January 2012 Grocery Challenge

cw18

*** waves to all those who remember me - and to those who have joined in the last 12 months so won't ***

Another New Year and I'm back to it all with a veangance

I've increased my grocery budget for 2012 to what seems an :eek: amount for 1 person to me, but I have my reasons......

One is that it isn't strictly 'just for 1', as I hope to feed someone else once in a while (maybe as much as once a week) and it will also have to cover my share of any takeaways we have because I won't be adding on extra for that. As part of the 'feeding someone else' I also want to try and get into a position where my standard diet has a low level of saturated fats (which means more expensive options for some items) as he has to monitor things reasonably carefully - and it won't hurt me to make the changes anyway, as I was told a couple of year ago I have a slightly elevated cholesterol level which means I'm likely to follow in the footsteps of my parents and need meds for it later in life (something I'd like to avoid if I can)

But the main reason is that I'm currently training to take part in a Marathon (missed out in the draw for London, so am doing Manchester a week later on 29th April), so I need to work really hard on having a properly balanced diet. And once I get through that I'm really hoping to keep my running at that standard with a view to entering more half and full marathons over the year.

So I'm working on £3.50 worth of groceries per day (doesn't include cleaning products, toiletries or anything like kitchen foil/rolls and toilet rolls), whilst trying to keep my actual spends to a minimum while I work through all the food I have crammed into my freezers and scattered around the house in boxes !!! I've just finished listing the contents of my smaller freezer, and have enough meat/fish/poultry/pies for the basis of 129 meals

This means my budget for January 2012 is £108.50 (31*£3.50)

wannabee_in_credit

Hello all

I really want to join this challenge. My month will run from payday to payday (last working day of the month). I have just realised that there are 5 weekends in January, and this is my first month 'proper' of grocery challenging so please could you put me down for
£250 as a first time attempt. I think that £50 a week should be more than adequate and way less than the £70-80 I managed for most of last year.

Look forward to this challenge...
:beer:

PaddyPaws

Oh, crikey, January GC already and I've got behind on December's (not posted since about the end of the first week and I know I've gone over)

Please put me down for £250 for Jan, I've realised that DH coming shopping with me results in much higher shopping bills so I must go when he's not around. Although when we did our last main shop before christmas from A!di and spent £55 (the most I've ever spent in one go from A!di) DH commented that it would have cost us about £100 at Mr T - at least he's getting the hang of it a bit.

Anyways, will go and dig out my receipts for Dec and do my last update over there, will pop back here later as I've got to think through a few things and if I post on here it will help me.

And finally, a big thank you to all who run this thread and everyone who contributes, it really makes a difference. Here's to 2012!
PP
xxx

boultdj

Can I be put down for £150 again please, I'm still on my December budget, so will join you on the 1st

:wave:cw, nice to see you back


Good Luck Eneryone

lisakay_2

Hi all, apologies for my absence in Dec. I got a little sidetracked and consequently spent too much. I would like to set my new budget at £200 per month maximum. Ideally it will be a little lower than that so i can begin to save towards some other things. DH's payday is 25th still, so thats when my month starts. no spends so far this month and none planned until in the new year, so that gives me a bit of a headstart.
Thanks everyone for getting me motivated, all the best for the new year and good luck with the GC. lisa xx

Long_tall_sally

Many thanks to Zippychick, Rosieben & Helen Jelly for their input in running the thread and good luck to everyone for the 1st thread of 2012! I know that we are not quite at 2012 but honestly, where did 2011 go to?! That seemed like a really quick year to me!

Anyway Helen could I be put down for £450 target again for January. (I did put it on December's with actual figures for that month but think I have been missed.) I have already spent £112.59 between Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons & the Co Op which included my xmas dinner shop, turkey etc and also a few bargains Boxing Day from the Co Op. I think for 2012 my new years resolution might be to eat more vegetarian dishes. Well actually as I am typing I am also thinking "getting the kids to be less fussy, cutting down on portion sizes, using what's in the freezer, manage my finances better". Actually the more I type, the more things come to mind and I could probably go on for ever!

helen_jelly

Post 27 - done to here :]

Long tall Sally - hi, think we were posting at the same time - I've just done the totals - Zippy copies over the old totals post for me [from the previous thread] and then I amend it so for the first few hours of the thread going live its often incorrect until I change it all - hope that makes sense!

If anyone notices that I've spelt their name wrong or put down the wrong amount then please holler at me and I'll change it - the posts come in thick and fast for the first few days and its easy to get it wrong ;]

Helen x

tigerfeet2006

Ooh! A shiny new thread. I am still on my December budget until the 1st January but will be setting my budget for January at £400. I have come in well under the last few months mainly because of DH mucking up budgets while I was ill and me having to cover the extra from somewhere, so Ive managed out of my stock cupboard and freezer which are now incredibly deplete and I will need to restock very soon but I still have another month possibly two of trying to undo everything DH did. So although that is my budget I will be bringing it in under that to use the money for other things. Hope that makes sense.

Hope everyone has a happy new year and thank you to Zippy and the team for keeping the thread under control.

So budget this month ££400

Sazdaz

I think I def need to join this challenge so that I can cut back the food bill. normally we spend around £175ish a month for two so going to go for £135 this month and see if I can save some money in order to pay another lump off another bill.

Northern_Princess

Can I join please? I am hoping to drastically reduce our grocery spend over the coming months, but I do have difficulty in planning meals for OH which are healthy and cheap as he's a shift worker with little to no means of re-heating the things I batch cook He tends to nip into supermarkets and buy ready made sarnies too - much to my annoyance! So my budget for January will be £500 in the hope I can start to re-educate OH for February