April 2007 Grocery Challenge

angelatgraceland

I have been very careful the last few weeks with regards to getting my vouchers and using them up in time. This has helped a great deal. For those who haven't a clue what I am on about, see the Newspaper thread. I bought 4 copies of the Mail today to get the book tokens whill will save me £14 off groceries during April. This, coupled with meal-planning and plenty of stock cupboard items and reductions has kept my cupboards full and my freezer overflowing.

JillD_2

Hubs spent a fiver at Asda on weird stuff like frozen chips, and then again today he spent £12 on Easter eggs for an Easter thing we are going to tomorrow :eek: Still, we didnt want to be stingey, but because it was a last minute thing Asda had run out of cheap eggs.
Did our weekly shop today at Morrisons and I was surprised how much more expensive it seemed than Asda. Shant be going again! We also bought out all the deodorant we could find that is the one that hubs likes as it was BOGOF and he hasnt seen in a shopf ro so long we assmed it was no longer made :rotfl: The Morrisons shop came to £55. £7 of it was deodorant :eek:

So a total of £72 for the week, waaaaaay more than I wanted to spend. Never mind, will just need to be a bit more careful for the last half of our salary-month.

(note: I make this £24 of the spend was by hubby :rolleyes: )

mummyto3cuties

I'm not doing too bad so far, though will need to spend less than £50 pw to stay on target.
Some of you are lucky to have a supermarket with good reductions! My local one, Morrisons, never has marked down meat . Managed to get some carrots & parsnips 1/2 price the other day though! Normally they will have bread/cakes but only mark them down by 20-30p! How am I going to save more money. Have loads of pasta & rice , 2 dinners of sausauge casserole in freezer, a bag of peppers, carrots, potatoes,parsnips & brocolli & little else. I need to get my creative head on as I want to stay away from the shops for as long as poss!

newmrslockwood

Right, just added my first week up. It came to £104.40.
We did a shop at Lidl yesterday and that came to £51.00. that was good coz we usually spend about £80 at tesco's. wont be going for a bis shop next week coz that lot should keep us going for 2 weeks with a couple of trips to local butchers. Some of my total spend was at the butchers. We are a bit fussy and supermarket meat is just not as nice, also i know that the meat from butchers is localish.
Anyway. Back to matter in hand.
There are 2 adults and three children, and 3 cats to feed out of that so I dont think its too bad really:eek: OK, maybe it is! :eek:
I have now set myself a target of £350. That is just based on my first weeks spend. I don't think i will go over that. Well lets see!

poohbear59

shell2001 wrote: »

I never find stickered meat!!! Even the stuff marked down in Somerfield only has 20p or so off its original price.

Just done meal plan for next week and just need fruit, veg, eggs, spuds and milk. All of which (expect the milk) I can get from the local greengrocers. Got plenty of bread flour so ok on the bread front. Still quiet a lot of stuff in the freezer for meals the following week too so should be ok.

Have to admit I think next month I will drop my budget more, I know there is room for improvement. I am a bit of a squirrel in that I like my cupboard fulls but need to empty them, it is just "dead" money unless it is used up!

Our local Co-op is quite small but if you go late in the day or even sometimes around 6ish can get some really good offers on meat and fish.

I still have a really well stocked freezer and bought loads of frozen vegetables as I was spending £30 a week on fresh stuff. I don't have a lot left in my budget for this month but think I can hold out until 24th (payday). Its a relief we don't have any more birthdays until June.

Elfinwings

So far I am doing ok... I was so proud of myself yesterday, I went to do the glass / paper recycling which is in the supermarket carpark. When I had finished enjoying chucking the glass in (is it only me who actually loves doing this?) I thought, well there might be good reductions as the supermarket will be closed tomorrow. But as I walked up to the door I asked myself what I was doing, I didn't *need* any more groceries this week, so I turned around and walked back to the car. For me that was a major victory!!! So, this week I spent £5.01 of my £20 - doing ok!

happyathome_withmyboys

So far I have not been doing OK... I visited supermarkets on 5 separate occasions last week. Why? And they are a LONG way away... The first visit this week WAS a better one though, because not only did I take a list and stick to it, but I also wrote down the estimate of how much each item would cost. My estimated total came to £15, so I took £20 cash (I wasn't feeling that brave!) and actually spent £15.17. It made me realise that it is pretty shocking that I don't really know how much things cost (and therefore whether they have gone up or if in fact a bargain is really a bargain) but it also stopped me from putting 2 or 3 of something in the trolley (I have siege mentality when it comes to the pantry) when I only need 1.
Anyway - I have learned some valuable lessons already (this is pretty cheap therapy!), and onward and upward....
Oh, and I have run out of butter - so I am going to go to the Co-op (only 4 miles away) and buy 'expensive' butter rather than drive 14 miles to buy the 'cheap' stuff! Typing this really does show how utterly daft I have been...:o

Shortie

Okay... I'm already over my target spends but I'm going to keep updating this thread.... £3 at a market stall today on 1 bowl of carrots, 1 bowl of bananas and 1 bowl of oranges

slscarborough

How much would you consider a fair grocery budget for 2 adults - 1 12 year old and one 6 month old baby? Would you also include toiletries/nappies etc?

newmrslockwood

slscarborough wrote: »

How much would you consider a fair grocery budget for 2 adults - 1 12 year old and one 6 month old baby? Would you also include toiletries/nappies etc?

I asked in an earlier post about nappies. Ultimately it is up to you. I am, because i buy them when i'm shopping for groceries.
As for how much is a fair budget, I guess that depends on what your income is, and how much you usually spend.
I honestly didn't have a clue how much we spent on groceries during the month as our shopping habits are very sporadic! i have set myself a target of £350 after keeping tabs for a week and working out what i normally spend. it will be less next month tho as i'm not really challenging myself this month. that is to feed 2 adults, a 13 yr old, a 4 yr old and a 2 yaer old including nappies and toiletries! hope that helps.