June 2007 Grocery Challenge

catznine

Just adding on £13.94 for the last organic veg box/soya milk/eggs and butter order of the month and £50 savings towards next Costco shop so total of £149.44 so a saving of £10.56 to pop into the savings pot. :j

katherinedrex

Would be very grateful if you could advise me what would be a realistic weekly budget for us.

Myself, husband and 2 adult sons at home. 1 girlfriend 5 nights a week and another girlfriend 4 nights a week. Plus my guide dog to feed.

Lunches for 5 adults – myself, husband, eldest son who has his own house but works with us so I like to do his lunch, son number 2 and son number 3.

All sons into the gym and like to eat healthy – mainly chicken, steak, pasta, noodles and lots of veg and fruit.

Son 1 allergic to dairy products including chocolate
Son 2 allergic to chocolate and does not eat potatoes
Son 3 allergic to chocolate and tries to not eat too much dairy because he has trouble with his sinuses
Myself a migraine sufferer so cannot eat cheese, chocolate or have red wine.

Husband allergic to absolutely nothing :mad:

I want to budget for absolutely everything and put the money in jars for the different things eg food, newspapers etc so that once the money has gone then that’s it until payday.

Any suggestions, all would be very welcome :j

Thanks

rosieben

katherinedrex wrote: »

Would be very grateful if you could advise me what would be a realistic weekly budget for us. ... Any suggestions, all would be very welcome Thanks

It varies so much from family to family, I cant give you any help really except to suggest that you keep all receipts for the first month and then aim to reduce spending a little each month.

Thats what I did and checking through the receipts it was glaringly obvious to me where I could cut down.

I'm sure someone will be along in a while who has a similar size family and be more help to you.

There are all sorts of threads on OS about reducing spend - using vinegar and soda for laundry and the famous Stardrops etc! If you need links to some of these let me know. Otherwise just have a search through the Old Style forum and you'll find lots of useful tips and information.

Hope to see you in the July challenge! Good luck! :j

Angelraesunshine

well i am very impressed, Mr T have been and delivereed and i got everything for the month bar perishables other than this weeks ( did forget eggs grrrr) and it only came to £130.72 inc delivery.

I got enough tea for the rest of the year i think lol bits and bobs to go on my hols with plenty of lunchbag stuff for the kids.

was great got my £20 off voucher and £26.10 off in bogof or offers not a bad shop me thinks

I still want to go asda though i not been for about 2 - 3 weeks i miss it ( not the over spending though)

teedy23

Hi Katherinedrex, welcome to the thread. You have to stay in your comfort zone, so I second Rosbien in that you should try to keep receipts for first month or you could try to gauge how much you spend, then shave a tenner off. The Italian recipe thread would be good for you to try, as your sons like pasta and veg, you could cut down on your meat consumption little by little, you may want to avoid a revolt before you get started. Muscle-men can get their protein from beans and pulses. Cutting down waste was high on my list when i started, cooking from scratch is another way to cut down along with bulk cooking. Do you shop online? read the Tesco discounts and coupons thread, money to be saved there. Also substituting the more expensive things like premium toilet paper for the best of the rest, not much difference in them in the end. Good luck and hope you can join us for July challenge

WELL DONE ANGEL!

katherinedrex

Thanks both of you. I will keep a note of everything we spend for the next month. DH does shopping on Saturday at Aldi and gets certain things from Iceland which we just can't ween ourselves off.

Always buy the basic loo rolls etc and cleaning products have always been old style.

My friend has just given me a bread making machine, a wedding present she just cannot get on with and prefers to make her bread by hand :shhh: don't tell anyone, don't know if person who bought it reads this thread :rotfl: I think I will give it a go and see how I get on with it.

I usually grow my own veg and quite a bit of fruit but due to back injury not able to do that this year. Have got a few friends who grow their own so will rely on donations.

Well thanks again :T

razra

Well Ive managed to come in on budget for my first month of the challenge:D

However don't think I will bother with a veggie box again, in al honesty there was just to much in it for me on my own and the cost is too high to justify the wastage:rolleyes:

So with that in mind I think I will drop my budget to £90 for July seeing as its a 5 week month and see how I get on:D

well done to everyone whose managed to cut back their food bills by doing this challenge,

mikeD

Hi Katherinedrex. Can't fault Rosieben or Teedy23, very sound advice. However if you want to start right away try allowing £20 per person per week plus a bit more for the animals and see how you get on. If you need more then fine, budget for more but whatever you do don't knock yourself out.

By the way the above does not include girlfriends, so if you must feed them add on a bit more, say enough for a cuppa and a slice of bread and dripping .

Good luck. :beer:

kj*daisy

Spent another £13.44 yesterday. DD had upset tummy so bought some pull-ups as she has a sore bott so can't use the washables until that clears up. DH went to get them and we needed milk and loo rolls as well. He bought alot of loo rolls as they are cheaper that way! So have £7 ish left until Sunday. Luckily got a fuit and veg box this week rather than just veg so got lots of lovely stuff to eat at the moment:) So may not have to spend anymore.

lemanie

Done final shopping for month, just some fresh stuff to last until Sunday and I came in at £401.15 :j which I am really chuffed with for my first month. So thanks very much to everyone :T .

Mel