May 2007 Grocery Challenge

Herbaholic

Hi Everyone

I've been watching the Grocery Challenges for a while now and I'm finally plucking up the courage to join in if that's okay? I'm starting with a budget of £315.00 which is our normal monthly shopping money to include feeding 2 adults, 1 cat plus 2 stray cats that appear at our house morning and evening to be fed and all the cleaning stuff, toiletries etc. So far we always end up spending more than this each month on takeways and stuff I'm becoming more and more convinced that we don't need :eek:

May's goal is to not exceed that amount, then trim it down from June. I've been trying to be more old style since about October last year and keep lapsing back to my old ways I'm hoping with all the advice and inspiration on MSE I can sort myself out.

I had an epiphany on Thursday last week. Tesco sent me a 'get extra points when you spend £75' and there I was with a good £40 shop because I didn't need that much trying hard to spend another £35 to get £10 in clubcard points and I realised that's what I'd been doing since shopping with Tesco online, spending money I didn't need to just to get clubcard points, which are good in one way, but wouldn't it be better to save the money and just buy what I need?!

Something snapped and I decided that if I could find another £35 to spend on food to go in the cupboards/freezer until some point when I needed it, then I didn't really need it now so why buy it if I have no clear plan for it? So I scrapped the Tesco ordering lark, have begun to follow the examples on here for meal plans and shopping lists, and as much as I can I'm making meals from scratch. We've had some lovely meals from the food mountain in the freezer and cupboards hubby's fav so far was the sweet & sour pork and egg fried rice he actually asked if we could have that again for tea tonight lol!

Hubby doesn't think I can do this, so I've done a deal with him and all money I save from the £315 per month is going to be saved for a holiday next year where I don't have to do the cooking and get to relax properly! So I have a goal, lets hope I don't run out of steam before then, ooop's sorry for going on a bit, I'm just excited to be finally commiting to sorting out the mess that is my domestic life and the spending it ensues.

patentgirl

Hi everyone
Count me again although I did really badly last month I have come to conclusion it is a bit of two things why I went off track so badly one I managed Feb/Mar well was I had good stocked freezer and cupboards from Christmas still and I failed over Easter break extra costs lots of entertaining and school holiday when I always seem to spend more!
So back to budget of £70pw pay day 25th for me so only just over 4 weeks this is for 2 adults, 2 teens and always bf/gf's and older DS and partner at least twice a week and 1 cat, I have ordered a bulk shop from Mr T for tinned, washing powder, toilet rolls, cat food, pasta etc and have £55 left for each week got loads of tips of everyone and got my BM and SC out ready for use.
One tip I found really works is to put your meal plans on here

Good luck everyone

knithappens

OK , i am definatley in this month. I am For myself, and 2 kids, i really need to cut back, i have been making small changes, but still going off the rails. Plus it is my birthday 25th May and f i want to go out i need to make some cut backs somewhere. setting myself a £50 per week challenge.

Shortie

Hi all

I'm definately in again, but I've decided I'd rather follow the calendar month than my pay months so I have combined teh remainder of last month into this one and am starting with £125.84

I've got a Mr T delivery coming tonight that's going to come to somewhere under £90 :eek: But I purposely ordered loads to use the 1000 points voucher, and in theory some of this stuff will last me two months so in June I shouldn't need to buy catfood, tinned tomatos, washing powder, coffee for 4 months! :rotfl: Just feels a bit scary right now

Okay, presuming the shop is £90 (I know it's under that anyway, plus taking offf any bits they can't deliver) I'm left with £35 for May for milk, veg, bread and reduced bargains

I then went to Mr T last night for emergancy nat. youghurt for breakkie and came out £13.73 that did include thechicken for the month at £9..

So my current May total remainder is £21.27 but I'll update tonight and change my sig after my delivery so that I know what the final online delviery cost was

Oh man.... I'm wondering already if I've failed my target and if it's totally unrealistic to spend £100 pm.

jswaminathanuk

isabelle304 wrote: »

I failed last month's challenge but am back for more belt-tightening . My budget for food and cleaning products this month will be £100 - just for me, on a vegan diet. As it's a 5-week month, this allows £20 per week.

Today I felt adventurous and wandered into my local Indian/Pakistani/Halal shop and realised it will be much cheaper for me to go there for certain exotic items I use (eg sweet potatoes, fresh coriander, spices, tamarind, plantains, coconut etc) as well as "normal" items such as rice, nuts and dry pulses/beans, which they sell in much larger bags and are much better value for money than the small bags they sell in normal supermarkets. I therefore did my first week's shopping there and it came to just under £20 so I was well chuffed as usually my first shopping trip of each month tends to get out of control

Good luck to everyone.

I visit Indian Grocery shop on regular basis and they have their pros and cons thought to jot down here it might help someone.
Try to visit a bigger store rather than a small shop. Rice and Lentils are very cheap there and loads of options. If you consume rice too much then go for broken Basmati Rice they are as good as Normal Basmati Rice except they are broken and thus size qill be small. I bought 20 kg Broken Basmati for £6.45. If I go for other basmati it would have costed me atleast £22 for same brand(I am talking about Pearl Basmati which is a good brand)
buy dry fruits , spices from here.
You can find different type of cokkies here some of them are very good but again this is trial and error.
Cons
Some fruits and vegetables are riped in gas they don't taste nice.
Some shops are not good in handling frozen / chilled item so if you are buying milk etc you may find they don't last that long.
However I buy Rice , Lentils and spice along with Asian vegetables from here.
Those who are fancy papadum buy them from asian shop. You can get unprocessed popodums from here and that too different veriety.
you can either deep fry at home or heat it in microwave s and when required.
Cheers

jswaminathanuk

My better half found a tip in a book (title was something like how to be more efficient on your day to day job).
The tip is
You list down your most common shopping item and take loads of printouts.
Just before you leave home for your weekly shopping take one list and tick the items you need and write quantity against them.

I just made a list (first draft) and went to supermarket over weekend. I found this tip very handy as...
1) I didn't miss any important item
2) I didn't have to go around all aisle and try to remember what I need.
3) I save loads of time because I visit only relevent aisle
4) I didn't spend unnecessary.
Hope this will be of help to someone

lambanana

Going for £120 again this month, worked well for April and partner's parents are visiting one weekend and will expect nice things to eat and drink when they visit.

EagerLearner

We failed our (2 people) £120 mark last month due to moving in early April to new flat (always overspend on groceries when we move due to upheaval) - this month will give it another go but am setting myself up for dissapointment as we have more weeks in May...

indebted

Failed Miserably in April by going £142 over Budget(Worst Ever) + we ate out alot(as having kitchen done) so feel doubly guilty. I was put on a special diet so had to buy tons of Seeds, Dried Beans etc which although they are cheap, I wasn't calculating for them.

Bank Balance now not happy so I must get it right this time.

I have lots of dried food, rice pasta etc. and have a good stock of Shower gel, shampoo etc so here goes.

May Budget - £300

Good Luck Everyone.

skintmummy

Hi, I think I will join in this month. My month started from Sat just gone as working from Sat - Fri, setting a target of £50 a week £250 total for the month, for me oh and 2 yr old.

We really struggle to stick with a budget but I am determined this month as I have lost all my overtime (£400 a month) and will get paid a basic wage at the end of May so we need to start living on £50 a week now, to get used to it.

So far so good, we have all we need to last the rest of the week abs about £1.50 left in the pot, as i take the cash out each Sat and when is it gone it is gone.