February 2014 Grocery Challenge

lynnejk

Hiya everyone - just to say I'm back from my holidays and just popped on to say please put me down for £200 for the rest of the month.


I will try to catch up with all your news over the next few days.


Hope you all have a fantastic Friday


Lx

kayester

charlieyates wrote: »

Can I join you all in here please? I have no idea on an actual budget, we have just been spending way too much (we easily go through a 1000 for the 7 of us!!) Going off that I would like to set a budget of 500 for the first month. No idea how doable this will be. What actually counts as groceries? obviously food, but do you add pet foods, cleaning products, toiletories etc..

hiya, nice to see you took my advice and came to this thread

I agreee though for the first month dont try and half what you spend, keep all your receipts and keep track and have a target of 700-800 then lower from there.

I count everything to do with food, dinner month, cleaning, toiletries ect. everything apart from clothing

good luck!!

NSD yesterday, today wont be a NSD though need to stock up on loo roll from H Bgains. and bread ect, may get some of those chopped tomatoes on offer too as I also use these as a base for everything, and we only have the napolina ones, I usually stock up when on offer. will update sig later with my buys.

last night was homemade lasagna with garlic bread and cheese, took 2 photos but forgot to take a photo with it portioned on my plate as I was too hungry :rotfl:

lushlifesaver

charlieyates wrote: »

What actually counts as groceries? obviously food, but do you add pet foods, cleaning products, toiletories etc...

In previous months I have used my budget for all food purchases except most meals out as bf pays so his choice and his budget! I do include the odd take away if it has been my choice/suggestion/because of my laziness(!) I also currently include all cleaning and toiletries products and pet food. My usual budget has been £120 but deducting from that as appropriate for any offers/bulk purchases

Now I have settled in to a routine with regards to our Makro shop, the pet food offer cycle and how much we go through cleaning/toiletries products as well as going on mat leave from mid March I have decided to adapt this to cover things as follows;
£80 general groceries - we have finally ordered a real oven/new cooker so groceries are likely to go up a little at first as I build a store cupboard for basic meal meal blocks. Sounds daft as I'll be on reduced pay but cooking is a hobby for me and I'd rather spend here than other areas (although I do still have a personal budget)
£5.50 to pet food kitty - I order 6 bags at a time when the food dog let has is on offer (£7 a bag or two for £11)
£10 to toiletries and cleaning kitty - rarely spend as much as this as I buy most things on offer
£20 to Makro kitty - we go quarterly and buy chicken, mince, toilet rolls, laundry detergent, special offers we will use and a treat each (usually sweets for bf and random things for me!)
Any baby products etc will come from a separate budget pulled together from child benefit and child tax credits - we will most likely buy offers and split with the parents on both sides

Anything left each month will go in the Christmas tin I have started as we will be hosting Christmas dinner this year (well that's the plan)

joedenise

Spent a total of £34.20 this week split between Mr T and Mr Ms taking my total to £173.13/£250. My DD and DGD have now gone home so hoping that I'll still manage to stick to my £250 budget for the month (to 24 Feb), although if I go over I won't worry too much as feeding an extra adult and teenager for a couple of weeks on the same budget is probably a bit ambitious.

Denise

Ladyluck1

Another NSD today I think!
Will be making creamy salmon pasta (to use up some leftover cream) for tea and have made a big batch of carrot and coriander soup for lunch and freezer

dogmom_3

charlieyates wrote: »

Can I join you all in here please? I have no idea on an actual budget, we have just been spending way too much (we easily go through a 1000 for the 7 of us!!) Going off that I would like to set a budget of 500 for the first month. No idea how doable this will be. What actually counts as groceries? obviously food, but do you add pet foods, cleaning products, toiletories etc..

Welcome Charlie - it is my first month on the Grocery challenge too. So far it has been quite fun, looking for the super duper bargains. Good luck!

charlies_tribe

A huge thank you to every one that has replied.


After dh already spending £3 of the budget on bread and biscuits this morning I think I would like to up the budget to £600 but I wont include the pet foods (all bought in bulk on pay day) and Diesel (80/100 a month). We have a few meats in the freezer so hopefully should be really easy this month (haha, we shall see)


So...




600 please. Sorry to be a pain. Will update my signature.

kayester

home bargains:

18 toilet rolls, cough sweets, birthday card, childs birthday present (ds at a party tomorrow at pizza hut) gift bag, bath room spray, diffuser, curry sauce, foil, micro noodles x2, robinsons, stuffing, foil containers, dumpling mix, creme eggs x 12 (for easter bunny) tooth paste x2, tooth brush x2 = £25.06 a bargain i think

asda:

bread, bread cakes, lucozade x 2 (oh ill), valentines card, pepsi max x2, euromillions, scratch card (got this free as had £2 to cash in) = £10

total of £35.06 added to sig.

also i won £4 on scratch card so can cash that in next time i go out

need to use some sausages up tonight but not sure what were going to have wil OH being ill, shall see later how he feels

tessie_bear

hello had a busy morning making fish pie/meat balls and a chilli in the sc...even made a jelly think i need a sit down now

really going to try and spend the least possible next week as want to keep hold of a few bob for half term...out and about a bit over the weekend so wont be cooking much
have a great weekend
tess

Franigan

Good morning!
I haven't been posting for 2-3 days but I have kept myself up-to-date with the reading. Well, after my small top up of food on monday I promised myself not to spend anything until Sunday and so far it is going great. Making my shopping list "official" on this forum seems to work for me so I would like to post the items that I need to buy on Sunday to get us through to Friday. Tonight and tomorrow were already covered on my previous posts.
We are going to be away from Saturday 15/02, coming back on Wednesday.

- Sunday 09: Some sort of pasta with whatever I have got in the house
- Monday 10: Pea and Ham soup (or any other soup already in the freezer)
- Tuesday 11: Lasagne made with out-of-freezer sauce
- Wednesday 12: Eggs on toast with baked beans
- Thursday 13: Mac 'n cheese with steamed broccoli
- Friday 14: Chicken breasts stuffed with garlicy soft cheese wrapped in Bacon - with steamed carrots and green beans

Sooo, my shopping should be:

Detergent £2.19
Salt £ 0.29
Oil £ 2.39
Eggs £ 2.50
Bread £ .095
Baked Beans £ 0.32
Soft cheese £ 0.49
Bacon £ 1.69
Green beans £ 0.85
Carrots £ 0.69
Honey £1.45

+ 2 types of fruit (Bananas and apples, possibly, but let's leave that with a question mark)

Total: £ 13.81 + fruits

I know it is a bit too much to think about such a small list 2-3 days in advance, but I guess it is a way for me to get to terms with it and accept it!

Charlieyates: Well done and good luck for the month!!