January 2012 Grocery Challenge

SueP19

Spiggle wrote: »

Afternnon All,

Welcome and good luck to our newbies! And good luck to everyone of course!

I'm not sure if the following will help any of you but here goes anyway ...

I hope my fellow regulars won't mind me posting this again but it may be of some help to all the enthusiastic and excited people joining us. I believe it has helped others in the past. So here goes:

We all have different budgets that suit our households. The most important thing to remember is that you set yours according to your needs and finances. It can take time to get to where you want to be too so don't knock yourself out if you go over in the first few months. We are here to support each other and it is not a competition.

I thought it might help to outline where we've come from and the top tips I've learned.

When we started in March 2010 we had spent in excess of £600 in the previous month. :eek: This had to stop, (there's only me and him and our two beautiful black cats) something which thankfully my OH completely agreed with so I have been lucky that he has been on board from the start. He gave me his debit card voluntarily and I still keep hold of it until he needs to get something for the home. At the same time we set up a system of pocket money (pm) at £15 each per week which doesn't count towards the GC and which we can each spend as we wish with no comebacks or complaints. OH predominantly uses his pm on his beer and I ferret mine away mostly. :rotfl:

The next step was to set up my own spreadsheet which is absolutely simple onto which I put all spends so that I have a continuous running total for the month and for the year. We initially set our budget at £280 per month and brought it down to £240 where it resides for most of the year it is occasionally increased to allow for extras e.g. Christmas to £260.

The important 'tools' we found greatly helped and continue to do so now are:

Stocktake cupboards, fridge, freezer - make lists and ensure that the older products get used up first. You'll be amazed at what you find squirrelled away and it will help with your shopping list as you'll realise that you don't actually need so much.

Before you go shopping check staples - running out of milk, bread, butter, etc often leads to going into a shop for one thing and coming out £20 lighter. Always check these and if they'll run out tomorrow buy them the same time as getting other things.

Always make a shopping list and stick to it - the supermarkets (sm) try every which way to get us to spend so having a list and strong resolve is the only way to beat them.

Keep every receipt - and then note it down on your spreadsheet/spend diary so that you always know where you are.

When tempted, ask yourself do you NEED it or just WANT it - now this advice goes with two things. Firstly, the things you see in store when shopping that APPEAR to be bargains - if you hadn't planned spending the money then its not a bargain. Secondly, the sm send us loads of vouchers for £X off a spend of £XX - if you had no NEED to spend £XX then have you SAVED anything???

Use my supermarket to compare prices (limited to four of the biggies) - The site may be used to actually do an online shop at whichever of the big four offers the best value or, if you have the time and sm availability, to make up lists for visiting each of the stores so that you can purchase all you need at different stores thus getting the best possible value. (I'd add, do a 'shop' virtually on this site and take the list you create on it with you, whichever one you shop at, it will help keep target prices in your head and allow you to spot bargains. MrM is not included but you can do a virtual list on their website so you know what you're going to be spending.)

Always have a list - this is just as important when shopping online as shopping on foot.

Use Approved Foods online (with a list!) - if you don't mind out of date things (ood) or you can search for only in date items. The only drawback is storing the goods as far as I can tell. Oh, and watch the delivery as it's done on a scaled charge for weight so keep an eye on it. You can of course do an AF order with friends, family, colleagues or like minded neighbours. Other GCers use Big Br*nds 4 Less too.

Invest in a breadmaker - we have saved so much by making our own bread. The prices in the shops are extortionate for bread these days. There's loads of advice on this thread and others in the forum on this.

Use the recipe lists - always posted at the front of a new thread. There are fantastic, tasty, healthy and economical recipes to use on them and there are a number of other threads on the forum such as Weezl's that will help you to eat well on a budget.

Shop locally - the local greengrocer (or preferably market but I don't have one ) is usually cheaper as an option for fruit and veg (f&v) than the sm. Often the prices may look the same but when you look at the quantity for the same price the greengrocer will be cheaper. The same goes for the local butcher. Often you will have far more variety of meat available, advice on how to cook a particular meat can be offered and there is (for me at least) no comparison in terms of quality. We buy our huge FR eggs there and I'm yet to find an equivalent FR egg in a sm at the same or lower price. Obvioulsy if you have your own chicks/know someone who has chicks you can get them even cheaper again.

Grow your own - it's quite simple to grow some f&v at home even if it's only in pots on the patio. There are also supportive threads on the forum for this.

Cook your own - making meals at home from ingredients is far more economical, often tastes better than shop bought and is probably far better healthwise.

Meal Plan - this is something that others can advise on as we don't do it. I have a tremendous capacity for eating the same food over many days but presented in slightly different form. For example, we could buy £7 worth of brisket from the butchers and eat it as pot roast for a couple of days, sliced for sarnies, sliced with a salad, chucked into a casserole or shredded up and fried as crispy beef.

Don't waste food - either only make what you need or use any leftovers for other meals/creations or freeze it for another day.

Withdraw the cash you want to spend - and keep it in a separate purse. This can be particularly effective as you have the money in front of you reducing rather than spending with plastic which is so easy to lose track of. Very useful when you first start out.

Don't go to the shops to browse - this can only lead to pain and hardship!!!

Keep posting and reading the thread - there really is no better supportive, wise and inspirational place to be! I think I saw that somebody mentioned forgetting to read/post. I get around this by using the Advanced button to post, below the window where your text is displayed you will see Additional Options. In the Thread Subscription box use the dropdown to select either instant email notification (this is what I use) or daily email notification before you submit your latest post. Then you will get an email into your inbox from which you can click to the thread to see what others are saying.

Always remember the sm is not your friend - it wants to profit from you and take as much of your money as it can coerce out of you!

So, there you go as a starting point. Others on here will offer tremendous advice on meal planning. And don't forget, the only silly question is the one you didn't ask!

See you all later,
Spigs

Thank you so much for that...........I wish I could use the "thank you" button several times, from a newbie on this thread your post is a focal point and yes the sm is the enemy

freyasmum

Quick update - £6.50 spend in M&S today.

Steak - £4. It's amazing, butter-meltingly tender and utterly delicious. Daughter can't get enough!
Milk, 4pints - 50p x 5

The milk should do around a month and the steak, depending whether it's a steak dinner or an ingredient, will last either one or two meals.

Now I've just got to try and fit it in the freezer :rotfl:

Got my meals planned out till next Sunday and all I need to buy is a carrot for some sizzling beef strips :drool: :rotfl:

sproggi

I really can't believe just how much I am looking forward to a new year of the GC:j

Thank you to everyone for running this thread :T

Now for my January budget. I have been mulling this over a fair bit and I think I am going to go for £350 for 5 of us, 3 adults and 2 children (13 & 10), plus occasional extra adult and DGS (14m). This will allow for any glitches and any sales, but will not include dog food as she has a poorly liver and her food is quite expensive.

Now off to see out 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Sproggi

mrs-moneypenny

evening all
did a morrys shop and a little sains one today so ive updated my sig
got lots of reduced bits from morrys so reezer is now rammed full

i wish everyone health and happiness in the new year

quintwins

£20.90 on chinese and coke well it is new year

tessie_bear

hi...lovely meal out today...soon ooff to new years eve do so other people taking the food prep strain...i will enjoy it while i can.....also going out for a new years day lunch tomorrow....might even get to bring home some leftovers to start 2012 off on a money saving note

still havent done the meal plan for next week ...need to get amongst that

happy new year

tess

recovering_spendaholic

Went to Matalan to get shoes for DD2 for her party tonight and on way home I was "persuaded" to go to McDonalds - that means that I spent £9 that I hadn't budgetted for already - I really do need to get some backbone, but TBH I really wanted a Big Mac as I hadn't had one for ages.....

Anyway it is New Year tomorrow and all junk food is out! We have none in the house so that is good!

queenie68

Hi everyone

i would like my budget set at £200 for january please

I totally messed up my december budget and went over by £100:eek: so i am going to be very strict and stick to my budget or even try to spend less than the budget

nmlc

Evening all

Wishing you all a Happy and healthy New Year.

PLEASE PUT ME IN FOR JAN FOR £375.

Have lost my way somewhat so need to get back into the GC, have done the first shop of the January 2012 budget, haven't spent that much but as I've overspent so much in the last 2 months, I haven't got much freezer/fridge/cupboard space left! Have got a joint of pork loin out of the freezer for tomorrow's New Years Day roast lunch, and will then be following a menu plan etc (she says in eternal hope!!). Will possibly sort through remainders of veg/fruit and try to salvage what I can.

Have a good evening and all the best for 2012, stay safe and well x

Kind regards
nmlc x

MumOf2Beasties

Hello to everyone,

Have been MIA for the past few months, life just kind of got in the way of ANY budgeting....oops!!

I'm planning on getting back on track in January, have started by buying most of this years birthday presents in the sales at half price, I don't include presents in my GC but that's lots of saving that will take pressure off throughout the year
My budget this month is £220 Please!!

Thank You so very much to everyone who runs the thread and contributes, good to know i always have a place to go to motivate me:D

Off to catch up on the thread now. Happy New Year Guys and Gals :beer: