September 2012 Grocery Challenge

she_who_can_not_cook

jennypennysaver wrote: »

Now then, I wish I could see a way out of this... when I mention dying my hair at home (like I used to) my hairdresser puts the fear of god into me implying that it might a). drop out or b). go green. So I obediently go trotting back for a permanent colour every 6 weeks or so... what does everyone else think? I used to colour it myself before I went on to permanent colour. £40 every 6 weeks is an expense I could do without.

What say you, frugal friends?

go on do it yourself i used to but then decided grey is the new brown lol

[Deleted User]

she_who_can_not_cook wrote: »

go on do it yourself i used to but then decided grey is the new brown lol

LOL - yes i think thats the best option, personally im not too fussed about grey, but my kids, especially my daughter whinges on, and even buys me the dye when i refuse, so i cave in.

Kitchenbunny

Evening! Haven't been online in a day or so but have got to update my spreadsheet and the GC thread with some shopping spends - a grand total of £1.60 and £8.19 taking my total spent so far to £25.96. I'm going to update my sig now.

I've started a price book so I can cost each of my meals - so I can hopefully make them cheaper. Enchiladas for tea. Have a lovely evening everyone, and it's wonderful to see so many newbies.

K xx

mossy

russetred wrote: »

Mossy couldn't help noticing your signature which sent me scurrying for a calendar. Christmas is over 16 weeks away not 13. I hope this is good news for you!

Aww shucks, you are of course correct!! Ah well never mind it will be here before we all know it!! :j

So firstly I'd like to say thanks to all you lovely peeps, for the amusing and encouraging posts you put on here! I have been struggling for so long with my grocery shopping and I can't believe I didn't think of coming here to the OS thread to find the help I needed. :T

This afternoon I did a stock check of the cupboards and freezer and wrote a meal plan for the month.

I got some cash out today for my shopping (genius idea saved me overspending massively!!) :j There is still £63 left in the bank which will work out as £20 a week from the 10th Sept for fresh stuff etc.

Shopping yesterday:

Chinese takeaway £16.50
Waitrose (mainly whoopsies etc) £6.32
Total £22.82

Today: (I tried to get most of the meat, tins and food I'd need for the month plus next weeks fresh shopping).

Sainsburys £24.05
Lidl £21.62
Tesco £2
Iceland £8.20 (butter, eggs, bread and they have 1ltr Ribena £1.50)
Waitrose £27.84 (mainly chicken, their individually wrapped packs of chicken breasts are 1/3rd off at the moment).

Total spends for today £83.71

I still need to buy some Turkey on Saturday from Lidls and 2 lots of 500g mince. Plus some green veg as the green beans in the fridge have gone mouldy and I didn't realise, oops!

Going to do some batch cooking tomorrow. One of my big downfalls is feeling way to tired when I get in from work and then we normally nip out to Waitrose and pick something up for tea, even if it ends up being a whoopsie it still costs money that I didn't need to spend if there is already food in the freezer. So getting some batch cooking done before I go back to work next week should help prevent any trips out to the SM as we all know that it's easy to end up buying way more than what you went in for!!

BTW I live in town and so was able to walk to half of those shops rather than driving from one shop to another....free exercise as well as saving money.

Best go and update my signature.

Possession

spent £37.43 in Aldi, but that included a chicken, 3 packs of chicken thighs & 2 big packs of mince that were reduced by 30%, plus 5 little pizzas also reduced and 3 pizzas for our tea (the 99p Carlos ones, have never tried them before and they're delicious!), plus olive oil, cooking oil, dishwasher tablets etc etc. So I'm pleased with the spend although I wouldn't otherwise have spent so much.

MrsCD

helen_jelly wrote: »

I'm thinking of doing a bit of a stock up on Flour, Pasta, Rice and Oil - can you peeps think of anything else that will prob rise in price soon?

Helen x

Tea bags!

XSpender wrote: »

He doesn't really like sweet things so I am at a loss really. Any healthy ideas please ????

I think if he ate breakfast he wouldn't be so hungry during the day.

.

How about a crustless quiche with salad. Scotch eggs. Tortilla type wraps with ham salad etc.

fozziebeartoo wrote: »

I have lost track for the last 2 months....oops

.

Hi Fozzie - nice to see you. How's things?

happy_chick_3

Just wanted to say I haven't been near a supermarket in 2 days!!! And I've been known to go to the local co-op everyday, sometimes twice!!

mossy

helen_jelly wrote: »

I'm thinking of doing a bit of a stock up on Flour, Pasta, Rice and Oil - can you peeps think of anything else that will prob rise in price soon?

Helen x

Sugar

It was really expensive a while ago and it always seems expensive at Christmas. Caster Sugar 1kg is £1.09 in Lidl, and Icing Sugar 500g is 89p, so a bit cheaper than the SM's.

Sadly the 'brown' sugars are still expensive!! :eek:

budget_babe

happy_chick wrote: »

Just wanted to say I haven't been near a supermarket in 2 days!!! And I've been known to go to the local co-op everyday, sometimes twice!!

Your coming on a bundle

Me too, no venturing into shops for 2 days either. Have to tomorrow though, spending diary at the ready.

Budgie x

lollyfin

My month doesnt officially start until tomorrow but OH dragged me into Lidl today and i got 3 x 30% off chickens, thats the chicken sorted for the month and their mince is about half the price of MrT so I got all my mince as well and their dog food is cheaper too so guess what....got that as well haha. Have changed my online basket for MrT and its looking like I might be able to be on budget this month, still keeping my fingers crossed tho!