January 2012 Grocery Challenge

Catwoman103 · 10 January 2012 at 10:11AM

My first shop of the year on Saturday coincided with the start of my diet. Had a good check throigh my larder and freezers before I went and only bought what was necessary for me, my cats and my bunnies - total spend £16.66 for the week.

lemmings1986 · 10 January 2012 at 10:17AM

morning guys hope every1 well.
had a low spend this morning went to mr mccols and got 3x bottles of tropicana reduced to 20p each and 2x packs of ham reduced to 39p total £1.38 :j:j bought the tropicana as oh loves it but doesnt normally get it as its too expensive and i eat quite alot of ham so have put 1 in freezer.:D
they also had some cheap sausages for 60p but ive got 3 packs in freezer so didnt buy any

.
tea tonight is leftover pasta bake
i recieved my £50 amazon vouchers this morning for a forum thing i did and also cashed out on su**rp*in*s so another £10 to add to my amazon account so have got nearly £70 in there which should help towards grocery budget i know there not always the cheapest but it was money i didnt have so will have to hunt down the bargains before i'll part with it :rotfl::rotfl:.
i ordered andrex loo roll off there last week and it was surposed to take 5 days for delivery,but it came the next day

:D
i might order some more and stock up.:)
hope every1 has a good day im off to bed am nodding and have to keep checking what ive wrote as i keep spelling it wrong :rotfl:

cheekychipmunk · 10 January 2012 at 10:56AM

Morning. Not had any more big spends, but I am surprised at how quickly all the basics like bread and milk quickly add up! Had a 'weak' day yesterday - spent ages boiling some black beans to make a mexican soup, but they were still like pebbles after 2 hours. Felt so deflated after this, I gave up on the soup idea and we ended up having fish and chips... Didn't even enjoy them! Will try harder next time to have a back up plan!

janiepopps · 10 January 2012 at 11:14AM

Just gave in and popped out for a loaf of bread, but was very good and pulled up outside the bakery rather than paying £1 to park, or parking for free and walking in and then spending 1/2 an hour mooching (and probably spending too)

wannabehermit · 10 January 2012 at 11:15AM

I've been pretty rubbish with posting and think this is actually my 1st post on this thread

. Well half way through our month and at £226.35. So well within budget so far. If I can keep that up for the other half of the month I'll be £50 under budget and can knock it down a bit more next month.

I start work this week in a brand spanking new supermarket so will def be using my staff discount. The shop is a bit dearer than others, but I reckon on my normal spends probably only a max of £20 over the month, but with a staff discount should bring it down to about £25 a month saving which will be very welcome indeed.

We've started doing a Jamie Oliver pasta dish recently. I don't like pasta, but accept that on the whole it's cheap so needs must, but this is really nice, very quick and easy to cook too. I don't tend to measure anything out, just chuck in as much as suits us, then freeze any leftovers in small portions for DD. I couldn't see anything similar on the recipes list so here it is:

Cook the pasta. While the pasta is cooking, fry some thin strips of bacon in a pan with oil & butter. Once the bacon is starting to brown off, add frozen peas to the frying pan (we zap them in the microwave for 30 seconds, but recipe says you don't need to, I guess whatever you prefer). After a couple of minutes add 2-3 heaped dessert spoons of creme fraiche, then drain and add the pasta, season and serve.

It is dead easy, takes as long as the pasta takes to cook. For us we use about 6 rashers of bacon and about 1.5-2 portions of peas. It's not the cheapest pasta dish in the world but for someone who doesn't like pasta it's great and still cheaper than a lot of other meals.

wannabehermit · 10 January 2012 at 11:18AM

cheekychipmunk wrote: »

Morning. Not had any more big spends, but I am surprised at how quickly all the basics like bread and milk quickly add up! Had a 'weak' day yesterday - spent ages boiling some black beans to make a mexican soup, but they were still like pebbles after 2 hours. Felt so deflated after this, I gave up on the soup idea and we ended up having fish and chips... Didn't even enjoy them! Will try harder next time to have a back up plan!

I always make sure the freezer has something in it that can be chucked in the microwave or oven just in case. Otherwise that's exactly what happens, you have a disaster and end up going to the chippy, adn all your hard work trying to save money is wasted.

dobs · 10 January 2012 at 11:46AM

Hello all, have lost some of my receipts and hubby who does the shopping had bought extras (grr) but have put down 130.00 as our spends so far as that seems pretty near, does include a birthday cake in that as well. Need to start to meal plan and batch cook though, so unorganised lately! Wondering if internet shopping if worth trying, does anyone do that? Only thing is if you can get everything online that you can at the supermarkets? We are spoilt here we have a big Asda, two sainsburys, tescos, Morrisons, 2 lidls, tesco expresses and in the nearby town a waitrose! Need to get some milk today or tomorrow, the container split and i have put in into a gravy jug but worried it will go off and can't do without my cups of tea! I have seventy pounds now for the rest of the month, for five of us and two dogs (won't include the hamster, rabbit or guinea pig food!), am determined to try and do it!

helen_jelly · 10 January 2012 at 11:52AM

To All New People

Hi and Welcome

Please do NOT be put off by the size of the thread at the moment - in Jan it is always huge as we have lots of people joining us. It will settle down and become more managable. Don't be put off either by how well some people do - remember some posters have been doing the GC for a long time and have got their spending down to a fine art - wish that was me!!

The other thing I wanted to say was don't be surprised if you don't come in under or on your target - its the first time you are doing this - I think that for the first couple/few months its all a learning curve and things crop up and we need to be flexible

Good luck
Stick with it/us

Ask lots of questions

Helen x

kerri_dfw · 10 January 2012 at 11:54AM

Another £2.18 to add for me, I bought a Mr T microwave pasta dish for my lunch as I was in no mood for cooking anything last night. I know I could make it cheaper myself, but it's my first bought lunch this year so won't chastise myself too much.