May 2007 Grocery Challenge

rosieben

dm1465 wrote: »

I am so annoyed with myself! Went into Sainsburys for a loaf of bread as it is closest supermarket to me and came out having spent £8.90 on NOTHING!!!! I bought ready made stuff for tea, and I never ever do that even when I am not on a tight budget. Went to the doctors and came out feeling sorry for myself, fancying something nice. Never mind, will have to cut back a bit next week! Hope everyone else is doing better than me.

I think you have to cut yourself a little slack here, not surprising you spent like this if you were feeling low after dr visit. Tomorrow is another day, to quote Scarlett!!

Linda32

Hi,

Can I join in as well, I did this ages ago and have just looked at my spreadsheet and this is from March last year

Two adults, before we started money saving.
March: £314.11
April: £201.87
May: £194.36
June: £253.52 - £30.27 Organic
July: £278.41 - £40.99 Organic, £26.34 Fair Trade
August: £128.09 - On Holiday
September: No records
October: £231.22

So starting from 1st May, I've recently started bulk buying so I'm going to see how that goes.

Looking at Egg Money Statement:-

Co-Op £5.56
Tesco £86.69

There was a spend today at Asda of about £10.00 I'll update that when I have the receipt to hand.

I'm aiming for £200.00 for the month.

meanmarie

This is my first month to post a challenge...I did set a budget for April of €400 and managed to come in at €398.71.

My month is from 27th April -25th of May and am leaving the budget at €400 as I go on holiday for three weeks that day so next month is not going to be suitable for challenge.

Budget is for food, household cleaners etc for three adults and one 4year old and as garden is beginning to produce hopefully it can be done again this month, despite 4 adult visitors last week and 2 adults arriving for 4 days next weekend.

Marie

May grocery challenge €400 (£272)

Spent so far: €332.81

brummiebabe

Bit late joining this month...my shopping budget seems to have gone out of control since having DD!!! This month's target is £400 - sounds like a lot I know, but I'm regularly spending more than this each month!!

This amount includes all food, lunches, meals, cleaning products, formula, nappies, wipes etc etc for 2 adults and 3 children (6, 4 and 6 months.)

Have done 1 shop already...£71.47.....it's also a 5 week month for me, so REALLY need to work hard on this!!:eek:

WelshWoofer

Had my first spend of the month today - exactly £8.00 in Tesco on fresh veg/fruit, paninis, cheese, toothpaste, beans and dog food.
I have plenty to last the week in the cupboard/freezer so this was just a "fresh stuff" top up.
I have a Tesco order booked for delivery (using a £15 off e-voucher) on Thursday night as we have visitors for 3 days next weekend but have managed to keep it to around £40ish (wait and see what the real receipt is on delivery) and this should last for the following week too (I Hope!)

That mean sthat the next big spend should be on May 19th (two thirds of the way through the month).

Am slowly getting the hang of this budgeting lark!:rotfl:

dm1465

Do you reckon you save money with online shopping? I keep toying with it, but am not sure whether I would spend more, as opposed to my aldi/lidl visits?

lil_me

What I find helps with online shopping is vouchers/codes, restsiting 'walking past temptations', I usually stick to my list, saves time and effort as it's brought to the door. I see time as money and 2 hours going to, from supermarket with the shopping at least. Then there is the petrol/other transport costs.

Downside not physicaly seeing what you buy like fresh meats, but I get these locally anyway, if something doesn't arrive (rare for me)

I'd say it is worth a try, see how you get on with it

I've just been to farm shop, got some fab sirloin steaks which we have just had for tea, bacon, some pork and leak sausage, pork and chestnut (just a few to try) black pudding for DP, huge brisket and a big roll of lamb shoulder, 2 bags of mince. In total came to £30, over the moon with that as it's fantastic quality and all rearer locally.

Best add it to my ever increasing spending but we do have a lot in now.

cashsaver

Snap! lil_me!

We went to Jimmy's farm which is half mile up the road (the pig farm that had a series on the telly.... the same chap that knows Jamie Oliver) that's the nearest claim to fame I can get !!!!

Anyway, sampled loads of cheeses, chutneys, onion bhaji's, beer, pesto breads etc so that was lunch sorted... (all five of us went):D !!!!!

The down side was that we bought some expensive asparagus, cheese, sausages (apple, sage and pistachio flavour) for dh and ds x3, so spose it was swings and roundabouts today where the expense was concerned. Will have to work out cost later, if I dare :eek:

Good luck over the bank holiday weekend with the grocery challenge everyone.
Claire

lil_me

So jealous of you living there, I have wanted to visit since I seen it on the TV, watched most episodes and still watch them on the repeats on UKTVFood. I want apple pistachio and sage sausages

IMO I'd rather buy quality and use less. Sirloins are a treat, they probably cost me at least £7 but sooo worth it. The brisket I got will last me about 4 meals, same with the lamb shoulder I will easily get a couple of casseroles and a roast out of that. When making a stew with good quality meat I don't notice it as much when I use less as it tastes so yummy. Same with the mince, I picked what pieces I wanted and he minced it in front of me, no added !!!!!!, very little fat so don't loose loads when cooking, I can bulk it out with some soya,lentils etc without DP moaning if I want to aswell. It's not that much more than the supermarket stuff I don't think and I would rather eat it any day of the week! I did buy some supermarket steaks a while ago which were reduced, DP asked me not to bother next time :rotfl: he's become even more of a meat snob I think.

cashsaver

Think I,m gona follow in your footsteps lil-me and continue buying better meat (for the rest of the family as I hardly eat any meat). My hubby and boys will eat virtually anything they are given (except liver!!!), but hubby really appreciates a good flavoured cut of meat. I have loads of lentils etc and store cupboard stuff to bulk it out too so I can keep to budget :rotfl: