January 2011 Grocery Challenge 25 December 2010 at 2:15AM edited 29 December 2010 at 10:09AM in Old Style MoneySaving 2.6K replies 293.9K views

laineyc_2

Spiggle, I hope he is on the mend soon. What a scary tiime for you both.

Very pleased. I managed a no spend for the first time in a very long time. The brown bread I baked has gone down very well. It's spaghetti carbonara for dinner. I tried the bacon I got in Netto yesterday and it is fine. Tomorrow I am picking up a slicer at Argos tomorrow. I going to see if I can get a good deal on a ham joint while I am out. Then I can practice slicing tomorrow.

MRSMCAWBER

Good evening all

just a quicky... can everyone remember to post their totals in bold are a different colour please?I think I have picked up the ones posted so far (but don't quote me on that ), Im going all cross eyed trying to pick them all up and last month I ended up picking up totals that didn't want them posting :rotfl:

Tropicalmoments

£193.87 is my total from a £200 budget. I'm pretty certain I've missed something though. My month starts today as I got paid today.

I going for £300 for February.

Is this how you meant MRSMCAWBER? Sorry if I've misunderstood.

JayJay14

MrsM please can you put me down for £150 for February.

My total so far for Jan is £115 - I may be a bit over by the time Monday comes.

Linda32

Hello all,

Well this is my final post for January, I tried for £260.00 this month and its a very close call.

New Total £226.41

Co-op £13.14
Asda £25.79

Total for January £265.34

I know its over but I am really really happy with that. Meal planning is really working. This week I even had a "ideas list" for next week as well.

Sunflower1227

Hi everyone :j

Hope you are all well?

Can you please put me down for £225 for Feb Mrs M

Already spent £93.25 over the last couple of days stocking up freezer and cupboards, so will really only need fresh fruit & veg
OH and milk - well in thoery LOL - we all say that :rotfl:

angelatgraceland

Originally Posted by wannaBrich View Post
Oh c'mon then, count me in ... eeeeeeeeeek!

I live on my own and spend way to much on take away pizzas, ready made sandwiches, buy food and end up throwing it away

My wages went in today so gonna start from TODAY!

I guesstimate I spend £400 per month currently ...
is there a rough % how much I should downgrade?

Right then, bring it on!!!!!

Well-honestly? I'd bring it down by about 60%. Ooooh you did ask!
However-ultimately its about being aware of your spending, what you are happy with and what you can afford. Being on here you will definitely get a better diet though-expensive "instant" food is not as good as lowcost "real" food.
Have fun experimenting because with such a budget available you have such choices to play with new ideas. Be adventurous-you will discover hidden talents.
We had a quick tea tonight-I rarely buy takeaway but tonight we enjoyed a chicken fried rice,a bag of chips and a curry sauce(£6.80) between 3 of us. I am counting this in my food budget but have decided not to count any odd restaurant meals as they are not very often and I can afford to set myself a small entertainment budget.
Not spent much this week as Ive been working and taking lunch to work-just cheese sarnies and cuppa soup today but I enjoyed it as it was nice fresh bread(reduced)and an Ainsley Harriot cuppa soup on offer rather than a Mr T value one and sliced bread!

Missus_Aka

nsd 9 for me today, leg is easing up so i may go out tomorrow. I need some dinner food & juice to last me as well for the next few days. Think i will be achieving the £135 for us.....everyone seems to be doing really well i feel really hungry reading these posts...korma....mmmmmmmmmm

Wannabrich its really just a personal thing you have to decide for yourself, how much you can afford? how you want to eat, what you include in your budget? i spend £135 a month for me dh, ds, my sister who i have twice a week and dhs brothers who come a few times a month, mine includes all food, treats & toiletries but on top of this i keep a stock up budget of £180 a yr to stock up on washing powder, softener, bleach. shower gel when its on offer, so say that evens out over the yr to £150 a month.and we eat really well on this all branded lots of chicken breasts/lamb/mince we drink tonnes of coke and sunpride juice...so if i really needed to i could cut back to around £100 or less. Shop around for your prices for ex. my nearest turkish shop to me sells tomatoes for £2.39 per kg the one next to my mums sells them for £1.89 per kg....but as your spend is so high at the moment do it gradually until you find a budget that you are comfortable with..........good luck.xxx

emma-uk

OK, so may be my updating of my budget has been less than good I am pleased to say that Jan saw me stay within budget and I spent the grand total of...........................£187.44:jThis included 2 lunches out with the girlies from work and a Dominoes (the buy 1 get 2 free deal of course;))

So Feb starts now, both OH and I get paid on the 25th of each month so it's time for a new target of £180 and a promise to update here more!!!

PennyGrabber

NSD for me today. Only four more days to manage! May be able to streeetch it til then!

Have printed off some menu planning sheets from netmums.com, a monthly meal planner, a weekly one and a shopping list which shows stuff like e nos and % of fats/sugars/salts in food that are good/bad. For Feb, I'm going to do a monthly plan (which just has dinners on it), then before the weekly shop transfer it to the weekly plan which has all three meals on it, so I can put pudds and lunchbox details etc. I can then use this more comprehensive plan to create my shopping list, BEFORE going shopping! Hopefully, this will allow me to change around the monthly plan so I don't feel so restricted. Makes sense in my head, will try and then see!

Hope to continue the pantry audit tonight, and then put this up in the kitchen to update every time I use/buy something.

It really sounds like I'm getting my act together now, doesn't it! :A We'll see!!

PG x