January 2011 Grocery Challenge

quintwins

well i'm just back from mr T i really shud ahve went earlier but oh had to go fix someones computer (he did bring back £30 tho so can't be to cross ) and instead of an hr was 2 1/2, they had very little left but i did get reduced fruit and some veg so i'll be peeling and freezing tomorrow, i spent £27 but £10 of that was for 7 pairs of jammies for my boys all reduced to £2 so quite a sucessful trip, hoping for a nsd day tomorrow

lolly101

Caltha wrote: »

To reduce the tempatation and chaos in Mr T's, shopped at the local and bought yogurt and milk - £5.38

Good thinking, I wish I'd done the same! Complete nightmare - so busy, and I went without making a list so ended up spending a lot more than I'd have liked! Although to be fair, I did get a lot of things half price and probably won't need to shop for a while now (other than the usual fruit, veg, milk, etc).

I spent £34.28 so am well into my budget now. I definitely need to go through some recipe threads and plan my meals as I have quite a lot of food, I just need to figure out how to make it into lots of yummy meals!

angelatgraceland

lisamckinney wrote: »

Hey,

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask!

I'm currently trying to get out of a bit of debt and hoping to cut back where possible. I'm really clued up when it comes to mortgage, utilities etc but the only thing I don't really know what I should be spending on is food.

I know this is horrendous but I have no idea what I'm spending every week or month on food and think this is where I can probably make a big dent.

I could easily have a nice £4 microwaveable meal from Sainsburys every night then spend another £2 on lunch/snacks/water etc (or even about £5 on lunch at O'Briens!). This would be £180-£200 a month. I don't think I spend this much as I can pop over to my Mum and Dad's for dinner when I want.

Would anyone be able to tell me how much they spend on food/drink on a weekly/monthly basis? I'm a 24 yr single girl living on my own, no kids or anything. Problem is I don't cook (although just bought a £35 Russell Hobbs 3 in 1 grill thing so could make a start).

One plus point - I don't drink alcohol at all so I guess this might lower my food bill over the average single person.

Any help would be much appreciated! Especially tips on how to budget for food stuffs!

Thanks x

Hi and welcome-you will get lots of help here. Do you plan to do some cooking? Even if its only making a packed lunch each day instead of buying out it will make a big difference to what you spend. Well if you are spending maybe £180 per month that is rather a lot but you mustn't be too hard on yourself-set yourself a little goal each week and do this little by little or you could find it hard. Id start by limiting yourself to say £120 per month-that allows you freedom but you will still have to be careful by the sounds of it!
There are a few simple things you need to do to create awareness which will automatically help you!
Keep a spending diary and write down every single spend whether its a pack of crisps from a vending machine or a meal out.
Take out only cash and only the amount you are going to allow yourself.
There are many simple "cheat" meals you can make cheaply without spending on takeaways etc-Im thinking of things like the bags of steamfesh veg, Aunt bessies frozen mash etc. A lot can be done in the micro! If you can then just grill a piece of meat or fish you have a simple quick meal. This may not be cheap by "our" standards-cooking from scratch etc but everyone has differentneeds and different skills. Make yourself cook maybe two meals from scratch on days off/weekends when you have time to concentrate on them.
Ive just made my dd some chicken sarnies for tomorrow-If Id bought them they would cost approx £2.50 but 3 slices of bread, some cooked chicken(I just cooked a whole one)and some mayo it has cost me about 40p. Therefore if you made a saving every day like that you would save £10 a week at least with little effort. If you buy bottles of coke out, buy a big bottle and refil that little one each day! You will be quids in for the same product. When you get confident you can experiment more. Keep reading the posts and keep posting even if you think its a silly question(no question is silly)there really is so much help here and Ive got to say that it is the most friendly forum Ive ever taken part in so do stay with us! :T:T:T:A

lvm

Thanks so much for your help angelatgraceland! Will definitely try some home cooking as it seems to cost so little! Need to get out of the "if I spend loads in Sainsburys I'll get more Nectar points!" attitude - most stupid excuse ever!

Thanks so much x

angelatgraceland

Ive just taken a look in my Asda account and see that they have banked a free delivery code valid until 16th if I spend £50 so Ive made my list(which I can alter whenever I please)and booked it for the 15th! Glad I looked now! Im doing my best to save fuel(more than ever before)and I will try to get others to shop for me if I can or get it delivered free(I won't pay).
Just dismantled my freshly cooked chicken, taken the breasts off, covered and labelled DO NOT TOUCH in the fridge! Another plate with the rest of the chicken on, which they are all allowed to pick at. Made dd(16) sarnies for tomorrow and dd(25) has now made hers also for work. She is also vowing to spend less money on quick impulse food buys for lunch. The chicken breasts will serve 4 people tomorrow and if any of the other chicken remains then it will serve 5. Also fed the cat some! Ordered some more of these FR chickens on Asda order as they are so good! FR eggs are still on offer also for 2 x 1 dozen eggs for £4.
Our pasta dish tonight was so simple! One pack of SP pasta 29p One jar of Asda pesto 88p A big pile of cheese-about £1 serves 4/5

Just keep the nectar points for Christmas! Never spend to earn points! Im looking at spending about £70 pw on food for a family of 5 but I cook a lot. Tell people the meals you enjoy and I just know you will be flooded with help. There is also a recipe index at the beginning of this thread for ideas.

Doom_and_Gloom

Spent another £4.20 and with that we got

• 6 fairtrade bananas
• 300g broccoli
• 2kg dried chickpeas
• sprout tree (I love sprouts )
• diet cola
• classic cola

The above should have come in at £7.92 so a saving of £3.72 .

Budget = £80
Spent = £8.32
Left = £71.68

quintwins

lisamckinney wrote: »

Hey,

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask!

I'm currently trying to get out of a bit of debt and hoping to cut back where possible. I'm really clued up when it comes to mortgage, utilities etc but the only thing I don't really know what I should be spending on is food.

I know this is horrendous but I have no idea what I'm spending every week or month on food and think this is where I can probably make a big dent.

I could easily have a nice £4 microwaveable meal from Sainsburys every night then spend another £2 on lunch/snacks/water etc (or even about £5 on lunch at O'Briens!). This would be £180-£200 a month. I don't think I spend this much as I can pop over to my Mum and Dad's for dinner when I want.

Would anyone be able to tell me how much they spend on food/drink on a weekly/monthly basis? I'm a 24 yr single girl living on my own, no kids or anything. Problem is I don't cook (although just bought a £35 Russell Hobbs 3 in 1 grill thing so could make a start).

One plus point - I don't drink alcohol at all so I guess this might lower my food bill over the average single person.

Any help would be much appreciated! Especially tips on how to budget for food stuffs!

Thanks x

i wish when i was single i'd had that much money for food, i'd recommend a few meals that don't require an awful lot of cooking, pasta make with jars is very quick and alot cheaper than a ready meal, baked taties take very little effort, when i'm in a hurry we usually ahve mince and taties but then i have 5 to feed and don't forget gold old beans on toast

kalojac

2 NSDs so far for me and declaring a £7.51 spend for us yesterday.

rosieben

now in the recipe index - Keybilly's dahl recipe and CherryPie's Sausage, Black Pudding, Bacon & Bean Stew :T

Mothership

Caltha wrote: »

Good luck.
I've also taken all my cards out of my purse (about a month ago), and its certainly made me think twice about putting stuff in the basket.
To reduce the tempatation and chaos in Mr T's, shopped at the local and bought yogurt and milk - £5.38

I just did that about 4 weeks ago, when I go shopping I've been leaving my cards at home, just taking what I can afford to spend. Its working for me.