April 2016 Grocery Challenge

BrassicWoman

argh should have gone to bed. mate dragged me to asda. I say dragged, I said "sure, I'm not doing anything." She bought nowt!!

£2 on reduced granola - most brands have honey in them so not vegan, but this was ok, so didn't want to miss out - I shall however tuck it away as I have a box of wheaties and a bag of museli on the go.

Also 9p for chopped soup veg mix - I'll add it to passata and some tiny ebow pasta tomorrow and call it minestrone I think. There were LOADS of cheap veg packs but as the freezer is FULL I walked away....

So. I am close to going over. If I don't make it I'm going to use the coppers and wee silver coin purse - think there is a fiver or so in that. But I'd rather run my freezer down a bit if I can.

Pandora_2

Spent £21.53 today in a variety of shops and got a few bargains, a few basics, a load of cat food and a couple of treats. Shouldn't need anything else for the week (apart from more milk) and Mum even treated me to some special sausages from the market

Have to make sure I use up and/or freeze everything in the fridge by Thursday as I'll be away for a long weekend and don't want to waste anything so tomorrow will be a cooking and meal planning day.

Had a letter from work this morning (currently off sick) advising me that termination of my employment is a likely outcome at my next probationary review meeting on Tues 26th March - the day I go back to work. There was also what I can only describe as a Freudian slip in the letter as at one point it described it as my 'final' review rather than my '2nd' one and there is still another month to go in my probation period so I'm pretty sure I'm getting fired! I will be happy to leave the job as it's really affecting my mental health and making me ill, but getting fired is going to make getting another job difficult as I'm obviously not going to get a good reference from them. Off to the CAB on Monday as I massively dispute the majority of work's reasons for this, but as I've been in the job less than 2 months I know I don't really have any rights and can be let go at any time - just a weeks notice required.

Oh well, there's nothing I can do about it right now so there's no point losing any sleep over it. Just have to try and get some safety nets in place for when the worst happens. I've already made a start on cutting my monthly outgoings so need to keep having a look at where else I can make savings and just apply for every single job going! It's going to be a busy week! :eek:

lynnejk

Evening all

Small spends today on Li*l specials and milk = £1.62

BrassicWoman wrote: »

I think running a chest freezer is about £200 a year - which is probably a quarter of the shopping budget... and if the apocalypse comes I shall just have to deal with it in the knowledge there'll be power cuts anyway.

I think, if you check on a site like Sust-it you will find that it's considerably less than this. My 200L chest freezer costs about £34 a year to run (less than 10p a day) - that's with the Scottish peoples supplier


I know the freezer saves me far more than that on reducing waste and buying in bulk.

Pandora wrote: »

Had a letter from work this morning (currently off sick) advising me that termination of my employment is a likely outcome at my next probationary review meeting on Tues 26th March - the day I go back to work

Sorry to hear that and fingers xd you find something else soon

Hope you all have a super Sunday
Lx

njk1012

Not posted for a few days, just updated this weeks spends to my signature and were still on target but will need a freezer top up soon (hunts for FF vouchers).

t14cy_t

spends of £28 in ice**** yesterday, all the basics. always seem to come out of there feeling i had a bargain....still on target so v happy. have a great sunday everyone. xx

BrassicWoman

lynnejk wrote: »

I think, if you check on a site like Sust-it you will find that it's considerably less than this. My 200L chest freezer costs about £34 a year to run (less than 10p a day) - that's with the Scottish peoples supplier


I know the freezer saves me far more than that on reducing waste and buying in bulk.

Very interesting, thank you!

I think I will still downsize my freezer though - I'd like the floorspace back (a nice shoerack to go in there under the stairs..), which I'll get if I switch to an upright fridge freezer in the kitchen.

And as a single person I don't need 200 litres of storage. It doesn't make heaps of sense financially but psychologically, I need to start having fewer "things" ! Hopefully then start cooking like a single person instead of a huge family gathering

pamsdish

I have an upright fridge freezer, 3 drawers in the freezer, huge fridge space, which is why we bought it, I also have a 6 drawer upright freezer, I also live alone but couldn`t manage without both, I am starting to see space in freezer, at last. A good push till the end of the month and I can bulk buy foods.

MERFE

I've not been well, some kind of fever so I sent OH to the supermarket with a list. Of course he got the more expensive versions of some and went off list. Total £58 exactly

nyc_451

Halfway through my budget now. Spent £4 on sweets which was a waste but now I am back on a diet.

Tried greek yogurt with finest nut granola and banana - yummy!! Good post workout snack or a breakfast.

I could spend much less on food but I can't make myself buy only value stuff... Not only the taste but also nutrition is so different!

HOWMUCH

My spend so far this month is £50.12 only other spend will be on any offers that are of use to me. I may need some more veg the last week in the month and I'm going to get some of the Iceland cheese strength 5 450g x2 for £3 and some Necafe Altra Rica coffee which is in offer at MrT's for £1.99.