July 2013 Grocery Challenge

lilian1977

Small spend yesterday on some reduced yoghurts, grapes etc.

Now up to £48.41 / £250. Month started last Friday so that's happily on course given it's a 4.5 week month.

DollyBongo

Apologies Coxy but I have just worked out that it is a very long month (which includes youngest son's 8th birthday) so have upped my budget to £320 please.

Sorry to be a pain!

Chucking it down with rain here so no excuse for not getting housework and ironing up together lol xx

Welsh_Poppy

Please pop me down for £100 again for July it is a struggle to keep under but so far I have succeeded.

hollieinbloom

Please can you put me down for £250 this month. Moving house so need to make sure I stock up!

Thanks! x x

Coxy11

Morning!

Meal plan has had to change slightly as the friends we were going to on Sunday have cancelled

Tonight: chicken curry, rice, naan (need to buy naan)
Saturday: turkey escalopes, mini roasties, veg
Sunday: roast gammon, roasties, veg
Monday: mini toad in the hole, mash, veg
Tuesday: spaghetti bolognaise
Wedesday: puff pastry tray bake with ham and cheese
Thursday: DR steak burgers in baps, salad
Friday: A!di ambient pasta, fresh pasta sauce

Some quick and easy meals there as every night next week one of the children has a club, plus on Friday DH and DS2 are both off to camp (in different locations!).

Should only need milk and veg/salad plus naans for tonight. I got the DM!rror yesterday for the A!di voucher so will probably go on Monday for a stock up of tins/dried goods.

Have a good day all
Coxy

Doris65_2

Hi

I love all the pictures of the delicious food, am going to make the herby cheese bread tonight, we are having Sausage and Pasta bake,
That should use up some of my tinned Tom mountain,

Florenceem I'm slightly embarrassed that I was so disorganised that I ended up with 15 cans, but I'm determined to do better this month,

I did have to break into the budget today, But not for food, ran out of washing powder, so £4 spent,

and I forgot we are out at my Dads Birthday meal on Sunday, His treat, so have effectively got an extra days meals for free,

Dx

AimingForBetter

MrsCautious wrote: »

I've been to Sainsburys and spent £67, after weeks of doing my best to stick to list and meal plan, felt like I went a bit 'free range'

Bought a big pack of bin bags which were expensive but the thinner ones are rubbish (see what I did there ) loo roll, paracetamol and evening primrose oil, thought we'd give it a go!

Bought a fair bit of YS stuff, two packs of prawns, for around 70p each, I like to put them in a hm sauce with pasta, two packs of Walls sausages for 70p-ish each, bread rolls and strawberries. Had YS guinea fowl for tea, that was £1.99.

Bought a meal deal for £5, which will do three rather than two of us -- meat pasta bake, cauliflower cheese and profiteroles, can't remember the last time we had any sort of ready meal, sure it will be nice.
The pudding will do more than one night. Got 4 fresh cream eclairs for 49p.

Feeling a bit less motivated towards GC as am knackered, having gone back to work, I do find trying my best to be creative with cheaper ingredients and cooking a fresh meal can be a nice way to unwind a bit.

Had a lovely YS taste the difference chicken for £2.50 which did us two nights, one chicken dinner then chicken, salad and hm wedges, not used to making small chicken go that far, believe it or not, so was quietly chuffed.

AFB I had good intentions to go to Aldi this month to lower my total spend but haven't strayed from Sainsbury, I know some (a lot of) things are cheaper but I have less time, want as many points as possible, to the point I got £40 off this month. I know Sainsburys comes out as expensive in general but I find choosing stuff that's on offer, especially YS, using Basics and boosting points works enough for me, Brand Match coupon said my shop was £3.60 cheaper than others today.

That's the good news, bad news is not sure guinea fowl agrees with our dog.

Wishing everyone lots of luck for GC this month, I think it's going to be a tough one to stick to this time, need to feel more focused. I've come in under £200 3 months out of the last 4, but freezer and cupboards were better stocked. Have about 7 main meals I think.

MrsC You've had some good bargains there and that's the thing about Sains, often lots of YS and usually some good deals. Like you I've been collecting nectar points (now have enough to cover a shop) and getting YS, buying when on offer etc when I can so will carry on using them for the main shop and keep a lookout for bargains elsewhere too if we are out and about.

A bit off track is normal once in a while (we went way over in June) but you've probably still spent less than you used to so don't worry, it works itself out in the end.

I'm convinced its better to only go to Sains and concentrate on getting the best deals there rather than having to work out several lists, various deals etc in more than one place which takes much more time and brain power!

I do hope the dog is OK.

NSD today, off to the library with the kids in a bit so will have a nice reading then playing afternoon.

Have a good day all.

AFB

Talk

Hi everyone!
Is it okay if I jump in? I haven't tracked our spends like this before, although I do try and keep it all written down in excel most of the little things like bread and milk tend to pass us by and we're awful at keeping receipts!

I'm Tami and my OH and I are expecting our first baby in a matter of weeks! Eek! Unfortunately she's currently breech and it looks like it will be a csection delivery so in the interests of my OH being able to cook most of the dinners while I recover (not that he knows it yet) I made a meal plan for 4 weeks, including every ingredient that would be needed to make it. I want to say it's OH-proof but we shall see, lol. :eek:

I don't really know what our budget should be, we normally allow about £200 but so far haven't spent that much with just the two of us since I started meal planning last month. But I'm hoping we can keep it below about £150 where possible.
I ordered the next 4 weeks worth of food from Tesco online last night and used a double points and £12 off voucher, woohoo! It's like £12 worth of free food, lol. Free is good, we like free!
This also included £10 worth of cat food and store cupboard staples like flour, etc. We don't have anything like that at the moment as we haven't had a cooker until this week! (recently moved house) But our cooker gets installed tomorrow and I'll be glad to actually be able to cook stuff in an oven. An actual oven! Bliss! :T

Anyway we'll obviously have to buy perishable foods throughout, bread, milk etc, and I'm sure with a new baby we're bound to give in to the temptation of a takeaway at some point, but at least we're trying!

We made the mistake of shopping while we were hungry last week and ended up spending £50 and not getting very much, hence the strict meal plan for the next 4 weeks!
So we're currently at £60 spent out of £150. :beer:

Menu for week 1 is
Chilli with rice
Jacket potato topped with left over chilli, cheese and some tortilla chips
Cottage pie with chips
Saucy sausage noodles with garlic bread
Fish, chips and mushy peas
"Bung it" pizza with chips or salad (Bung it = whatever you want from the fridge )
Toad in the hole with mash, mixed veg, stuffing and gravy

It's going to be a long month!

Suffolk_lass

mothershipton wrote: »

Please put me down for £350 this month. Im switching the end of month to the day OH gets paid rather than the end of the month which means last month we met our budget.

Trying to keep husband in control as he is still on threat of redundancy and hasnt done much about looking for another job. Im going to aim to not spend his salary this month to see how well we get on.

:T:T:TJust wanted to say congratulations on clearing your mortgage (in your signature) :T:T:T - isn't it always the way? clear the mortgage vs threat of redundancy!

We do what you're doing and try and live on DH's money for all our living expenses, so fuel, food, entertaining, credit cards and save anything left for holiday. My salary pays the bills and debts. I think it's working better than when it was all in together.

My DH is out of control this month. A long-standing plan is just coming together and instead of waiting he has bought a motorcycle before the money is in! It makes my economising feel completely futile.

SL

unicornft

Joining this challenge for the first time. I'm aiming to cut down to £150 per month. So that's £37.5/week. Let's see how I get on