August 2011 Grocery Challenge

CherryPie

Save_Dosh wrote: »

p.s. how do i add a signature - would really love to put my debts down, so i can get serious about paying them off.

Welcome to the GC :beer:

At the top of the page, on a green bar, it says userCP, go in there then into edit signature.

WelshWoofer

Well I've just been to the local shops to avoid the supermarket and an overspend on unneeded things. I managed to spend £5.27 in the F&V shop (grapes, strawberries, baking potato, new potatoes, bananas) and £6.70 in the Spar (squash, dog food, beans, peas, milk and pop).
So that's a total of £11.97 for this week's shopping!:j
I'll probably go again on Saturday for a top up shop but will try to keep it well below £30 for me and the dog - I have quite a few things in the freezer so hopefully it will just be fresh stuff and maybe some household bits. Fingers crossed!

KolaKube

Morning all!

Please may we join? This may be a long post...

We have a budget of £400 per month to work with, working payday to payday (last wed of the month)

OH and I have moved home from England and in with my family in an attempt to save up the deposit on a house - our part of the deal is providing the bulk of the groceries! We're going from just the two of us to feeding 6 - me, OH, my parents, my sister & brother (both adults). That covers groceries and cleaning bits, but not things like alcohol / treats, which will have to come out of the separate personal budgets OH and I have. (Due to a BBQ mixup over the weekend we now have enough alcohol stashed away to last several months!)

Currently we've been here a week and spent £82 in Mr T (:eek:) on not very much (I can't believe how expensive groceries are getting!), and a further £35 on bits and pieces e.g. milk & cheese. Clearly its not going well so far!

I have filled the freezer with whoopsie bread, we have a full freezer drawer of meat (e.g. mince x2, bacon, a full chicken etc), and one of ready meals (which was already there when we took over!). So will be eeking that out as much as we can over the next few weeks to get back on track. I have filled the tins cupboard so hopefully this should be a cheaper week.

I need some advice. I have never known a bunch of people who eat so much. My brother (aged 22!) especially has eaten his way through 3 blocks of cheese and 16 yoghurts already this week. He drinks milk by the litre. I've started putting cheese in the freezer but have no idea how to get him to eat his share of the dairy only - I'm seriously at the end of my tether already! Considering buying UHT milk so its not nice to drink. He has a part time job and does bring home the odd bag of groceries but its all rubbish e.g. ready made pizzas, branded soft drinks and ice cream. Hes a lovely guy and means well but any tips appreciated before I lose my temper. I'm not buying yoghurts this week because theres no point - none of the rest of us will get to have any. :mad:

So far, £117/£400 spent. And 4 weeks of the month to go until my next payday! I imagine 4 week months will be slightly easier <fingers crossed>

So, in for a penny in for a pound. Today will be spent meal planning from the freezer and making a shopping list. I'm going to nip to the farm shop (10kg potatoes £2.50, 2L milk 89p) and then try MrS, which I find cheaper than MrT by a mile, but its a 15 min drive away.

Thanks everyone!

KolaKube

westlothianlass

Hi,
I've followed everyone for a few months but haven't taken the plunge yet , so think theres no time like the present so would love to join you all this month. Theres me DH and a very tall eating machine of a teenage son , 2 cats and 6 chickens, so could i be put down for £300 for August,
thanks to all and good luck x

tessie_bear

hi...made a discovery today....went in to b and m and noticed some racking by the till....it was full of food such as crisps/pringles/noodles/brown sauce/multipack crisps/pickled onions/pineapple to name a few...it was all out of date that is to say it all had july 2011 so yesterday it was ok...today its out of date (makes u wonder)...it was various prices from 5p to 40p

might be worth a look or perhaps we could all pounce on 1st sept
hth someone tessa

Baking_Mad

Hi all, quick question. I did a small shop in [EMAIL="C&#64;&#64;P"]C@@P[/EMAIL] last night, should I count it as August spend or "pretend" it happenned some time last month?

BTW, couldn't resist a bargain, they had packs of salmon fillets reduced from £3.75 to £0.79!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I bought all 7 packs that were on the shelf, so freezer is packed now.

NSD day today! :j

[Deleted User]

KolaKube, welcome to the challenge. This is my first time doing this. Im not really in the same situation as you, the opposite in fact, I am somewhat a food buying junkie, mainly cupboard stuff, and rarely waste stuff, but I can give you some tips on filling your cupboards cheaply and with decent food. If you check out places like Approved Food, Food Bargains (not so good lately) and Swinco, they are all online clearance sellers of short dated food. This will give you your basic food cupboard items and tins. Its surprising how soon you build up a supply (don't I just know that). As for fridge stuff, I think you need to have a word with your parents. You cannot keep buying blocks of cheese all the time. You need to decide what is enough for the family for the week. I would think a 500g block is more than enough, but you would have to decide that amongst yourselves, Maybe give him a separate box of goodies and when he uses his stuff, the rest will have to come out of his own pocket. Buy lots when things you use are on offer. I tend to be very flexible and make shopping around special offers and don't just buy certain makes, also its so easy and quick to make your own yoghurt, give it a whirl. Good luck

[Deleted User]

alionaear wrote: »

Hi all, quick question. I did a small shop in C@@P last night, should I count it as August spend or "pretend" it happenned some time last month?

BTW, couldn't resist a bargain, they had packs of salmon fillets reduced from £3.75 to £0.79!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I bought all 7 packs that were on the shelf, so freezer is packed now.

NSD day today! :j

To be honest, I did some filling up a few days before i did this, so personally i would count it as July, if it was not past midnight, but you could do either

Spiggle

Hello everyone,

And welcome to all newbies joining us for August.

Thanks Pink/zippychick, MrsMcCawber and the ever helpful rosieben, you are all wonderful.

Please note my budget as £250 for August when you get a chance MrsMcCawber, thank you.

I will try and keep posting throughout the month and will definitely be keeping tack but forgive me if I'm not around too much as we're going to have a bit of time off once the bathroom is finished.

Ooooh, by the way, I can't remember who it was that suggested painting my tiles as I couldn't afford to replace them this year. BUT I did buy a tub of tile fix & grout (all of £4.95) and as I had loads started going over the grouting of the tiles. Result!!! Never mind painting the tiles, having lovely fresh bright white grout brings them back to life like you wouldn't believe! I'm really chuffed. (I should clarify that the grout was clean before and had actually had a bleach treatment but the result from redoing the grout is amazing.)

Right better go see what I should do next.

Take care all,
Spigs

[Deleted User]

CherryPie wrote: »

Welcome to the GC :beer:

At the top of the page, on a green bar, it says userCP, go in there then into edit signature.

Thanks Cherrypie, I will try to work out what owed and put it in