February 2016 Grocery Challenge

productspy

Iv been reading through this, it sounds great! i can't wait for feb so i can start joining in! so excited :j

zippychick

lynnejk wrote: »

Hiya and a warm welcome to the new peoples :hello:


Thank you to Zippy for running the thread and Coxy for doing all the budget admin


I'm in again and am going to
reduce my budget to £200 again for February.
I have a fair amount in stock and enough in my 'bulk buy' for meat and a stock-up on non-food items fingers xd. Oh well will see how it goes


Good luck everyone and hope you all have a frugal February. I'm still in January until the bitter end, though I'll pop over and see how it's all going.
Lx

You're a sweetheart - not one complaint about copying the lists AGAIN! superstar. thanks hon. Also to COXY - both your guys hard work is appreciated so much:A

HornetSaver

My month will run from 29 January until 25 February. I reckon I'll be doing four main meals for two, one roast dinner for six, one day where a takeaway is nigh on unavoidable, and four or five days where my main meal will be cooked for me. Weighing it all up I'll go for a budget of £150.

My goal for the "end" of the year will be something like £20-25 per week (though that will go out the window for the last two weeks of December).

pajama

Hi all.
Would like to rejoin the grocery challenge. Been a long time since posted on here so here goes. £360 This is from February 1st - 28th. This amount will include all toiletries and household products for 4 adults.

Think I shall go back to having all the cash in a purse. It's just so easy to keep paying on a card and not notice how much i've spent. If I see my money disappearing fast from my purse it makes me think more about my spending. Good luck everyone x

lushlifesaver

I have been paid today rather than Monday - not sure why but no complaints from me!


Off to Makro on Sunday for chicken breasts (£20) and I will probably also buy cheese as we go through a lot and the price was good there when I last checked.


Today I need to go out at lunch time despite the hideous weather for the following:
tomatoes
cucumber
lettuce/spinach
bread
squash
peppermint tea bags
and a few small snacks for little one (just to tide us over the weekend)


I'll then have a proper look at where we are and make a list for a weekly shop on Sunday. Going back to weekly shops rather than monthly and we are starting to introduce more variety which is very much welcomed!


OH is away most of next week so only me and littlie to feed; plan to use up a chunk of stuff that it currently just sat in the freezer!


ETA: Aldi baby event starts on Thursday (28th) so I am setting aside £20 of the budget for wipes (£5.99 for 12 packs) as we like theirs best but they don't always have the bigger boxes in! and a few other baby bits we need. Nappies I will buy separately to that - another £15 or so for 1 months worth. Luckily the wipes should last us a while so I don't mind the initial outlay - I think I will run them similar to the second purse principle. For packets used this month I will do nothing (as if they came from this months budget alone) but I will then 'buy' the rest from myself at £1 a pack, they are usually about 90p per pack, and that £1 I will add to our wedding/honeymoon pot It all adds up gradually (we use about 1 pack a week) and I will 'buy' 4 packs from myself to take to nursery when they need more in a couple of weeks.

Horwich_7

Hi.
Can I join this thread yet again!
I really need to get a grip of my spending. I have a housekeeping budget of £750.
This is for everything and includes my cleaner @£16 a week and SW fee of £4.95 a week. I can't manage without either because of our very busy jobs and my weight. (14.2lb) way to heavy.
So my reckoning I have £666 left and I manage to spend every penny. There are 4 adults me, dh twins age 22
I batch cook every single month, I do a food inventory and use up food, I take my money out and divide it up, but it all still goes..
It just seems to slip through my fingers.
I don't know whether to change how I have all the money in one go, or only have what I need for the week, or ask my eh to manage our cash.
What I do know is I want to reduce our spending, I want to save and I want to be successful like all of you.
I'm in a right muddle.
Help!!!!

lushlifesaver

Back from a lunch time jaunt to ASDA; changed tactics once there as OH sent me through some cracking offers on things we buy and I don't plan on going to ASDA again in the next month! Also nipped in to the poundshop near work on my way back. barring myself from there now as I have stocked up on one month's worth of things we actually need from there.


So total spend from grocery budget once I take out various bits and pieces: £34.51 (the other spends were £7 of the budget I keep for OH, £8.24 on everything for our tea with OH's youngest brother and his gf tomorrow and £10 on two much needed pairs of leggings for me!)


From this we have a month's worth of the following:
noodles
biscuits for lunches
squash
quick meals and snacks for little one
baked beans
tuna
colour catchers
peppermint tea
chocolate bars for OH - only 2 packs so probably under 1/4 of what he has been having but he's said not to buy him anymore. This is emergency chocolate so will be hidden and I won't even tell him we have it!


We also have 2+ months worth of:
cereal (chocolate shreddies are on offer at half the usual price in our store so got two boxes. probs closer to 4 months worth as he doesn't have it every day - only on weekends!)
lurpak (£3 ea or 2 for £4)


and two weeks worth of almost everything else!


with all of today's purchases in mind I only need to get the following on Monday/in Makro:
Ham - potentially makro then frozen if the price is good
Cheese
Chicken breasts - definitely Makro (will last 2 months)
apples/oranges
tinned potatoes
SW meals/meats (buy 3 and get 2 packs of yogurt free - so approx. £9) - these will last minimum of 2 weeks
crisps
milk
pasta
I want to price check bacon in Makro (would last 2 months)
a cauliflower
beetroot - will last all month
pickled onions - will last all month


Any thing that will last past my next pay day I will note in my 'second purse' set up and buy back from myself at a set rate

mashedavocado

Oh here I am again. And this time I'm going to stick to it!

I'd like to set a target of £230 please. That's for 2 adults and an 8 month old baby (who to be fair doesn't eat much, but does chuck a fair bit on the floor!) :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

Hiya, please count me in again for February as getting back into this challenge really helped to focus me in January.

I will be away on holiday for a week in Feb so I know I will need less money in the grocery budget but not sure how much. I will have three and a half weeks to feed us before we head off.

I will aim for £80 and see how it goes. My new month starts on Monday. Best of luck everyone.

mandaguin

I'm in again, for £150 this time please. We've almost completely reduced down the freezer, so tomorrow will be a big shop.
Have already spent £24.60 (I start budget from the 15th), including pet food, will update sig now.