January 2011 Grocery Challenge

Craftyscholar

Stocked up at MrS - £12.41

Tracey2609

I've not had such a good week this week. Normally I manage to get through the week on one shop, but this week I went to Mr T's twice. I've spent £74.57 in total this week (not good!) - But still better than the £100 I'd usually spend, I've amended my signature already - but this now means that I've saved £121.58 over the four weeks so far this month! Money that I would've of frittered away and have nothing to show for it! which is now going to be paid off the Credit Card. I am going to drop my budget next month - but I think at the moment not by too much probably £10 a week, in case I see any bargains!

Hippeechiq

sistercas wrote: »

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

Blimey! :eek: That's a shocking increase! I can see why you need to recoup some money from somewhere.

I was going to try and save £1 a day toward Christmas, but I never have a £1 a day spare, but if I tell myself I have £25 less at my disposal (which is true really if we want to have any kind of Christmas this year) then I wont spend it.....or at least, that's the theory.

It's purely psychological for me, and removing the option to go over budget to start with and putting the £25 I haven't spent at the end of each month in my Christmas fund, will work better for me than trying to save £1 a day IYKWIM......in fact, :idea: I may just withdraw the £25 into my Christmas Fund at the start of each month which will negate the need for willpower at all :rotfl: as if I only have £250 in the bank - that's all I can spend! Why did I not think of this before?!

And I think I'm going to add a Christmas Fund figure as part of my siggy to spur me on

fedupandskint

£14.22 in Mr S today

Leaving a total of £58.33 left until next Friday - should make my target for this month which is pleasing!

rachelww1

Went to Mr T's last night. Had costed my shop at under £50 on mysupermarket and really wanted to stay within the £50 limit. But half the offers I wanted had sold out.....typical . Spent £54.40 in the end so not too bad. Should hopefully come in under £350, so £50 under budget, but will reduce this next month.

Looked at the meat boxes you've been discussing and found another supplier that looks interesting - meat from the sandringham estate. They're doing a mixed box for £50. It's out of stock at the mo, but will keep my eye on it as it seems exeptionally good value. So may not be £50 under budget after all - but the meat would last for ages.

modern_millie_2

Hello everyone, I have £8.50 left from a budget of £150 - was always going to be tough, I might just do it - watch this space! Should be enough for milk and veg, which is all we really need, but I do get tempted by the bargains. Bought 5 packs of sugar at Mr M's on offer, which was added expense but worth it in the long run. Have noticed I spend a lot on chocolate (!) all for OH and daughter of course. Think I will have to ration it.

gdyr1945

You can purchase your Donald Russell meat via a cash back site (I use Topcashback) and had £5.84 back from my last order. They also send out codes every so often so that you don't pay p&p on an order less than £80. Although it is very easy to spend £80 with them. We also decided to have small but better portions of meat. I 'balance' the expense with much cheaper options. Tonight, for instance we are having squid with chilli and lime and pasta. A bag of squid is on offer at Tescos 3 for 2 and is only £4 a bag anyway. 1 bag will do us (2 adults) 2 dinners which is, I think, about 34p each portion.

I had £90 last from Valued Opinions and £50 from YouGov. Not huge amounts but very usful at Christmas. I will be saving the tokens (Mr.Ts) again for next Cchristmas. Am going to have £45 by end March so looking good!

scotsaver

Mothership wrote: »

Donald Russell Online butchers have a 10% off everything till sunday 23rd Code win11e9g

I love their meat, it is just delicious, a right old fashioned taste, their website has some lovely recipes too, and their customer service is second to none.
I purchased the following packs , I'm right into my slow cooker at the moment, and these just are cuts are just perfect to cook in it.

http://www.donaldrussell.com/p/ShopByCategory_Beef_Beef%20Selections/beef-for-braising-d883.htm

http://www.donaldrussell.com/p/HomePromotions/winter-stew-selection-D1119.htm

I got wee £69 windfall from quidco and put £36.30 towards an order for 3 of the Beef for braising packs,with the 10% off it came to £105. 30. I had the order all ready in the cart (waiting for next month) when I got the 10% off email and I swooped LOL.
Its coming at the end of Feb (you can choose your delivery date,) that will give us time to eat the freezer.

OMG just realised I've turned into my GRANNY LOL, these are all cuts of meat she used to buy, they are hard to come by nowadays.

Thats me overbudget noo.

Mothership - many thanks for this - I've toyed with the idea of ordering from them before but thought they were too expensive but have decided that these packs look too good to miss out on and as we are cutting down on the number of days we eat meat then on the days that we eat meat it should be the best quality that I can buy. Have picked a delivery date in February so we have time to empty the Freezers to make room and I will take the amount spent out of Feb GC. :j

Off now to double check what we have in the Freezers and meal plan around contents so that I have enough space when delivery comes.:o

bella121984

Hi all, had a busy few days but just needed to pop on to update my signature...had to buy some potatoes today as I forgot them with the shopping...£1.04...im sure I will find a few other bits I forgot too but theres only a week left of this month so we should end up under budget!

becky170

Went to MrT this morning to stock up on some fruit and veg and spent £12.31. Hopefully I'll have enough to last me the week, and I absoutely must start eating things out my freezer and it's busting at the seams! Maybe I should do a storecupboard challenge