March 2012 Grocery Challenge

PennyGrabber

Jenniefaethecarse - hello and welcome! I follow an annual budget, so I do things a little differently. I allowed £140 each month for this year, so that's £1680 for the year. I then allocate what I think I will spend each month, eg for Jan I gave myself £90 as I had loads left from xmas, March has been bigger as I needed to buy loo rolls... This way, I have a bit of extra money so if I see a good bargain, I'll buy it with money from 'the pot', rather than that month's budget. This way, I don't feel like I 'fail' when I go over budget one month. I just have to remember to add it onto the signature!!

ZCC72

Very late to the March GC party :-) Can I play??!

I'm starting a new business, and need to cut all costs where I can SO menu plans & budgeting, here I go again....so, I've apportioned the money to last the rest of the month, and I have a budget of - wait for it - £35.71. This equals £1.78 per day. Oh my, doesn't seem a lot, but then I'm on my own, and up for a challenge. Do you experienced GC'ers think it's feasible?

Naomim

Hi All,

I somehow managed to spend £62.63 at Mr. T's without buying much meat or fish - only £9 on a whole chicken (3 dinners) and seafood (for Paella). There was no toiletries, nappies or household bits. :eek:

I've meal planned for the week so all I should have to buy is milk & bread.

There is no Ald1 near me but a L!d1 has opened up near DD's toddler group so may start doing some bits in there on a Monday if I can.

I've updated my sig, so far so good.

Naomi x

tigerfeet2006

elsiepac wrote: »

Hi everyone

I've posted on the Super 6 thread on the Bargain Buys board as well, but just wondered if anyone has been to A1d! yet and seen what the Super 6 are?

Thanks in advance!

LC

Does it not say on the Ald! Website?

angelatgraceland

ZCC72 wrote: »

Very late to the March GC party :-) Can I play??!

I'm starting a new business, and need to cut all costs where I can SO menu plans & budgeting, here I go again....so, I've apportioned the money to last the rest of the month, and I have a budget of - wait for it - £35.71. This equals £1.78 per day. Oh my, doesn't seem a lot, but then I'm on my own, and up for a challenge. Do you experienced GC'ers think it's feasible?

Yes-feasible but maybe difficult unless you are very frugal by nature. It will require dilligence and a good eye for bargains,menu planning,bulk cooking based around your "bargain buys" and determination but frankly as you have nobody else to "wreck the plan" you should be able to do it! There are some cheap menus on:
http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/
You may well want to scale down the recipes and just pick out a few rather than following one of the plans but it does indeed show you how it can be done and on your stated budget(assuming that its food only) you CAN do it!:money:

cleggie

ZCC72 wrote: »

Very late to the March GC party :-) Can I play??!

I'm starting a new business, and need to cut all costs where I can SO menu plans & budgeting, here I go again....so, I've apportioned the money to last the rest of the month, and I have a budget of - wait for it - £35.71. This equals £1.78 per day. Oh my, doesn't seem a lot, but then I'm on my own, and up for a challenge. Do you experienced GC'ers think it's feasible?

Yes, i think it could be done!
The first thing i would do is write a cupboard inventory and make as much use of what you aready have in the house as possible.
If you dont mind reduced food, so food shopping (especially for meat if you need it) about 30-40 mins before store closing time.

Good luck!

PS- posts 6 and 2 on this thread have some fab ideas, advice and links, and check out the recipes too

mi_jardin

I spent £9.54 today, including a turkey roasting joint for 75p and two packs of GU desserts for 20p each. Bang goes the diet again!

tigerfeet2006

Welcome to the board all the Newbies. This is Spiggles post which makes excellent reading for any of you that are embarking on the challenge.

JIL wrote: »

Hope i have done this ok as per last post. This is by Spiggles and is an excellent read.



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

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DundeeDoll

DD2's BF snapped pricing label in mr t: appeltiser £1.28 or 2 for £4 :rotfl:

PennyGrabber

ZCC72 wrote: »

Very late to the March GC party :-) Can I play??!

I'm starting a new business, and need to cut all costs where I can SO menu plans & budgeting, here I go again....so, I've apportioned the money to last the rest of the month, and I have a budget of - wait for it - £35.71. This equals £1.78 per day. Oh my, doesn't seem a lot, but then I'm on my own, and up for a challenge. Do you experienced GC'ers think it's feasible?

Yes, it's very doable, especially if you're prepared to eat like a student sometimes! When you buy a loaf of bread, leave it in the freezer, and only take out what you need - it'll have defrosted in 10-15 mins, and no waste. Things like beans/spaghetti/eggs/etc on toast are a cheap meal, as are soups. You can make your own soups with veg and a stock cube. Breakfasts are cheap enough if you buy own brand cereals, or have jam/marmite on toast. Downbrand everything you feel you can - I currently buy loads of smartprice (or equivalent) items, but some things I won't like teabags, as I only use about 4 a week, so I like a decent cuppa.

Also, obviously, only buy what you actually need and will eat. Never go shopping on a full tummy, and always write a list. If this is a temporary financial thing, you can focus on the ends justifying the means - ie, you're living this way for a short while til your business is up and running, then it'll be much easier.

I find that if I don't allow myself the odd treat, I'm much more likely to fall off the wagon, so I may get myself eg a nice pack of biscuits, so when I want a treat, I have something at home rather than going out and spending £5 or more!

Batch cooking is good as it saves fuel, and you can store stuff in the freezer as a homemade 'ready meal'. This only works if you actually eat it though (I've often been rubbish at this - done tonnes of batch cooking to fill my freezer, then not eaten it!!!!

Best of luck, keep us posted as to how you get on!!

PG x

DundeeDoll wrote: »

DD2's BF snapped pricing label in mr t: appeltiser £1.28 or 2 for £4 :rotfl:

Wow! Do dey fink we is stoopid or sommat?!?!