January 2017 Grocery Challenge. NEW BEGINNINGS!

catznine

Hi again:hello: I've not been here for such a long time but have popped in for a read when I could. I really need to get back in the money saving groove and would love to join in the Jan grocery challenge with £120 for the two of us! Lots in store but need to take advantage of any offers and of course get the fresh stuff in!

guccigoo

Hi new year new start, please put me down for £240 this is from 30th Dec, really must try harder!

Franalamadingdong

Florence, you should raise it. It is a case if restricted sales and the personal license holder tied to the premise licence would be legal responsible for anything the staff did. They need to make sure all staff goes through regular refreshers after initial training to avoid this kind of thing. If they were having an internal check that member of staff would have their training reviewed and either they or the person responsible for training them would be disciplined to avoid a bigger, more unfortunate incident.

mrsnicewriting

hi all,
long time lurker here, but would like to join in for 2017 if I may.
Think that £2000 for the year would be ample, but would like to improve if I can, as there is only DH and I.
Will start from Jan 1, quite stocked already but need to be more organised.
thanks to all who organise and run this thread

Sue

JIL

StephieWillcox wrote: »

I am in awe of some of your budgets, you really do a fantastic job at keeping costs down.

I'm not ready to make serious changes yet, but a budget of £500 (for a 5 week month) will have to suffice for the time being. I am hoping over this year to get it down. I am ok with £400 a month, would be incredible to get below that but we will see. This is to cover all groceries, cleaning products, cat food and litter and nappies. Takeaways come out of a separate budget.

ETA: I do my shop online at Ocado - with a little one I really find online shopping to be the best solution for me, but am wondering if I should switch down to Tesco to save money. Which is the best online shop you've used?

I think ocado are the best for online shopping. I have tried them all. Ocado very rarely substitute and it's very rare to have anything missing. I do think it works best meal planning around their offers. I had a six months free delivery offer when that ended it was £4.99 per month, which when I was about to cancel was offered a further 6 months free. I just really like their quality.
I don't have a delivery every week, I also use lidl and Aldi. I am not keen on Asda or Tesco.

redmel1621

I haven't been on here for a long time, however, things will be tight until the end of May (I start a new job after Easter) so I could do with reigning in the food spends. I am hoping to get back into budgeting and make it second nature again, so that when I do start the job I can afford a holiday.

I shop weekly and currently 'budget' £100pw. In reality I think I go a little over this most weeks. For January I am going to set a budget for £90 per week this is for 2 adults, 2 teenager, 2 young children and a large dog. Hopefully I can get this mastered and drop to £85 a week for Feb. I'm not sure if this is a bit too optimistic, what do you think?

Poor_Single_lady

Please can I join. I have interpreted this as foods so excluding things like loo roll and kitchen roll which come from sainsbury or wherever in the same shop but that you don't eat. I hope this is right, I would also exclude any long term alcohol like spirits or whisky as treats but include wine that you might drink with a take away.
I'm not sure if everyone agrees or if that's the intention but that makes it more straightforward for me.

From 27/12/2016 to 26/1/2017

£60 for january

It is just me. But I plan to be home in January a lot, take lunch to work and eat more healthily.
I'm also another one with a full freezer. Lots of nice things that need eating and then a defrost.
Thank you for running the thread, looking forward to reading how people get on.

meg72

PennyGrabber wrote: »

I'm exactly the same! When I became a single mum, my daughter had just turned 2, and my son was 4 and a half months old. I really panicked that I wouldn't be able to feed them, as my salary only covered the mortgage and the childcare. Was only ten years ago, but I bought my own house six months before the market crashed. So glad he cheated then, and not the following year, as I wouldn't have been able to afford a house at all! Anyway, I have a ridiculous amount of food in my house even now, knowing I can feed the children! It has to stop. I will eat from the cupboards wherever possible, and only buy what is needed. The exception is my Christmas Eve ys shop, as I've been looking forward to that for months!! I have saved £76 this year just by putting my 50p coins away, and that's for the ys shop. Whatever isn't used will go into my pantry, so I'll always have money for food.

2017 is the year for me to clear. The house, my mind, the food stash, the garden... Busy but happy times lie ahead!!

Good luck with the YS, looking forward to hearing what you get. I am undecided yet whether I am going, shouldn't really but OH I do love it, we will see.

Suffolk_lass

Poor_Single_lady wrote: »

Please can I join. I have interpreted this as foods so excluding things like loo roll and kitchen roll which come from sainsbury or wherever in the same shop but that you don't eat. I hope this is right, I would also exclude any long term alcohol like spirits or whisky as treats but include wine that you might drink with a take away.
I'm not sure if everyone agrees or if that's the intention but that makes it more straightforward for me.

From 27/12/2016 to 26/1/2017

£60 for january

It is just me. But I plan to be home in January a lot, take lunch to work and eat more healthily.
I'm also another one with a full freezer. Lots of nice things that need eating and then a defrost.
Thank you for running the thread, looking forward to reading how people get on.

It is up to you what you include. I include all food plus any other grocery spend, cleaning products, toiletries and cosmetics but not take-away/eating out or pet food and cat litter (which we buy elsewhere) - there are lots of top tips in the first few posts and thousands of recipes(!)

Good luck
SL

Suffolk_lass

redmel1621 wrote: »

I haven't been on here for a long time, however, things will be tight until the end of May (I start a new job after Easter) so I could do with reigning in the food spends. I am hoping to get back into budgeting and make it second nature again, so that when I do start the job I can afford a holiday.

I shop weekly and currently 'budget' £100pw. In reality I think I go a little over this most weeks. For January I am going to set a budget for £90 per week this is for 2 adults, 2 teenager, 2 young children and a large dog. Hopefully I can get this mastered and drop to £85 a week for Feb. I'm not sure if this is a bit too optimistic, what do you think?

£85 a week should be do-able if you shop sensibly and plan to use up what you already have. It is a good idea to start with a 10% drop so it is not like body-shock-fasting-equivalent-grocery-saving :eek: - if you have done it before you will remember the key things:

1 Plan around what you already have in - meal plan a bit
2 Shop for what you need, not to replenish everything
3 It isn't a bargain if you won't use it
4 Don't be a brand-snob unless you love it, and then buy it when it is on offer, not at full price
5 Stretch it with padding (lentils or vegetables)

Good luck
SL