May 2007 Grocery Challenge

oldMcDonald

Decided to go weekly shopping rather than monthly, as I was just too overwhelmed by trying to do a menu plan and list for so long.

Bought a sack of spuds for the month from the farm for £6.00. Weekly shopping today at ASDA cost £29.53, so far so good - even if we are only on the 3rd of the month!

Dotmatic

I've been watching this thread with interest, I really need to make some saving on my food bill. A couple of years ago we always had a Tesco delivery once a month which came to £160 then I'd pop into local shops for fruit and veg spending approx extra £20 per week on top, this is for a family of 2 adults, 2 children, 2 dogs and a bunny. We used to store the extras for the month in our caravan but have now sold it, we only have small kitchen so have had to go back to a weekly shop and it's crept back up to £90 a week plus I still pop into local shops for fruit and veg!! I'm really looking for ways to make some savings without going back to the monthly shop. I've kept a spreadsheet of expenditure for May so far and hope to trim the bill back down to £250.

Wish me luck!

Lizzieanne

Herbaholic wrote: »

Hi Everyone



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?
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.

I could have written that!!

I've been meaning to join the monthly shopping challenge for ages - it's the one area of my budgeting that I just don't seem to be able to control.

A year or so ago I looked closely at how much I was spending on food shopping and was astounded (and disgusted) to find that some months it was way over £500 :eek: . That's just for 2 adults and a cat (albeit a greedy one). It's not even down to me buying ready meals, I am OS in my cooking and we mainly organic food. Having said that, I'd always choose a locally produced product over an organic one that had been flown in from Darkest Peru

Anyway, I've been trying hard ever since and have managed most months to limit my spending to £400, which is still way too much. But rather than jump in at the deep end I thought I'd try and reduce it a little each month, so for May my challenge is to not spend more than £350. I'm hoping if I can achieve that, I'll go for £300 in June.

I've started by reducing the size of my organic fruit and veg delivery - I usually end up throwing some of it away, so I've scaled down from a £20,50 box to a £14.50 box. So far so good!
I went to Sainsbury's on Monday and spent £45.29, but that did include a lot of Ecover cleaning products which are obviously not bought every week.

This forum is full of lots of excellent advice and I'm hoping that you'll all be my saviours! :j

belfastgirl23

Lizzieanne - it might be worth checking out threads on stardrops, bicarb and white vinegar which I think are all pretty environmentally friendly. This might cut down spends on ecover etc...

Lizzieanne

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

Lizzieanne - it might be worth checking out threads on stardrops, bicarb and white vinegar which I think are all pretty environmentally friendly. This might cut down spends on ecover etc...

Thanks, I have already been converted to Stardrops after reading one of the mammoth threads a few months ago! I used to use the Ecover multi surface cleaner for floor washing (I have a lot of tiled surfaces) but I now use Stardrops with a few drops of Tea tree Oil and it's great.

My Ecover purchases are mainly the washing up liquid, fabric softener, washing liquid and I'm a big fan of the Squirt Eco. I've tried vinegar instead of fabric softener but I just didn't get on with it. Perhaps I should have persevered, but I'm a sucker for the Ecover smell!
I've been researching where I can have my Ecover bottles refilled and I've found a health shop not too far away. I plan on dropping in the next time I pass - it'll be a false economy to drive to the next town just to save a few pennies.

Really, my over-spending on shopping tends to be due to not being strict enough with myself or not being organised. I'm now asking myself, "Do I really, really need this?" and half the time the answer is "no" ! I'll also do daft things like buying fresh fish because I've forgotten to defrost the bargain fish I bought from the fish man...I'm getting my act together a bit more now and if I can achieve my goal this month, it'll make me more determined next month.

Thanks for your help :beer:

belfastgirl23

With you on the not being strict - I went to tesco last week with a list that came in at about £30 and came out having spent £38 and not having bought several of the items on the original list. Though now it's mostly at least 'bargain' items that I overspend on. Still, a couple of months ago I would have gone in expecting to spend at least £70 and probably spent more than that for much the same stuff. Baby steps!!

Our health shop does supersize ecover stuff too..

Doom_and_Gloom

Well I would say that I'm going to do a budget of £40 but as my birthday is this month I would say £50. However due to the last few months my boyfriend has been charged unnecessarily for a number of things on different occasions by his bank. This has racked up to over £600 :mad: leaving him with very little money. So baring this in mind I’m going to allow £80 for the both of us and 3 mice (will go to £50 if this all gets worked out this month though).

Month spans from May 1st to May 31st.

I’ve spent £7.75 already this month on food for boyfriend.
£72.25 left.

Hrm I can see my birthday not being very good as I'll be worrying about his money problems still at this rate .

cashsaver

Hi.... count me in pls

Need to keep the purse strings tightened so have set a budget for £250. Became debt free as of 1st May (debt was £21,000) and Feel that if I don't keep an eye on myself, we could be spending thrivolously again (can't spell!) Hoping to put some money away instead of paying off debts for a deposit for a house (we rent at mo). We'll see.... might need a break first:D

Cooking from scratch for dh, me and 3 ds (ravenous ones!!!!) so am always on the lookout for healthy cheap options !!!!!!!

Good luck everyone
Claire (aka cashsaver.... in name only it seems:D )

lil_me

cashsaver first of all well done with the debt free, that is great. It is very easy however to let go as such afterwards, probably down to relief. I used to work on a much tighter budget and did well, when our income went up I just went mad! There are some great threads on here for cheap easy meals.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=326929&highlight=meals

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=336033

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=161168

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=2340412&posted=1#post2340412

Of course there is a complete index on here with loads of recipes and ideas

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=4098606#post4098606

cashsaver

Wow thank you lil_me!!!

Had a quick glance and found all sorts from packed lunches to store cupboard and veggie ideas (I am veggie ish) but the rest of the gang aren't.

I am inspired!!