Grocery Challenge - February 2012

Ninno820

OMG - I am on half term and my month finishes on the 23rd so i thought that I would use some free time to menu plan for next month. I have enough food to complete a menu plan - breakfast, lunch and tea until 23rd March - and probably beyond!

I have no real explanation for the overstocking other than seeing sm shopping as a social activity and this thread is forcing me to change my mind set. I live in a small village where the nearest sm is 20 minutes away so I cannot be tempted on a daily basis. My next challenge is to avoid the local shop for my sugar fix. I am already thinking that I should reduce my march budget to £80 and aim for a weekly spend of £20. I am fortunate enough to have a small pay rise coming in april which will help with the debt repayment but will need to increase my grocery budget that month due to relatives staying.

123budget

Spent £20.09 in Wilkin***, H&B and Julin G yesterday - also spent a fair bit in Asd@ but am hunting down the receipt. Will update sig later but know budget is blown.

Made the Nigella breakfast bars yesterday -soooo yummy, but my family think they are breakfast, lunch, evening and anything in between bars! Not many left but enough ingredients in to make two more lots ready for school next week.

Herbyme

Not GC but I have to share this with you - our tumble dryer has been broken for the last 3 weeks, have been uming and ah-ing about whether to get a repair man in, try repairing it myself or buy a new one - thanks to a comment on another board I found it didn't even need a repair, just to have a small thingie reset with a pin and now it seems to work again! So, £60 for labour and £30 for parts saved, hurrah!:money::j:beer:

123budget

carolinerunner wrote: »

To those who've made Nigella's breakfast bars, I would like to make these but we don't like shredded coconut, could you suggest a substitute? Maybe just a bit more oats, or a different dried fruit? Also did you actually use cranberries? I've found they can be both sour and pricey!

I did my firs batch using the ingredients listed but I'm sure that you could substitute quite easily. Maybe chopped apricots instead of cranberries.. I would think if dry ingredients still add up to same overall weight it wouldn't really matter what you put in.

cleggie

meg72 wrote: »

i think the hardest part is sorting out why you feel the need to dothis.I my case it was years and years of very little money and a real fear of not having enough food in for my family.

I suffered terribly from anxiety depression and would go shopping daily.Ihave found it very difficult to break this habit
Even now when I have much more than I need I still tend to over stock.Since I joined the challenge last August I am much
better at using up what I have in before going shopping.Still have loads to go through though.Good Luck.

Meg- thanks for the words of advice, i know you are right about having to work out why i feel the need to spend, especially on food.
I think, from reading the advice given to me so far, that it boils down to 2 main things:

1- The same as you, in the past i have had such little money that there was real fear about not having enough food to feed the kids and myself. I guess i now see having enough money to be able to buy food as really 'special' or almost like its a treat, but i cant keep thinking this way! My money situation has been better for about a year, so its time to realise that i really DON'T need to overspend!

2-Someone else earlier in the thread mentioned about the fact that for a while, they couldnt spend money on luxuries such as clothes, so they would overspend (unintentionally) on the food bill, since everyone HAS to buy food. I think this is the case for me, the fact that i have easily given up overspending on clothes/make up etc so think i can make up for it by spending on food.

Sorry, long answer, and am just rambling to myself and trying to sort out my thoughts.

coldcazzie wrote: »

I also suffer from feeling compelled to overstock, although I admit not to the extreme. Having spent a long time having an incredibly small food budget and having to walk around with a calculator each week to make sure I didn't over spend, I now find it difficult to not buy extra just to make sure we don't run out.
I always make sure I've got a new packet of things in stock - flour, sugar, pasta, teabags.
I find it very difficult to run what we have right down to nothingness, it makes me feel supremely uncomfortable to open the freezer for example and see it empty (eta: my perception of empty = not full to bursting), even if I know in my head that there's at least a week's worth of meals in there.

Anyway, I'm reporting a grocery shop today of £48.76, which is great as I allow myself a max of £60 pw. My running total is: £193.28/£420. My spreadsheet tells me I'm on target, which is really great! :T:T:T:T

Coldcazzie- i am exactly the same (re the bit in bold). i think that because having an emoty fridge/freezer/cupboard for so long WAS because i had no money or food in the house, i cant bear to see any of them empty, even wheni KNOW i have plenty of food.
A prime example of this is this morning. My fridge is virtually empty, only ham, eggs and marg in there really, and it made me so miserable as we didnt have cheese, yogurts, chocolate (all the 'luxury' things for me)...but i also know that barr milk, i have everything i need in the fridge. I have a weeks worth of meals written down, that i have all of the ingrediants to..so i shoudln't worry about it looking empty, all i need is milk!

Sorry, again, just a rambling post trying to collect thoughts and think out loud to see if others have nay input they can share.

Herbyme

Cleggie, no need for apologies, it's what we're all here for and it'd be no fun if we didn't post our thoughts and reflections, we all learn from each other and this forum is the last place anyone would criticise anyone else for sharing such thoughts. It's all good stuff, all progress and I for one love reading about how other people see things and how they cope with the relentless pressure to consume, whether we can afford it or not.
x

Lovethenight

Thanks everyone for the wonderful help and advice!:T

Loving the idea of allocating myself weekly 'Pocket Money' to use for the pub etc. Good advice about using cash for this and leaving the cards at home too! (I'm forever spending little amounts here and there without realising how it's adding up!!)

Time to do some sums and work out how much would be sensible while still allowing for some saving:)

cleggie

Thanks Caroline,
its so nice to admit i mucked up, and am feeing a bit lost, and not have judgements passed.

meg72

carolinerunner wrote: »

Cleggie, no need for apologies, it's what we're all here for and it'd be no fun if we didn't post our thoughts and reflections, we all learn from each other and this forum is the last place anyone would criticise anyone else for sharing such thoughts. It's all good stuff, all progress and I for one love reading about how other people see things and how they cope with the relentless pressure to consume, whether we can afford it or not.
x

Lovely post and I think sums up the spirit of this thread to a tee. Lovely warm caring people who dont judge or critisise,just share their thoughts in a supportive manner andgo all out to advisewhenthey can. It means a great deal to me,now I am alone ,to come on here and talk.Sometimes if I dont go out I dont see another human being for days.

CompBunny

:heart2:Happy Valentines Day:heart2:
To all my lovely GC ladies and gents! :iloveyou:

Hi cleggie, another depression/anxiety/mental (!) person here... I also used to shop - every day. "I must cook better things, my cupboards aren't full enough, I'm a terrible girlfriend because our ingredients aren't exotic, OMG WE'RE GOING TO RUN OUT OF FOOD, I need junk food to make myself feel better" I guess also a little sense of going to the supermarket was a nice "safe" trip out of the house...stressful for most, but not for me because it meant being around people and spending "small" amounts of money on things to feel better about myself!

Just to add another voice to let you know you certainly aren't alone.

The biggest thing that helped me was firstly quitting smoking (less reason to go in shops to buy cigs every day) and then giving myself a challenge: One big shop a week, then one or two top-ups for bread or milk or stamps etc. The golden rule for the top-up shops is to write down what you need, even if it is only two things! The other day my list consisted of Bread, two tomatoes, 1 onion and I stuck to it.

Reporting a £5.20 spend on some overpriced raspberries, Lindt chocolate and red schloer...planning to dip the raspberries in OH's favourite chocolate and use our doulton posh flute glasses for the schloer to accompany our long awaited takeaway...we haven't had one for SO long!