January 2013 Grocery Challenge

loveasale

Had to buy some light bulbs :mad:
The way I'm dealing with this challenge is to have different purses!
One for this weeks grocery money ( have envelopes for the next 3 weeks ready!)
One for money to go in bank!
One for my saving pots 1p, 2p, 5p 20p and £1 coins!
And one for emergency
I've split my month into 4 and gives us a grand total of £37-50 each week, it really has made me think about what I spend and really don't have to!
I've listed all the freezer contents and we are mostly living off that- not too much 5 a day happening at the moment
But will do a veg shop towards end of week and get healthy then! :rotfl:

Mumof2_2

Had to get some milk, bread and some chocolates for a friend as a thank you present so £6.59 added to total. Off to A**i on Friday so that'll be adding more on but don't anticipate having to spend money on food up until then.

Mrs_T_M

I'm already starting on the meal plan for February so I'll know what to buy and how to budget. I've no clue what any of the specials will be, but I like having an idea of what I'll be spending and what we need.

I have 20 of the 28 days planned so far for Feb. Now to just see if I can squeeze everything into our budget. Next month will be £50 for the two of us. Might need to pick up 1-2 bags of hay for the bunnies as well, depends on how quickly they go through their remaining 2 bags this month.

elizabunny

Just thought I would add to the bread maker discussion. I have used various types over many years and have always been reasonably happy with the results. Last year my breadmaker started to deteriorate -the breadpan was no longer non stick and didn't fit properly anymore into the machine. I did consider buying another one because I have made my own bread for years. However, I had noticed that my DS & DIL made their own bread using a hand mixer and a dough hook, with great results. So for my birthday DH bought me a Ken**od Ch*f Cl*ssic, a bit pricey, but I could make cakes in it as well as other things and it came with a liquidiser and you can buy other attachments. I have been very pleased with the quality of the finished bread, admittedly you have to remove it from the bowl when risen and shape it yourself, but then I had to do that anyway when I had a breadmaker if I wanted a different shape. I really don't find it that much bother.

I need meat from the Butcher today, I haved saved for this seperately so it won't come from my GC this time. I will also save £5 in their Xmas club. I have been doing this for three years and it really helps out at Xmas. Apart from that it should be a NSD as far as the GC goes.

In_it_not_to_giveitaway

Could you please put me down for £300 for January 2013.

This includes groceries, cleaning materials, toiletries, transport and entertainment.

It promises to be a very dark and baron January, but keeping busy by storing records on spreadsheets to forecast savings for a holiday in May and reduce debt levels will provide enough of a silver lining.

Bought some storage boxes at very reasonable prices in the sales and the Yuletide period saw the freezer stock get seriously depleted.

I moved to skimmed milk mid-December and because it lasts a lot longer there was a noticeable reduction in GC spending because the need to go to the corner shop on the way home was all but eliminated. Wish it was possible to get skimmed bread!!

All the best for the New Year everyone and good luck with budgetary activities.

thriftwizard

Quick tip for all - if you have a branch of The Gr@pe Tree (previously known as Juli@n Gr@ves) near you, they currently have nice tinned tomatoes @ 30p per tin - worth stocking up! I have no link to the company, BTW - just saw them when in a branch today, bought loads & thought it was worth sharing.

FBG85

Spent £7.78 at Asda today on F&V , yogurts and cheese, so that should be it food wise till next Tuesday (hopefully!)

Barbeduk

angelatgraceland wrote: »

Yes- get a Panasonic and nothing less! Hinari makes lumps of heavy stuff! I've got the Panasonic his link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-SD2502-Stainless-Steel-Bread/dp/B0055HSEOC/ref=tag_stp_s2_edpp_url

It may seem expensive but after reading all reviews and posts on here I decided to ensure I got one that did the job well having been displeased with my previous Hinari.
Any of the other Panasonics on this thread mentioned on previous pages would do the same job though and cost less-Ive got the yeast dispenser and the fruit and nut dispenser on mine which are not really a necessity-the other Panasonics will bake bread the same. Don't bother doing the rapid bread programme-just nowhere near as nice a result. Think 4 hours for a loaf of bread which is 100% perfect!

Just butting in with mt twopence worth! Bought my Panasonic in around 2000 and it's still going strong. I make around 3-4 loaves a week and it's yum

No spends today as remembered there's some salmon in the freezer bought in Dec. starting Slimming World tonight, can't wait to lose this pesky stone (I blame the yummy cake & biscuit recipes on page 1:o).

StressedSteph

Yay to the Panasonic BreadMaker.

Its the ONLY good breadmaker on the market. My mum had two others before she bought the same Panasonic as me and the bread is miles better.

I bought mine about 4 years ago and still perfect. Loaves cost .35p each and I easily made back the cost of the machine after about 6 months.

I put a loaf on to cook before I go to bed and in the morning a have a lovely fresh loaf for packed lunches.

1 Medium loaf does four double rounds of sandwiches. Perfect for a family of four.

xx

Peanut2013

Spend of £5.99 yesterday on MORE flu supplies (fed up with illness now!!) and some nappies (but it was to get my free changing bag from boots