January 2007 Grocery Challenge

miggy

SandiRaRa wrote:

Just read through all the thread and I am inspired! I'll start at the beginning of feb and for now I shall just collect all of my receipts. I know I overspend horribly, for 2 of us, one toddler, 1 cat and 2 rabbits I must spend about £100 a week. I'm sure I could get it down to £85 and still keep ds in pampers!

Hi SandiRaRa,
We have two rabbits too - I shopped around a bit for their food and got it a lot cheaper (they are still fussy eaters though!)
OTOH they eat grass all summer and not so much dry feed, and they er... recycle the lawn! Bedding goes to make fantastic compost so we grow our own soft fruit.
Just a small saving but worth considering if only for the animals' sake. (Sorry, you may be doing this already for all I know!) I discovered a friend is feeding her rabbits only dried food which isn't right. The pet shop had told her to feed hardly any fresh food - but that's 'cos they were babies. Adult rabbits are great for eating up trimmings from veg, (except swede - for some reason ours won't touch it) and mowing the lawn in run-shaped patches, LOL. Same goes for guinea pigs. In addition the regular handling as they are ferried from hutch to run makes them much friendlier.
I haven't found a way to feed toddlers on grass... though they have been known to try it!

miggy

SandiRaRa wrote:

Just read through all the thread and I am inspired! I'll start at the beginning of feb and for now I shall just collect all of my receipts. I know I overspend horribly, for 2 of us, one toddler, 1 cat and 2 rabbits I must spend about £100 a week. I'm sure I could get it down to £85 and still keep ds in pampers!

Just a thought - why not try to keep within £100 a week for January? And keep a spending diary, that's really helpful.

sammy_kaye18

Hi All
just updated my signature - just did a shop for 2 weeks and have spent £51.43 to feed me, bf , 2yr 7month old son Benji and our jack russell Bruno.

Managed to shop about in various places and get a few deals. i did do an inventory of the cupboards, fridge and freezer last night so im plannign to use all that stuff to too help us through.

Poundland - £5
Dustpan and brush - needed it
light bulbs - again after Xmas needed them (multipack - 8 for £1)
Neutradol +50% free
Colgate regular toothpaste + 25% free
50 bin bags

Iceland £5.50
Green Beans £1
4 Turkey Breast steaks £1
2 deep pan pizza £1.50
2 x 4pt semi skimmed milk - £1 each = £2

Tesco - £40.93
(this included 4 pork chops - £3.74, 2 whole chickens - £5, 2 lots of nappies for Ben - £2.96, and all the other basic household stuff)

Anyway the rest of the month is looking good - pooch has a big bag of dried food left still and 5 tins (he only has tinned food once in a while as a treat when hes been on a long run). ive also found that if i leave bf and babe at home i tend to stick to my budget alot easier and actually came in under budget which was how i could afford the pork chops this month!!

hope everyone else is doing well!

MonstersMummy

Hello all!
I'm glad I've found this. I need to cut back big time this year and decided to monitor all spending until further noice.
My food shop was the first thing as I always buy more than we need.
I'm aiming for £20-£30 a week for myself, 5yr old boy, 2yr old boy and our rat.

So far we've done well as my shopping this week cost me £14.57!!!!

I've got to keep all receipts tho as my problem is Tesco Extra!! Its so big and theres so much to buy. I've decided to go to the smaller Tesco where theres not so much choice when I need a fair bit, but to get things I need as and when from the Tesco express next to my youngest pre school.

I'm glad the rat costs nothing as he eats the same dinner as us but wish my eldest would eat frugal meals. He's a meat and 2 veg lad but wont touch anything in sauce so cassaroles, stews, soups, etc are a no go. If it were just me and the youngest my shopping bill would be £10 a week!!!! In fact we could eat for free this month with all the lentils, tomatoes, rice and frozen veg we have already!!!

Any advice from those "in the know" would be very welcome!!

Good luck to everyone.

SandiRaRa

miggy wrote:

Hi SandiRaRa,
We have two rabbits too - I shopped around a bit for their food and got it a lot cheaper (they are still fussy eaters though!)
OTOH they eat grass all summer and not so much dry feed, and they er... recycle the lawn! Bedding goes to make fantastic compost so we grow our own soft fruit.
Just a small saving but worth considering if only for the animals' sake. (Sorry, you may be doing this already for all I know!) I discovered a friend is feeding her rabbits only dried food which isn't right. The pet shop had told her to feed hardly any fresh food - but that's 'cos they were babies. Adult rabbits are great for eating up trimmings from veg, (except swede - for some reason ours won't touch it) and mowing the lawn in run-shaped patches, LOL. Same goes for guinea pigs. In addition the regular handling as they are ferried from hutch to run makes them much friendlier.
I haven't found a way to feed toddlers on grass... though they have been known to try it!

Just a thought - why not try to keep within £100 a week for January? And keep a spending diary, that's really helpful.

We already give the bunnies all of our peelings/scraps, and the mother in laws so they do quite well! I also buy them 2 bags of greens and a small bag of carrots which adds up to about £2 a week which I don't think is to bad. They used to run free in our old back garden but since we have moved they can't do that as it isn't secure enough - i'll have to invest in a run for them so they can start on the grass and then maybe I can cut down to 1 bag of greens.

Like the spending diary idea, I got a little pocket diary for 10p so i can use it for that :T Our biggest problem is take aways, that must be about £20 a week ontop of the shopping, I work full time though and sometimes when there is nothing in it's easier then taking the trip to the shops

karren

Hi, I wannabebdebtfree
"No petrol as no car- BUT I tend to use taxi's and buses a lot,so that will have to stop-more walking "
A freind has a contract with her taxi firm and swears it saves her loads, possibly worth looking into?

kiwi88_2

Hi All

Just done the first weeks shop :eek: Didn't menu plan and it shows, that'll teach me I'm now frantically meal planning to see how far I can stretch everything :rotfl:

Jan 07 Budget £300
1st Wk £124.03 :eek:

Left for the month £175.97

miggy

SandiRaRa wrote:

I work full time though and sometimes when there is nothing in it's easier then taking the trip to the shops

Your rabbits sound very well fed! they don't happen to like swede do they?! Just that mine won't touch it.
Spending diary: don't forget to write down what you bought as well as how much - so when you are wondering where it went, you can track it.
I've just remembered - our greengrocer lets me take the discarded greens from cauliflowers if I arrive about the same time as the delivery lorry. Saves them going into landfill or whatever. Might be worth a try
I'm not sure what's the best way to cut spending on takeaways unless you get any time at the weekend to cook double and freeze one... hopefully someone will come up with something!

newlywed

SandiRaRa wrote:

Our biggest problem is take aways, that must be about £20 a week ontop of the shopping, I work full time though and sometimes when there is nothing in it's easier then taking the trip to the shops

That's why I started planning meals each week so I can pop to the shop before things run out. I also try and cook extra for the freezer for those tired after work and can't be bothered days - plan for a few freezer meals each week.

Last night I made lasagna for tea as well as shepherds pie for freezer and another lasagna for freezer.

Doesn't take that much longer to do double the food and I know that next week I can just take it out of the freezer and cook some veg while it heats up inthe oven - not too much hassle!!

That way I know that something has defrosted in the fridge and needs to be cooked so it would be wasted if I got a takeaway!

md123

Hi

Started my grocery challenge today and spent £48.71 in Tesco, so only have £11.29 to spend, not that bad as I think it will only be bread, milk and fruit that I will need about Monday or Tuesday.

My biggest problem is going to be not buying things just for the sake of it. I buy something because it looks good or is on special offer and it ends up in the bin. But, I am determined because that extra money could be paying off my mastercard bill.

Good luck to everyone doing the challenge.