December 2016 Grocery Challenge

ab_saver

Reporting my first spend (actually on Tuesday) of £1.98/75 on some YS chicken from Mr W - 600g for 99p.

Needless to say, I won't be defrosting that freezer this week :rotfl:

I'm pretty well stocked except for milk and cereal - OH and I got a good selection of reduced meat and fish from Mr S and I have ample fruit and veg (14p parsnips!).

I thus shouldn't need to buy much to get by for the next month and hope to get a good spread for Boxing Day dinner as well (I'm at work on the C day itself and we have a rib of beef (YSd of course) in the freezer for then)

lovecrafting

Hi can i join in please, i need to clar a budget deficit of over 400 a month so groceries really need a good looking at, I have looked at last month and i spent (omg please dont judge me) £650 I have done a meal plan and plan on spending £400 for december, I have christmas dinner (only for us six) and yule dinner for ten plus a buffer on the 24th but we are going awayon the 28th so im sure it should be fine, I include cleaning products and pet food in this budget.

today has been a NSD (well i am going to crochet class but thats another budget) i hope for nine this month.

ETA: thats a lie, i will need milk and bread later on so £2 for milk and £2 for bread but wont need it tomorow

StephieWillcox

Some unauthorised spending by the hubster (on treats) takes me to £196.68 / £400 for the month so far... I do the big shop every 2 weeks so this week should be a low spending one (will need milk and bread).

Have also been better at batch cooking - I have a cottage pie and a lasagne in the freezer from when I made them this week, and I will shortly be adding some chicken enchiladas to that stock pile.

We're hoping to sell and buy a bigger house next year, so all the sticking to budget I can do now will help us out next year.

meg72

Georgiegirl2012 wrote: »

I will be watching with interest. I did attempt this about a squillion years ago (ok - 8 years) but have fallen off the budgeting wagon, and rolled all the way down the hill. I had a complete stab in the dark at £250 a month when doing a budget, because it's less than £10 a day, but as there is only me, and reading all your posts, many of you manage on much less than this for far more folk.

So I shall watch, and hopefully pick up many good pointers. And when I join for January will have a much better idea of how much ( or little) is realistic for a family of one with 2 elderly puss cats.

Thank you for the folks who set up and continue to run this challenge

May I make a little suggestion as you say its a complete stab in the dark, you try writing down what you spend and on what for this month. Then come January you will have a much better idea of what to aim for. Also decide what your budget is to include, I only include food at home in mine, eating out or takeaway is a separate budget, cleaning etc is another.

As you say some manage on less for more folks but you need to remember everyone is different and what suits one wont suit all.
Its your own personal budget and just needs to suit you.

This is one of the nicest threads on here, loads of experience, warm hearts to care and share and a great sense of make it fun too, YAY lets all go YS hunting.

Franalamadingdong

Welcome lovecrafting. No judgement here, after all, we're all here to help curb our grocery spends and just like meg said, we've all got different budgets, requirements and circumstances.

hex2

Hello everyone, it's a long time since I have been here. I had a wake up call this morning in the form of my co-op dividend, a massive £22 for the last six months. That works out at £84.62 spent per week! This isn't main shop, or even a big co-op. It's top ups in the little local store. I probably spend as much as again in Lidl, and we usually have one home delivery a month at c£100.

There are three adults and two early teens, plus cats and dogs. I am aiming for £600 for December.

That said we had to go to local small town for new school shoes, managed to hit 75% off time in the big co-op (4.30pm it's usually closer to 8pm) so £9.46 on F&V, and freezer bits. £5 on 8 pasties from Iceland and £5 on 4 packs of on offer cereal preferred by teenager (mrS, almonds and more, half price) Day 1 and already on £19.46/£600

Had to play freezer jenga to fit it in so really need to focus on use up.

Hex2 £600 please

Cappella

Can you please count me out completely for this month. I'll start again in January if that's ok? Dealing with some awkward issues here, including huge vets bills and can't focus on the food budget - feels like one more thing I'm failing at to be honest so I'm opting out temporarily.

thriftwizard

Reporting a massive hit of £180-odd today; will add the pennies tomorrow, as the receipts are out in my van & it's too cold to go out there again! Anyway, £90 at L!dls and another £90 at Makr0, but that's just about all the non-perishables we'll need to see us right through the festivities, complete with assorted returning offspring & guests. (Most years it'll get us a fair way through January and some bits, mostly wine, will still be around in about May!) I'll need to stop off at the farm shop & get spuds, poultry & cockatiel food at some point, but that's not urgent & can wait until I'm passing. So - £350 left, but a drop in the number of permanent inhabitants to 4 means that shouldn't be too hard... famous last words!

Kittenkirst

Hi,
Can I please sign up for £150 this month?

That's for two people for the month put potentially for 6 over Christmas

We've just moved into our first home so this is a bit of a stab in the dark however I'm hoping that we can come in at this amount!

JAMIEDODGER

First day of the new challenge yesterday and first shop. Spent £27.63 in Lidl on various things I had run out of, plus a few bulk buy items which aren't included in this budget/challenge. Planning a NSD today and tomorrow, so will be staying at home with my purse shut.

Hoping to make some cakes today so the kids have plenty of stuff to munch on next week in their lunchboxes.

A space has finally appeared in the freezer:D So it seems my use up November worked to a degree. Still lots to go through before I am able to do a defrost though. To that end, I will be continuing my use up month to include December, only buying meat when it is on an offer that is too good to pass up and working my way through the freezer stocks I already have including those items which I forgot to label and have no idea what they are!

Meal plan for this week is a bit of a lucky dip as I am using up the HM ready meals that are in the freezer, but do plan to do a roast during the next week, plus a pie one night and maybe make a lasagne:)

December so far:

1st - Lidl - £27.63

Total spend so far: £27.63/£372.37 (£400 remaining) and 0 NSD’s