January 2012 Grocery Challenge

moneysaver13

Ok, went into boots and stocked up on half price toiletries and bought three half price birthday presents but will take them from another budget. Used my advantage card in their machine and got some good vouchers, never use boots much but with the right coupons that might change. Just taking my son to mr T's as he is having 10 friends round tonight so let's see how this dents the budget further!

Long_tall_sally

Just updated signature with a small spend at the Co Op of a banoffee dessert for tomorrow & some satsumas. Gosh they are expensive there compared to Aldi or the market where I normally get them from. have also asked OH to get some cream & some g/f cereal on his travels. Bit cross as I just tried to make some gluten free shortbread simply by substituting normal flour for g/f plain & rice flour (50/50) and it has turned out rubbish. That was a snack to take to a party tonight for DS. I also defrosted some h/m stock yesterday by leaving it out all day & have turned it into soup today. However it wasn't until today that I realised it had bits of left over turkey in it so now not sure how safe it will be to eat. Sometimes I get a bit fed up when I try to do things & they often go wrong!

Anyway, happy new year to you all. Oh, OH is now back so I shall update signature again with another £2.79!

Long_tall_sally

[QUOTE=


Welcome to all our newbies and welcome back to our returners - great to see you back Cheryl, NickJW and JillD. [/QUOTE]

Sorry, meant to say ditto to this before!

rej-c

WelshWoofer wrote: »

In B&M they had lots of packs of ham, chicken etc reduced to 20p (date today) so I got 3 for the dog (I'm a veggie) - better for him and much more appreciated than dog food ... I'll put one pack in the freezer for later in the week - should be ok shouldn't it?

I'm vegan and do the same for my meat-eating husband - snap up cooked meats when super-cheap and freeze for whenever he wants it [saves me begrudging the spend on meat, and having to cook it!]. I'm sure it'll be fine. Just, obviously, make sure it's properly defrosted before giving it to your dog, particularly if he's still off-colour. Hope he improves soon

I will be joining this challenge soon: just need to work out the budget with Him Indoors. One thing's for sure: it'll be tighter than it has been...

Spiggle

Going to get ready to celebrate now. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! _party_:dance::T:j:beer:

Have a great 2012,
Spigs

nannygladys

Happy New Year to everyone:beer:

Updated signature and its all correct as of now this minute. Had a small spend in Al*i before the offers go off tomoz, satsumas 69p, sprouts 39p, and fat free yogurt 59p, walked there so got a bit of exercise and didnt use any fuel - result!!:j

Had a NSD yesterday as well, my month started yesterday for four weeks as I get paid every four weeks so it makes it simpler for me. It can get a bit complicated some times as all my DD's go out calender monthly and I get paid 4 weekly so have to work it all out as if Im paid cal. month and make sure everythig goes into virtual pots for payment, anyway it works for me, but this year Im trying a yearly total for GC so I will see how it goes month by month, and may change it if its not working out too well.

Working early hours tomoz (6am) so will have a small drink later to celebrate before I go to bed, but not planning on seeing NY in
Jxx

mum26

Happy 2012 everyone

Not settled on my budget yet but will declare £450 for the entire month of Jan (dp gets paid on the 13th so first half will be thrifty then second half will be a bit of a stock up and starting to run low on baking things etc, it's also ds3's birthday on the 13th so need to account for birthday meal choice and cake etc too) but might amend that before payday.

Cheapskate

Evening all

I am going to start 2012 with an estimate of £350 for January - might sound a lot, but I'm still struggling with lots of things and our DD (23) is coming back to live with us next week, don't know for how long, so my food budget will not be as low as I'd hoped! Thanks for adding my figure to the list.

I HAVE bought notebooks to write in EVERYTHING I spend - I've slipped so much this year it's untrue, but as I think things may get financially worse I have to do this properly. I've got 2 lots of mince in the freezer, a small beef joint (all reduced), long life milk, various fresh and frozen veg and fruit, so tomorrow (when I recover from the family party we're going to soon!:D) I will be mostly stocktaking and meal planning. I reckon I can do at least 8 meals from the above, without trying, plus others when I add in the stuff in my pantry, so I hope to buy little over the next couple of weeks at least.

Sorry to waffle - thanks in advance to those who have waded through! :rotfl:

A xo

cowboymum

Hi there. I'd like to join too. It's my first month and I'm going to guess at £380 as a start. I've just made a menu plan for the next week or so using things out of freezer and veg box which will come on tuesday. hopefully I'm going to be under this but have little in freezer. What do you guys do for packed lunches? My boys like ham but good ham is pricey - will gammon work?

Thanks, amy

Cowboymum £380

rebeccalb

Hi I lurked a bit this year, but as I'm moving into my first flat I thought I'd give it a try to keep costs down. So I'll declare £100 for January, and see how I go.

Question how do I edit my signature?