January 2007 Grocery Challenge

ocemeer

Right having read how all of you do it and realising I don't have a clue on what I spend each month I am going to give this a go. If nothing else it might make sure I eat three square meals a day and give me an idea how much I spend.
PLanning on £80 a month for me and the waifs and strays I try and feed (I like cooking so force feed some of my single male friends).
Think this will be ok planning to include toiletries but not petrol. Hopefully the next move will be to actually meal plan instead of opening the cupboards and waving a magic wand.

squeaky

thriftykatie wrote:

This does not cover petrol or my daughter's lunches.

Hmmm...

Buying lunches out is expensive - and we must have around a thousand different ideas for all sorts of things from magic sarnies to creative leftovers and a whole host of things I'd bet you never thought of.

Perhaps you could encourage her to pick something from this little lot:-


Lunch:
- Best sandwich?
- Cheap and practical lo-carb
- Desk top sweet snacks
- Food on the go
- For work
- Healthy eating (packed lunch ideas?)
- Lunch for work(salads)
- Packed lunch
- Packed lunch - Advice On Daughter Please!
- Ploughman's
- Problem with pack-up

Mrs_Cupier

Count me in! We've massively reduced our grocery spend in the last 8 months, from a frankly shriek-inducing £600 for 5 people :eek: (2 adults, 3 small children) in April to £250 in December. I know it could come down further if I really pushed it, but I'm not sure I want to. This budget includes all food, cleaning products, toiletries, night-time nappies for the toddler, washing powder and so on.

However, this month I want to create £20 slack to buy seeds for the garden - last year's vegetables were grown from a freebie packet thrown in with our potato order, but this year we'd like to choose what we grow. So, I need to 'create' the money in the budget to do that.

So, I'm aiming for £230 this month - it ought to be do-able, but we cling to some remnants of our former life, like organic milk for the children. I know lots of people on here manage on less, but wish me luck! January challenge starts today for us, finishes on Tuesday 30th (we shop Wednesdays and DH gets paid the last day of the month). Best of luck all.

jcr16

i use the milkman. i have 7 pints a week. they even still come in the glass bottles so they get recycled. they cost 50p a pint. but the more u buy the cheaper it is. i don't mind paying abit extra tho. for us it has been great. the times when out of milk , dash to shop by milk and other things that look like a really good deal but really don't need. also can leave a note and ask for extra when needed or less when needed.

sammy_kaye18

Hi All

Im in this month - im feeding me, my bf (27) our son (2y 7m) and our jack russell terrier Bruno (3yrs)

I usually spend £80 a month but id like to see if i can get this down more to eventually about £70 by doing more home cooking - i tend to buy alot of pizzas for bf, bottled water and energy drinks for bf cycling lots etc. So i think my main challenge this month will be trying to cook more nutricious home made meals and incorporating more fresh fruit and veg - value stuff much cheaper in supermarket than the junk food.

Ill set a target of £75 this month and id like to start it from my pay day which is on january 7th (i think will need to double check).

miggy

chewy62 wrote:

Does anybody use a milkman? Just wondering if this would save those temptations everyday when I go to buy milk!?

I do, but as he's more expensive than the supermarket, I buy a 4pt carton of milk as part of the weekly shop.
We like to think we are helping keep something good going - for those who have difficulty getting out and about it must be helpful to have milk delivered.
Also one of the family can't tolerate cows' milk very well so we have to go to the shops for goats' milk, which the milkman doesn't sell.
He does all sorts like orange juice, potatoes and cream, though.

Karb

I'm in. I had to give up on December's challenge, because in all of the build up to Christmas and moving house, I completely forgot to save all of my receipts.

I'm due to move house on 5 January, so I shouldn't spend much at all for the first few days while I use up what's left in the cupboards and fridge/freezer, but then I'm going to have to do a huge shop to restock once we've moved in.

My challenges run from 1st to last day of the calendar month. I'm aiming for £350 which is to feed two adults, 5 kids, one cat, one dog and two goldfish. (I'm also inheriting some koi carp when I move).

kiwi88_2

Welcome to all our grocery newbies, I can hear the determination from here :T

I totally blew my Dec budget but I am determined to get back on track this month :rotfl: I am dropping down from £375 to £300 this month as we've still got food left over from Xmas, I over bought because we had an extra 4 adults and 2 children to stay for a week :eek: I also won't be buying washing powder or loo roll as that was bought last month as well so that will help :T

I won't have to go shopping till next next weekend either so that will make it a 3 week month for me so I think I'll be able to do it easily this month :rotfl:

kimmie32_2

YAHOOOOOOOOOO count me in too..
Right i am going to aim for £200 for the 4 of us as hubby is overseas for a while it shouldnt be too hard with no mess bills to pay!!!
I will start on the 4th Jan as thats when i am back at work and the kids are at school. So will do my menu sheets and shopping list tonight over a nice cup of tea... Have just realised do all the kids clubs come out of this money or is that other money??

moggins

Count me in for this one too.

I'm aiming for £100 this month as I still have a full freezer and bits left over from christmas and DH had a very low salary yesterday.

I did the first shop of the month yesterday and it came to £4.87.

Any idea what I can do with half a bag of fresh sprouts?

Edited to add I also spent £5.99 on a 10Kg bag of Basmati rice.