February 2016 Grocery Challenge

jacci45

Hi , well smashed January, approx £23.00 under budget, so now onto Feb!

This is a 5 week month for me so £350.00 budget, so far £79.88/£350.

Take care all.x

Munchkinsmum

Can I please join? I've tried twice before and we didn't stick to it. However I've had a massive pay cut from this month and budgeting is now a strict necessity. There's 5 of us (two adults, two children, one baby). Can I say £450 please. I'm also newly dairy free due to the baby and struggling a little!

Mrs_Cheshire

jlhmd666 wrote: »

The children love Options orange hot chocolate but it's £3.49 per week I would rather not spend. I haven't found a cheaper orange flavour yet and as they have a cup before bed I don't want to just stop buying it so I need to think about alternatives.

A lot of the supermarket put it on offer from time to time for £2 or B & MMM's have it sometimes for a similar price. Might be worth shopping around and then buying in bulk when you see an offer!
According to My Supermarket, both Morries and Sainsbugs has it for £2 at the moment. HTH's

Mrs_Cheshire

lushlifesaver wrote: »

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.

Aldi wipes are usually only 59p a pack, even when they are not in big boxes, so very good value. Asda do a big box of 12 packs for £6 usually if you have one nearby and Aldi don't have the special on.

Mrs_Cheshire

Horwich_7 wrote: »

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!!!!

Do you meal plan? I would take out cash weekly say £120-£140 and write a meal plan based on what you have already in the house and then write a shopping list of what else you need to get. What do you find you spend the most on??

Mrs_Cheshire

jlhmd666 wrote: »

OH prefers the food to go on the table so that he can decide how much he wants to eat. I have suggested plating up and for meals where there are set amounts, such as sausages or chicken breasts, it's fine but if I cook something like a chilli he wants to help himself

I would be tempted to fill a freezer tub before I take the food to the table in this case, that way he can only plate what is there.

Mrs_Cheshire

MoneyMission wrote: »

I'm also going to be buying one or two items of long shelf life food per week to take on our self catering holiday in April so that we have more spending money whilst there.

That's a great idea, we're going away for 4 nights in April, self catering, so I may just do that to save some money for treats whilst we're there

Mrs_Cheshire

Munchkinsmum wrote: »

Can I please join? I've tried twice before and we didn't stick to it. However I've had a massive pay cut from this month and budgeting is now a strict necessity. There's 5 of us (two adults, two children, one baby). Can I say £450 please. I'm also newly dairy free due to the baby and struggling a little!

You can do it! There are 5 of us too and the same configuration, my boys are 6 & 4 and the baby is 12 weeks. I do a bulk meat shop once every couple of months, I usually spend about £80 but it does last. It comes in big trays, so I sit for 1/2 hour or so and portion it up into freezer bags. I then meal plan for the month, you could do a week at a time and based my meals around the meat I have. I usually try to include 1 fish meal a week and a meal that is mainly vegetarian, and add something cheap like a smoked sausage/chorizo to it (my hubby doesn't like completely meat free meals, but a smoked sausage is only about 99p from Aldee and is enough for a meal for the 4 of us).
I then write my shopping list, using the meal plan as a guide. We tend to spend around £60 per week on everything else so should end the month spending around £320 although I would like to get it cheaper than this. I include nappies, wipes, nighttime pull ups for the 4 yr old and all household and toiletries in this as well as groceries

jlhmd666

Mrs_Cheshire wrote: »

A lot of the supermarket put it on offer from time to time for £2 or B & MMM's have it sometimes for a similar price. Might be worth shopping around and then buying in bulk when you see an offer!
According to My Supermarket, both Morries and Sainsbugs has it for £2 at the moment. HTH's

Thanks for that. I will look out for it next time I go shopping

Islandmaid

Hi all

Can I be put down for £300 for 1st Feb - 29th Feb.

£50 more than Jan, as I have used a lot of reserves, and need dishwasher tabs, washing powder etc which I buy in bulk about every 3 months, will also buy the months meat out of it.

See you next week