February 2007 Grocery Challenge

pigpen

Lydia I did the same with fabric conditioner.. I bought about 20 bottles when it was on superb offer at tesco's.. about 5 months ago.. I've not bought any since!!! I also have a chest in my room with a BIIIIG padlock on and if I buy anything nice it gets stashed in there.. definitely a good investment.. even DH isn't allowed the key!!

millionaire_in_training

Dearie dearie me I am over again this month. Have definately come to the conclusion that I have cut budget way too much. I don't want to compromise on quality which usually means food is not that cheap. Have learned loads though and saved loads. I hardly throw anything out now. For instance my eggs are a couple days out of date so I checked them for freshness and baked cakes to use them up. Normally I would have binned them. Think I will set my budget at £250 per month. This means if I spend less then I can steer it towards a debt. Will continue to try though. xx

Casperthefriendlyghost

Hi everyone,

So that's £7.35 spent out of my £10.00 for the week. Next challenge for next week starts again tomorrow. I have allocated another £10.00 for this week, so here goes. Am hoping to live off my cupboards and freezer again this week, and won't have to buy to much veges as I bought them all, cooked and froze them all today.

Cheers
CTFG
x x x x

shell2001

I have managed to get a bookers card. Does anyone shop here and if so what are the best savings to be had?? Washing powder, loo rolls etc???

Popped into tesco today and got 2 x pork mince, 4 x mince meat, joint of pork (cut in half so had roast today, cold tomorrow with peppercorn sauce, and other half frozen for roast at later date). Also pudding rice, veg, fruit so another £30 of the budget gone! All the butchers fault from the market, if he had had the meat I wanted I would not have entered Mr T's!!

belfastgirl23

So official report in. Out of a £200 budget have spent £182.90. On the good side:
Will come in on budget I think
Have stocked up on some stuff on bogof etc
Bought no non-food items except toilet roll (Yay stardrops!)
Learned to use freezer
Made a fair bit of food from scratch and mostly took lunch to work
After rip roaring (ahem) discussion DH is now about 80% on board. V pleased with this
Joint account will end the month without an OD - unheard of
Begain stocking up a gift cupboard - great tip!!

BUT stuff to learn from:
By end of month will have spent best part of £200 on eating out and snacking (from seperate spending money) - too much!
At least £30 in M&S was on non-essentials (esp cheese)
Of course these have led to WEIGHT GAIN Idiot!!

Already planning to do better in March. Thanks guys for all the top tips and encouragement

Molly_M_3

Just added up receipts today. Out of a budget of £100 I have spent £91.83. I think I may have set my budget a bit too low but will try to come in as close to target as possible. I was on target though untill Valentines day then splashed out and extra £12 on a nice dinner. Still it was cheaper than going out to dinner so I reckon I'm not doing too badly.

BusyGirl

Last week of the month for me and I'm glad to say I managed to stick to my budget of £200 for the four of us.
Writing a list and actually sticking to it had made such a difference and thinking 'do I really need another 3 tins of beans' etc and checking what I already have in the cupboards really helps. I'm enjoying this challenge, but next month will be hard as it's a 5 week month. :eek:

Casperthefriendlyghost

Hi everyone

NSD for me today, that's two in a row now. am really pleased, cooked this really nice curry yesterday, enough to last for four days and worked out that it cost me around £0.60 per meal, and the best thing is that I used only stuff in the freezer and cupboards. Thanx to everyone for the encouragement and great ideas from the old style forum for home made meals.

Thanx
CTFG
x x x x

scaredy_cat_2

hi i haven't posted at all since setting budget at the beginning of the month but i have really been following it. I did have a big blip last week when i went to sains at least once a day but pulled it back fast!! So with just under a week to go i have £5 left of my £350 Budget BUT i do have food for week lunches and dinner and if anyone wants treats i will bake a big cake - i have the stuff for that too. i even didn't have warm milk drink tonight cos i don't want to have to buy more milk before sat!! is that sad or good i can't decide but i did feel good doing it! having looked back over month i think i could get another £10-20 off that too i am enjoying the challenge!!

jcr16

i haven't a total figure yet but i think it is around £150-£160 for the month. it is pay day for us on friday so thursday is end of the month. will add up the receipt's later.