January 2012 Grocery Challenge

Suffolk_lass

moomi wrote: »

Hi I'm new to this thread & have read through but I'm still confused so any suggestions/help very welcome. I basically spend £100 A week on everything, plus a takeaway & it's just ridiculous now, the are 2 adults, a 10 yr old, a 4 yr old & the cat. The kids rarely eat the same as us so end up cooking even more. I don't tend to waste much in that it doesn't get thrown out but surely I can reduce this. I've chatted to mr moomi about this & he agrees. I just don't know quite where to start! I can see a few of you meal plan, do you have exAples I could see? Also bulk buying, should I do this straight away for stuff like washing powder, dishwasher tablets, cat food etc? Thanks everyone

Re Bulk buying (which I have been reading up on, as a fellow newbie) I like the advice from Mothership at message 6 on the first page of posts - essentially have a list of all the stuff you normally buy and a separate purse so you can buy your regular stuff when it is on offer.
If you treat the 2nd purse as a me-bank and pay it back the regular price of the item that was on offer when you take it out of store, you will start making a profit in 2nd purse (she suggests £10 a month for this separate fund). Eventually you get to the point when you never pay full price for your store cupboard stuff this way.
I especially took note of the advice to work out how much you use and to watch out for sell-by dates - don't stock-pile more than a year's supply or you end up forgetting what you've got. Mark off on your stores list so you know where you are (and take a copy with you).

Sadly my post at the weekend was evidence of poor management where I have now chucked out 12 cans of out of date tuna and various other items, the worst of which was BBE 1998:eek:.
I was off work today, and spent much of it cataloguing what is already in my cupboards - so much money in stuff I hardly use. I would recommend the lists thing highly if you have any sort of addictive elements in your personality (I do, but I'm hoping to make it a saving rather than spending addiction progressively in future!). When was the last siege in Suffolk anyway ('cos I'm well prepared for the next one)??

Best of luck:)

jo84

just on to update signature...Sent DH to the shop for ice-cream for dessert yesterday, came back with Haagen Daaz at £4.49. Nearly had to be worked with!
Starting to not be able to keep up with thread!

Hoping for another big chunk to go into emergency fund this week.

medsdemon

OH just back from MrS. Whoospies- pack of nectarines 10p, pack of grapes 20p, pack of plums 10p, Aloo sag 44p, Spaghetti carbonara 54p, Chicken pathi 64p, innocent snackpot 84p.

mummyjane

Suffolk Lass - don't bin food if it's past its best before date, often it is still fine. It's only use by dates that need to be followed. Lots of tinned food lasts for years.

Medsdemon - what bargains! I am tempted to try the local supermarkets late one evening and see what whoopsies they have then. Dh is usually home by 6 ish and they have very little whoopsies round here during the day.

Herbyme

£66 at Asd* today, quite enjoyed going on my own with no time pressures, was able to spot the silly bargains like small sizes of things being cheaper per gram etc than bigger sizes - eg Hz BB 50p per can or £2.50ish for 4! Duh! Mind you, their shelf labels are printed so small now I can hardly read some of them. If you see a woman bending down at floor level squinting at the shelf label, that's probably me! For 2nd time in a row there, some stuff got rung up at more than the shelf label said - only a pack of toms at 20p over but I went back for my 20p, and the NYM gave me a £2 gift voucher as well! And told me how to do the price comparison, did last week's but no joy. Odd that only a quarter of my shop was comparable, I thought...

mumwithamission

Hi all, and thank you so much for all your inspirational stories. Am struggling to keep up with it all - had no idea joining would be such a time commitment, but am still very motivated. Really struggling as a newbie tho' and completely in awe of how frugal so many of you manage to be. Haven't totted things up yet, but know I'm overspent. However, I have done a stock take of everything and made a meal planner for rest of month. Problem is I'm setting up the 2nd purse system and am drawn to half-price or less offers on anything (that isnt perishable) that we use regularly. I spent the weekned clearing out more of the loft to make room for it all, and it's giving me a real buzz, but buying those offers in the first place is costing a fair bit....am I doing it all wrong?

PennyGrabber

moomi wrote: »

Hi I'm new to this thread & have read through but I'm still confused so any suggestions/help very welcome. I basically spend £100 A week on everything, plus a takeaway & it's just ridiculous now, the are 2 adults, a 10 yr old, a 4 yr old & the cat. The kids rarely eat the same as us so end up cooking even more. I don't tend to waste much in that it doesn't get thrown out but surely I can reduce this. I've chatted to mr moomi about this & he agrees. I just don't know quite where to start! I can see a few of you meal plan, do you have exAples I could see? Also bulk buying, should I do this straight away for stuff like washing powder, dishwasher tablets, cat food etc? Thanks everyone

Hi moomi and welcome!

I don't necessarily have any answers for you, but I will tell you a bit of what I do. This year, i have given myself a yearly budget. In the past, I've had a montlhy budget, then overspent, then not compensated other months, etc. So now, I have a yearly budget (£1680). Now, because I have enough dishwasher stuff, cleaning stuff and loo rolls, I have given myself a small portion of that for this month, £90 (instead of a twelfth which is £140). That basically gives me some bulk buying money/Christmas saving money/whatever. If I see an offer, i stock up, but I now have a very strict list of what and how much I am allowed to stock up on!! Eg beans, tuna, certain types of cereal, tea etc. In the past i've gone mad, and once I bought 24 cans of tuna. This was two years ago, and they're still not finished now!!! I must learn that offers will be on again in the future!

Anyhoo, the other thing I do is meal plan. I used to do a monthly list of meals, then decide the night before what we were having. That worked for a while. Now, though, I do a week's list and shop for that. I try to plan from stores we already have so new purchases will be minimal. For example, I planned some tuna (!) dishes this week, and other bits, and so my weekly shop came in at £21, in line with the fact that I have a lot of stock. The way I plan is that my two children each choose a meal, sometimes from a list of ideas I've given them or sometimes just cos that's what they want, and that's two dinners, then I plan the rest. I'm sorry, unless there are allergies etc, I would give everyone the same thing. I know roughly how much different meals cost, so I like to choose the cheaper ones, like homemade pizza - sooo cheap! I also batch cook and freeze, and buy mostly yellow-sticker stuff. I bulk things out, eg today, we had spag bol, but I made 125g of mince do all three of us, plus enough for all three of us again!! A handful of lentils here, a grated carrot there, soon adds up to bulk things out. Others are much better at this than me though.

I try to limit myself to going shopping twice max per week. This has really helped me bring my spending down, as previously I used to go and have a mooch, and end up spending a fortune. Some people bake their own bread, make their own yoghurt/butter etc. I don't, because i'm lazy! (Tell it like it is!!)

I'm sorry to bombard you with loads of ideas, but I have been helped so much by being on this thread, and I only hope I can add in my little bit of help too!

Slow and steady to start with. Maybe make a double batch of cottage pie, for example, and freeze one to use next week? That's two meals for one lot of cooking (and mess!). Or, buy one own-brand product instead of a named brand. Other, much more experienced people will be along to give better advice soon, I'm sure!

Hope that you can find something there to help you a little - remember though, that you're at the beginning of your journey, so you can't suddenly do everything all at once. Also, everyone here is very supportive, and you only have to ask, and someone will answer.

PG x

Suffolk_lass

mummyjane wrote: »

Suffolk Lass - don't bin food if it's past its best before date, often it is still fine. It's only use by dates that need to be followed. Lots of tinned food lasts for years

Not normally squeamish about ood food (used most of a tub of White Flora with SBD 1997 will into this millenia) but I suggested DH take Tuna Mayo sarnies today and he said it tasted metallic so really has gone over - I am rasonably cautious about fish. I'm keeping the pesto in a jar, the soy sauce, canned fruit, condensed milk and lime pickle though!! Thanks :T
Also, inspired by this thread I made bread with dried easy-bake yeast from 2007 today - no bread machine but used dough hook attachment on mixer (and I have a range) and it was fab. I sprinkled the top with semolina and flour to achieve a crusty finish (thought I heard it somewhere) and it worked brilliantly!

Inspirational stuff on this thread.

Even if we don't fully achieve our targets, we are working it through and getting better
SL

tigerfeet2006

Just thought I would repost Spigs excellent advice for all our new GCers.

Spiggle wrote: »

Afternoon All,

Welcome and good luck to our newbies! And good luck to everyone of course!

I'm not sure if the following will help any of you but here goes anyway ...

I hope my fellow regulars won't mind me posting this again but it may be of some help to all the enthusiastic and excited people joining us. I believe it has helped others in the past. So here goes:

We all have different budgets that suit our households. The most important thing to remember is that you set yours according to your needs and finances. It can take time to get to where you want to be too so don't knock yourself out if you go over in the first few months. We are here to support each other and it is not a competition.

I thought it might help to outline where we've come from and the top tips I've learned.

When we started in March 2010 we had spent in excess of £600 in the previous month. :eek: This had to stop, (there's only me and him and our two beautiful black cats) something which thankfully my OH completely agreed with so I have been lucky that he has been on board from the start. He gave me his debit card voluntarily and I still keep hold of it until he needs to get something for the home. At the same time we set up a system of pocket money (pm) at £15 each per week which doesn't count towards the GC and which we can each spend as we wish with no comebacks or complaints. OH predominantly uses his pm on his beer and I ferret mine away mostly. :rotfl:

The next step was to set up my own spreadsheet which is absolutely simple onto which I put all spends so that I have a continuous running total for the month and for the year. We initially set our budget at £280 per month and brought it down to £240 where it resides for most of the year it is occasionally increased to allow for extras e.g. Christmas to £260.

The important 'tools' we found greatly helped and continue to do so now are:

Stocktake cupboards, fridge, freezer - make lists and ensure that the older products get used up first. You'll be amazed at what you find squirrelled away and it will help with your shopping list as you'll realise that you don't actually need so much.

Before you go shopping check staples - running out of milk, bread, butter, etc often leads to going into a shop for one thing and coming out £20 lighter. Always check these and if they'll run out tomorrow buy them the same time as getting other things.

Always make a shopping list and stick to it - the supermarkets (sm) try every which way to get us to spend so having a list and strong resolve is the only way to beat them.

Keep every receipt - and then note it down on your spreadsheet/spend diary so that you always know where you are.

When tempted, ask yourself do you NEED it or just WANT it - now this advice goes with two things. Firstly, the things you see in store when shopping that APPEAR to be bargains - if you hadn't planned spending the money then its not a bargain. Secondly, the sm send us loads of vouchers for £X off a spend of £XX - if you had no NEED to spend £XX then have you SAVED anything???

Use my supermarket to compare prices (limited to four of the biggies) - The site may be used to actually do an online shop at whichever of the big four offers the best value or, if you have the time and sm availability, to make up lists for visiting each of the stores so that you can purchase all you need at different stores thus getting the best possible value. (I'd add, do a 'shop' virtually on this site and take the list you create on it with you, whichever one you shop at, it will help keep target prices in your head and allow you to spot bargains. MrM is not included but you can do a virtual list on their website so you know what you're going to be spending.)

Always have a list - this is just as important when shopping online as shopping on foot.

Use Approved Foods online (with a list!) - if you don't mind out of date things (ood) or you can search for only in date items. The only drawback is storing the goods as far as I can tell. Oh, and watch the delivery as it's done on a scaled charge for weight so keep an eye on it. You can of course do an AF order with friends, family, colleagues or like minded neighbours. Other GCers use Big Br*nds 4 Less too.

Invest in a breadmaker - we have saved so much by making our own bread. The prices in the shops are extortionate for bread these days. There's loads of advice on this thread and others in the forum on this.

Use the recipe lists - always posted at the front of a new thread. There are fantastic, tasty, healthy and economical recipes to use on them and there are a number of other threads on the forum such as Weezl's that will help you to eat well on a budget.

Shop locally - the local greengrocer (or preferably market but I don't have one ) is usually cheaper as an option for fruit and veg (f&v) than the sm. Often the prices may look the same but when you look at the quantity for the same price the greengrocer will be cheaper. The same goes for the local butcher. Often you will have far more variety of meat available, advice on how to cook a particular meat can be offered and there is (for me at least) no comparison in terms of quality. We buy our huge FR eggs there and I'm yet to find an equivalent FR egg in a sm at the same or lower price. Obvioulsy if you have your own chicks/know someone who has chicks you can get them even cheaper again.

Grow your own - it's quite simple to grow some f&v at home even if it's only in pots on the patio. There are also supportive threads on the forum for this.

Cook your own - making meals at home from ingredients is far more economical, often tastes better than shop bought and is probably far better healthwise.

Meal Plan - this is something that others can advise on as we don't do it. I have a tremendous capacity for eating the same food over many days but presented in slightly different form. For example, we could buy £7 worth of brisket from the butchers and eat it as pot roast for a couple of days, sliced for sarnies, sliced with a salad, chucked into a casserole or shredded up and fried as crispy beef.

Don't waste food - either only make what you need or use any leftovers for other meals/creations or freeze it for another day.

Withdraw the cash you want to spend - and keep it in a separate purse. This can be particularly effective as you have the money in front of you reducing rather than spending with plastic which is so easy to lose track of. Very useful when you first start out.

Don't go to the shops to browse - this can only lead to pain and hardship!!!

Keep posting and reading the thread - there really is no better supportive, wise and inspirational place to be! I think I saw that somebody mentioned forgetting to read/post. I get around this by using the Advanced button to post, below the window where your text is displayed you will see Additional Options. In the Thread Subscription box use the dropdown to select either instant email notification (this is what I use) or daily email notification before you submit your latest post. Then you will get an email into your inbox from which you can click to the thread to see what others are saying.

Always remember the sm is not your friend - it wants to profit from you and take as much of your money as it can coerce out of you!

So, there you go as a starting point. Others on here will offer tremendous advice on meal planning. And don't forget, the only silly question is the one you didn't ask!

See you all later,
Spigs

Don't rush to get your amounts down, slowly and surely is the order of the day. When I started out I was spending in excess of £700+ for 5 of us. I am consistently bringing it under £400 now and am slowly reducing it more.

Each week there is a meal plan thread and they are always worth a look at to see what others are doing. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3710729

Also have a look at the recipe section at the beginning of this thread for some great ideas.

JillD_2

Evening all.
Had to admit defeat today and do my weekly shop today instead of Wednesday, we had hardly any milk left, no marg and hardly any fruit. If we'd had the marg we might hae been able to eke it out til Weds but the lack of milk too meant n toast or cereal optin for kids brekkies. Decided rather then just going to Asda for marg I would just do a list and shop for the next 9 days or so.

I am SOOOOOOO pleased, I stuck to my list (which I made from my meal plan), looked closely at all prices, used my ohone calculator to work out best value, I even weighed prepacked smart price courgettes to work out price per kilo.

Weekly shop came in at £90 ish which is about £50 less than normal :T:eek::eek:

Only downside was that annoyingly I printed out about £8 of price comparison vouchers before I went, I even took them with me, but forgot to use them :mad: ah well that will come off next week's then!

Also spent £13 on coffee, juice and snacks for us all out shopping yesterday, and then £3 on DD2 lunchbox from Asda cafe which she ate in the trolley on the way round (I am teaching her the art of multitasking :rotfl:)
Need to add exact amounts but total spend at the moment is loking like roughly £308.

Current food should last till next Mon16th, will do a weekly shop then, and then that should last til 24th which is payday :T Reeeeeallly hoping to come in under budget which would be HUGE for me

Actually tomorrow I am going to look back at statements for Sept, Oct, Nov and work out how much I was spending on food then. Bet it will be a big shock!