January 2012 Grocery Challenge

On_an_Avon_Mission

helen_jelly wrote: »

Morning all
As this month was such a disaster GC wise we decided to go to Aldi and use the £5 off offer, we got about 8 carrier bags worth of stuff and paid £33 after the £5 off. Well worth a look - we bought bulk of Milk, WU Liquid, Fabric conditioner and other bits. Decided to do it now before we get paid and then we can start Feb as a nice fresh new month.

Helen

All the washing powder etc there is fab. They've won quite a few Which awards. The non bio doesn't antagonise my kids' eczema either!
THankyou so much to the person who first mentioned the Mirror voucher. I bought 2 papers and used one voucher today and will use one next Thurs. The papers cost 90p, leaving a total of £9.10 free food. Can't be bad!

Linz4383

a small spend today... must get into a routine of takin something to work! just isnt enough time to have something proper wen u only have 15 minutes!!!!
£3.07 on sum demi baguettes, juice and some ham! just goin to have the last baguette with half a tin of soup thats left for my t think im just under busget for this week so i will need to try not to get anything else!!!! although i do need some milk probably tomorrow/saturday

skintmum2012

LondonDreamer wrote: »

Defrosted some whoopsied pork for tonight's dinner and it didn't smell right. :mad:

Not going to risk using it, would have been tempted by a takeaway in the past but instead I pulled some tinned soup out of the cupboards and having that with the lovely bread I bought yesterday. So a proud NSD today. :money:

Hi we have just had a really nice dinner Special fried rice with prawns Chicken spring onions and mushrooms it was yummy. Out of the Takeaway book it really did taste like a takeaway and was so cheap and was made from yellow stickers



P.S I have brought some coke today and some mars bars but me and hubby have a budget of money we can spend per week as treat money so I am taking this out of that do I need to count them anyway?

Habibiboo

Hello! :hello: I've been lurking for the month and trying to get myself organised to step into the challenge!
I've had a good look at all things domestic today and set myself £200 for the month of Feb, so we'll see how we go from there (that's to feed 3 adults and 2 dogs everyday, plus my OH's daughters when they are with us - every other weekend Fri to Mon and half of each holidays).
My problem with sticking to the budget is my OH who has a L*dl obsession and often 'just' pops in to check out the deals. He then comes home with bags of 'essentials' and tells me I owe him half! :doh: Any ideas on how to re-train his behaviour would be greatly appreciated, of course I do have a few ideas of my own ...!

XSpender

NSD today. I bought the Mirror for the Ald1 voucher out of my miscellaneous budget but in hindsight it should probably come out of the GC budget as I only bought it to get the voucher.

DH will be popping to Ald1 or Mr T tomorrow for dog food and milk as we will need it that night and I am out with the girls:beer:
Our main shop will be done at Aldi on Saturday or Sunday and I will be using some of the 30% vouchers too as they are for DS size nappies, the moisturiser I use and DH fancies trying one of the joints.

Every morning I rush around making packed lunch for me and DH and lunch and tea for DS to take to his grandmas when he is there 3 days a week. This morning she suggested that I pay her a bit more on top of what I pay her now for minding him and she will feed him. I feel a bit guilty really that I won't be 'feeding' him. Irrational I know:o

If we decide to do this I will reduce my GC budget by the £20 for Feb as I pay MIL out of a different budget.

rosieben

skintmum2012 wrote: »

... P.S I have brought some coke today and some mars bars but me and hubby have a budget of money we can spend per week as treat money so I am taking this out of that do I need to count them anyway?

Its up to you but if they come out of your 'pocket money' I wouldn't count them into the GC

Florenceem

Habibiboo wrote: »

Hello! :hello: I've been lurking for the month and trying to get myself organised to step into the challenge!
I've had a good look at all things domestic today and set myself £200 for the month of Feb, so we'll see how we go from there (that's to feed 3 adults and 2 dogs everyday, plus my OH's daughters when they are with us - every other weekend Fri to Mon and half of each holidays).
My problem with sticking to the budget is my OH who has a L*dl obsession and often 'just' pops in to check out the deals. He then comes home with bags of 'essentials' and tells me I owe him half! :doh: Any ideas on how to re-train his behaviour would be greatly appreciated, of course I do have a few ideas of my own ...!

At least you get the shopping he does - at half price.

Florenceem

I had another NSD.
Here is a photo of tonight's meal. We had Egg/Bacon Pie with roast potatoes/cabbage/swede and onion.

Pots - 12p.
Cabbage - 13p.
Swede - 10p.
Onion - 4p.

The pie was from the freezer - one third of Egg/Bacon pie I had baked.
I will cost the pie when I make it again but it is very economical.

sonastin

Habibiboo wrote: »

My problem with sticking to the budget is my OH who has a L*dl obsession and often 'just' pops in to check out the deals. He then comes home with bags of 'essentials' and tells me I owe him half! :doh: Any ideas on how to re-train his behaviour would be greatly appreciated, of course I do have a few ideas of my own ...!

How about putting a shopping list somewhere public in the house - stuck to the fridge or written on a blackboard in the kitchen or something. Anyone can add anything that you're running low on in the house. Tell him you'll pay for any "essentials" he picks up that are on the list but anything else he decides he wants to buy are his "treats" regardless of whether he thinks he's buying it for your benefit, his or everybodies.

I have the opposite problem. OH might go to the shop to buy himself a treat but he rarely notices that while he's there he could pick up any or all of the things that we've run out of :rotfl:. And then he phones me at work to tell me that we're out of stuff and I need to pick it up on my way home :cool:

Florenceem

sonastin wrote: »

How about putting a shopping list somewhere public in the house - stuck to the fridge or written on a blackboard in the kitchen or something. Anyone can add anything that you're running low on in the house. Tell him you'll pay for any "essentials" he picks up that are on the list but anything else he decides he wants to buy are his "treats" regardless of whether he thinks he's buying it for your benefit, his or everybodies.

I have the opposite problem. OH might go to the shop to buy himself a treat but he rarely notices that while he's there he could pick up any or all of the things that we've run out of :rotfl:. And then he phones me at work to tell me that we're out of stuff and I need to pick it up on my way home :cool:

When I married Mr F 14 years ago - he was a nightmare when out shopping. I would give him a list and he would come home and say - I got a few extras! He was so used to living on his own/buying stuff to make a quick meal - took me ages to train him! :eek: