January 2014 Grocery Challenge

CH27

MY GC starts tomorrow so I will spend some time today planning a menu for the rest of the week around what I already have in.
I'm hoping for a really cheap week to help me get back in the budgetting zone.

NeroliJasmin

Hi

Another great challenge!!!
Please could I join as well? I started doing this on my own last month and would like to try to keep bringing costs down. My budget was £266 and came in at just under £250....Coming down but not by much, will see if I can do better this month.:)
List & comparison done...Off to do monthly shop.
Monthly budget: £240

Thanks & good luck all

NJ

MrsCautious

Hello, happy Sunday I really should be doing some work, so much to do!

I've updated my signature to £7.75, I took 2 gift vouchers to pay with at Sains yesterday and went 'off list' a fair bit -- but I have stocked up on items which should reduce my spend later this month -- sounds good that, hope it's true. . .

I had 2 gaps in a 10 day main meal plan and I bought 2 x 2 Birds Eye chicken chargrills reduced on offer to £1 each, I also bought 2 packets of an Italian brand of fresh pasta parcels, which does 3 of us, on offer for £1 each -- one is chicken and bacon and one is 'rich bolognese' (with Basics garlic bread and salad, this is a v cheap meal that doesn't feel cheap to me, I had been making my own pasta sauce but have switched to Basics to save time, I think it's 40p a jar?) A one litre bottle of light olive oil, which I needed, was half price at £3 something on offer. My brand match coupon said my shop was £8.89 cheaper than the other big sms, they aren't near me so am loyal Sains shopper.

I put back some items before I went through the till -- taste the difference scones, bread rolls and biscuits, I try and do that to curb impulse buys.

Was woken yesterday by mystery shop people asking me to visit a different supermarket, spent £2.69 in there on milk and veg. Made good use of the six things on offer -- and all covered by my (v low) fee, still made me smile though. I haven't named the sm as I'm not allowed to, but despite the low fee, I appreciate the effect these visits can have on my GC!

I have been easing myself into healthier eating these last couple of days and plan to continue, have so much weight to lose, feel in an ok place to start, touch wood, hope this also has a positive effect on my finances!

Bit of a ramble from me I think, oh well, thanks all for continuing to show me how it's done -- the GC of course not the rambling. . .

Make-it-3

Started my experiment with budget supermarket shopping yesterday with a mouch round Lidl and a £10.81 spend, so my remaining budget for Jan is now £162.75. Aiming for 3 NSD's now till weekly shop on Wed. Should be doable we have enough bread and milk.

happytails

Well we've done a food inventory of all the dried, tinned and bottled foods and sauces etc along with best before dates. Got 4 tins of plum tomatoes and 1 tin of chopped tomatoes that were bbe dec 2013 so we will use those this week! I'm sure they'll be fine.

Now I just need to think of some recipes lol. Off to have a look at page 1....I have to say I'm quite enjoying this. :beer:

Sarah x

Living_proof

First spendy day of the year and #3.76 was the total. I bought a stewpack of veg in Aldi rather than separate carrots and onions which would have been more expensive and too many at once. A good sized swede and a parsnip were also included, so for once this was a good option. Also a pint of cider for a visiting friend and at 99p this is better price than any of the SMs. Poundland had a terrific offer for W-U liquid with Morning fresh bottles 50% extra and two for a pound. (For some reason the pound sign is coming out as a hash today). Last night we used up the remainder of NYE chicken and ham in a tasty cheese sauce and most of the leftovers have been rammed somehow into the freezer. Milk and bread should be the only mid-week requirements and I want to see how long I can go like this without having to buy another 'bargain'. I must condition myself to accept that there will always be more YS items next month, and the month after....

Fru-gal_2

First spend of the month £45 on an ocado shop last night. We got a mainly fruit hamper last week for DH birthday. We ate our favourites (mango, melon and grapes) but neither of us are keen on pears and bananas. So today I froze the underripe bananas for smoothies, made a banana and nut cake with LO Xmas nuts in the breadmaker and an apple and pear compote in the slow cooker which I'm hoping DH will eat in his porridge or I will have it with yogurts. It feels good to use food up that we would previously have thrown away after a week or in the fruit bowl!

dumpling

Another £5.22 to add to my total as I popped into the Co-op after church and found a couple of reduced bargains including a baking camembert with pancetta for 60p and it's dated till February :j. Bit alarmed to see lots of Easter stuff out already :eek:.

Fru-gal_2

:oJust testing signature

poppycracker

Hi all, am a bit late joining as I also have not been well. Managed to go all year without a cold, then on the 27th of December, started feeling the tell-tale prickles in the back of the nose and throat. Even with the Vit C and Zinc I still managed to turn into a major snot monster.....
Still, its on its way out now, and I need to focus on the food spending this month. We are away for a week next week and are still eating the christmas food we bought last month so its really only the cat food I bought just before Christmas when DH got paid that I'm declaring so far.

I'm going for a budget of £170 this month, £10 less than November, lets see if I can do it......

Out of that I have to declare a spend of £27 for cat food and litter which should last us the month.