January 2007 Grocery Challenge

thriftykatie

redspot24 wrote:

I know what you mean- our fruit, veg and dairy regularly come in at £15-20 per week, just for me and dbf. Get stressed about it but don't want to cut this area back - decided I was taking thing s a step too far when I started hunting for smaller bananas so that they would cost less but mr redspots could still have the same number every day!

I have done exactly the same with the bananas and also paid very slightly more per kg for prepacked apples as they were slightly smaller than the loose ones and so it actually cost me less for 8 prepacked apples than 8 loose ones (yes I weighed them and checked).

What the heck - if it cuts down the shopping bill I don't care if I'm seen to be a bit of a mad woman!!

beemuzed

Hmmmm! having been keeping all my receipts for January I do now at least know how much I'm contributing to the Tesco profit mountain! Also realise how much is going on wine! Now, do I try to cut back just on food.....nope I guess the glasses had better get downsized in February - maybe DH won't notice??? Now to decide what I'll be aiming at for February!

redspot24

thriftykatie wrote:

I have done exactly the same with the bananas and also paid very slightly more per kg for prepacked apples as they were slightly smaller than the loose ones and so it actually cost me less for 8 prepacked apples than 8 loose ones (yes I weighed them and checked).

What the heck - if it cuts down the shopping bill I don't care if I'm seen to be a bit of a mad woman!!

Glad it isn't just me!

lil_me

Just added for food out, well suppose it was for DSs birthday treat and still under budget only a few days to go, just have to resist the shops!

I find in a lot of shops pre pack is more than loose. I always go off price per kilo if buying in there, noticed today Tescos doing 5 half price veg a week which is a good idea.

Anwen_2

I'm going to count Feb as starting yesterday, I think. Went to a farmers' market (first time) and bought a 2.6kg chicken (free range), 2.5kg of organic apples and pears, a few unusual veg to try, a lump of mutton for the slow cooker, two lamb sausages for a casserole, a couple of bunches of herbs, some spinach and a dozen free range organic eggs for a total of about £25, I have an abel & cole (organic box scheme) delivery coming today which is about £23 with a mixed fruit and veg box, some stewing steak for the freezer, 2 litres of milk and some risotto rice. Together with next week's abel & cole box which will be about £16 without the rice and meat, that should be enough food for the next two weeks, with the addition of a cucumber and some tomatoes to go with my lunches at work, and maybe another chicken for my usual weekly roast chicken that gets turned into cold chicken for lunch, and stock.

This week's chicken was impressively fatty (but also very very meaty) so I have a nice container of schmaltz (chicken fat for potato roasting or whatever, handy if you're trying to be vaguely kosher and not cooking meat with butter but don't want to use oil) and I'm also going to make risotto some time this week with some of the chicken. I think I'll probably make it tonight so that I can stretch the chicken out to five lunches rather than three as cold chicken plus salad!

spiddy100

I'm so chuffed at how this has gone, we've had a brilliantly cheap month I know at least part of that has been cutting down on alcohol, and the fact that we've had a lot of wine left over from xmas so we haven't spent hardly anything in that department, but still really pleased with how we did this month.

Not sure when to start next month's budget - I'm going to spend £13 on veg on Wedneday when my organic box comes, £? on fish at the fish stall today to go into the freezer, plus we need a Lidl run. I also have about £40 spend on meat planned at the farm shop but that will definitely come out of next month.

If it's any help to others who have been asking, I've included in my budget anything which I would previously have bought at the supermarket. So last week I did a trip to Wilkos and got loads of cleaning stuff, some birthday cards, toothpaste etc, and included all of that in our grocery budget as it would normally have been bought at the supermarket.

MonstersMummy

Well, last shop done and I came in at only £12.31!!
Also saved money on fuel as my car wouldn't start this morning so we walked to tesco!! Took an hour to get there instead of 5mins but it done me and DS2 the world of good...he's asleep in his buggy!!! Would have only taken about half hour to walk if he didn't stop at every gate and bush along the way!!!!

Total budget for the month was £100 so have come in well under!! :j
Going to do things differently next month so will have to see how that goes. Next months budget is only £80 though as its only 4 weeks. Fingers crossed.

Well done to every one this month, even those that didn't hit their targets have done well just to spend less than normal!! :beer:

Tracey04

i want to do this challenge for february, how does it work,. Do you decide an amount for food bills only. Do you just use cash as I get cash back on my credit card (pay off in full at end of month). Just want afew tips on how to save the pennies. Thanks

jcr16

i use a credit card. but thats because the limit is £200 which is my budget so i can't over spend. unless i use money from bank acc. and then each month i pay card off ready to use the following month.

skintas_2

well i went tesco today. last week i went tuesday, the week before the saturday going to continue mine in january thread till i go again that will be feb, can i do this