February 2013 Grocery Challenge

Coxy11

Hi everyone,

Welcome back Florenceem - sorry to hear your news

Budgets done to here

Welcome/hello to:
Le Foot, DomRavioli, lizziebabe, his missus, cherie1122, Princess_nola1, Verityemilia, and lbnblbnb

I'm still finishing up my January GC so will join you all shortly.

Coxy

pavlovs_dog

I'm really proud of what we achieved in January. I joined countless GCs in the past and never made it to the end of the month. This is the first time I've ever graduated, and to do so under budget was the icing on the cake :j Last month we came in under target, stuck to 90% of the planned meals, and I know to the penny what we spent. I hope to keep this up for February.

We've made two simple changes so far - the meal plan for the week goes on the notice board in the kitchen so we both know what the plan is. This has helped stopped OH popping down to the shops to buy in whatever he fancied for tea that night even though the cupboards were bulging.

The second change was putting two envelopes in the tea and coffee cupboard - one for grocery receipts and one for petrol. Now if OH does go shopping, I know exactly how much has been spent instead of having to guess.

Payday and our new month starts tomorrow, although the first shop out of that won't be until the end of this week. My mission for the month is as follows:

1) Budget of £160 again.

2) Grocery and petrol money will be moved to a dormant savings account attached to my current account. This means any savings we make won't be swallowed up by miscellaneous spends from the current account. Any surplus at the end of the month will either go towards a mortgage OP or DIY.

3) January's receipts have been stapled and filed. Envelopes are empty and ready to go for February.

4) We're going to try meal planning for a fortnight, backed up by one big shop and one top up shop. We're hoping for the £5 off £35 Aldi voucher in the Mirror on Thursday. I've hung fire on buying some items (washing powder etc) in the hope of taking advantage of the voucher.

5) Continue drive to use up items that have been in cupboards and freezers since forever. Will need to do some batch cooking as we've depleted our supply of HM ready meals somewhat.

Much of January's low spends were thanks to the generous supplies of the freezers and cupboards. Now those supplies have been dented, meal planning will need to be cunning to stay under budget without being boring.

Good luck everyone!

Florenceem

That's it - keep OH under control! :rotfl:

pavlovs_dog

Florenceem wrote: »

That's it - keep OH under control! :rotfl:

ain't it so often the way?!

mossy

Bit of shopping last couple of days. Spent £8.58

Bluegreen143

Alphamare, your extremely interesting link to a butternut squash pastry recipe has been added to the index - must try it one time!

Bluegreen143

raphanius, I've added the link to your Spicy autumn squash stew to the index (under V for Vegetarian if anyone's looking).

[Deleted User]

I spent £1.80 today on YS beef, which was £1.38 to use with a jar of Stir fry sauce i found lurking in the cupboard. I also bought a YS loaf for 50p, if i dont use all this up i will make bread and butter pudding with it and i also bought a tin of custard. So this weeks spends are £8.10. (i get 10% off). Im eating what i have in my freezer but topping up the fridge with veg as i go along and i will now need fresh fruit. Hopefully i can get this YS too.

Milly-Ann-Molly

Hi Please can I join, I used to do the GC but fell by the wayside...I just added up and am disgusted to see that we spent over £1500 on groceries between mid december and now!!! No wonder we are so overdrawn...we only have £500 a month for fuel, clothes, food, entertainment, subscriptions, travel etc etc so this food shopping has got to stop!

I have made a positive start by cancelling my Abel & Cole delivery - saving over £50 a week :T (just their organic cucumbers were 95p more than Mr T and the milk was over £1 per bottle more than Mr W) Hmmmm. I have gone back to the recipe books and have decided to go back to home deliveries as then I am not tempted by loss leaders and junk food...I need to lose some weight too...I am addicted to biscuits and worked out we spend around £60 a month on just them and chocolates! :eek: I will be dropping our regular rum and cokes too as I worked out I am spending £45 a month on Morgans Spiced Rum and cans of Coke! I have the potential to save alot a month if I can stick to it...all advice is welcome...

I feed 2 adults and 2 primary school children, including 3 packed lunches a day...and a German Pointer (she costs £40 a month to feed) do we count dogs in the budgeting? and what about soap powder / toiletries etc as I buy them all under one roof and receipt?

Lurking through the thread I am amazed by the small budgets some of you seem to stick to! Well done x :beer:

I am going to set a budget of £300...fingers crossed x

Florenceem

CatherineMM - I nearly fainted when I saw what you spent! :eek: