December 2011 - Grocery Challenge

meg72

Flat_Eric wrote: »

I've been on and tweaked a few things but its still over £200!


Do I tip the driver though? thats the question of the day? because this is my xmas shop and Mr T is who I usuually shop with but I feel it would be rude to give any less than £4 or £5 but on top of the £6 delivery charge, it seems a lot to pay out.... (bah humbug me!)

Personally I would not tip the driver but if you feel you must give something how about a box of sweets or chocolates, Poundland
have some really nice looking boxes.

PipneyJane

tessie_bear wrote: »

noticed on my milk today that its date was 24 december so might be able to get some to last over christmas early next week

take care tess

Hi Tess.

Not sure anyone commented on the above but, at this time of year, your milk should be good for about a week beyond its "best before" date, if not longer. Don't throw it out if it gets beyond the date. If it hasn't gone sour, then it's still OK to use. (If it has gone sour, then use it in place of buttermilk in pancakes or other baking.) The date is just a guarantee that, if stored correctly by the shop, the milk won't go sour before that date. The moment you take it out of the shop, the date is null and void.

mooomin

I'm declaring my December/January budget now to be £200 again with no extra funds for Christmas :eek:

I'm going to Aldi today to spend £30 with my £5 off voucher. I'll pot later on with how the budget is looking after that

PolkaDotsAndLace

Two weeks to go and £40 left....have to try and do it! I could make life so much easier on myself if I ignored the first shop I did (started this month on 27th Nov and am running to the end of Dec...so £200 is technically stretching over more than a month...) and put it into the nonexistent Nov budget but I won't let myself. Finding the next two weeks difficult logistically though, we're both away for five days over Christmas, so trying to plan what to shop so that nothing will go off when we're away, but there's still an easy meal when we get back is hard!

Think I'll be declaring £180 for Jan though, if I manage £200 or just over for an extra long Christmassy month I should be able to do it cheaper. We'll see though, still thinking about it.

quintwins

nsd today i still have no bread and now no milk, breakfast was porridge, lunch for me will be tuna pittas not sure on the kids yet maybe pasta again dinners sausage casarole with mash and green beans.
It's not that i can't afford to go get bread and milk or that i'm unable to it's just that i don't want to the roads are icy and were all sick so it would involve alot of wrapping everyone up, i meant to send hubby to the filling station last night but he was working late then i forgot ofcourse by the time i remebered he was away to work this morning, i wouldn't mind but he doesn't get paid overtime he did bring home a box of kfc last night even tho we'd already had tea that his dad had bought him and they treated him to lunch out yesterday and are buying us chinese tomorrow tho
hopefully i'll make it to lidl tomorrow for a few bits

tessie_bear

small spend on a s and g set in boots today...not grocery though...made a stew for tea tomorrow and it smells fab...got a shepherds pie today which seems good for the weather....kids break up today so thats the last sanity ill get for a fortnight...made quite a flexible meal plan for next week as we might get out and about if the weather lets us

tata tess

LavenderBees

Well, after a fab run of 4 NSDs, I'm declaring myself bust on this December challenge - have just been shopping for "essentials" and managed to spend £57.17 at Mr Ms and £4.29 at M&S.

In my defence, M'Lud, that bottle of Drambuie that took me over the edge simply THREW itself into my trolley....:p

I'm still going to log any other spends on food though...really just need soured cream and veges next week....if I spend more than £5.00, I'll need shooting :rotfl:

Good luck everyone else. Some of you are managing to be very restrained. Well Done!

No shopping for me in January.....no, honestly, whatd'yamean you don't believe me? :rotfl:

x

Nimeth

Couple of spends today, in A!di and Morrison$. I managed to restrain myself for the most part, though having to buy 30 eggs doesn't help! (This is what happens when you have two Christmas birthdays and you have to make OH's cake and FiL's cake!) Spent £28.62 in A!di and another £17.85 in Morrisons. It would have been closer to 10 if I hadn't caved and bought a whole salmon for £8, but I've gotten a good few meals out of it for next month.

I'm definitely going to go over this month, with two weeks shopping to go it's likely to be waaay over.:eek: Ah, it's Christmas, I got a bonus at work this year so it's not that bad, lol.

I've been trying to find a dark Terry's Chocolate Orange everywhere for OH's stocking, but none of the shops stock it. What do they have against dark chocolate?

Ches

Well I have still got £25.30 in my purse so I guess I haven't overspent but with OH coming back with bits from the local shop which he doesn't take the money for and me buying Christmas bits which shouldn't come out of the grocery budget it has been a difficult month to start trying to make sense of my spending on groceries. It has made me more aware of what I am spending though so I think that is a positive.

I have made an inventory of everything in the cupboards (not counting purely Christmas stuff) and a months menu plan which will start when the Christmas leftovers are used up.

I have an extra weeks money on the 23rd and £20 nectar points which is earmarked for the rest of the Christmas bits including the turkey.

May I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year with my thanks for your support.:beer: :T :A

Mrs_Sparrow_3

Hello

£41.14 to report for this week which takes me £31.88 over my original £200.

Therefore, I'm also declaring myself 'bust' on this one.

However I'm pretty much done and dusted for the month apart from milk and other bits and bobs if needed.