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January 2007 Grocery Challenge
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cupid_stunt wrote:We'll we've spent a grand total of £20 this month so far. I am quite impressed with myself even though I set myself a budget of less than that so far. The main cost is fresh fruit and veg as I've also joined the lose weight thread and eating more than 5 portions a day does add up
£20?? No idea how you do that- did you already have lots in your freezer? We only have a small freezer so can't even fit a month's worth of meat and bread in it. :rolleyes:
The fresh fruit and veg thing does seem to cost more than the unhealthy food!!
Might need to re-do my meal plan for the rest of the month, forget the roast chicken and put in some of the 50p meals instead - though I know OH won't appreciate too many veggie meals!!working on clearing the clutterDo I want the stuff or the space?0 -
millionaire_in_training wrote:Jeez!!! I am rubbish at this. The only thing spurring me on is the thought of what I must normally spend. Ok really need to do a menu plan for next 2 weeks and totally stick to it.... Ok am away to list my freezer and cupboard contents and do a plan. Wish me luck please. xx
Hi millionaire in training,
Sounds like you've changed quite a few things and done really well so far :T Don't feel blue the meal planning will really help and it will get easier with time. As you said, keep in mind what you used to spend and you'll feel much better :rotfl:newlywed wrote:Well all I can say is....I'm failing again!! Spent over my budget already and will still need to get bread, milk and was planning a roast chicken next weekend that I may have to re-think - though it was going to do 3 meals. Oh well, should still be able to keep under £200 if I'm really good. Can't seem to get it much lower.
I would definitely get the chicken anyway newlywed as you could make the extra meals and use them for next weeks meal planning so it might save you money in the long run. Saving money is saving money after all, no matter how much it is. She says to remind herself :rotfl: :rotfl:
I will need to go shopping this weekend I have run out of a few bits and need to stock up on some others before they do. Sooo this time I will remember to menu plan :rotfl: Will update my sig later.MFiT Member No 85
:money: Martin says NO :money:0 -
Hello all, I was hoping that I could join up as I've realised we spend an awful lot of money on groceries. There is only me & OH aswell as a hamster & 2 fish but altho I suspected we spend about £250 on groceries, I've looked at the last couple month's worths of receipts (which luckily I've kept) and it looks like it's more like £300!!! I have no idea where it goes altho we waste a lot of food (my OH won't eat left overs so I either eat it or it goes in the bin!) so am hoping to do a lot better this month and it's going well so far. I've planned on £200 for the month and have only spent £60 so far. My problem is if I let the OH go shopping to get 1 thing, say milk, he tends to come back with about 10 things and even if it does include flowers for me, it doesn't help on the budget!
I've read some of the tips so far and it looks like a meal planner is a good start so I'm off to get ideas.
Good luck to everyone xxx
DFW Lightbulb moment Sept 2006, Debt-free Dec 2009 :j:j:j
£2015 in 2015: £0
Comping: No wins yet :think:
MFW 2015 0/1200
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Just done my first shop for week 2 of the challenge. Was really organised this week and have done a meal plan for the week and a proper shopping list. I have spent £47.59 so far and hope to just get bread through the week, so should be on target.0
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newlywed wrote:£20?? No idea how you do that
- did you already have lots in your freezer? We only have a small freezer so can't even fit a month's worth of meat and bread in it. :rolleyes:
The fresh fruit and veg thing does seem to cost more than the unhealthy food!!
Might need to re-do my meal plan for the rest of the month, forget the roast chicken and put in some of the 50p meals instead - though I know OH won't appreciate too many veggie meals!!
Yes we had an absolute freezer full. And when we bought our fridge freezer we chose this one as it had the biggest freezer bit we could find (oh and it was reduced by £150 in iceland and my dad worked there for two weeks and so we got a further 25% discount)
This is why we'd only set ourselves a very low budget. I normally don't bother filling my freezer with bread which is cheap enough anyway. At the moment (as it is usually) its full of meat. I counted everything we had at the beginning of january and we had enough meat/fish for at least 58 meals. All of these were either reduced for quick sale before christmas or on special offer (how cheap do I sound - though that's the point :rolleyes: )! I'm trying not to buy any more meat until feb (unless I see some absolute bargains).
There's always stuff like stir fry, pad thai, curries etc which only use a small amount of meat and can be bulked out with other things easily. I try to do two things like this a week. I find I only use one smallish chicken breast or one smallish pork steak for two people with these dishes. But at that rate we'll never get the freezer empty.
At the moment tesco are doing loads of fresh fruit and veg at half price so I just bought whatever was on offer (cherries, grapes, pineapple, apples, plums just to name a few this week) but it's still not cheap.0 -
MonstersMummy wrote:ooh can I use my advantage points to get nappies at boots? That will halve next weeks shopping bill!!!!
You can use your Advantage Card to buy almost anything at Boots - it's certainly worth asking...the cashier will check for you. I didn't buy my nappies with my card, but had a lifetime voucher for double (I think) points on Huggies nappies from Boots Parenting Club...so thought I might as well get my nappies from there.20p Saver Club #33 60p/£100
Christmas Saving £0/£1300
Saving Target 2014 £25/£10000 -
Thanks brummiebabe. I had a flick through the website and apparently anything with a * on the price label can be brought with points, will have to go up there and have a check. My nearest boots that sells nappies is miles away and means a drive specifically for that but free nappies effectiviely!!! I've got enough points to buy 2 or 3 large packs and he only wears them at night!!!!0
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Was up till after 1am this morning listing freezer and cupboard contents then doing a meal planner. Worked out food for next 2 weeks and all pretty good meals. Bought everything I need tonight and going to do a marathon bread,biscuit and cake bake tomorrow. Have gone over my £60 per week and only on week 3...oops.!! Never mind I have managed to buy things for pressies throughout the year, all next years christmas cards, all next years christmas paper and 2 major birthday pressies. Can't be too annoyed at myself when I have achieved all that. This is my first try at this so I will cut myself some slack. Hope everyone is doing well. xx5 Year plan. April 2020 to June 2025- CC and mortgage free by time I'm 60
Currently CC £23,674.36 /£14,895.41/£14315.42
Mortgage £28,214.65/ £26,254.71/ £25,746.43
By end 2020 I want CC at £ 19,000.00.
By end 2021 I want CC at £10,000.000 -
MonstersMummy wrote:Thanks brummiebabe. I had a flick through the website and apparently anything with a * on the price label can be brought with points, will have to go up there and have a check. My nearest boots that sells nappies is miles away and means a drive specifically for that but free nappies effectiviely!!! I've got enough points to buy 2 or 3 large packs and he only wears them at night!!!!
millionaire in training you're doing well, cut yourself some slack, well done for doing the meal plans, great way to start the week.
I'm not doing too bad, have resisted the shops, am considering doubling milk from milklady order as it's what I am mainly running out of and if I go to the shop for milk I buy something else, or several things! Home cooking is meaning I am using more.One day I might be more organised...........
GC: £200
Slinkies target 2018 - another 70lb off (half way to what the NHS says) so far 25lb0 -
Hello everyone. I haven't had chance to update my signature this week as haven't update my spreadsheet budget-thing yet. Will have to wait until week after next now as am away all next week (work not play, although might manage some of the latter!). I know we'll definitely be over for January now as ended up doing an afternoon tea for dbf's birthday yesterday, which cost £16.40 altogether. Was pleased with this though as it included a fabulous Taste the Difference chocolate cake that was reduced to £4.50ish as nearing its bb date. All gone now anyway, so no chance of it going stale :rotfl:
Also managed to get some 1/2 price prawns, which are tucked away in the freezer (only just squeezed them).
I've had an idea about how to balance out my food spending though - I'm going to be over budget in Jan, but this is in part because of doing a mammoth internet shop - of which we'll have lots of stuff left in Feb (hopefully). This, combined with me trying to get our veg from local stall now instead of rip-off Sainsbury's Local, means I should be able to claw back some costs in Feb - so if I combine Jan and Feb's money (£260 altogether), I should be able to manage on that over the two months (ie if I spend £170 in Jan, I'll only be able to spend £90 in Feb). I hope this will work. I'm going to try it anyway - it's my only hope!
New flat, new budget, new commitment to MSE!
"It's never too late to be what you might have been" George Eliot0
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