September 2013 Grocery Challenge

FlubM

Well, I am ashamed to say that I have no idea how much we usually spend on groceries but redundnacy looms and I desperately need to take a break, so I need to get a grip.

We are usualy 2 adults & two (pre-teen) children. We also have a relative staying with us who, for genuine health reasons, has a special (& expensive) diet. This month, we have another realtive for 2 and a half weeks and yet another for one and a half weeks. We do have stuff in stock which I want to work my way through but have also just been given a second freezer which I want to use to freeze batch cooked food but also to make the most of any good offers.

It's a complete guess but, including school dinners for the children, I am going to aim for £800 this month.

So far I have spent £49.50 (and made much better use of coupons than I usually do). I plan to spend £60 tomorrow as this is the amount I need to spend to get a voucher for 10p per litre off fuel.

rach_pach

First grocery spend of the month - DH went out to get milk and lime cordial and managed to spend £17.45! Well, at least it saved me a trip! Off to work out how to put this on my signature.
Rach Pach

dylan2011

NSD Yesterday! :j
But need to pop to Ald* later, and prob do Mr T as well. Need to get baby milk (now £10.45 a pot :eek:), will get 2 pots, then should see us through til the end of month, nappies, will also get 2 packs to last month, for 2 yr old from Mr T, and rest will be a top up in Ald*, hopefully no more than £25 then will just need milk and fruit nxt week as me and boys will use up what we have in.
My partner is going away next week as he is finally starting his Painting & Decorating NVQ :j that he has wanted to do for a long time, and we can finally afford it. He will be away from Sunday until Friday and is staying in Self Catering Accom, so I am batch cooking for him so he has most of his meals sorted, and he will take some other stuff, he will then have his own £20 mini budget pocket money spends for treats and extras whilst there.
We are then off for 4 nights in a caravan in Yarmouth. I love it there, lived there for a couple of years and moved back to Suffolk earlier this year, and really missing the coast. Bargain break only cost us £50 for 4 nights. :j I will be using what is left in our grocery budget whilst there, we will prob have fish and chips take out one night, but rest will be normal food to keep costs down.
Nice and sunny here today. Long may it continue. It can change after we get home.

XSpender

Small spend on Sunday of £3.87 at Mr T on parsnips as DH had a hankering for them, value cotton wool pads, value freezer bags as both running low and a shavor adaptor plug.

We are doing really well sticking to the meal plan at the moment and have chicken and leek gratin for tea tonight. Its chicken and leek pie really but as GF pastry is such a nightmare I top it with GF breadcrumbs instead.

I will use the rest of the leeks I have bought to make leek and potato soup. I am terrible for chucking out most of the dark green bit on a leek but since it cost over £2 for 3 big ones I am going to use the green bit in the soup and see how it turns out. It will be a lot darker green I can imagine;)

I made a dutch apple cake at the weekend with GF flour and it turned out well. DH has requested a sticky ginger loaf for this weekend.

Since I changed my shopping habits last month I have felt so much more organised and am getting a real buzz out of spending half of what we were spending only 3 months ago:eek: We are eating a lot better but I have noticed that all this cooking creates a lot of washing up and the DW is on at least once a day. I hate washing up:(

sachatith

Morning all!

Must say I am loving this challenge. Started doing my stock check last night and our 'condiments' shelf was rather full. Told the OH off as he had four bottles of brown sauce open.... only to find I had three light mayonnaises on the shelf *blushes* oh how we laughed. Still, condensed as emptied all we could into relative bottles and now know what we have and full bottles are at the back to stop us opening them.

Made lamb lasagne last night (WW) which will last me the next four nights with some salad, then salad and cottage cheese for lunch. Used up the remainder of the black pud mash for OH dinner.

We've also started keeping a weekly list on our notice board in the kitchen of anything we throw away because it has died and been wasted as a bit of a nudge to make sure we use fridge and fresh first. So far this week (started yesterday and finishes Sunday) we have a punnett of value strawberries that were lurking at the back of the fridge (not saying they were furry but I could have taken them to the groomers and they would have given them a haircut) and one piece of value gammon steak. So we are up to £1.50 already (after scouring the fridge for anything that was on its way, doesn't look like there will be any more), but, it has given us the motivation to stop anything else going. At one point a couple of months ago I threw away so much fresh stuff it almost made me cry - it must have been about £15.00 in one lump so we have done better.

So today will hopefully be 4/7 NSD... going to go shopping on Sunday after camp but hopefully do it at 3pm so that I can get any reduced bargains and only going to stock up with fresh. Hopefully by then I will have finished my stocktake...

Love x

sweetpea26

Hi there Zippychick

Could you please add me to the challenge for a total of

£350 that is for 5 people and sometime a few extra a couple of times per week.

All the best to everyone.

CH27

I'm aiming for a NSD.

Barbeduk

Re-entering the world of the grocery challenge as we are going on holiday in December and I really, really need to save some money.

We are 2 adults and 2 kids so going for £300 for the month. All groceries, toiletries etc. pet food comes out of another budget although the chickens earn their keep!

I will keep a record of my spends in my signature so don't worry about putting me on the list.

Cheers all

CountingPennies

I would like to aim for a NSD today, but we shall see! Promised to take eldest out for lunch for a bit girly time then taking her to shops for new bag (all different budget). Lets see if i can keep away from buying groceries!

Florenceem

XSpender wrote: »

Small spend on Sunday of £3.87 at Mr T on parsnips as DH had a hankering for them, value cotton wool pads, value freezer bags as both running low and a shavor adaptor plug.

We are doing really well sticking to the meal plan at the moment and have chicken and leek gratin for tea tonight. Its chicken and leek pie really but as GF pastry is such a nightmare I top it with GF breadcrumbs instead.

I will use the rest of the leeks I have bought to make leek and potato soup. I am terrible for chucking out most of the dark green bit on a leek but since it cost over £2 for 3 big ones I am going to use the green bit in the soup and see how it turns out. It will be a lot darker green I can imagine;)

I made a dutch apple cake at the weekend with GF flour and it turned out well. DH has requested a sticky ginger loaf for this weekend.

Since I changed my shopping habits last month I have felt so much more organised and am getting a real buzz out of spending half of what we were spending only 3 months ago:eek: We are eating a lot better but I have noticed that all this cooking creates a lot of washing up and the DW is on at least once a day. I hate washing up:(

There is certainly more washing up when cooking from scratch and baking.
We have a slimline dishwasher - just the 2 of us.
I only put in our 2 breakfast bowls & spoons + lunch plates + dinner plates & cutlery.
It goes on rinse every day but for a wash every 5 days. I like to wash lots of my stuff up by hand.