January 2014 Grocery Challenge

Need2bthrifty

Just had my second spent for the year; I decided to be really disciplined this month and for the first time did the fiscal fast and lasted 13 days without spending anything other than the direct debits that came out of my account.

It was only the lack of veggies and red meat that drove me out so went to @ldi to get some of the new super 6 although I really only wanted the butternut squash, swede and some other green veg. Have to say I was sadly disappointed they only had one tiny badly marked squash left. Diverted to Lid! on the way home and they had beautiful huge butternut squash @ 90p per kilo the one I got cost £1.33 and as it was 2-3 times bigger than @ldi’s, I reckon price per kilo probably worked out much the same and Lid!’s looked far superior quality.

So all in spent £22.60 on mince, bacon, prawns, veg, bread, marg, pickles and curry paste. Plus £1.00 spent in HB for shampoo.

I’m hoping that I will only need one more shop this month for veg, fingers crossed.

First_Trouble

BlueMoo wrote: »

Stick wiht it FirstTrouble - is there a jiont goal you could work towards to keep him focussed - like if we save 50 per month on grocery shopping, we can go for a weekend away?

Thanks BlueMoo!

I may have to have another sit down with him to go over the finances. He takes the stand of as long as the bills are paid the rest is spare cash. As you can see from my sig we are trying to pay off debt then save for a deposit for a house but that is still a long way off. I just know that if I stick to it that goal becomes ever closer and that is my motivation to cut costs wherever I can. I tend to think of the future whereas he will think of the here and now which I suppose we balance each other out.

downshifted

Declaring week two at £47.15. Weekly budgeting is working much better for me - I have had 5 No Grocery Spend days and 3 No Spend at all days so far this month, £93.09/£200 so far :-)

bmma

bought the cheese-OOPS- bought some barley cup, vegan polony,--saucage mix, - and the egg replacer you can make quiche with(well can't buy these where I live ) total=£ 20.07p ouch! x

[Deleted User]

The next two days will be NSD for me as we are "going bush" for a few days in a remote valley miles from any shopping opportunities.

Hopefully dinner tonight will be trout but have backups in place just in case the fish do not cooperate!

Finished the salamis, ended up with 11 for my friend, 1 for me, and I took 11 meals of venison for my "fee". So will drop them off on our way to the bush.

The challenge is working well for us, looks like we will be under budget and am even thinking about reducing the total for next month, something that would have been unheard of last year.

Islandmaid

NSD today

Need to grab some basics tomorrow

K9sandFelines

£10.10in Mr M ... loads of YS items - prawn cocktail x 3 two packs @ 59p (worked out cheaper than buying more prawns and cocktail sauce - have tried to make my own and always tastes rank).Basa fillets (two pack)@ 89p, macaroni cheese and tagliatelle (mistakenly picked up this instead of two of the MC, so i have frozen it to give to my Dad), also coleslaw and can't identify the other items. Also got full price water, cat food, tissues and snack a jacks.

Then in the C*-*p more YS goodies ... ... two warbs toasties x two @39p, two pints of Organic SS at 60p ( was going to get 1% for a £1), two mini camembert x two - can this be frozen does anybody know please? @ 32p (full price £1.00 odd and was only charged for one), 28p egg mayo sandwich ( had no dinner and was starving). Full price wipes on offer x two, pain au choc and two Cadburys egg and spoons for Easter. Sub-total : £8.26

Quite a haul there totalling £18.36

MrsCautious

Hello, big hugs to you Magpye and Meg I hope you're feeling brighter now xxxx

I spent £5.50 yesterday in my local C*op and apart from bread and squash, it was on on offer multi packs of chocolate which we really should do without. On a more positive note I have been good at making my lunch for work and sticking to a meal plan. I've planned to the end of Jan for main meals so will need stuff for packed lunches, fresh f & v, plus any snacks and drinks before the month is out. Will be eating out in London on Saturday but that's a different budget and part of a night away, should be lovely. Need to think what to choose, before we see Wicked.

Touch wood I do think I can still come in around/on/under my budget for this month as my (small) freezer has plenty of stuff in it, I've been spending on vouchers and not counting that, which has allowed me to stock up on meat a bit. And I've banned myself from going looking for YS bargains until needed.

happytails

NSD today :j Hopeful that we will be under budget. Im planning to use up the freezer food and the veg this weekend and do a careful shop at sainsbos on Sunday (we have a £2 off £20 voucher to use by Tuesday).

Tomorrow lunch will be soup and dinner is chicken, bacon and cheese (already made and frozen), mash and mixed veg. We are having friends over so hope theyll like it x

Sweetie83

So no stock in the freezer and after todays shop I have £35 for next weeks shop. Going to be a tight one me thinks!!

Watched Jamies's money saving meals online last night and did like the idea of roasting chicken for one meal and then using leftovers the next day for cassarole. I just can't afford chicken breast anymore even though we all love it. I don't really like thigh's they taste fatty to me.

I know I'm not alone but really finding it hard to cook meals from stratch that contain meat and go to feed a family of 4 AND stay under budget......moan over !!