March 2012 Grocery Challenge

quintwins

had an interesting few days, i'm moving house which means i need to use lots of food up i've had very few food spends anyway, i need to check my creditcard but i think i'm at about £40

lisakay_2

well today is shopping day, and I've decided to take part in the fiscal fast thread, already up to 12 nsd on the run so here starts another 7!!! I think I may need some good luck wishes on this one:eek:.
The cat wont be happy when he's on dry food only by the end of the week as he's used to a wet/dry mix and I think I may be getting creative with mine and the kids meals too. DH works such long shifts that he rarely eats at home at the moment and I have enough dog and rabbit food in to last 'til next week.
Looks like I may well be under budget this month:T:j

XSpender

wannabee_in_credit wrote: »

I have to confess to completely falling in love with Ald! and L!dl. I'm lucky enough to have both within easy reach of home. Last week I introduced my OH to the wonders of Ald! and he actually asked to go there in preference to our big 4. He couldn't believe how full our trolley was for 45 quid today. I think that the quality of stuff you get from there is much better than the basics at the other supermarkets. Ald! is rapidly becoming one of my favourites... (just find it that little bit cheaper than L!dl) and my ds loves their sausages so I wouldn't dare go anywhere else at the moment.

I am another one who has fallen in love with Ald1:D Even DH loves it and has converted people after raving about how good it is and convincing them to try it for themselves. I am picky about the quality of my fruit and veg and have never been disappointed with their's. My favourite fruit is strawberries and Aldi's are full of flavour and last more than 24 hours and are affordable for me at 99p for a small punnet. The ones from the big 4 tend to be half green, tasteless and go mouldy by the next morning:eek:
Ald1 wine is good too;)

I went to Ald1 this morning just after it opened and it was chocka. The carpark of the massive asd@ across the way seemed very quiet in comparison.

Spent £27.38 and got a £1.59 refund for the incontinence pads I bought by mistake last week thinking they were STs:rotfl:

My total is now at £336.23 out of a budget of £360. That leaves me £23.77 for teas at work this week and a shop on Friday/next weekend, although my challenge ends on 22nd. It is likely we will go over but not by a great deal. This month is much improved on previous months. It would have been even better but due to my ongoing health problem (roll on end of April when it should be resolved) I have bought too much fresh stuff trying to improve what I am eating but have not had the appetite to eat or the energy to cook. This has resulted in some waste and 4 takeaways!!!!!

Next month I am going to record just how much my waste is costing me as without this and the takeaways I could have been on target this month:(

The good news is that my parents came for lunch yesterday and I fed all 5 of us a 2 course meal from what I had in and only bought a bag of salad (half left for lunch tomorrow) and a lemon.:D

rising_from_the_ashes

Just back from the Mr A run ... had a lovely walk on the beach on the way .

Just needed a few bits (mainly milk) and refrained from any meat purchases:j (mini challenge for the month).

So ... up to £50.63 for the month - of which £19.65 is milk ..... so not too bad so far.:)

ms_night_ryder

£10.88 to add today and 20p yest, went to mr t yest and got ben and jerrys core berry flavour a tin of sweetcorn, a avacado and a bag of lettuce, used my sun perks t voucher so cost me 20p.

went to mr s today and got a pork joint im gonna split in 2 and freeze, a pack of chicken wings for today, pack ofkettle crisps, cupcakes a lemon and 6 sheets of filo pastry for 97p on sale,will be cooking in a bit, i have more than enough food to last thee week and still within budget.

angelatgraceland

jeanniefaethecarse wrote: »

I'm fairly new to budgeting, and am not the best with figures, so I've got myself in a bit of a fankle, and wondered if someone could give me some advice.
I have my weekly food budget set out and by and large manage to stick to it, with great thankfulness towards this thread and the site as a whole!
What throws me off though, is when there are offers on, or I buy things from approved foods, (in huge quantities-I shouldn't be let loose on that site) which are going to last for weeks... cous cous anyone
How do I aggregate that out over the weeks, as it were?
Do I just take, say x packets of tea bought on special offer on week 1 and take the money off weeks two three and four, while paying back the money spent into week one?
How do other people do it?

Well we all have different ideas on this but I stick to the easiest one! As I stock up on all offers at all times I take the whole app foods bill(or whatever)and put it on my grocery spend for the week I spent it rather than dividing it over "x" weeks because I just know I would get in a mess and my figures would be inaccurate. While it is hard to adopt this method at first it does even out over time as the few weeks following that big spend you should be spending less! I am careful with app foods as although I love the site it is easy to stockpile stuff you just do not need and to buy stuff you would not otherwise contemplate. Generally over a month I find that my spends even out so if I spend double one week I don't fret over it as long as the lext three weeks balance out the overspend.It stops us being restrictive in buying our bargains. You may need to try both methods to find what is right for you but if you split a big spend over four weeks you need to keep good notes! Having a spending diary though means you can enter "x" amount on each week as soon as you have had the big spend. All a matter of personal choice-there is no "right" way. Good luck with it!:D Ive looked at the second purse system and whilst it is brilliant it is just too fussy for me so I just count the wlole lot in as I spend it.

bodmin789

Elsiepac - However, I've been checking out new recipes and found this site. Absolutely brilliant collection of recipes from the look of it - I particularly like the look of the Cauliflower, Mushroom and Millet Bake, and the Leek, Lime and Coconut Soup. I haven't even made a dent in my searching so far, but have fun!

Thanks for the link Elsiepac, will have a look to see if I can find some new ideas. Not sure I could become vegan, I enjoy my cheese and yogurt too much!

cat_smith

Naughty naughty cat. And I was so proud of myself yesterday. Went in for a couple of items I couldn't get, and came away spending £25. But in my defense. The whole salmon was 1/2 price and will do at least 8 meals for 2 once I fillet it (1/2 time six nations job!) Also some 'megrim'. Now I'm sure that is the old fashioned name for a headache, now it seems to be a flat fish so we will see what it tastes like:D

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending

Jeanniefaethecarse - I use the second purse system mentioned above and although it seems complicated to start with, it becomes second nature after a while and you can tailor it to your needs. It's basically a system where you have a 2nd purse with money in it (separate from your grocery budget) specifically for bulk buys or special offers like BOGOFs - I've been doing it for 2 months and I now always have at least £20 - £30 available for bulk buys or offers so I carry this whenever I'm in the SMs to make the most of any offers that I see. The second purse thread explains it in more depth though.

freyasmum

I've been SO bad at keeping up with the thread this month.

So spends for the week:
Tesco £9.54 tortila wraps x2 (mission deli - my absolute favourite! They're of offer at £1 for 8 in Tesco, £1 for 7 in Asda), peppers x2packs, sour cream, cucumber, milk x2, loadsa bananas, iceberg.
Butchers £4.00 for a few lovely looking lamb chops and some liver.
Grocers £2.50 punnet strawberries, punnet cherries.

Bringing us up to a total of £20.34 for the month, and £254.63 for the year.

I'll be popping into Tesco again later so will need to update again - hopefully in less time than this week