pick them up coz there on offer or just fancy them at the time:doh: though am getting better

overall guess I'm doing ok might have gone over but I am spending less than I did pre GC and thats the main point

congrats to all those who have/are finishing under/on budget this month :T

sistercas

Missus_Aka wrote: »

When you stock up and you wont be using it this month do you take it off this months grocery budget or do you take it off the month you use its budget? am not really sure how to work it out? any ideas please on what you find is best for you

as others have said when i bulk buy i take it out of that months budget its far simpler that way ( and hopefully you will recoup it in following months)

Hippeechiq wrote: »

A NSD for me today, bringing me up to 10 out of 10 hoped for days.

Several spends since I last updated bringing me to £156.77 but I have an A$da delivery coming tomorrow which will take me over the £200 mark, but will update after I've received it.

Also need to get some balsamic dressing and some milk, which isn't going to leave me much left out of £250, so I'm a bit apprehensive, as next week I still need to buy some Chicken Thighs from £idl (£2.69) 850g Chicken Breast Pack from Icel@nd (£5) & Twin Pack of M&S Sausages £3.50/99, can't quite remember which. (Am fussy about my sausages and refuse to compromise ) but roughly £12 in total.

I could buy smaller packs of thighs, breast and one pack of sausages, but smaller amounts work out dearer, so refuse to do that.

Don't think the remaining budget will run to all 3, so I may have to rethink my planned menu. Unless, I buy the meat first and then make do with what's left :think:

Cut my budget by £25 this month as I need to save £25 per month if I'm to afford Christmas this year, and as we've only one income, this is the only way it can be done. However, I only managed twice in the last 6 months to bring my challenge in under budget when it was £275! And food is going up!

But!.... it's something I really have to achieve now - and this is called the Grocery Challenge says she, far more positively than she feels.....

it really is a challenge isnt it. i have had to add DD1 onto my car insurance as she is learning to drive , so its gone from just over £200 a year to £1200 a year :eek: the only way to balance this is to cut it from the food budget , so far i havent done very well with the budget for jan :
keep plugging at it Hippeechiq you will get there x

Mothership

Forgot to mention M+S Are doing 1.1 kg of 70% pork meat large packs of sausages in their 3 for £10 deal. I got some yesterday and we had some with bacon + eggs, really good quality.

I have a few £5 off a £20 spend M+S vouchers if anyone wants them, ( I used two the other day and got over £60 worth of food for a £41 spend) just PM me and I will post them to you, first come first served.

kahunababy

:j:j:jGot to tell you all this:j:j:j

I done my weekly shop at MrA last week, the night before it was due I amended it & it said that I had lost my slot so I booked another slot for the day after my original one. Anyway shopping arrived at the original time and date so afterward I rang the helpline, she told me that the delivery was down for the nxt day and she would cancel it. I also had £5.08 credited as my offers had not been applied. Anyway, I have been waiting all week (shopping came on tue) for the money to come out my bank but no sign, I then checked on the website and both orders have been canceled!!! Looks like I have got away with £45 worth of shopping and been paid £5.08 for the pleasure:T

I am not going to spend the money just in case but I think I will move it into my savings account. Does anyone know how long it usually takes to come out your bank? I have only used online shopping 1 before and it came out the next day! If I have been lucky then I'm not sure if I will take it back out my sig or not, what would you do?