November 2007 Grocery Challenge

TheBees

Just popped in to update our siggy. Grocery challenge going well, now into week 2 trying to last out until Saturday before the next shop but have had to buy fruit, milk and bread from Co-op. Hubby got a half sack of spuds and 2 doz free range eggs for £6 from local farm so we can live off eggy potatoes (a devon delicacy) if needs be!!!:rotfl:

Keep going everyone!

nopot2pin

TheBees wrote: »

Hubby got a half sack of spuds and 2 doz free range eggs for £6 from local farm so we can live off eggy potatoes (a devon delicacy) if needs be!!!:rotfl:

This sounds interesting TheBees......... Can I have the recipe please ??:o

mikeD

What wonderful people you all are and so supportive. The advice given in the previous posts to kbl and flossyblog was absolutely spot on. Well done Rosie BG and MM. Pats on the back all round. :beer:

belfastgirl23

I want to hear more about the eggy potatos too

rosieben

mikeD wrote: »

What wonderful people you all are and so supportive. The advice given in the previous posts to kbl and flossyblog was absolutely spot on. Well done Rosie BG and MM. Pats on the back all round. :beer:

awwwwwww shucks, mike! runs off to hide behind the sofa......

I had a lovely spend up in Morrisons this morning using my £73 chrimbo savings stamps. I got some nice extras for christmas but mostly used it for a good stock up of butter, cheese and meat. Not quite sure how to tally this with my grocery spends though as I have my monthly tesco online delivery coming next week..............

flossyblog

hi everyone,

is it me or does anyone else get thrown out when trying to post

Rosiebien & Belfastgirl, thanks for the sound advice and support.:)

DP bought cakes for the office, as it was his birthday which was €26. He then got some tea (pg tips) from UK which was €11.

on the positive side, I do have 15 (HM) meals in the freezer, the only thing I will have to shop for will be milk and bread. I hope.

Angelraesunshine

i debated whether to go shopping today or to go next tuesday but thought i would run out of a few things so i went to the little Mr T today. Though probably doing this was a bad thing. Spent £68.82 but after using coupons and the xmas top up coupons i had and some LV i got £20 off so only spent £48.07p cash


Did stock up the kids lunch boxes box and got a few meats reduced to put in freezer for next month. And DD got a birthday in af ew weeks so got a few things that were on offer for that too.

Jacks_xxx

Afternoon lovelies! :wave:

Fab advice from Rosieben, Meanmarie and Belfastgirl as always. :T

In the spirit of reinforcing their advice I thought I'd post about how it was for me in the beginning because while I don't exactly have this down to a fine art yet, I have learned a few things.

One of them being that knowing how much you spend to start with helps you to reduce gradually from a realistic figure - and makes it more likely that you'll succeed!

I thought I spent about £400-500 a month and planned to set a GC target of £350

but...

suspecting that I may be underestimating a tad I kept my receipts in August.

(even though I was itching to get going!)

and I discovered to my utter dismay and horrified shame that I'd spent well over £650 in the supermarket that month.

:eek: Oh. :eek: My. :eek: God! :eek:

So if I'd gone straight from a £650+ casual habitual mindless spend to a budget of £350 I'd have been screwed (if you'll forgive the expression) and probably have got fed up and annoyed with myself - and perhaps even given up?

As it was I managed my £500 target with ease and that gave me confidence to cut it by £100 to £400 the next month.

I've learned a few tricks. some new recipes and I'm much more aware of how I shop now. (which is my second tip)

One week a month is always a stock up on tins, toilet roll, boxes of cereal, big bags of rice and pasta, washing powder, cleaning products etc - so that I don't have to carry them back from the shops the rest of the month.

(Hubby and I do it together, or I book a Mr T delivery if I can get hold of an adequate money off code.)

One week a month I barely buy anything except bread, milk and bananas and we manage on what we've got in.

(I managed this for two weeks this month, but only because we went to a family party and took home a lot of useful left overs! :dance: )

This is getting really long...but knowing what you buy helps too.

Early on someone advised me to do a priced up shopping list based on my meal plans plus lunches/ snacks etc and it was a big help to me.

In the words of Adam Sandlers little mexican accented sidekick whose name escapes me

"You can do it!"

Love Jacks xxx

miss_phish

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

Hi miss_phish

My hubby is a soldier so he too likes good solid meals.. he isn't a huge eater - but still likes good food.

If your partner takes sandwhiches i would consider making your own bread... its not only cheaper, but much tastier and more filling than shop stuff... i make mine by hand and its a doddle - in fact the BM has been packed away..
There are loads of ways of bulking out your meals....
sliced potatoes and onions in a dish, with plenty of seasoning and some stock.. cover with foil and bake in the oven until soft then uncover and allow the top ones to crisp up.... it is seriously tasty and costs pence -i would be quite happy with that on its own.. but you can put sausages on top or bacon or even corned beef through the middle....
casseroles/stews , cornedbeef hash should go down well.. especially if he is out in the cold all day.... shove dumplings in or make a yorky.
A flask of home made soup and a chunk of home made bread should keep him warm at work - my hubby is taking them at the moment - and loving it..
You will soon find loads of ways of stretching your money..
oh and congratulations on moving in together..

Thanks MrsMc, love the ideas
We have FINALLY got broadband installed :T and most of the boxes are unpacked so had time to tot up the running total and not doing too badly even though it has been the last thing on our minds!

Well done to the rest of you guys (although I haven't managed to read all the pages!)

Oh, and our house is lovely :grinheart

countrymusicfan

I would like to join in, too, but my son's birthday is coming up on the 21st and don't know if I can keep it up because of that and it is already the 15th, but will try. Want to get from £40 to £38 for the two of us. Will try to make bread. Dont know, but I can but try.