April Grocery Challenge

Noozan

Magentasue wrote:

Fruit juice from the chiller instead of cartons of longlife stuff off the shelves,

Guilty. I buy the fresh juice that's not made from concentrate as it tastes like "real" oranges.

Magentasue wrote:

Plenty of fruit because I won't have time to go to the market

Guilty. We only have a farmers market here on the last Saturday of the month, I don't know of any other markets locally. There is a fruit and veg shop in town but they're actually a fraction more expensive than the supermarket.

Magentasue wrote:

and some double cream to go with the puddings I'm making again.

Guilty. Oh dear, I'm not doing very well am I? Since we've been keeping hens, I've been making loads more puddings. The eggs make beautiful cakes! And I buy double cream to go in the home made custard and trifles....

Magentasue wrote:

How about some expensive 70% chocolate to make brownies with instead of the Smartprice one!

I hang my head in shame and promise to try harder. I'm goint to try cutting out "unnecessary" food like all the cakes, puddings and munchies first. I'm terrible for eating out of boredom, especially on the two nights a week my Oh is on nights at work. If I don't buy them, I can't scoff them.

Magentasue

Noozan, I think you and I must have been separated at birth! Off track here, what sort of hens do you have?

jazzyjustlaw

I have just started a grocery price book. I wondered if anyone had any suggestions as to the format this might take. I really do not know the most effective way that I should lay this out.

Any assistance will be appreciated.

Noozan

Magentasue wrote:

Noozan, I think you and I must have been separated at birth! Off track here, what sort of hens do you have?

I originally wanted a couple of black rocks but stumbled across a battery farm; we managed to perusade the farmer to sell us two of the nearly point of lay hens that were destined to go in his cages and thus spared them from a life of misery. I only wish i could have taken more. They look like RIR but he said they were Hyline; not sure if that's the same? They're brown with a slightly paler fleck on their necks.

hornetgirl

I've been lurking for a while, and have decided to "come out" and join the April challenge.

We are 2 adults and one cat and usually spend around £100. Of this £14.45 is committed as the cat has to have prescription food, the rest is flexible. I don't think we have scope for huge savings but I am aiming to shave off £10 per month and hope to do this by buying less ready meals etc, more cooking from scratch and more vegetarian meals.

I pay for the week's shopping by credit card (always paying off the bill in full each month), so will start on April 8th, when the next bill starts. I'd like to try the purse method but am worried I'd spend it all too soon!

My biggest problem seems to be lunches for my husband. He is happy to take a packed lunch, but grumbles about the lack of variety, so any suggestions would be warmly welcomed. (He doesn't have any cooking/reheating facilities at work, but does have access to a fridge).

JCL

Welcome to MSE.

My packed lunch suggestions would be pasta, rice, couscous, salad.

Does he have access to a kettle at work? That would be way to get some warm food without needing a microwave or oven.

Good luck with your target. Vouchers and such like will save you money.

hornetgirl

JCL wrote:

Welcome to MSE.

My packed lunch suggestions would be pasta, rice, couscous, salad.

Does he have access to a kettle at work? That would be way to get some warm food without needing a microwave or oven.

Good luck with your target. Vouchers and such like will save you money.

Hi there and thanks for the welcome. Couscous is a great idea, we often eat it at home and he loves it, yet I'd never thought of it for lunches! Guess what he's getting tomorrow.

omega_2

Started out with an optimistic £32.12. That’s about 20% below pro rata budget for me. Which is nice…….

On the cereal front, must remember to put Tesco Value rice ks on my anti-shopping list - not to my taste. BUT a big thumbs up to Lidl's malt-crunchies - 76p for 500g.

r.mac_2

well, here we are in April. Macrh went really really well until Easter weekend. First I went a bit mad on a couple of nights out :beer: and then fell ill. That's my excuse for going over budget anyway!!!! Apart from that *blip* I was surprised at how well I could stick to my weekly budget. So, I am sticking with last months targets.

£15 per week for food and cleaning materials. starting on Friday.

Last month, the most helpful things for me were;
* meal planning
* shopping lists and planning BEFORE entering the supermarket
* trying out new shops i.e. local butchers, farmfoods etc

LadyMarmalade_2

Hi everyone-i haven't been on for a bit but have just finished my challenge for March and I did go over my budget of £160 for 2 adults,1 4 year old and a 16month-I have added up all my receipts and my extra list from a book I am now keeping on expenditure and my total came to £220. I am trying out some of the different tips and I wasn't sure how the pin money worked but now I do and I will be putting the money aside for a trip away to London for myself and my husband. We have just had to cancel a trip planned for our 10 year wedding anniversary (WOULD HAVE BEEN FIRST TIME WITH NO KIDS!!!!) to London as money is so tight and we do not want to use credit card. I have got my slow cooker out(Wedding Present that has not been used) and I am going to give that a go as I see there is a post for some receipes. My April challenge starts today and I think I will set budget of £180. I think this is a really great way of really looking at where your money is going and it can be quite scary when you see it in black and white. Thanks for all the encouragement!!!!