June 2011 Grocery Challenge

zippychick

Hi There!

the best place to get advice on reducing your grocery bill is the Grocery Challenge. You can find this month's thread here:June 2011 Grocery Challenge

This thread will show you what other Old Stylers spend on their grocery shopping. Every family's needs/ wants are different: Grocery Shopping budget thread

This thread contains lots of advice and tips from other Old Stylers: Shopping-Monthly vs Weekly (merged)

And it's well worth taking a look at Martin's article on Supermarket Shopping.

Good luck with reducing your bills. I'll add your thread to the Grocery Challenge later where you'll get lots of support from the regulars.

I have to confess I have copied and pasted this from Pink winged, she explains it so well! :D

I would add Meal planning how do you do it?
Organisation is key with something like this

Zip

BitterAndTwisted

Lidl do A KILO of cat biscuits for a pound. It might be time to try them out on your darlings for the time being. They're a "complete" and not a complimentary food so should be fine for them. My boy prefers the one that come in a 750 gramme pack for £2. Serves me right for letting him try them, he won't go back onto the cheaper ones now, the little wretch.

As Carolyntia has advise, you should make a complete inventory of everything in your food-cupboard, fridge and freezer and ensure you make some recipes to use most of them up first before you go out shopping.

LittleBrownFrog

When I'm trying to stick to a strict weekly budget, I make my shopping list online (Tesco for us, Asda sounds more suitable for you), then I can add and subtract items until all the numbers add up, then I just copy the list out and take it to the shop

finaniciallyfitforfortys

LittleBrownFrog wrote: »

When I'm trying to stick to a strict weekly budget, I make my shopping list online (Tesco for us, Asda sounds more suitable for you), then I can add and subtract items until all the numbers add up, then I just copy the list out and take it to the shop

thats a great idea- thanks for that- i must do that!!

BitterAndTwisted

Cookie if you have a PayPal account it might be worth having a look at the Approved Food website. A lot of what they stock is prepackaged stuff but they often have decent staples so it's worth checking the site a couple of times a week to see what new stuff is on offer. I'm currently awash with couscous, ground coffee, lentils and dried beans of various sorts.

Other sites are Food Bargains, Big Brands For Less, Swinco and Bargain Brand Foods

oldtractor

cat biscuits for the cats. pasta for your husband,bread,jam,spread for you, toast or jam butties for breakfast. pasta for dinner with cooked frozen peas and olive oil ,use any herbs you have around to ring the changes. eggs for lunch or dinner poached,omlette,boiled,with bread and spread. drink water. for the 3 weeks the cat food will be about 4 or 5 £ eggs 4 doz = about £6, cheap bread around £5, jam £2, pasta £6 . spread ,buy a big cooking tub,around £3. =£22 for 3 weeks. buy a little meat,fruit and veg with the rest. easy.

XSpender

Been to my Mum's today and had a lovely lunch. Don't think we will want any tea at least not for a while and then maybe only a toastie.

NSD on the GC. I have written my meal plan to the end of the month on the lappy so need to write it out on paper to stick on the fridge and make some twinks for lunch boxes tonight. May also try making some of the huge sack of scone mix I got from AF into some cheese scones by adding a little cheese and mustard powder and grating cheese on top.

Enjoy the last bit of your weekend x

tessie_bear

hi...could i suggest a visit to lidl...i think its great....if u can soldier on until next saturday morning they do weekend deals that might be useful...it was mince this week and chicken breast last week

some cheap meal ideas;
chilli
shepherds pie
jacket potatoes with beans/cheese/tuna
on toast...spaghetti /beans/eggs/cheese
eggs...quiche/with chips/frittata/omelette
rubber chicken

on the subject of the cc...have u looked down the back of the sofa/got anything on loyalty points or vouchers u could use

what have u got in the house

good luck
tessa

Chloris

espresso21 wrote: »

By the way, has anyone used e-cloths? Someone recommended them to me the other day - they said they were pricy to buy initially but ended up saving loads of money as you don't need any cleaners with them (just water). I wondered if anyone had tried them and would recommend them or is it just a gimmick?

I got a pack of 5 from the pound shop - cheap as chips! Well cheaper actually.

tessie_bear

hi...hope everyone is doing well with their budgets...im doing ok i think...was nt very impressed with the aldi super 6 this time...or last come to that..might need to look further afield

need to get some bread on the go tomorrow as we are back to packups...i have made a cake for tomorrow so thats a start...i have a big bit of beef defrosting that i got reduced in the coop...i intend to stretch it out this week...roast tomorrow with yorkies etc...next day a shepherds pie...next cornish pasties...also a couple of sarnies along the way as well....will report back on how i go on with it

take care
tess