February 2013 Grocery Challenge

NickJW

Okay....signing on to report some spends...

Boots - 'paid' with 1142 advantage points - didn't realize I had more than £17 on it - I hardly use Boots anymore because I find them overpriced so these points have been building up for years.
Won't include this in my total.

80p in M+S at the train station on a bottle of water
£2 in WHSmith at the train station on a bottle of water and chewing gum (annoyed that I forgot to refill the bottle I bought on the way there! :mad:)

And then I put a tenner towards a meal out for my mums birthday (he wouldn't take anymore). I don't think I bought enough for my mum this year though, so I'll include that as part of the present money.

Had leftover pasta puttenesca (which I cooked) from last night for lunch today, and will have leftover chicken and butternut squash stir fry (my housemate cooked), for lunch tomorrow.

Will update signature shortly.

Nicky_Noo_Na

I forgot that OH spent £3 on friday so just added to sig, boooo.

maximus_leeds

Armed with my list and meal plan for the week, I went to A*di this morning to do the shop. Really pleased at the £35.22 total - genuinely am stocked for the week with fruit, veg, bread, meat (gressingham fresh duck at 50% off so have whacked in the freezer to do roast duck with hoisin sauce and pancakes another week; and mince lamb ready to do lamb kofta curry next week too), cat food, yoghurts, cereal (3 boxes - lovely looking museli type thing, weetabix wannabes and nearly-cheerios). Will update signature but have managed to reign it back in after a disastrous first week in Feb. Good luck all x

Gailcm

went to L*dl today. Before starting this challenge I was picking up things 2 or 3 times a week from the big supermarkets and just buying anything that took my fancy, now I am planning meals and trying not to waste much. May still get a big shop delivered from Mr A as somethings are just too heavy to carry on the bus.
Gail.
ps spent £14.29

storytime

Spent a lot this last week- had a £5 voucher for Aldi so ended up spending £56.22 and a once a month trip to a Mr T extra £38.88, plus afew bits from Iceland. Sig updated. Hopefully this week we shouldn't need much as freezers are stuffed.I have found changing to a monthly meal plan is a lot less hassle and enables you to see what you are eating. I realise now we had settled into the same menu every week. We now eat a much more varied diet which is cheaper too!

Florenceem

Bought some milk today, 2 black puddings and fruit gums - spent £3.98.
Dinner was TITH with roast potatoes, savoy cabbage, brocolli, carrot, garlic and gravy.

[Deleted User]

Today will hopefully be the last of my spends for this months challenge dates for me (18th Jan to 15th Feb). Ive overspent by £1.28!!! But having done that i have bought enough food and toiletries etc to last me a few months. I wasnt going to go over £60 and i was determined not to, but as i was en route to visit a friend, i thought it would be silly not to buy the rest of my bits rather than make another journey saturday, so i bought a few non essentials that could have waited until next months challenge, thus saving petrol. I think what this month has taught me is to buy larger products ie pasta, rice, ketchup etc, but as i wanted to stick to my budget and i had to stock up my store cupboard i thought ide leave that until next month so from 16th Feb i will be concentrating on buying things that are larger and therefore cheaper to buy, that will last. On the plus side, my freezers bursting, as is my fridge, grocery cupboard, cleaning cupboard (no fancy stuff, just washing powder i got DTD on, and vinegar, bleach and washing up liquid and pads) and toiletry cupboard too. So in next months challenge im going to reduce it by £10. Although if i do spot bargains, i will go over that, seems silly not to. And i havnt gone without this month, with my bargain Blossom Hill Wine and free chocablok drinks as well as a couple of other treats, it is doable. Like everyone here says, it just takes planning and im enjoying the challenge.

norabatty_2

Hi everyone,

I'm new. I keep a really detailed spreadsheet of all our household spends - I've been doing it since January 2012 and last year, we spent an average of £289 per month on groceries. This was for me and DH and little baby who joined us last summer. So groceries now includes formula, nappies and wipes. I will also be including baby clothes in this, because I buy nearly all baby clothes from Mr A and including them is the only way I can think of to stop me regularly buying unnecessary cute baby clothes!

So at the beginning of the month (before stumbling upon this Grocery Challenge page), I bought a big weekly shop for £75.08. Armed with new knowledge and determined to use up all veg in the fridge, I went to Mr A today with a list and spent £28.45 on our weekly shop (very impressed with myself as this included formula and no veg whatsoever which must be a first!). As I think I will have another 2 shops before the end of February, which will have to include veg and meat, I'm hoping to spend under £210 this month.

Total spend so far this month is £103.53/£210

angelatgraceland

I had an Asda delivery today and only spent £39! now I normally begrudge the delivery cost so make it a big order and end up buying far too much.Bearing in mind the cost of petrol and running around in the cold I think the £3 delivery charge was well spent. I also had some bargains in Waitrose tonight on their Aberdeen Angus meatballs-3 for a tenner. Reduced to £1.69 each and I still got the multi-save discount so they worked out about £1 per pack! Hovis bread at 49p each also. Freezer is jampacked again. I've been very busy decorating and freecycling both giving and receiving this weeks so have not been on here for quite a while! Totally lost rack of the thread but determined to get back into it. I've been tracking my spends so will shortly be updating.

Bluegreen143

No spends today thankfully!

Made halloumi & veg kebabs with couscous, salad and garlic mayo. Now halloumi kebabs are a "treaty" meal for us and normally I serve them with a spicy yoghurt dip and rice salad made with pistachios and dried cranberries. Today I made a frugal-er version with couscous (mixed in with some spices) which was much cheaper as I went without the nuts & dried fruit. And as I'd forgotten yoghurt to make the dip I made garlic mayo sauce, not quite the same but saved me nipping to the shop. And OH liked it just as much (I prefer the rice to the couscous but oh well :rotfl:)!