August 2016 Grocery Challenge

Smiley87

NSD today!

Wysiwyg49

First week's shopping in for £98.71. Interesting that as usual, the basics at Aldi were £32.96 and the "nice to haves" at Sainsbobs were £52.90 -:eek: And I think I'll need more chicken as we have eaten nearly all of it already!

Discovered the weekly meal plans thread so I'm putting the meal plan over there. See you there maybe!

skint_breeder_5

skint_breeder_5 wrote: »

..... I need to get a serious grip as major expenses coming up and the money has to come from somewhere.

Could you please put me down for £200.00 for the whole of August? 4 adults, 2 children plus 4 cats, plus 2 houseguests, to include toiletries, laundry stuff/ treats/Maccie D's on the run?

well, unfortunately, I have had one of my major expenses hit me sooner rather than later....so a trundle to Agros to get a new hoover, (gaffer tape around my old one is not working effectively enough to get normal cat hair and dust up) and I need to have a good quality one as DPC1 (Dear Pussa Cat 1) has been roaming over the animal sanctuary with the sheep and goats and brought home "tics", DPC2 and DPC3 have evidence of tic bites only DPC4 doesn't have any evidence on him......I doubt very much I can get away with taking £150 out of my food budget for that £50 for the rest of the month is likely failing before I even get started!

So here goes

Skinty declares day 1 £5/£200 ......on cat shampoo (tic treatment was bought as gift by fellow cat lover yesterday).

I am going to stay in the house for the rest of the day to avoid spending anymore money! :rotfl:

Planning that Thai Peanut Salad, but going to use rinsed baked beans instead and chuck in some very small sized fresh broccoli florets stir fried off

Off to the flylady page now, to get some housework recorded and find some more motivation

tumptyteapot

Just what I need to do!
If it's not too late please can I join with a £250 monthly budget.
NSD today!

tighteningthebelt

First day of challenge and I have a dilemma already... Please advise...
Dad and I went shopping together and he bought some of it for me.
Shall I just subtract what came out of my purse, or what was in the trolley?

Scrimps

I think July was the first month that I really, properly made it if Im honest....without buying extra food money from my own 'social' budget. It was the soups and things that did it, I didnt find it too hard so it should be doable again.

I want to scrimp a bit more. We have double glazing being installed and are really just feeling that we're on the precipice of being financially sorted once that is paid for.

So, rolling well from that success and with some food still in the cupboards, I am reducing the budget to £180 this month. That pays for cleaning and toiletries also (& 2 lightbulbs I just had to buy), but not the cats food.

freyasmum

Well we had our first shop today, which came to £49.99, so £20.01 left for the week.

For this, we got steak, mince and veggies to make a double batch of Bolognese, a massive feeds us all three times steak pie and some chicken curry. More than enough evening meals for the week, if a tad repetitive (but needs must). We have enough bacon and sausages to last till Friday and I plan for Sat and Sun brunch to be possibly frittata, or omelette. Something with eggs anyway.

We also have an overflowing fruit bowl and salad box. Plan to make fruit salads for dessert.

The last £20 is planned for some berries and bread later in the week, if we need them.

Florence_J

Spent £14.69 today on frozen onions, peppers and broccoli, pearl barley, chopped tomatoes, 6 microwave rices, gram flour, dried fruit, meat pies for the OH and three lots of herbs and spices. Have decided to divide the remaining balance of the budget by the amount of week left, so it's £16.02 per week, so I have a grand £1.33 left till Wednesday when it will be the next weeks balance.

I feel very in control of the budget for the first time in ages and have got some lovely meals planned. I am going to make a leek 'barlotto' (a risotto type meal but made with pearl barley instead) which will cost me about 90p for the leeks and 25p for the pearl barley for two people.

Today I had one of the four batches of chilli I made on saturday for lunch with gram flour and cumin pancakes. Even my fussy eater OH liked them.

[Deleted User]

Spent. £332 last month - so £80 over. So glad I found this site as even though more than I intended that's a big saving on my usual spend.

Will go for £250 again for August!

Sayschezza

tighteningthebelt wrote: »

First day of challenge and I have a dilemma already... Please advise...
Dad and I went shopping together and he bought some of it for me.
Shall I just subtract what came out of my purse, or what was in the trolley?

My OH is always at the shop (its his hobby I think but its also his money) and buying bits he thinks we may need. I don't count it in my spends as I have no control over it and its not always useful.