April Grocery Challenge

Lillibet_2

carpool72 wrote:

btw, glad to see I'm not alone in suffering from mother's memory, Lillibet - get used to it coz it only seems to get worse!:eek:

Went to Sainsburys last night, still forgot to get 2 things despite having a list & left my Barclaycard behind! Went in today, STILL forgot one thing, have decided we can live without it until next week's top up shop! And you say it gets worse?? God help me!

Nix143

To all on this list

Thanks for the inspiration - am going to use this month to track what I spend and then join in for next month.

Am in severe financial difficulties and have left sorting it out for far too long - you guys are inspirational and I feel quite ashamed having looked at what and how I spend - it's shocking when you first do it.

Oh - and what better time to give up the fags! Wish me luck for Monday - that's my stopping smoking, starting taking control of my life day!

JCL

Good luck to you Nix143.

You've made the first steps and as you've said there's loads of great support and ideas on here.

You could start to save now with all the articles and with regards your grocery shopping - see if you can plan a few meals and look at the recipe ideas on here.

Best wishes and welcome to the club!

furrypig

Have started the april challenge but think I may have set my budget too low as I have spent a quarter of it already!!!

Still if it lasts a week then i am still on target, fingers crossed.

Good luck everyone!!:D

Daisy

Hello everyone. Since the start of the year, I've been following Martin's advice with regard to changing broadband, banks, electricity etc.. so I'm now seeing what I can change in other areas of my life. I'm really gobsmacked at how little you lot can manage on. It has inspired me ditch the junk food and start home cooking! I'm all set to start the April challenge today armed with a newly bought slow cooker and a cupboard full of basic ingredients. I've withdrawn £80 cash and that is to last the month for food/cleaning stuff/toiletries.

I went out and bought some meat today. Usually I would just go to Tesco but for the first time in my life, I went to a butchers! Looking forward to my first meal in the slow cooker tomorrow.

Magentasue

jaymac wrote:

in fact the cat food might have to have a seperate budget - my three moggies will only eat Whiskas foil packs!

These are horrendously expensive - I bought them for the last few weeks of our elderly cat's life because he wouldn't eat.

If you have three cats on them,you would save loads weaning them off. How about buying a couple of tins and mixing some in, increasing it until the pouches are history?

We started our new kittens on tinned food and dried but have weaned them on to dried only. This wasn't just for economy but because one of them was often sick when fed tinned. Years back we changed cats and dogs todried food just to save money and that took a while because they were older. But if you presist they will adapt.

moggins

Tesco have Felix cans on offer until 14th April, 6 cans for £1.32. It might be worth buying these to experiment on your cats with?

jaymac_2

Thanks for the advice but I've tried tins and it's a false economy with my cats. They actually eat the Whiskas and I usually stock up when it's on offer( £2 in tesco just now or 12 double packs in Home bargains for £3.50. ) They eat gocat dried too so they have that as well. I'm doing the challenge cos I spend way too much but I'm not going to make the poor moggies suffer...the kids now, that's a different matter altogether!

Curry_Queen

jaymac wrote:

I'm doing the challenge cos I spend way too much but I'm not going to make the poor moggies suffer...

You'd probably be doing them a big favour getting them off Whiskers and Go-Cat

DaisyNelson

I agree you shouldn't make the moggies suffer. I buy mine Hill's Science diet. I buy the 10 kg bag, online and get free delivery. This is obviously an expensive food, but none of it ever goes to waste. It did take me a while to wean them onto this. I used to come home to bowls of uneaten wet food, throw it away and then put fresh down. Cats can be very stubborn when it comes to food. I think it's a battle of wills. Don't get into the habit of relying on one type of food if possible. The other thing is how come they know if something is on specail offer and then refuse to eat it!