September 2015 Grocery Challenge

Wysiwyg49

wannalot wrote: »

...I think I might take a different approach next month and set aside £15 for cleaning/household stuff, separate from my £150 grocery spend. Or I might just put my grocery budget up to £160 to include all cleaning stuff, toilet roll and washing powder. Does anyone have any preferences regarding this? ...

...Even when I go over, I think this Grocery Challenge is really helpful. By focussing on what I'm spending, and trying to plan meals, I am eating much better, and I have almost completely stopped impulsively buying random junk food!

Re. the household stuff - I've kept that separate because I had no idea how much it was and wanted to compare food spend with things like those "Feed your family for £50" plans you can get.

Totally agree that the GC is really helpful in keeping focused. Plus it turns it into a bit of a game finding new ways to use things!

Success this week, only spent £63 so far and got full marks from family for my first ever HM yorkshire puddings! Has anyone tried bulk buying chicken/mince? Only 2 types of meat we all eat, usually!

Dizzy_Imp

Wysiwyg49 wrote: »

Success this week, only spent £63 so far and got full marks from family for my first ever HM yorkshire puddings! Has anyone tried bulk buying chicken/mince? Only 2 types of meat we all eat, usually!

Me too! Well, my first in the oven at our new house. I have never been able to make them - either hollow and burnt/stuck to the tin or deflated and pancake-like Yesterday I presented HUGE and perfectly cooked ones (I'm blaming the old cooker :rotfl:)

Two extra shops, which should now see us through until the end of September...Spent £83.00, taking my running total to £336.63/£350, so I have £13.37 for milk and bread. I've planned the meals until the end of the month from what's in the freezer and cupboards, so fingers crossed I can come in on budget

Wysiwyg - I do bulk buy mince, chicken, anything really that's a good deal, and freeze in portion sizes (enough for four of us). I buy whole lambs from a farmer friend too which works out way cheaper, I get all the cuts I want, as the butcher asks each customer how they want it prepared and bags it in freezer-proof bags for me, and our friend makes more than selling to the SM. Win-win

Wannalot - Personally, I find turkey mince can be rather bland and a bit dry, so use it with lots of herbs to give it flavour. You may need an egg to bind it together if you're making burgers or kebabs. Let us know what recipe you decide on x

moneyonmymindsam

Another £1 on milk ,50p YS pasty and Crisps £1.05p (!) ...so down to £25.45 now .. Total Month GC budget dropped to £100 so must remember to change signature!

uncreative

Update 2:

From YNAB categories

groceries £298.36
school lunches £27.00
takeaways/snacks £47.53

Total £372.89 - It will be tight but we are going to do this!!!!

Ladyluck1

Oops £5.04 in Lidl. That's it for the week now!

Southern-Girl

Well, this month has confirmed what I thought! I have spent £191.73.
I have 3 days to go. So I do spend approximately £50 per week for one person.
However, I have realised this is on all "shopping". I have been keeping my receipts and just totting them up.
So for the October Grocery Challenge I'm going to break it down into 3 groups.
1. (Actual) Food
2. Toiletries
3. Household (cleaning etc)

I think this will give me a better idea of what the money is spent on.

Also, I watched the 'Eat well for less' last week and realised that I do exactly as they did. (Not spend £339 per week:eek:) Shop with my eyes and not with my brain :rotfl:
So this month I'm also going to by supermarket brands and not named brands. I sat thinking about it and realised that when I write my shopping list I automatically write things like Lurpack, Ariel, Lenor etc. So when I go shopping I just look for those things.
So, my aim for this month is to write a more generic list i.e Spread, washing powder, fabric conditioner etc.
Lets hope it works

Wish me luck!

x

The_Only_Girl

Southern-Girl wrote: »

Well, this month has confirmed what I thought! I have spent £191.73.
I have 3 days to go. So I do spend approximately £50 per week for one person.
However, I have realised this is on all "shopping". I have been keeping my receipts and just totting them up.
So for the October Grocery Challenge I'm going to break it down into 3 groups.
1. (Actual) Food
2. Toiletries
3. Household (cleaning etc)

I think this will give me a better idea of what the money is spent on.

Also, I watched the 'Eat well for less' last week and realised that I do exactly as they did. (Not spend £339 per week:eek:) Shop with my eyes and not with my brain :rotfl:
So this month I'm also going to by supermarket brands and not named brands. I sat thinking about it and realised that when I write my shopping list I automatically write things like Lurpack, Ariel, Lenor etc. So when I go shopping I just look for those things.
So, my aim for this month is to write a more generic list i.e Spread, washing powder, fabric conditioner etc.
Lets hope it works

Wish me luck!

x

Hi Southern-girl, we used to be very brand specific in my household. The last few months, we have tried to broaden our horizon and explore other brands. Some of our favourite brand drops are mostly aldee's own brand - instant coffee, ketchup, dishwashing liquid, bathroom tissue, fabric conditioner and detergent. They turned out much better than the famous brands, in our opinion. Amazing savings made so far. We prefer their basmati rice as well over the premium brand ones we bought from the Indian store.

That said, it depends on personal taste, but definitely worth a try.

Enjoy your journey with the own brand items!

Southern-Girl

Thank you The Only Girl.

I think its more a question of habit than taste with me.
I'm not much of a foodie and eat to live and only when I'm hungry.
I do like tasty food, but I'm not sure I could pass any of the 'taste tests'. That's why I think it's more visual when I buy things.:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

t14cy_t

spends of £1.89 yesterday

cyantist

Spends of £33.88 on Thursday and £4.25 over the weekend takes us up to £77.58.

We always seem to go to Mr T as it just seems closest. But we went to Morrisons on Saturday as we were eating out near there, and actually it's not much further and the route there is usually less traffic-y, and I can't believe how much cheaper it is. There's quite a bit of stuff I can't get from there but I think we will make one shop a month there instead and see how much we can save.