May Grocery Challenge

omega_2

Luis wrote:

I am hoping for a cheaper month on the grocery front, as I am away on hols for a week (and will therefore be spending saved holiday cash and saving a weeks shoppping cash).

That's the plan anyway............

Ditto!

Time to reduce the Grocery Budget slightly – I think that £185 would actually be a very reasonable target for us this month.

I remember Lillibet mentioning that she sets a budget for the special offers that aren’t on your menu plan/list – brilliant idea – going to try it out this month. What sort of percentage do you/others allow?

Anyway, after the first shop of the month, Tesco’s Oz wine offer, has pushed us slightly - £3 - over the weekly allowance! Having said that, have just done a “sanity check” of the supplies, and it’s pretty good overall.

elona

My breadmaker has just arrived and I am hoping it will stop me "popping out to supermarket all the time".

I also got 5 litres of white vinegar for £5 which is not really cheap but will last ages and keep me out of shops.

System

jue wrote:

I'd like to join the May Grocery Challange

There are 4 of us 3 adults and 1 teenager who eats like an adult so I'm basically feeding 4 adults. My total includes all items bought at the supermarket and any eating out for the month (which we rarely do). Starting today my aim is £240 for the month and I'm gonna try keeping this money in a separate purse. I also want to try and visit a farm shop early on in the month, I find the concept of eating locally sourced food a good one, am looking forward to my trip.

Welcome to the boards Jue :beer:

Lillibet_2

omega wrote:

Ditto!

I remember Lillibet mentioning that she sets a budget for the special offers that aren’t on your menu plan/list – brilliant idea – going to try it out this month. What sort of percentage do you/others allow?

I usually allow between £5-7 per visit but it does vary depending on how well stocked my freezer is. This weeks £5 went on 2 cartons of luxury ice cream! (Actually they came to £4) Don't forget to build the purchases into your menu plan or the money will just be wasted:beer:

squeaky

I don't normally set a budget for this, some weeks I'll spend quite a bit this way, others nothing, so it evens out fairly well.

What I do make a point of is only buying offers on things I normally use (but may not need just now) and put them away into storage ready for when the whatever it is runs out. Mind you, I had a six month supply of stock cubes once

The other thing I do is plan one or two "flexible days" into my meal planning. Again this is so I can take advantage of offers. If nothing yummy turns up I just hit the staples cupboard and have pasta and sauce with cheese or something. Which was sort of semi-planned really, just moveable.

squeaky

elona wrote:

My breadmaker has just arrived and I am hoping it will stop me "popping out to supermarket all the time".

I also got 5 litres of white vinegar for £5 which is not really cheap but will last ages and keep me out of shops.

Where did you get the vinegar from please and is it distilled?

Is the clear distilled malt vinegar OK for these cleaning tips btw?

Curry_Queen

elona wrote:

My breadmaker has just arrived and I am hoping it will stop me "popping out to supermarket all the time".

Was it one of those Panasonic ones that were going cheap? Mine arrived on Tuesday and I made a white loaf in it which was absolutely wonderful, much better than my old breadmaker and definitely on a par, if not better than the local bakery! I also made a half granary loaf (only had 200g of granary flour left so mixed it with wholemeal and white) and that was also excellent

However, I noticed that one of the plastic hinges to the nut dispenser lid was broken (presumably why it was graded) and condensation was getting through the rubber seal, so unfortunately I had to return it and as they'd sold the rest (presumably to people on here!) they couldn't replace it so I got a refund. I've just ordered another from Amazon now I've sampled how wonderful they are and could never go back to using my old one again

To get back on topic ... my May budget will be set extremely low at £50 for the month as I only need to buy milk and fresh fruit/veggies. Hopefully this will allow me to save enough money to move with, if I ever find anywhere suitable :sigh:

Magentasue

Curry_Queen wrote:

However, I noticed that one of the plastic hinges to the nut dispenser lid was broken (presumably why it was graded) and condensation was getting through the rubber seal, so unfortunately I had to return it and as they'd sold the rest (presumably to people on here!) they couldn't replace it so I got a refund. I've just ordered another from Amazon now I've sampled how wonderful they are and could never go back to using my old one again :

What a shame - I've found mine much better than my old one too - there's a fruit loaf in as we speak. I've been making a granary loaf every night this week. I'm hoping that I'll keep up the breadmaking although it's not saving me much money at the moment with all the granary flour I'm buying!

squeaky

But this breadmaking must save you 60p per loaf so...

a) you're saving money

b) you're back on topic

Magentasue

squeaky wrote:

But this breadmaking must save you 60p per loaf so...

a) you're saving money

b) you're back on topic

Not sure if this is on or off topic but how am I saving 60p per loaf? My Asda granary loaves only costed 63p! I reckon the flour costs about 48p per loaf plus a few pence for the other ingredients, dunno how much electric it uses.

But (off topic now:o) it's preservative and additive free and keeps me out of Asda a bit!

I think the only way to save money with a breadmaker is to make white loaves with smartprice flour. Or is there another way?