April 2007 Grocery Challenge

jcr16

well went shopping today. only took my 21 month old son as my 3 yr old stayed with her nanny. but i took my husband £140 and 2 hours later we left the store:eek: . and i still didn't get everything i needed. oh well.

but we have got a huge joint of beef , gammon , pork , lots of whole chickens and 8 packs of bacon. plus loads of other bit's. decided can't worry about it as i have spent it now. and enjoyed the afternoon the 3 of us had.

kiwi88_2

Hi Peeps

Haven't posted but have kept up with this thread and well done everyone :T

Just posting my update for the end of this month

Week 1 £114:58
Week 2 £127:95
Week 3 £111:74

Budget £300 Spent £354:27 :eek:

Absolutely no excuses except not meal planning properly Will pull my socks up and tighten the belt for next month. Freezer still has meat, fridge still has veg, storecupboard still half full, sooo we will see :rolleyes:

lil_me

Kiwi if I go really far over I usually add it to the month after as I know what I have bought will last through at least the first week. Just a suggestion of course.

kiwi88_2

lil_me wrote: »

Kiwi if I go really far over I usually add it to the month after as I know what I have bought will last through at least the first week. Just a suggestion of course.

Exactly my thoughts lil_me :rotfl:

Might need to top up some veg and of course milk and bread but everything else should be ok. I'm going to do a meal plan tomorrow and see how far I can stretch things for the beginning of May and go from there

Shortie

Hi all

We went shopping today for Natural Youghurt (I seem to have converted the whole family to the HM fruit compote-nat. youghturt-porridge mix thing, but with the in-laws down the weekend I've gotten through a scary amount of the stuff!)

So, a £10.54 spend in Tescos and £2.50 on eggs for next month from the farm shop as we were up that way today for something else.

My total is now £63.33 with £36.67 left to last until the 18th June. That should actually be okay

But... I'm thinking of doing a HUGE online shop at Tescos to qualify for the 1000 points on a £75 pound spend, in time while their nice chopped toms are on BOGOF, so I'm going to combine next month's shopping too and take the remaining out of next month's budget what I end up overspending this month.

...Just hope I can be organised enough to get the right things in for next month :eek: :rotfl:

emmie1234

Hi All, have just done a meal plan for next week and costed up my shopping bill for asda on Monday so here goes..... never done this before, but with hubby not working at the mo, I need to be really strict with the budget so here goes.

Monday
Fruit n Fibre (toast for LO or cornflakes)
Tomatoes on Toast
Spag Bol (home made)

Tuesday
Cereal (LO as above everyday - she's not a great morning eater)
Ham salad sandwich
Fish Fingers, jacket spuds and beans

Wednesday
Cereal
Tuna Sandwiches
Chicken, spuds, veg, gravy

Thursday
Cereal
Beans on Toast
Chicken Curry and Rice

Friday
Cereal
Tuna Sandwich
Home Made Shepherds pie and veg

Saturday
Cereal
Tomatoes on Toast - prob do some sarnies for LO
Ham, egg and chips

Sunday
Cereal
Pork, Stuffing, veg, spuds, gravy, York Pudd, apple sauce
Ham salad sandwiches

Will have some yoghurts and bananas and pears too.

Shopping List
Rice Crispie cereal bars ( for DD to take to school) 1.00
Medium Roast Coffee 94p
Strawberry Squash 2lt 95p
Pork Shoulder Joint 2.98
3 packs SP ham 1.05
2 wholemeal loaves 80p
bag of onions 73p
Mushrooms 62p
Lettuce 45p
Cucumber 40p
Tomatoes 63p
2 bags SP bananas 1.32
1 bag of SP pears 98p
6 eggs 54p
4pt milk 1.15 (will prob have to get more later in week)
2 packs low fat yoghurts 88p
1 pack of 6 fromage frais (for DD)
Good for you sunflower spread 54p
SP fruit and fibre 66p (never tried it before but I've heard on here that it's nice!)
3 tins beans 51p
2 tins carrots 34p
2 tins sweetcorn 34p
SP curry sauce 19p
SP pasta 19p
easy cook rice 38p
2 tins tomatoes 38p
16 fish fingers 1.28
oven chips 44p
asda roasties 78p
2 packs SP chicken fillets 2.40
SP yorkies 44p
12pk mini milk lollies for DD(!) 1.44
Washing powder 1.41 (trying the SP stuff for first time, have got some soda crystals to "boost" it up a bit!!
6 tins butchers dog meat £2.87 (have got mixers already)
Box of dry cat food 83p (have already got loads of meat for the cat)
12 toilet rolls 1.13
Chocolate orange puffin biscuits 55p

Have already got loads of miced beef, couple tins of tuna and loads of frozen veg, have also got a swede and some parsnips and spuds already too!!!
Have also got some tom puree, garlic, basil and oregano for the spag bol and have got some sage to make my own stuffing too and have already got apple sauce. DD has school dinners as well so don't need to worry about her meals at lunchtimes. Have a huge stockpile in already of shampoo/cond, shower gel, soap, toothpaste, deodorant, cleaning stuff etc. too.

This lot comes in at 32.57, Will prob need to add on another couple of quid for milk during the week.

lil_me

Emmie there is a meal plans thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=438631 if you want to join

ILoveSaving

Hi Everyone

I started this challenge in April, as I had blown my food budget in March on food that we eat in and out. For a family of four with 2 cats, I had allocated £550 and spent £820 ! Still disgusted.

This month I allocated £400 for both sections and till now I have spent in total £437.00. Which is a little over, but i have everything in now for the weekend and it is much better than last month, so I am pleased and will try to hit the £400 target again in May.

Hope everyone else did well, who were up for the challenge.

happyathome_withmyboys

:j I did it! I went to Asda armed with my spreadsheet shopping list, stuck to it (apart from cat food which I'd forgotten and it seemed really MEAN to starve the poor little chap on principle), headed for the checkout as soon as I had the last item and came in UNDER budget! :j
I tell you, I skipped out of there!

lil_me

Well done!! I must look mad as I go round with my checklist and pen, then smiling as I leave, but it works. I am sure you can let yourself off with the cat food :rotfl: Admittedly I usually add at least one thing I have forgotten to list or something which is tooo good to miss.

Must stop hording things, I literally can't fit anything else in my cupboards, finding something is like a major operation That's without the years supply of washing powder which is under my bed.

ILoveSaving well done, I used to spend about that, well done on reducing it