July 2007 Grocery Challenge

halia

yay - tesco order just arrived:
cost of shopping at checkout £104.29 + del (3.75)
BOGOF's etc -11.67
Banked Coupon -£15

total cost £81.37!!! (plus 103 clubcard points)

Nova5

BerkshireBird wrote: »

What do people think of Costco? I can't decide if it saves me money or costs me down to spending on other things while we're there. Perhaps the trick is to go alone, can't fit many of their big packs in my little Corsa tho.

I too have been toying with the idea of joining Costco, but a friend who recently joined doesn't think there's much saving after paying for membership. We compared receipts, (mine being a recent Mr T one), and she was right.

I thought it may be good for washing powder and maybe nappies to buy in bulk, but if you're a tart you'll shop around at different stores for promos and hunt for MOCs.

Costco is good for party food though, occasion cakes etc, but unless you're hosting an event every month or so, is it worthwhile? Also, my nearest Costco is about 10 miles away. After petrol and the time taken to get there
I don't think my grocery budget is going to do that well out of it.

Curv - if you don't have much to get, what about putting baby carrier/car seat (presuming you have something similar) in main bit of trolley, and loading groceries round it. When my nearly 3 year old gets tired of shopping I let her stand in it! (the health and safety police will be out to get me now!) :rolleyes:

I have yet to start at Lidl/Aldi. I have both near me. Is one better than the other?

Angelraesunshine

oh dear spent more than i meant to in tesco juste needed fruit and veg and milk and ended up spending £20.86.

ended up getting bogof yogurts and cakes and a cake for hubby and DS as a bit ill.

oops


ahhh someone thank me i've turned into the devil girl 666

teedy23

Sorry Angel, just logged on, your safe now, hope I,m not too late and you,ve been taken over by satanic urges to shop til you drop. Well I,ve spent £5.54 already this week, so will keep an eye on meself from now on. Running out of moc,s as I havent been at work for a few weeks, back on Monday though and will be going crazy. If you travel on one of my trains hide your paper or you may find it full of holes, lol

Doom_and_Gloom

redsquirrel80 wrote: »

Wow, that's impressive, where do you shop? Last month was my cheapest in recent years and it was still over £40 for just me... and didn't include toiletries.

Well I shop in Wilkos for the sawdust and that is £2.69 for a large and lasts 6-8 weeks depending. I make the mice food using oats, lentils, sunflower seeds and the like and add some veg and fruit mix to that and that costs about 75p a month to do that. I sometimes buy food from Sainsbury (BF works there and I can use his 10% off discount card which helps), or Tesco online (my BF also buys food and toiletries when I do this so we can buy enough to use an e-coupon) supermarkets in general are used for staples such as bread (mostly bought when reduced), tinned and frozen items needed and reduced fruit and veg when at a descent price as well as toiletries and cleaning products (sometimes I go to lush for their veganese conditioner but as it's about £9 for the big bottle that is a rarity and I also go in there on occasions for other vegan friendly cosmetics but again they are also expensive). I go to the local health stores for lentils, soya mince, soya beans (to make HM soya milk at a fraction of shop bought equivalent) etc as that's where they are cheapest for me and the local grocers for veg and fruit where I get good offers such as 10 apples/satsuma’s/bananas for £1. They also have 33p bags of fruit and/or veg, that they do most days, of items nearing their end that are perfect to freeze or use for soups or smoothies.
I try to buy organic and or fair-trade whenever I can afford to and certain items I refuse to buy if I can not buy the organic kind such as coffee, sugar, bread, Pure margarine and the like. Even some of the items for my mice are organic as I worry about pesticide consumption for them.
Mostly I'm able to spend so little as I am vegan and therefore don't buy meat or dairy/egg items that are expensive to buy and I don't often buy junk food such as crisps and biscuits so that helps (although I have a huge craker obsession lol).
I am going to be able to buy my sawdust for cheaper soon as I will be going to a place that does a HUGE bag that costs £8 and should do me at least 5 months most likely more and as I have to go there I wont be spending any more money than I have to, to do so :j .
Basically I’ve compared prices in a lot of places and do so constantly just to make sure I'm not spending more than I have to. Even if it's cheaper somewhere else by just a few pence I'll go for the cheaper as long as I don't spend more money getting there to do so. As I said though I don't know if I'll manage this month on that as the fridge and freezer are very low as it stands but if I do It'll be good. I also haven't bought any alcohol for a while so if I buy that my budget usually get's blown out of the window hehe.

shopaholictiedtheknot

Hi all, this is the first time I have visited this thread, I would say the majority of my money goes on grocery shopping!! I am going to try to cut back drastically as I know I spend far too much - it's all those forays to Asda on my lunch break to buy one or two items - when I get to the checkout I have somehow managed to spend 10 to 15 quid!! I would at a guess say I spend between £350 and £400 a month :eek: for me, DH and DD (age 13), we have one pet, a bearded dragon named Maximus!

My plan is to keep all my receipts from now till the end of the month (going to Aldi tonight for the first time to see if I can bag some bargains) and then next month will try and reduce my budget - wish me luck!!!:D

galantvr4

Hello
Just found this site last night and I cant stop reading! Plan to do the grocery challenge from the 15th when our month starts, even started a meal plan last night which should help.
Any tips and tricks would be much appreciated!!

I'm aiming to cut our shopping budget and make one weekly shop i-just heard the rain bouncing off the windows and had to sprint outside to rescue the washing! Sorry where was I, one weekly shop and not nipping back for extras that we fancy that night. I'm going to start keeping recipts and not take the debit card everywhere.

Wish me luck

nearlynewbie

BerkshireBird wrote: »

!

What do people think of Costco? I can't decide if it saves me money or costs me down to spending on other things while we're there. Perhaps the trick is to go alone, can't fit many of their big packs in my little Corsa tho.

I tried Costco for a year (my aunt paid) but I don't think its worth it- It tempted me to impluse buy and if I waited for special offeres at Mr Ts or Safeways (as was) they were usually as cheap. I'm also a big own brand buyer and I think the saving for costco are either for catering or if you're addicited to brands (which you're perfectly entitled to be , by the way!!)

witchypoo

Hi all
I've only got £2.68 left and Thursday remaining to try not to spend it! Might need another 4 pinter of milk for £1 otherwise it is doable. Definitely won't run to the cost of a takeaway!
My new week starts on Friday thank goodness! Better get meal planning, hadn't I?

Angelraesunshine

teedy23 wrote: »

Sorry Angel, just logged on, your safe now, hope I,m not too late and you,ve been taken over by satanic urges to shop til you drop.

Thank you no hehe i managed to hide from the shopping devil was hard work but luckly i got away as i had to go to work for a few hours.