July 2007 Grocery Challenge

lil_me

rosieben wrote: »

poohspals, sounds like you and lil_me should get along fine!!!

:rotfl: you've seen it then, haha and I emptied some into the fridge aswell, there is stew, sausages, sausage meat, pastry, other pasty fillings etc in there now from the freezer which is not on that list. Crackers isn't it that I'd ordered more. Problem I have is trying to keep everyone happy, partner who will say to a weeks worth of meal plans - 'Don't fancy any of those' GRrrrrr:mad: well it's tough he's been told, not buying anything else until it's gone apart from necessary to go with things if you know what I mean, had to buy Pek stuff because he fancied it and nothing else, madness with all that in isn't it.

Just the several cupboards which are packed full, pantry which things are falling off the shelves it's so full etc to do (I know there is 2 bags of bread flour, pasta flour, wholemeal, 2 bags plain, 1 bag gluten free, 2 bags SF plus what's in the tubs as I just braved a look in there, 2kg lentils, 4kg rice:eek: oh and a little bag, see crackers I thought I had ran out and bought a small bag but then seen the 2 massive tubs full, one cupboard down many more to go!) Horder, moi don't know what you're talking about. Never know when there might be a national disaster.

rosieben

lil_me wrote: »

... Horder, moi don't know what you're talking about. Never know when there might be a national disaster.

You crack me up!! :rotfl:

I cant talk really as I have a seige mentality too and keep a massive amount of stuff in my store cupboard considering its just me!! When I did out my store cupboard recently I found waaaaay too many tins of tuna and salmon, and just so much stuff of all sorts! At least now I have it sorted in date order.

Currently working through my freezer and determined not to buy anything until I have emptied, defrosted and cleaned it; should be there in about 3 weeks I think!

teedy23

My my, your all going at it hammer and tongs this week. At this rate the shops will be taking a weeks holiday. Hello and welcome Poohspal, remember husbands are like another child, you sometimes have to show them a firm hand lol.Just tell him, he can have that or do without the other, whatever you decide the other to be....good luck

poohbear59

poohspals wrote: »

I am finding this whole website absolutely fascinating. I was only told about it an hour ago and already i have completed a "Stock take" of my freezer. I am too embarrased by just how much is in there to list it all. Needless to say i am looking forward to the August challenge. We are going to Disney in November and although we have saved enough to pay the balance we haven't saved a penny for spending money. Hopefully with your support i can make this the holiday of a lifetime we are hoping for.

Hi poohspals, you will find this is a great way to save money and if you do a menu plan for the week ahead and only buy what you need, using contents of your freezer for most of your meals you will be able to save for your holiday. I had a friend with five boys who got rid of her freezer because she was always 'buying for the freezer' and never seemed to use up the food.:rotfl:I have two freezers but they are mainly filled with bread, milk, meat (when I can buy in bulk) and things I have made or grown. I have to admit DH buys some southern fried chicken things and I buy pizzas when on offer too.

My sons would love to live with any of you lovely food horders. They are always complaining we have nothing to eat in the house. Can I send them over tomorrow?

redsquirrel80

Well August started here today. Did a pretend online Tesco shop to check my prices then printed it out and took it with me. Didn't work out exactly as planned as they didn't have everything I'd put down, but quite happy with my shop. Got a few storecupboard things, olive oil (500ml half price at £1.75), olives (going to try out the tip from someone on here to marinade your own so just bought a big jar of cheap ones), lemon juice, and a couple of big tubs of red and green thai curry paste (£2 each - have got a real taste for this at the moment so I'm sure they'll be a good investment). Apart from that lots of veg, a massive block of cheese (half price as well) and a load of reduced free range steak (made stir fry with steak and thai red curry paste tonight - yum!) Total £21.51 :beer:

Shortie

Hi all

Update from me, post- "4 day holiday"...

Holiday food spends (not including food out - different budget) was £40. I did my usual and automatically paid the biggest chunk of the food bill. Apart from an automatic generosity (and stupidity maybe??) I have no idea why I did it.... :mad: Annoyed at myself really.... ho hum

Came back and needed to top up on some fruit as I'm off all week and I really don't to pick at crisps so stocked up on fruit. Also bought in some meat (but late in the day so not much left at the local butchers. Today's spends are:

Fruit and veg: £9.20
2 bowls of peppers
2 trays of grapes
1 punnet of kiwi fruit
1 bag of oranges
1 tray of cherries
1 bag of onions

Meat: £11.19
6lb minced meat
6 chicken quarters

New total £122.82

Me thinks it's not going to be as good a month as last month... but then we did spend an extra £40 on the holiday, plus we're out of meat for the month so we'll be doing a stock-up there too.... I'm hoping we can stick to our £200 this month...... :eek:

Gemma7_2

hi could someone tell me the best way to do this, i don't need to empty freezer or cupboards as they're fairly bare!! I have my receipts for all my shopping over the last few weeks, do i add them up work out an average weeks spend and try and spend less or do i set an amount to cut off the bill?

Solwaykid

Hi all, I've just done my last weekly shop of this month and updated my signature too. Under budget this month but I'm not reducing it for the next challenge, trying to get to the bottom of the underspend/overspend pattern.

I really won't be going shopping again before next Tuesday 'cos there's only £3 in the shopping purse and its s0d's law that visitors have invited themselves for the weekend. It's just occured to me that maybe their cupboards are barer than mine at month end :rotfl:

I did a store cupboard challenge when I was first starting out as I was forever buying things in and not using them. Better planning has = sensible budgeting has = money saving. Hope to see some of the newbies in the August challenge and good luck to everyone else 'til then.

redsquirrel80

Gemma7 wrote: »

hi could someone tell me the best way to do this, i don't need to empty freezer or cupboards as they're fairly bare!! I have my receipts for all my shopping over the last few weeks, do i add them up work out an average weeks spend and try and spend less or do i set an amount to cut off the bill?

I think a good starting point would be to use the receipts to work out roughly what you spend per month at the moment. Remember to add in all those bits and pieces you get between weekly shops - I used to kid myself that I didn't spend much as my weekly shop wasn't too much, but I probably spent as much during the week on odds and ends. Once you've done that then decide how much less you want to try to spend next month and set yourself a target, don't make it too low first time as it is quite difficult at first, especially if you're totally changing your shopping habits.

Things which I find helpful - making a list before I go, complete with prices taken off old receipts/ Tesco (etc) online, so you know what you're going to get and roughly how much it'll cost. I always use cash, and just take a little more than the cost of my list in case of price changes/ irresistible bargains. For example, today I had a list of storecupboard things, fruit & veg which came to about £15, decided I would allow myself £5 for meat or fish depending on what was reduced when I went, and I took about £25 with me just in case.

Good luck - and have fun!

rosieben

Gemma7 wrote: »

hi could someone tell me the best way to do this, i don't need to empty freezer or cupboards as they're fairly bare!! I have my receipts for all my shopping over the last few weeks, do i add them up work out an average weeks spend and try and spend less or do i set an amount to cut off the bill?

when I started out I kept all my reciepts for a month, then added them up; took off the amount I had paid for rubbish stuff which I didnt want to buy anymore (expensive cleaning stuff etc) and that was my month's budget.

I'm only emptying my freezer so I can give it a good clean! first time I've done this in 4 years - amazing what I'm finding in the bottom, must have been a good year for plums somewhere along the way :rotfl: