January 2012 Grocery Challenge

angelatgraceland

freyasmum wrote: »

My uncle is a millionaire many, many
The pseudo-rich, the people who are for show are the ones that care about brands and have designer this and that splattered all over the place but the real rich don't care what people think about them, they already know they're loaded. And they didn't get there by spending a fortune on unnecessary 'stuff'

So total of £19.82/£2000

Well said! I once read that the truly rich "Don't feel they need to prove anything" so that explains what you have stated above. It is the working classes who need to show how well they are doing!

Kylieminoag wrote: »

Am humming and hawing about whether to spend some of this months budget on a bread maker. Please can anyone offer me any advice? The family get through a full sliced loaf every other day. What would be most economical?

Thanks

I have a "cheap" breadmaker and I am not too pleased with it-I tend to use it to make the dough then bake it in the oven. I do suggest you follow the advice of others and get a "good" one-the panny sounds great! If you can get a cheap one or a free one thats great but the cahnces are they will be cheap machines which people dodn't like-it is, however, a good way to start. Have a look on youtube and check out reviews and demos of various models.

njk1012

wow closemead your budget is amazing I wish I could get mine down to that and there is only 4 of us plus pets. Do you have a system you stick to?

BohemianCoast

OK I am off to a startlingly poor start as we *went to a supermarket* today (I never do this). Spent £41 there, and then £25 on groceries in IKEA (that includes 12 cans of Koppaberg Pear though, and as we let DD have one about once a month that should last all year . It did include some money-saving sort of stuff like cheap wrapping paper and half price IKEA ham, but still.

Also did the next internet order -- this may change before it's delivered on 5th, but currently it's at £92. So in total I have spent £158 and January hasn't even started yet. £350 does not really seem very plausible.

closemead

njk1012 wrote: »

wow closemead your budget is amazing I wish I could get mine down to that and there is only 4 of us plus pets. Do you have a system you stick to?

Only all the usual menu planning, cooking from scratch, buying in bulk etc. I always make sure we have at least 5 fruit and veg a day. I do have 2 freezers so I make the most of reduced bargains especially milk and meat. Dog and cat food I always buy 15kg sacks which is cheaper. I use washable nappies for little one in the day and disposables at night. The budget may go up next month but this January we are quite well stocked up

gardenia101

Hi All

I'm going to try this challenge for 2012 as, sadly I'm pretty rubbish at keeping to a grocery budget. Could you please put me down for £100 - hoping this will be plenty as my cupboards are still rammed from Xmas, but I think I need to break myself in gently....:rotfl: Thanks

NickJW

Hi All.

I'm a bit embarrassed to come back...

I used to post last year/earlier this year as I was in the process of paying my debt off, and being part of this challenge made me achieve my debt free goal. :T

Unfortunately this made me complacent, and whilst I am good with my money and have money left over at the end of each month for the first time in my life, I want to try and get back to sticking to a goal, to save more money!

So...if I am allowed to come back I would like to set an initial target of £200 for January. This starts on Tuesday 3rd January which is payday. It's just for me and will include all meals shared with my flatmate (we cook 3 times p/w each), lunches for work, cleaning products, toiletries etc. I won't include alcohol or a meal out p/w (Sunday) in the total at this stage. I know it's a pretty high starter, but I want to bring it down eventually and starting higher will mean I'm not discouraged from the start IYSWIM? I will probably adjust the things included as well as time goes on.

Anyway - if I am allowed back in, I'm looking forward to restarting the challenge.

Kylieminoag

Kylieminoag wrote: »

Am humming and hawing about whether to spend some of this months budget on a bread maker. Please can anyone offer me any advice? The family get through a full sliced loaf every other day. What would be most economical?

Thanks

Thank you so much to everyone that replied - I've put an entry on freecycle and will trawl the local car boots on Sunday - great ideas thanks. All the recipes on the threads have me drooling! I think I will definately give it a go.... will let you know when I've had my first warm crusty crumbs!

Thanks again:beer::beer::beer::beer:

philsmum

Happy New Year to all. May it be a healthy prosperous one.
Good luck to anyone doing this challenge for the first time.

Please can you put me down for £200.00

Herbyme

Hi Kylie,
I think with brea dmakers it depends what kind of bread you like. I have one and did use it a lot at first, hardly ever now. As I see it:
Pros:
nice smell of bread in the morning if you set it overnight
Can rustle up a loaf in 2 hours so it's easy to keep a constant supply
can use all kinds of flours, good for those who like interesting/different breads or if you want to perk up a dull bit of pate, for example
does make nice bread, tasty, fresh etc
it makes great pizza dough

Cons
making it gets to be a faff, i found, though it doesn't take long
my kids wouldn't eat it - too used to awful pre-packed sliced stuff, grrr
the hole in the base is a bit annoying, means the middle slice is a bit of a tram smash
only the smallest loaf is sliceable, the bigger ones are so tall they're hard to slice, I found, and that means you might end up making at least a loaf a day, maybe even more if you eat a lot of bread

Purely personal view points, others may disagree, I do think it saves money though, if you like that kind of unsliced loaf. Mine's a Panasonic btw, other makes might be different, HTH

JillD_2

Hi, Please could you add
JillD monthly budget £450

I used the monthly grocery challenges a few years back when money was very tight and found it really useful, so thanks to everyone who runs the thread!

Somehow over the last couple of years our spending has crept up, and just lately seems to have gone out of control. I was allowing £600 a month on groceries which was deliberately high the idea being then we would have some left and feel good (I am Irish, its Irish logic), but I dont think we were even keeping within that. The week before Christmas was hideous when it all came to a head, and I dont want to feel like that again. So now is the time to rein myself in, starting with my trip to Asda tomorrow!.

My month normally starts on hubby's payday, 24th, so starting tomorrow will be a short month for me, however I have a NYEve party for 40 to cater for tomorrow night. Still want to co come in on the £450 though.

Our household is 2 adults, and3 children ages 8,7, 4. Our eldest is 8 and has Aspergers (form of autism) and is quite restricted in what he eats. Last time I sneaked lentils into the shepherds pie he went into meltdown so that is a big no no! Husband really complains about stuff reheated from the freezer, and I am constantly on a diet, so between us it can be hard to cater for all. But I want to try and work harder at it.
Husband has agreed to take packed lunch to work. Going to go back to packed lunches for children 4 days a week too.

My budget includes food, toiletries, cleaning products, and night-time nappies for the youngest.

Thanks again