August 2007 Grocery Challenge

belfastgirl23

Well July was a complete wash out for me budget wise - I spent £250 when my aim was to spend £150-£170. Important note to self, if I'm feeling a bit low I shop. BUT partly it was a structured overspend because I'm off on hol in September and wanted the freezer filled before I went away with HM ready meals so I've done this (it's always mad when I get back to work off holidays). Another reason was that M&S had good offers on freezable stuff that will do for dinners then as well so...well not really an excuse but it's done now so I'm drawing a line under it

Anyway for August I can't economise too much cos we have a big family party and I've offered to bring some food. I've ordered everything we need in the big tesco shop (arriving tonight) which will come to about £77 I think once discounts come off. I reckon about £20 of this is party stuff and there will be a bit more to spend. I also want to do more batch cooking and need to spend another £20 or so on veg for this. I'm going for a total of no more than £200 for the month. Fingers crossed I can do it

Good luck everyone.

[Deleted User]

I am definately in for the challenge this month. We are going on holiday in November and so i am wanting to save money for spends. I am embarrased to say that i spent over £350 in July on food and take-aways (2A,2C). I know the advice is to only cut back a bit at a time but i want to budget for £200 (£50 per week) from 31st July - 28th August (get paid every Tuesday). I feel nervous about the challenge but confident that i will do it especially having done a stock take of the freezer and coming up with a menu plan for the next 2 weeks. The hardest bit will be the second 2 weeks as my mother in law is coming to stay. We also run a holiday park and usually live on take-aways as we are too busy to cook. If its really warm we can live on sandwiches for the weekend if necessary and i can do slow cooker meals as well.

monochrome_2

I read through this challenge last night and didn't have time to respond, but went home really inspired as we needed to go food shopping. We (me and OH) usually do a huge food shop about once a fortnight, but 'pop out' a lot to pick up extras inbetween, so had no idea how much we spent on food each month.
We knew a big shop is usually between £50-70, so we decided to give ourselves a budget for the first month of £140 - £50 at each big shop and £20 each inbetween for milk, bread etc. We don't have a car so our big shops are limited to what we can carry - luckily we're both pretty strong and there's a co-op ten minutes' walk away

Anyway, we made a list last night (something we don't often do), and I withdrew my cash beforehand so I wouldn't get tempted to spend more. Not only did our list mean we got round much quicker than usual, the shopping came to ... £36.72!

I'm really pleased with us now, especially as last night was spent cooking and more cooking, to go in the freezer in 2-person portions. So far from last night's cooking have made and frozen:
-3 bags Rogan Josh
-2 bags Madras
-3 bags veg. stew
-1 bag savoury mince
- 4 boxes of mashed potato

and tonight we plan to make huge batches of chilli and ratatouille.

I think I could get the hang of this

yellowmonkey

Another day with only the things on the list so going OK at the moment. Joining this and looking on the Menu planner has inspired me to meal plan for 4 weeks. Done it on Excel with all the different weeks colour co-ordinated. Makes life a lot easier as i have done the same with the DD's dinners as well.

From my previous life as a painter/decorator preperation really is the key.

ym

Yorkielass

Another new member for the grocery challenge. Think food spending is the big thing we need to tackle in our budget at the moment.

I'm going for £200 (2 adults) for all food, cleaning products and toiletries.

I'm going shopping tonight so I'll start our month today. Looking forward to this - off to update my sig.

rosieben

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

... I reckon about £20 of this is party stuff and there will be a bit more to spend. ...

Maybe you could set up a separate budget for this kind of thing - could call it 'Parties and Pressies' . I mostly make my own pressies, so mine is just a budget for extra food for when the kids come to me for someone's birthday party.

Its great to see so many new people joining in. Welcome and good luck :j

Bungarm2001

I am going for it this month..as I said last week when I found this brilliant challenge, I am going to try and cut down my food spending as it is WAY over the top...£350+ per month for the 2 of us, plus one very fat cat. Shocking! :eek: :eek:

My month will start probably tonight or tomorrow when we go to Costco for the meat. It isn't the cheapest, but I know we can eat everything..no waste, and the quality is very good. If we buy wisely, we should have enough for more than a month hopefully.

Not much else needed there except loo rolls which are probably at the moment not any cheaper than Tesco's. I'll check this before we go. The cat food is usually cheaper, but again, I'll check this first.

One thing that I have found cheap there are frozen tuna steaks...they are a good size and work out at about £1 each. Most other food, tinned or packets aren't much cheaper than Tescos so I don't bother. Another thing that is really cheap to buy in bulk in Costco (or Makro's) is rice..we have a 10lb sack of it that has lasted about 8 months so far!

Right...challenge here I come...! I do have quite a fw bits and pieces left in the freezer, and a fair bit of stock cupboard stuff so I am going to try to spend no more than £250 this month and that will include all cleaning products etc etc, but maybe not alcohol!!

Liz

PS How do you get a signature on this site?

yellowmonkey

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

Not much else needed there except loo rolls which are probably at the moment not any cheaper than Tesco's. I'll check this before we go.

PS How do you get a signature on this site?

Hi

Don't know if it is still on but Sainsbury's had Loo roll on offer last week. £1 for 4 rolls. Thats 1040 sheets(I think that is what they said):rotfl: :rotfl:

To add a signature go to 'user CP' at the top heading(Coloured light green) and your options are in a list on the left hand side. Click on what you require and fill your boots.

Hope you find it OK if not post again and we will assist.

All the best

ym

Bobbykins

Oops, yellowmonkey, you just beat me to it! I was typing up abuot the Sainsbury loo roll offer when your post came up!:p:D

Anyway, yes, it's £1.00 for a 4 roll pack (normally £1.69), so I stocked up myself!

yellowmonkey

Bungarm. Forgot to mention when you go into 'user CP' it is the first one on the list. 'Edit Signature'.

ym