February 2018 Grocery Challenge

fifi35

I'm very pleased with myself. I have only spent £42/£125. I have used stuff from the freezer and cupboards and also made some homemade bread. I have also not bought any toiletries this month.
Will need some basics today or tomorrow though. Eggs, milk, tea bags, veg, etc but shouldn't come to much. Thanks for all the advice and encouragement.

starting_again_in_the_sun

It's not going so well for me.... Only 27.61 left of my budget now, so I think I'm going to go over.

I have stocked up on various store cupboard items which were on 3 for 2 offers and should have a fair amount left for March.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend

JingsMyBucket

Suffolk Lass, that's amazing the whole haul is still cheaper than buying it locally. There is a British store here where I live that imports perishable and non-perishable goods from the U.K. specifically from Tesco, Waitrose, M & S and more places. Every Christmas they do orders for turkeys and other stuff from the U.K.

Ginmonster ah, that actually makes sense. M & S does have good cheap basics like beans, etc.

€31.54 at Lidl: blueberries; 2x bags of 12 Babybels; 4x avocados that were on sale; angel hair pasta; Italiamo tomato/pasta sauces, sun dried tomatoes, baby clams, bruschetta and other antipasto items. This branch had the Italian Week stuff out already so I just stocked up today instead of making another trip next week. After some subtraction I was happy to see that I kept the stock up total to €13.80 which was below my estimated limit of €20.

€3.80 at the organic fruit/veg market: bananas, bok choy, and lemons.

I was planning to go to another store to get some yoghurt but I decided against it because I'm tired. I think I'm done shopping until probably Tuesday. On Wednesday night OH's teenaged nephew and nephew's girlfriend are coming to visit from the UK for a few days. I'll probably pick up some snacky things for them on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Totals So Far:
€165.25 / €450
9 / 10 NSDs

I'd like to keep my February total to about €225 or so. An additional €65 for the next 11 days of February should be fine.

Tales17

Hi all!

Back from our lovely holiday break today! Nice to relax and chill out for the week and we didn't go to many places (pretty much beaches and scenic walks!) so overall spend was pretty low for us! :beer:

We ate at our lodge every day, only had two treat lunches out for the kids to McDonalds so we had some grocery spends but after removing all the treats for the kids, Valentine's gifts, DVDs etc. We didn't actually do too bad for the week!

- £21.38 at Tesco on 9th - small top up shop and food for kids lunch boxes for the trip on the Friday

- £80.10 at Sainsburys on 10th - main shop for the week when we first arrived, included £9 off voucher too

- £6.70 at ASDA - quick top up shop by other half for some medicines which I forgot to bring - one cream cost £4 and I decided not to use it in the end as it wasn't my usual brand so I will be taking that back this week!

- £40.75 at Morrisons - mid week shop to get a Valentine's meal and alcohol as we decided not to go to a restaurant!

- £2.05 at Poundland for sweets (and a bag as we forgot to bring one and bought some other stuff too but not in the grocery budget!)

- £22.73 at ASDA on some beers for the other half that he liked and picnic food for trip home again.

So total grocery spend now stands at £288.91 which is pretty impressive for us with only a top up shop and one more main shop to go in the month, looking to be under budget for once!

Sorted out paying both our credit card bills off today, going to dent our bank accounts next week as this includes most xmas stuff, clothing sale spends and paying for holiday accommodation!

Looking to keep mine down this month as much as possible so going to be very careful with spending on anything for the next two weeks! (Although I had to nip to shoe shop today which is a lovely local shop but unfortunately closing end of next month Went to get new school shoes for my daughter which should last until end of the school year and bought some winter boots for me as everything is 50% off so I am actually bargain hunting! :T)

Halfway through the month, we can do it!

supersaver1000

I took delivery of the Azda order today. It was a total of £81.42 and I am struggling to get it all into the freezer and the cupboards. I've got about six planned meals in total plus lots of extras including the joint of beef for next weekend.

Will have to call into Aldee for any veg and alcohol needed next weekend and have to think about a pudding but I might be able to use some of the fruit from the freezer for that - its the kind of fruit that goes into a summer pudding but maybe I could add some apples and make a crumble.

I will have to go slightly over budget this month. I'm hoping if I stick to an Azda delivery and calling in to Aldee occasionally, that I can bring total spend down to under £400 next month. I would really like it to be £350, including pet costs, eventually. Judging from the state of the bulging cupboards and freezer that might be pretty quick.

Mrs_Cheshire

NSD for us today. Need to try and come in under budget for the next couple of months if we can.

savingholmes

Completely failed on this... completely lost track of how much spent - know way over the odds though.... Will try again in March. Although we did get a grocery delivery today - spent £66 but they refunded £3 as something was short dated

Scozz

Please could I join the challenge with a goal of £150 total spend (from 16 Feb - 15 March)? Money is very very tight for the foreseeable so this is to include pretty much everything for me, OH and toddler. OH buys lunch at work and toddler eats at nursery during the week so I think it's doable, I think I nearly achieved it last month but would like to post to keep me on track!!

Will post today's receipts tomorrow but today I remembered to box up and refrigerate the left over ric instead of throwing it away. Will make a chick pea curry for work lunches and use up the rice!

lynnejk

savingholmes wrote: »

Completely failed on this... completely lost track of how much spent - know way over the odds though.... Will try again in March. Although we did get a grocery delivery today - spent £66 but they refunded £3 as something was short dated

We don't use the f***** word on here

This is a thread to help organise your grocery budget and is a learning curve as such. The idea is that you find a realistic budget for your household and income, and try to find ways of reducing waste and unnecessary spending. Here we all try to help each other towards our goals

It would seem to be that you first need to organise a way of keeping track of how much you're spending. It's each to their own on this, but I keep all my receipts on a bulldog in the drawer and keep my signature up-to-date on here.

Good luck in March and don't forget to sign up when the new thread goes up - usually last week of the month
Lx

Rachiedabbler70

Just totalled my spending so far and it is £165.07 out of my £200 budget. Going to use up small food stock to try to keep within budget. Had to buy dishwasher and washing liquid and was cheaper to get 3 months worth so I have a bit of an excuse. still going to try though as I want to clear my mortgage so every little helps.

Good luck all:)