January 2013 Grocery Challenge

dizzy_lizzie

Plethora wrote: »

Is it too late to join in on this?
(Sorry if it is, I'm a bit of a newbie)
If so I'm going to aim for £75 for the month - haven't spent anything yet as been at my partners over the uni break, and with only me to feed that should be more than enough, but I do have a friend from home up for a few days so must get enough in.

Hi Plethora. Not too late at all
Have a read of the first page as it gives you an idea of the thread but otherwise, set yourself a realistic grocery target for the week/month, post and read on here for support and have fun.
Good luck.
x

itsmecathy

Hello everyone

I have had to reregister due to being a total idiot - previous name penry with a budget of £250
. If not too much trouble could i take part under this new user name?

Thanks


Have spent £33 so far, mainly on bufet items and snacks to feed our guests. Sent the OH to the Lidl with instructions to be sensible and get lots of veg for the healthy eating which starts on Monday. Busily eating up chocolates as I type!

beckseven

Hi this is my first month doing this challange. Really need to cut down so will start this month just shocking myself how much I actually spend on food. Have just totted up and actually have spent £102.44 already on food this month-eeek! I've just been made redundant and am now going for a complete lifestyle change so seriously need to address my grocery spending. I worked long hours previously with up to a 3 hours round trip commute that meant i shopped online when i had a spare 5 minutes with little meal planning and then made odd trips to Waitrose because it was the quietest place i could face. All change now and am going to go to the butchers', greengrocers and discount shops for my food. Where is the cheapest place for cleaning products?

Linz4383

biscuitmad wrote: »

Hi all

Spends higher than I wanted but DH spend £25 yesterday on 180 rolls of nouvelle toilet roll so now have enough toilet roll for the whole year!

Sorted out one of the kitchen cupboards yesterday and found 2 400g jars of Nutella which go out of date the end of this month does anyone have any ideas to use it up please? We don't like it in sandwiches or on toast and ds isn't allowed it in school.

Tia
X

my little girl likes it in her ready brek to make it chocolaty and my mates uses it on chocolate cakes

lushlifesaver

Well that's another £10 gone!

Have no decided that for the next 3.5 weeks all I will be buying is baking potatoes, bread, milk, ham and satsumas (£6.50 per week) from Iceland, 3 chippie dinners (bf had these when I've been at my SW group) £6 and then rice if it's needed £1.

If bf wants any other take aways it will be him paying from a different budget (probably the fuel budget as we have an extra £100 in there this month)!

Aiming for 3/4 NSD between now and next Saturday - the other days spends will be on public transport fares for me (to/from work and training)

Does anybody know if you can freeze wafer thin ham?

princess84

Hi can i join this thread too please? I'm trying to cut down my grocery bills too. I do weekly shops and me and OH want to see if we can do it for £25 a week for the 4 of us (2 adults and 2 children). So we have a pot set aside which we are going to take out the money we need for the month and every week only take the £25 with me. Today was the first shop of the year and I managed to do it in £20.25, based on ingredients i would need for menu's i made for the week. Sorry for blabbering on, it helps to make it clear in my head too if i write it down! Love reading all the thrifty tips on here. I have a slow cooker which i love, and am also thinking of investing in a breadmaker but not too sure yet.....

[Deleted User]

Hi, ive just totted up my grocery bill for this week and spent £57.92. Which is a lot for me, especially as its only the first week of the month. BUT i got so many whoopsies that its justified. I would have spent £83.37 if the products (mainly meat, fish and veg) were full price and i couldnt afford this in my budget. But the whoopsie total spend was only £35.35 so ive saved a whopping £48.02. I could list them all but i had so many i had to take 2 drawers out of my freezer and stack them all. Also included in this was whoopsied fresh veg for the fridge. The rest of the total was spent on topping up my fridge with essential non whoopsied items, ie milk, yoghurts, ham and fruit that have longer dates. Im hoping not to do much more shopping as my freezer and fridge should last me quite a time. Ive decided to not stick to a meal plan and replace frozen, fresh and fruit and veg as i see them at whoopsie prices. I feel as long as its healthy products, ie meat, fish, fresh and fruit and veg and im not tempted to buy unhealthy items because there cheap its worth it. My only temptation was 6 hot x buns reduced from £1.00 to 20p!! Anyway out of my original budget of £72.00 i now have £14.08 to last me until 18th January (as i get paid every four weeks and i wanted to start my budget from 21st December). I only need to top up with milk, bread and fruit juices. I havnt bought any desserts in my shopping and if i have enough money left i may sneek in one or two when i cook dinner for my boyfriend (as a treat for me). Hes cook once for me this week and i will do the same for him this week. Its the first time ive tried shopping this way, and if i can i would like to reduce next months spends to £60 per 4 weeks if possible. Edited just to say this is my first shop since 20th December.

gien

WoW, that's a massive saving IDIFM, good job you've got a freezer and can take advantage of the reductions.

[Deleted User]

gien wrote: »

WoW, that's a massive saving IDIFM, good job you've got a freezer and can take advantage of the reductions.

Thankyou, this is my first attempt at this. My freezer is so small only 3 drawers. But as i said i took 2 drawers out and i crammed it all in. Ive written down everything in there and will replace things as and when used with other whoopsied items. A lot of the things were fresh meat and prepared meat and fish dishes enough for two.I couldnt really split these as i normally do as there just wasnt enough room this time So when i cook them up for myself only there will be enough for 2 days dinners. Ive enough veg to last me the month to (if it doesnt go off). I tend not to take much notice of sell by use by dates on fresh veg and use my common sense on other things.

Gracie_1827

Day 5 of my no spend on groceries month and still not spent a penny. Had to go to the post office today, so a good 60 minute walk and posted a couple of knitting patterns I'd sold on E*ay and went to the library for some craft books to borrow.
Got home and found a postal order for £4:j, sent to me from Schloer. I'd cut my finger on one of their bottle caps when I twisted it off, so sent them an email about it.