March 2011 Grocery Challenge

never_too_old

Missus_Aka wrote: »

Went to te$cos yesterday and spent in total £64.12 (deducting non grocery, things for my mum and dh total grocery comes to £50.96) i did this to take advantage of te$cos double the difference offer compared to @sda because i dnt think it will be valid too much longer because of the money you can claim back, i checked my receipts (i did it in 2 receipts to get back the max) and got back £43.74. Im going to take this off my spend as i will use this voucher instead of cash for next months gc leaving me with a total of £7.22 which i will add to my stocking up budget as i wont need to use them for quite a while. Loving the price war though te$cos actually gave me back more on some items then i spent on them and its all items i will use (some people are just buying anything to get the extra money back) if anyone wants i can put up my list so you buy yours and get the vouchers back

yes please:j

so how does this work i thought Mr A did this, did you purchase the items then come away and enter details online?

Missus_Aka

mr a do it but they offer is that they will be 10% cheaper then tesco or they will give you the difference which to be honest isnt a lot (for ex if mra shop is £50 and same shop at tesco is £45 they will give you £9.50 but your shopping would have been £45 in mrt anyway and you need to buy 8 comparable item, for the same amout £50 i got £43.74 for mrt. i bought it at a tesco store and put it in online it normally takes them about 18hrs to get back to you with the results, the items i bought are just above your post.

russetred

Just popping on to update my siggy then heading back to catch up on posts. Hope there's some good news some of us are having a really tough time and I hope they know that their friends on here are wishing them all the best.

quintwins

do u need to buy 8 items? i did one the other day it only had 4 items on it, altho it was cheaper in te$co anyway, i'm tempted to go grab some shampoo cause i need some but i don't need anything else, what happens if i just buy 2?

hmm the price checked isn;t comparing most of teh 900ml bottles, except ones where there the same price

prophecy_grrl

Just updating to keep myself on track - I spent £32.88 of this week's shopping budget and I don't need to buy anything else till shopping day on Monday and next week's budget. This means I'm £17.12 under budget for this week, hooray!

My total spend over 2 weeks is £18.83 under budget so far. I've just done my meal plan and shopping list for next week and am aiming to spend approx £42 next week. Am definitely on track for an underspend this month - all the more money for my rainy day 'treat' fund!

Hope everyone is well and frugal

prophecy_grrl x

helen_jelly

Missus AKA - thanks for the info - I've just put in a receipt so will wait and see what happens - Helen

cutiepieabf

Missus_Aka wrote: »

Went to te$cos yesterday and spent in total £64.12 (deducting non grocery, things for my mum and dh total grocery comes to £50.96) i did this to take advantage of te$cos double the difference offer compared to @sda because i dnt think it will be valid too much longer because of the money you can claim back, i checked my receipts (i did it in 2 receipts to get back the max) and got back £43.74. Im going to take this off my spend as i will use this voucher instead of cash for next months gc leaving me with a total of £7.22 which i will add to my stocking up budget as i wont need to use them for quite a while. Loving the price war though te$cos actually gave me back more on some items then i spent on them and its all items i will use (some people are just buying anything to get the extra money back) if anyone wants i can put up my list so you buy yours and get the vouchers back

thank you for this. i had seen a poster in tesco the other day for it but didnt really look into what it was. i have just entered my last online order to see if i will get anything back.

Missus_Aka

just checked tre$emme are still 4.30 each at mr t, mr a are 2 for £4 still so you will get £9.20 back in a voucher (i got the salon silk one te$cos call in smooth silk online) but make sure you only buy 2 on one receipt as at mrt they are 3 for £10 so you would get less money back if say you buy more than 2 on any one receipt and you dont need to buy 8 items at mrt thats only for mra so if you buy only 1 item you will still get your money off voucher if mra is cheaper

Spiggle

Aldahbra wrote: »

... I did buy a new water filter thingy at £29.99 for my spoiled old cats ...

Hello and welcome Aldahbra. :hello: You buying the water filter made me laugh. My two spoilt beautiful felines always have water in a bowl for them next to their food. Do they ever drink it? No way! I have to put the bath tap on drizzle for both of them and they both go out to the garden to drink from the water bowl for the birds or the watering can (which we get a lot of hassle over if it's not full enough for them to drink from)! I'd take it back and get a refund but that's me! :rotfl:

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

... using 2 leeks, 3/4 sad cauli ... sad tomatoes and onion, olive oil n seasoning ...

I managed to break through my 8st barrier this week -so 8st 1lb gone -just the last 4st7lb left to shed :j ...

MrsMcCawber I love the idea of sad vegetables - so sums up their look when wilting! :rotfl: Congratulations on your fantastic achievement with the weight loss, truly amazing, well done. :T:T:T

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

... Once that is done then I think I will ring our local butcher with a list of what I need for the month and take my granny trolly down to town and pick it up. ...

Hi and welcome tigerfeet. :hello: I'm sure you'll find the quality much better on meat from the local butcher and often the prices are better too (compared weight for weight). We get our eggs from ours and they're the cheapest free range and organic ones I've found. The other small (but important for me ) thing that I love about buying from him is that we can buy a quantity of bacon but have say half sliced thick like OH wants and the other half thin as I like it. Little things ... But what I meant to say before waffling on was check if your butcher delivers. Ours does it for free within the town and especially if its a large order. As well as the really important element of supporting local independents, we can benefit from the butchers knowledge if we see something that's good value and don't know what to do with as he will advise on best methods to cook it. Plus he will prep meat as you need it. Ok, I'll stop now and NO I'm not married to or related to a butcher in any way. :rotfl:

Helen, Chloris, Hippeechiq, rosieben, mummyjane, sistercas, and everyone else who sent good wishes and hugs, thank you so much, you're all wonderful on here, so supportive. :A I'll be disappearing for a little while in a few weeks time as need to have an op and then we'll see how it goes from there.

Angelatgraceland I hope your news was positive yesterday and the prognosis for your OH is better than feared. Thinking of you both. :grouphug::kisses3:

Ok on the GC front we are a little down on the NSD as OH has been getting bits daily again although he is keeping receipts and giving them to me. So we are only on 5 and he will be getting some bits today too.

I went to MrT yesterday on the way in to work and picked up my fave milk. While I was there I also checked out the yoghurt, butter and cheese offers and got another haul of organic Welsh butter @ 2 for £2, Welsh cheese (200g packs) @ 2 for £2, large pot Onk*en yogs @ 2 for £2 and a couple of bags of strong white flour which it would have been rude to leave behind @ 50p per bag! Also got two long dated packes of honey roast ham (kitten treat!) @ 2 for £3. GD1s favourite rubbish 'meat' (use the term loosely) and some paracetamol. I did succomb to a splurge by buying the two S*r**n malt loaf at 2 for £1.19 but I do love it. After the multibuy savings of £6.71 were taken off the total cost was £25.17.

So won't need to buy butter or cheese for a good while now and I could probably supply a bakery with the quantity of strong flour I have in stock! I know OH is getting some bits today but don't know if he's going to butchers or if we'll need to do that tomorrow. Sort of hope it's today because otherwise we won't get another NSD until Sunday, aaaarrrgh!

I must be feeling better as this appears to be one of my essays! :rotfl: Apologies folks.

Anyway, must away to ... hmm, :think: do what? Oh got to get washing out of the machine. I'll probably be back though.

Welcome to any newbies I haven't mentioned, good luck and keep up the great work everyone. :T

See you soon,
Spigs

quintwins

Missus_Aka wrote: »

just checked tre$emme are still 4.30 each at mr t, mr a are 2 for £4 still so you will get £9.20 back in a voucher (i got the salon silk one te$cos call in smooth silk online) but make sure you only buy 2 on one receipt as at mrt they are 3 for £10 so you would get less money back if say you buy more than 2 on any one receipt and you dont need to buy 8 items at mrt thats only for mra so if you buy only 1 item you will still get your money off voucher if mra is cheaper

thanks i added it, i also had a look at bogofs since i'm going anyway, and they normall pop prices up and found these

pringles-£1.99 (£1 in A)
seriously strong cheese 400g £3.99 (£2 in A)
dairylea spread 300g £1.98 (£1 in A)
dairylea triangles 16 £1.89 (£1 in A)
napolina tom 40g (£.99 £5p in A)
snickers 5 x 290g £1.73 (£1 in A)
toffee crisp same as above £1.78 (£1 in A)

careful to only buy one if you get these as there all bogof or similar, and i'm gonna check the snickers/toffee crisps cause there 2 for £3 on snickers (still £1 cheap in a$da) but theres no sign of the toffee crisps included but then there not even online

this lot including the shampoo shud cost £22.86, i'm hoping to get a voucher of £22.62, fingers crossed as this is all stuff i'll use anyway