November 2011 - Grocery Challenge

XSpender

Spent too much this weekend after coming down with yet another cold on cold medicine and lots of extra fruit and veg. Also bought the veggie 'turkey' and real meat roast and christmas pudding for Christmas this week as had on offer just what we wanted.

Meal plan has gone a bit off track as I have not felt like eating and DH can never be bothered to feed himself, well, apart from the 3:eek: posh burgers he had which is 1.5 portions so now there is only 1 left which is not enough for a meal but its tough cos he should have only had the 2:rotfl:

I will only need to buy milk before Friday, my shopping day, and then only need fresh fruit, a little veg and salad, yogurts, bread, nappies and some beer for DH each week until the 22nd. I have 2 full freezers and full cupboards so why can't I stop spending???:mad::(

P.S. Tried the Mr T own brand nappies and they are great. Converted to these now from pumpers/huggs. DH refuses to let DS wear value ones which I think are perfectly OK.

P.P.S. Forgot to say I am not including alcohol in this month's budget as DH was going to have an alcohol free month so I hadn't budgeted for it. This hasn't happened (add rolley eyed smillie here) so I will budget for it seperately.

Plan_for_Chaos

Can I pledge £115 for this month, its just me and my dog, but I need to stock up on lentils, pasta, oil, toilet rolls, dog food etc. etc. for my winter stores. Thanks.

quintwins

XSpender wrote: »

I will only need to buy milk before Friday, my shopping day, and then only need fresh fruit, a little veg and salad, yogurts, bread, nappies and some beer for DH each week until the 22nd. I have 2 full freezers and full cupboards so why can't I stop spending???:mad::(

P.S. Tried the Mr T own brand nappies and they are great. Converted to these now from pumpers/huggs. DH refuses to let DS wear value ones which I think are perfectly OK.

i'm the same have loads of food but keep buying more

value nappies are completely fine my hubby was against them at first (baring in mind he comes from a family who shop in m&s he's quite open minded about most things) but we bought them once in an emergency and have been converted ever since, maybe buy a pack and take them out of the packet and see what he thinks if he tries them, saying that even on ownbrand ones you'll still make a big saving

CompBunny

kixxie wrote: »

Hi, could you please put me down for £400? Thanks! I'm going to need all the help I can get. There are 6 of us (me, OH, DD9, DD3, DS1, DD3months plus 1 dog and 1 cat). This must include all food, household supplies, pet care, nappies, ect. and I can only shop locally. To be honest, I am terrified to the point of losing sleep. If I don't pull this off then we don't make rent! :eek:

Good luck for this month I'm sure you can do it, and don't be afraid to ask for help on here if you need it! Have a good browse on the old style forums, if this is a really tight month can you temporarily cut back on some things? Eg lemons, soda, vinegar etc for cleaning, less meat more pulses, meals bulked up with cheap veg, home made treats. I know its a lot more challenging when you are restricted to where you can shop.

I'm really sorry you are losing sleep. Use all the resources available to you: support from here, family (spare tins anyone? or can the Grandparents have the kids for a day..and feed them hehe), freecycle/freegle, anything you can think of. I hope your OH is supportive. Don't go it alone when you don't have to! :T

Nimeth

I've fallen off the wagon a bit the last couple of month with the GC, things just got hectic all of the sudden! Can I be put down for £220 for this month please? I'm going to try a new method to keep the food bills down, as I now need extra money for OU fees starting in January.

I've already done my first spend, popped into the local butchers and came away with £16.50 worth of meat, then stopped by Morrison$ and spent £73.29, so spent £89.79 so far. I'm well stocked up on store cupboard essentials now, so just need to do smaller top up shops hopefully for the rest of the month.

flippin36

Hello can you put me down for £270 for november. Came to £291 last month but had plenty of supplies left over so could do better. I need to be more organised. Thanks

ChasingButterflies

kixxie wrote: »

Hi, could you please put me down for £400? Thanks! I'm going to need all the help I can get. There are 6 of us (me, OH, DD9, DD3, DS1, DD3months plus 1 dog and 1 cat). This must include all food, household supplies, pet care, nappies, ect. and I can only shop locally. To be honest, I am terrified to the point of losing sleep. If I don't pull this off then we don't make rent! :eek:

Hi,

I managed to come in just under £400 last month, however our pets are a tank full of fish - they don't eat much :rotfl: or rather if you feed them too much they die We tend to buy branded stuff (one of the few exceptions are nappies, my 1st three only wore Pampers - our youngest seems to have a reaction to them but is fine with the tesco/sains nappies - I didn't find the asda ones so good tbh)

Firstly try the pets board to see where you could save money with regards to pet food.

I appreciate you have your hands full but meal planning really does help, so if your little angels are clever and are all asleep at the same time try to plan out your next 7 days meals.

Do you have a freezer? I tend to batch cook things like stew/soup/cottage pie/meatballs/burgers/anything leftover! If you do, what is already in there? I did a freezer inventory a few weeks ago and was shocked!

Washing clothes - we are in a soft water area so I tend to use 1/3 -1/2 of the recommended amount of washing liquid. I don't use fabric conditioner but those who do have changed to vinegar and seem to swear by it. Stained items - nose-bleeds are a bit of an issue in our house. I don't buy stain removal products soaking items over night in a sink full of cold water with salt added will remove blood - if you are quick enough rinising in cold water straight away is sometimes enough. For most stains there is a way to remove it with out resorting to the stuff they advertise on TV. Dishwasher - I use the tesco daisy tabs broken in half

I might be inclined to add up pet food costs/nappies/formula and deduct this from your budget - you know the "fixed" things that you can't economise on?

One of my kids favourite meals is macaroni cheese 50g of butter, 50g of plain flour, 50g of cheese & 600mls of warmed milk - basically a white sauce with cheese added... with whatever shaped pasta is the cheapest. Served with basics half baugettes (39p for 2) and a bit of ham mixed in if there is enough - it is one of the few meals my 2 year old will eat (and has been known to have seconds) I tend to cook the pasta and add the cheese sauce a spoonful at a time - then freeze any left over sauce

What shops do you have locally? is there the possibility of using a-supermarket-delivery.com? there are always vouchers/sometimes cashback for 1st time users.

Sorry I have waffled on a bit - there is loads of info on this forum - sometimes the problem is finding the time to look for it!

Keep posting - there is loads of support to be had here

ETA - we are surrounded by farms I tend to buy 25kg of potatoes direct - here around £6. whenever we need mash I cook the potatoes in the soup pot - then freeze the excess...

kixxie

CompBunny wrote: »

Good luck for this month I'm sure you can do it, and don't be afraid to ask for help on here if you need it! Have a good browse on the old style forums, if this is a really tight month can you temporarily cut back on some things? Eg lemons, soda, vinegar etc for cleaning, less meat more pulses, meals bulked up with cheap veg, home made treats. I know its a lot more challenging when you are restricted to where you can shop.

I'm really sorry you are losing sleep. Use all the resources available to you: support from here, family (spare tins anyone? or can the Grandparents have the kids for a day..and feed them hehe), freecycle/freegle, anything you can think of. I hope your OH is supportive. Don't go it alone when you don't have to! :T

Thank you so much! I already have cleaning supplies to see me through the month. I dilute pine disinfectant in my spray bottle, use thin bleach for the bathrooms and smart price wood polish. My local green grocer sells tvp for dirt cheap so will off set some of the mince with that. I stayed up til half 2 last night working on a menu plan. So far my first weekly shop is planned at £133. That is for 1 weeks worth of breakfasts, 1.5 weeks for lunches and 2 weeks for dinners plus weekly staples. As far as homemade treats go...unless it is a homemade "take-away" night everything is made from scratch except bread, lol. Unfortunately, treats are off the menu this month, lol! My OH is extremely supportive. He's not a picky eater. All he asks for are hot dinners. I can't complain there! Oh, and all the kids spend 1 day a week at their grandparents already! :cool: I go shopping tomorrow and will check back in!

spendaholic

Week 1 started with another overspend, but it did include the Halloween trick or treat goodies. £54.66 against a weekly budget of £40.

kixxie

ChasingButterflies wrote: »

Hi,

I managed to come in just under £400 last month, however our pets are a tank full of fish - they don't eat much :rotfl: or rather if you feed them too much they die We tend to buy branded stuff (one of the few exceptions are nappies, my 1st three only wore Pampers - our youngest seems to have a reaction to them but is fine with the tesco/sains nappies - I didn't find the asda ones so good tbh)

Firstly try the pets board to see where you could save money with regards to pet food.

I appreciate you have your hands full but meal planning really does help, so if your little angels are clever and are all asleep at the same time try to plan out your next 7 days meals.

Do you have a freezer? I tend to batch cook things like stew/soup/cottage pie/meatballs/burgers/anything leftover! If you do, what is already in there? I did a freezer inventory a few weeks ago and was shocked!

Washing clothes - we are in a soft water area so I tend to use 1/3 -1/2 of the recommended amount of washing liquid. I don't use fabric conditioner but those who do have changed to vinegar and seem to swear by it. Stained items - nose-bleeds are a bit of an issue in our house. I don't buy stain removal products soaking items over night in a sink full of cold water with salt added will remove blood - if you are quick enough rinising in cold water straight away is sometimes enough. For most stains there is a way to remove it with out resorting to the stuff they advertise on TV. Dishwasher - I use the tesco daisy tabs broken in half

I might be inclined to add up pet food costs/nappies/formula and deduct this from your budget - you know the "fixed" things that you can't economise on?

One of my kids favourite meals is macaroni cheese 50g of butter, 50g of plain flour, 50g of cheese & 600mls of warmed milk - basically a white sauce with cheese added... with whatever shaped pasta is the cheapest. Served with basics half baugettes (39p for 2) and a bit of ham mixed in if there is enough - it is one of the few meals my 2 year old will eat (and has been known to have seconds) I tend to cook the pasta and add the cheese sauce a spoonful at a time - then freeze any left over sauce

What shops do you have locally? is there the possibility of using a-supermarket-delivery.com? there are always vouchers/sometimes cashback for 1st time users.

Sorry I have waffled on a bit - there is loads of info on this forum - sometimes the problem is finding the time to look for it!

Keep posting - there is loads of support to be had here

ETA - we are surrounded by farms I tend to buy 25kg of potatoes direct - here around £6. whenever we need mash I cook the potatoes in the soup pot - then freeze the excess...

Thank you! As far as pets go it's not too bad. The dog can be fed for £8 a week. Not bad considering he is a 10 stone mastiff/ridgeback 18 month old puppy! The cat has to have Go Cat. He is an old man with both physical and mental issues and will starve before eating anything else. And he has his water fountain to drink from otherwise he refuses to drink. I buy lidl's nappies. Personally, I think they are the best off brand ones out there. I agree about Asda nappies completely. As soon as I can I will be switching to reusables but we are just starting up a home business and need to re-invest all profits.

Thanks for the dishwasher tip! I would never of thought to do that. I do have a chest freezer but it only has bread at the moment, lol. I can't do too much cooking at once or I won't be able to pay weekly bills. I am making double portions and putting the second ones into pyrex for the freezer. So, far dinners are Chili Cheese Potato Bake, Lasagna, Pita Pizzas, Mac & Cheese, Toad in the Hole, Cheesy Pasta Bake and Baked Potato Soup. Side dishes are Garlic Bread Sticks, Salad, Green Beans, Mash, Rustic Bread or Mixed Veg. Thankfully, I have no picky eaters in the house. Only exception is my eldest. She doesn't like anything too spicy, curries or stir-frys.

As far as spare time...there isn't any! But my OH watches the kids while I take care of my responsibilities and vice versa.

I don't have a card to shop online but we have Farm Foods, Lidl and loads of local cheap shops. I've had to stop buying the huge bags of potatoes. The last 2 times I bought them half them went straight to the bin.

That is pretty much where I am. If you think I may be able to tweak anything feel free to let me know!