March 2012 Grocery Challenge

Sue14

OH came home from work the other day with a 3kg pack of iams cat food, which he'd got for 45p after staff discount (normal price is £14.69), and it's supposed to do 92 meals so that's the cat sorted for a while, lol!

I managed to stay away from the shops this past week, yay! Although we needed milk, I used the long life milk we had in, and also made some powdered milk up. Went to Mr A's yesterday and spent £18.76. Also spent about £45 on DS's groceries, as they needed a big shop and only had £40 until they get paid so I paid the rest, but not counting this in my budget as it's not for us.

tigerfeet2006

lilyjune wrote: »

Hello :wave:

I just wanted to come out of my lurking position and say hello, totally in awe of all you people who work so hard at your menu planners and grocery budgeting. I need to give myself a kick up the proverbial bac*side so will keep watching for the rest of this month and then give myself a challenge for April.

Currently, not really got a handle on how much we spend, suspect it's quite a lot with nothing to show for it so until the end of the month, I'm going through my receipts to work out how much we spend on average per month and will use that amount for April. Will sign in again on the April thread but in the meantime, good luck everyone!! :j

Welcome to the Grocery Challenge. Please feel free to post on here if you want to, we are a friendly bunch and are quite happy to talk about the Challange to anyone and everyone.

tjak wrote: »

Today I have sat down and menu planned with what I have in for the while of next week, including weekend lunches. I had to go and get a couple of things, but managed to spend just £10 (£4.30 on rhubarb to make a special mothers day dessert).

I have just made two tray bake Spiced Marmalade cakes, which has used up the end of a jar of hm marmalade from the back of the fridge. I also made some red pepper hummus (jar of grilled peppers from holiday in france last year, chickpeas from freezer, last spoonful of tahini in the jar) which I am having for lunch and have enough for a few lunches next week.

Hope that helps with ideas too...
Have a good weekend all, I'll report how I get on

Oooh! please can we have the recipe/link for the Marmalade Cake Pretty pleeeeease

helen_jelly wrote: »

Hi

I'm here - real life is getting in the way at the moment but I'm just managing to keep up with your posts - reading and running. I think I've managed to keep up with your budgets but please, please shout if I've missed you

You're all doing really well and deserve a huge pat on the back for all your efforts and the recipes all sound lush

Have fun not shopping and . . .


Happy Mothers Day for tomorrow


Helen x

Great to see you Helen, you are an absolute star for keeping us all in order.

mh2361

Hi, haven't been on for a couple of weeks and just checking in for some inspiration. back to bad habits today, £79 in tesco when just went in for couple of things :eek: i've had a really bad month spend wise, all planning abandoned, theres no specific reason except i've just felt really tired, so we've had far too many takeaways and ready meals. i've got to add up my spend but can't quite face it:o, thought i'd get some inspiration and fortify myself with coffee and cake and do it later today .
well done to everyone else keeping it up xxxxxxxxxxx

tigerfeet2006

Mh, do you have a slow cooker? It might be worth investing in one so that when you are feeling like this you can bung stuff in in the AM so that you have something to eat in the PM.

XSpender

My spends are up to £397.72, £37.72 over or an average of £99/week. This is more than I wanted it to be but includes another takeaway on Friday at DH insistence as he had been out all afternoon with the boys and nothing but carp would do!

I also bought some hair product and razors which will last several months but will count all the cost in this month. At most I will need some blue milk for DS and some bread before Thursday when my new month starts.

I have analysed my spends for this month and have spent £48.15 on takeaways and £43.41 on lunches/teas at work. I am aware that these spends are higher due to my health issues with appetite and tiredness at the moment but I need to get a grip and will focus on bringing these down next month. I have split my spreadsheet to breakdown my spends on the GC and have different columns for alcohol, food, work spends and takeaways.

Gorgeestwo

Have officially failed now spent a fortune over the weekend at Mr S (not all of it on food, got some bits for the house, but have left it in my budget as it'll show on the bank statement as there, so its easier to get an idea of where the money is going iykwim) and got some reduced meat in Co-op yesterday, so have plenty of meat in the freezers, but am still going to have to do another shop next weekend I'm trying to make it seem better by telling myself that its still about £200 lower than we were spending every month last year, still feeling like I've got a lot to learn!

LavenderBees

Well (big sigh!)

I've been having a good old think about this challenge over the weekend. I'm not happy with myself as, although, I am being more frugal and definitely am a lot better than I used to be, I still feel like I could and should be doing better than I am. Without a doubt, I'm very much looking at the budget limit as being something to aim towards instead of coming in under it. And once I've exceeded it, well, there's no point in worrying about it is there? Might as well exceed it a bit more! :mad:

Ah, yes, I know myself so well.

Also, some wise person on here over the last few days mentioned that £100 for a single person is rather a lot...(sorry I didn't make a note of who I can credit that comment to...but it's true!)

My "food" budget usually includes things like cat litter and toilet rolls, and I think I'm coasting by on thinking "ah yes, but I didn't really spend £140 on FOOD for myself in March". Well, no I didn't, but it wouldn't be far from it...probably in the region of £100-£110, which is still a lot, given that I still have a store cupboard full to the rafters, and a freezer that will go "pop" if I try to put anything else in it.

Like Rising, I'm also concerned that my spend doesn't really include any meat at the moment as the freezer is full (just 1 chicken), so where exactly is the money going? Em...yes, ok, I've bought some whisky and wine...but even so, what have I spent £80 odd on foodwise??

So, radical thoughts to get me in line -

1. I'm going to halve my budget for next month (which for me starts on Friday 23rd as that is payday). £50 budget for me, which should mean that only essentials get put on my shopping list instead of the usual..."I've finished it so I must restock again immediately". I'll just keep a note in my siggy, Helen.

2. Apart from cat litter (the pusses will only use Mr M's own woodbase :mad:) and Tbags (I really like Mr A's own brand fruity tbags), I'm only going to shop at Lidl. Using cash there (I'll withdraw the £50 on Friday) will really heighten my awareness of what I'm buying and why, so no chance of "little" treats falling into my basket...

3. I will just use the little shopping trolley only...

I already monitor my NSDs, and meal plan to the nth degree, and will hopefully manage to work through the freezer/store cupboard a bit more successfully in April. I have started and have become a bit more inventive in using things up thanks to help on this thread and my own queries on the OS board, ....but...hardly made any inroads.

Sorry for the long post, folks, but I've been mulling all weekend and I know you'll understand, whereas friends and family just look at me like I've lost leave of my senses. Perhaps I have.... :rotfl:

Off to update my siggy now. Hope the sun is shining where you are

LB xx

elsiepac

Just a quick update from me - £1.37 spent in L1d! on 79p chestnut mushrooms (250g, bargain!) 55p on LF natural yoghurt and 3p for a bag as yet again I forgot one.

LC

Mar GC: £62.67/£70
Week 1: £14.47/£9 <-- over by £5.47 :eek:
Week 2: £8.40/£9
Week 3: £6.60/£9
Week 4: £8.37/£9
Week 5: £2/£9
Stores: £22.83/£25

bupster

Lavenderbees, I think that was me! You've inspired me now, but I'm not as brave as you - I'm going to drop my budget for food and for entertaining to £80 each. That's surely more than enough! Like you my cupboards and fridge and freezer are full, and I'm buying things because I've run out, rather than thinking "what have I got and what do I really need?"

PaddyPaws

oops! seem to have fallen off the GC (and OS) wagon a bit recently. I still haven't posted my final total for Feb or anything for March. Just off to check my receipts (and bank balance - need to update our budget spreadsheet as water rates and council tax bill have just arrived). Will pop back later and let you all know how much damage I've done with not monitoring this as closely as usual

PP