January 2011 Grocery Challenge

angelatgraceland

Re the slowcooker-well it was a present for your birthday as you used your birthday gift vouchers. Nope-any vouchers whatsoever I believe the majority of us do not count, as they are not depleting our cash or bank balances. Same if you had an online discount code-don't count that discount as something you have spent because you haven't. The question I would ask myslef is "did I spend money/charge it to my account" I think that answers these questions really. Its so easy to worry about what to count and what not to and we do not all agree-it is ultimately up to you! If it makes you feel better-put the voucher value in a pot for something special and count it-although as I say-if I don't actually spend it I do not count it.
Edit-you could class the mr t vouchers as a discount for past spends-just another way of looking at it.:beer:

leeds1947

Really excited as I start grocery challenge ha ve decided to tackle credit card debt of £1566.00 and be very organized with shopping and looking after pennies.Grocery Challenge January £:j36.50/£200

Long_tall_sally

NSD for me today ( or actually yesterday as now past midnight.)

Mrs M - well done on such a fantastic weight loss. I might have a look at SW myself.

Toddles - congratulations!

Just wanted to post my freezer contents, if that's ok:

1 turkey crown
4 x 500g beef mince
2 gammom steaks
Fish cakes
Fish fingers
Bag of scampi
Rump steak - enough for 4 people
Sausage meat
8 chicken thighs
5 chicken breasts
Joint of beef
3 packets of bacon
2 x packets of fish medlay (cod, haddock & salmon)
Gluten free fish fingers & chicken steaks
A few sausages
1 small packet of king prawns
Sweetcorn

costaerer

wow i really need to stock some protein in my freezer! going to go tesco tomorrow- have £40 of vouchers will use some for a dish and the rest for fooooood! need freezer stuff as apposed to fridge stuff!

then going to go to home bargains and spend max £15. need to pick OH trousers up from dry cleaners- about £5. need to get eyebrows threaded before people start to mistake me for a man -£5 and go to butchers- will probs spend about £20.

savingcaz

I'd like to join in too please! I'm aiming for £100 till 25th January

were really struggling this month because i'm currently on SSP due to knee injury! Really need to cut down because we've only gor £150 this month for food and petrol!

hope you can keep me on straight and Narrow!

plzhelpmesave!

hi all - Another new joiner upper here please.

2 adults, 1 teenager and 3 kids here ages 4, 6 and 8.

Did a mad shop on Friday, as we were out of lots of things. i had bought some pre-printed shopping lists from Home Bargains ages ago and have put them on the fridge to use - quite enjoyed ticking off the things I needed - but still bought stuff I didnt really need!

I will be rounding my figures up to the next £ - just to make it easier for myself to remember the figures!

Spent -
£35 on meat (chicken breast, beef, 2 whole chickens) I'm asian and use a lot of meat in curries! Have made the 2 chickens already as made some soup for a sick friend and a curry with the other chicken) need to do more veggie curries! hardly ever buy beef (usually chicken) so nearly had a heart attack at the meat prices!!

£37 - on asian food shopping inc spices, veg

£28 in Farmfoods

£60 in home bargains on lots of home bits including some food so will count it all

TOTAL - £160 - so that is the big shop of the month done. Will need to get meat, fruit, bread and milk. Will be using store cupboard and freezer this month - both are well stocked.

BUDGET is £350 for january - fingers crossed it should be less!

tazzyb

Newbie wanting to join in.
I would like a yearly budget of £1500 please. For two adults and two dogs including all cleaning products. Hubby is from a family of butchers so he can go and raid them for free meat that is going o.o.d. Needs to take this up more. Any savings are going straight off the credit cards.

Mothership

Hi There

I'd like to join please. I'm starting 2011 with two freezers well stocked, and a good store cupboard.

My budget for January is £200.

This year I was lucky enough to get 2 leaflets of the £5 off a £25 M&S spend for January. I plan to do what I did last year with them. I used them for meat 3 for £10 and whatever offers I could find. About half each spend went in the fridge and the other half in the freezer. By the end of Jan last year one of the freezers was full of all our favourites.
I have one drawer empty waiting for the new food.
We are eating our way through one of the freezers ( the second one has the newest food), 4 days food for our main meals will come from that and 3 for the freezer from M&S.

Apart from that all I need to buy is bread milk, fruit veg.

Last January I started batch cooking meals, browning mince etc, after removing all the fat, I placed the mince in bags in two portions. Patted them flat making them all the same size. 3x2 packs of mince took up the space of 1x2 pack in the freezer. They were ready to be made into lasagna/ Bolognese etc. I did the same with stews, chicken etc. My husband roared with laughter when I cooked 4 chickens at a time. We would have a roast dinner when they were cooked and the rest went into freezer bags, all ready to be made into curries or whatever we fancied. Not only did I save loads of time, but our fuel bills came down dramatically, to about a 1/4 of what they were.
I managed to fit in one drawer what would have filled the whole freezer raw.
I use my slow cooker and microwave more now than I used to. And I invested in an electric food slicer for roasts. (I can't slice meat) I get dods LOL.
My daughter gave me a hallogen oven for xmas and the first thing I cooked was a 2 1/2 kilo joint of beef, which it cooked to perfection. We got 4 meals from it this time and loads of sandwiches.

I've spent the last year in training so to speak, I mean to save every penny I can from now on. Our household was bleeding cash all over the place, the food that we wasted was shameful. Now when I have ripe bananas they are made into a loaf not thrown in the bin, uneaten yogurts get turned into delicious scones. I even found a use for the uneaten xmas pud , that made a lovely loaf.

I've saved thousands of pounds hanging around the grabbit board. I've been up all night reading posts on the old style money saving, and I feel this is where I should be hanging out.
I am keen to learn and contribute whatever I can to this thread.

Oh! aye and Happy New Year! to you all.

May your cupboards and coffers be full for 2011

elf06

costaerer wrote: »

would you count tesco clubcard vouchers as spending money? i have about £50 worth and was going to go to tesco tomorrow and stock up and maybe buy a quiche/flan/pie dish...

Nope I dont count them like others have said. I look at it as already having spent the money (you get the points by spending the money in the first place) so dont count vouchers, gift cards or my staff discount.

Keybilly wrote: »

I explained to the cashier that the website said £25 for the red cooker and £20 for the silver one. He went to discuss this with his boss and came back and asked me if I wanted the red cooker or the silver one. Trying to be money savy said that I would have to go for the silver one due to being cheaper but did preferred the red one. He said he'd sell me the red one for £20, got out my gift voucher card from my birthday. Very happy with my new slow cooker, but would you class this purchase as a spend?

If your gift card was for £20 then no I wouldnt count it as a spend. If it was for £15 and the SC was £20 then I would. HTH

Well I checked my receipts after yesterdays spend and my total so far is £9.59 so I will update my signature to show that. I reaslied when I got in though that I had forgotten a few bits so will have to pick them up today. I had forgotten my list so got what I could remember and decided as today was already going to be a spendy day (need to find something for my mum's birthday tomorrow) that I would just get the rest today. Will be back later to update any grocery spends (seperate budget for gifts).

kippers

costaerer wrote: »

would you count tesco clubcard vouchers as spending money? i have about £50 worth and was going to go to tesco tomorrow and stock up and maybe buy a quiche/flan/pie dish...

No I wouldn't count them either...i class it as free food. If my shopping came to £55 and i used £50 of vouchers then i would only take £5 out of my grocery budget, iyswim.


Today is a NSD i hope. Tonight i will be doing either a curry or pie and veg with left over roast pork from yesterday and using the woopsied veg i still have from xmas eve ...thankyou Mr Tesco:T:T