January 2017 Grocery Challenge. NEW BEGINNINGS!

thriftwizard

Another £15.36 gone west, in the supermarket, about £5 of which was on snacks for one of DD's friends who has a real problem with gluten; I didn't know until this morning that she was coming round or I'd have made something. The rest was on baking powder, cream (which will last us a couple of weeks, whatever the fairly-long use-by says) yogurt and dishwasher tabs, which should last us until the end of next month.

And to think I thought I'd hardly have to buy anything this month!

Franalamadingdong

Ah thrift, I've found that there is always something that's needed.

We went to the supermarket today after roughly working out what's to be had during the month, and so what we needed this week. Got some great ys stuff! Cherries 80p, pastries 25p, whole trout for 75p and 73p (which I've gutted, chopped off the heads, bagged and chucked in the freezer for one of our blank days) I think that's why whole fish doesn't go, but rainbow trout is delicious. We have been over charged by 60p for a us for a sandwich for the boy (supposed to be 40p, but have been charged £1) so I'll ring up and get my pennies back thank you very much! Got our new calendar too, £2.50 from discretionary, reduced to clear. I always wait before buying the new one. Boy is now supposedly feeling poorly so he probably won't want dinner. Picked up quite a bit of household stuff (12 loo roll, bubble bath, shower gel, Vaseline, bin liners) too. Came to £37.43 including the overcharge.

January total is £69.59/180 (£110.41 remaining)

Caterina

Hello,

spent £36.20, got eggs, lots of veg, dried figs, enough bread and cheese for at least a week and plenty of fresh fruit. This should be the only grocery shop until at least next week - perhaps more eggs if DH wants more. So far so good!

wannalot

Hi all,

Well, I seem to be starting the year as I ended the last one, sadly. I got home from family visits on tuesday, and since then I have been to the shops nearly every day! I had a Tesco shop (£16.50) on Tuesday, followed by a minishop at the Coop for a few cold remedies, drinks and ys peppers (£5) and went into Lidl yesterday and spent another £16!

How annoying! And made even worse by the fact that I did all this shopping without any meal planning. Now sat today, thinking that I want to do loads of batch cooking tomorrow (butternut squash and sweet potato soup, scotch broth, chilli, humus and shepherd's pie) and I don't even have all the ingredients yet!

I'm going to make a list now, and stick to it tomorrow, but I imagine I will spend another 10 or 15 pounds, unless I manage to resist YS bargains. I need to think about whether they are really useable bargains or just unnecessary food I buy because they are cheap.

The one silver lining is that I won't need to do any other major shops this month. I'm going to make beetroot and feta couscous salad, which will do for lunch three days next week, and I have plenty of cheese and sandwich fillings too for the others. Evening meals will be from the freezer or the stuff I make tomorrow, including delicious soups!

I must make this year better than last - i'm determined to stop buying crap, lose weight and get control of my budget!

freyasmum

Well after two trips to Aldi yesterday (bottle of wine broke ) and Farmfoods - and DD's money for lunches, we are now at £119.24 out of a possible £310.00.

We will have enough to make at least 8 night's worth of meals, so we will still be in budget - provide we stick to our guns!

DD planned to make quiche with broccoli crudites, a boiled egg, yoghurt and a piece of fruit for her lunches. She took her little list and purse round aldi while we were doing our shop. She found out that she didn't have quite enough for everything she wanted as cheese was more than she thought, so she changed to thins with pate (and will freeze the spare for a 'free' week in future). She also picked up baby plum tomatoes and cucumber to have as crudites. Kiwi's were a part of the super six, so she chose those a her fruit. She came in 86p under budget, which she said she will put towards a block of cheese for next week. She was well chuffed with herself and said she felt very grown up :j

GreenFairy wrote: »

I think that's a brilliant idea. I was about that age when I started my first proper experiments in the kitchen, and by the time I was fifteen was doing the family shop and most of the meal planning and cooking. I loved it, and it was amazing when I moved out at eighteen as most of my friends were living on takeaways and pot noodles - I even had to show one housemate hosts make instant mash and boil an egg!

Islandmaid wrote: »

Freyasmum - I would encourage her in anything like that, budgeting and cooking are both invaluable life skills - good on you both x

Thank you both

When I told me mum, she was decidedly less than impressed. I think she thought I was sending Freya out to the shops herself while I had the feet up on my sofa :eek: She said it was too much responsibility, too young.

I, on the other hand, firmly believe that there are some things that simply must be taught. And knowing how to look after oneself is right up there at the top in my book.

jedi82 wrote: »

Freyasmum, that sounds like a great idea that I might steal

Go ahead!

net78

£42.91 spend so far for Jan.

Franalamadingdong

Well done to your daughter, and of course to you too freyasmum. Sounds like you're teaching her well.

Just watched the second half of an ancient eat well for less and the bloke at the end, after hearing he was going to save £4k a year if he stuck with the changes he liked he said, "it's like the payrise I have given myself!" I thought that was a great way of seeing a grocery budget! I'll look forward to seeing how much I've saved on average and call it my little payrise! Thought it might be a helpful way of seeing it for anyone who feels like they're going without.

Bake-a-Cake

Hello,
a really quick update, spend of £40.07 to be added to total, on todays, tomorrow`s dinner and pack ups for next week.

Hexxed

Did my first shop of 2017 yesterday and spent £18 in Asda on lots of fruit, veg and a ys chicken. I got lucky after Christmas and managed to restock the freezer with enough ys fish and meat to see us through until April/May-ish, so with any luck I should have a very cheap four months to look forward to on the grocery front at least.

K1RST1E_2

We did our second shop of January this morning, well technically last night. I used My Supermarket to compare which shop was cheaper and then to save time this morning and to avoid the temptation of offers, I selected click and collect for free. A weeks food shop for a family of four came to £70.71 and as we shopped at Asda and used click and collect, we got £10 off so it came to £60.71.

Winning!