November 2007 Grocery Challenge

Bobbykins

Hi All

thanks for your words of encouragement! I've replanned the meals for next week and done a new shopping list.....I reckon I will be over budget by just £2 - £3, which isn't too bad I guess, considering the unexpected dinner party and the extra cake I've had to make!

belfastgirl - I like the idea of a 5 - 10% "contingency plan" as it's usually something unexpected coming up that takes me over budget. Think I'll build that in for the future, then I won't beat myself up too much if I go over budget AGAIN!

Regarding the break down of spending that you and flossyblog have done.....I've been doing this for a while now, I actually record everything I spend on a spreadsheet each month and put next to each item what "category" it falls into, ie meat, fruit, veg, toiletries etc. At the end of the month I then use the "subtotal" function on the excel spreadsheet and it does all the work for me.

I've found that really helpful in the past as it helped me to identify the major areas of spending. What I then did was take each category, starting with the biggest, and worked out how I could economise and then put that into practice. Once that category was successfully reduced, I moved down to the next one, etc. etc.

It has worked really well for me so far....actually, thinking about it, I really should stop beating myself up....with the help of this forum I've managed to get my monthly spend down from around £400 a month to around £200, which is no mean feat!

It's just getting below the £200 mark that's my big sticking point

egon

Hi flossybog,

My OH office have the same rule, your birthday - you buy the cakes!
But they prefer the homemade kind to the bought one.....
Your OH should try it out!

Good luck to everyone till the end of the month!

egon

falady

hi everyone,

I'm new to the board but would like to join in if you'll have me.......

This is my current (soon to change!) situation......

Currently OH and I spend a lot on food. Supermarket spend is approx £80 for both of us and 3 cats (no kids) per week. I know this is really high and can easily come down. We are both foodies and like 'nice' food, and cooking, so my aim is not to spend as little as possible, but to spend much less and still enjoy my food. Someone on the DFW board suggested having 4 / 5 days of normal money saving meals and a couple of days of more 'luxury' food which i liked the sound of.

OH is currently away in Sydney with work (will be back in Feb 08) and he is a big meat eater. He likes traditional food, but also chinese, italian, indian etc. He prefers meat or fish in most meals. I am not so fussed though and enjoy pasta etc.

I'm a reasonable cook and enjoy cooking so any tips on eating more cheaply would be appreciated!

I am setting my first months budget as £175 for the supermarket, inc catfood for the period 19th nov until 14th Dec. I'm also going to keep all reciepts, as people have suggested. I think ithe budget can come down more and will see how it goes.

have been checking though whats in the freezer and fridge and planning meals for the next few days basd on what's in there.

I'm going to read through more of the threads for more tips, but any comments are welcome!

ali xx

tattycath

Good evening everyone. DD phoned me this afternoon to tell me what she needs for cooking at school. She only found out today and needs it for tomorrow!!!
So I decided to go to Morrisons. I took a small trolley-coz I was too idle to carry a basket.
The trolley was filling up rather quickly and my debt free wannabe voice was telling me it was a bad idea to shop with no proper list, while my impulsive couldn't care less about the consequences voice was arguing most strongly that it would be ok.
I concentrated on multisaves and reduced. When I had gone through checkout I had spent £43.67 That included 3 advent calendars and £5 saving stamps-so not too much damage.
I also bought some split peas but haven't the faintest idea what you do with them or how I can use them??? any ideas will be gratefully received. Thank you.
Should only need bread and fruit between now and the end of the month - I bought some reduced veg to blanch and freeze.
Got to go and update my sig

gunsandbanjos

You could use the peas to make soup??

rockie4

September 251.43
October 227.74 :j

November..........I'm going to go for £200, lots in the cupboards and the freezer is quite well stocked.

I’m doing really well this month!!!
Total so far with a week to go is £159.27 and I only need a bit of milk and veg at the weekend – YAY!!!

I've not run the cupboards down too much either:j :j

patentgirl

well almost managed it but about £50 out, the end of my month is fri and have already already put an online order for a delivery fri night, I have run out of everything but still quite pleased with myself it will be another tight month next month plus DS has returned home after living with his girlfriend they have decided to split up so another mouth to feed daily now not just now and again.

Good luck falady

mikeD

Went to Tesco Metro this morning and bought:

Anti-bacterial cleaner £0.62
Savoy cabbage £0.78
Broccoli (loose) £0.48
Cauliflower £0.74
Parsnip £0.19
Brussels sprouts £0.65

Total £3.46

After a quick tot-up at the local convenience store this would have cost me almost £5.00 :eek:. So have saved £1.52 or 30.5% :j. Also getting from my house to the town centre cost nothing as I have a free bus pass.

Tattycash: I use split peas mainly in stews and soups but I'm sure there are 101 ways of using them up. Try the recipe threads, there are bound to be good ideas on there.

Hi falady - It looks to me as you are doing OK with the meal planning etc. Just set your own level and keep a tight record of all your costs and gradually reduce the spending when you feel comfortable about it, and good luck.

Gotta go know so may the Force be with you all.

tattycath

Good evening everyone. Have we got gremlins on the site again? I tried to get on to this thread about an hour or so ago and a message came up that said site was closed for routine maintenance and to come back on tuesday... very weird!!!
Anyway I'm here now. I managed not to spend any money today!!!:j
OH wanted to go to Mr T's so when we got to the checkout I let him pay for it!!! He bought my lunch-bless him.
I made up some more of the dried milk tonight-he still hasn't noticed the difference-it must be good!"!! lol
Better go, continued good luck with November's grocery challenge everyone

Jacks_xxx

tattycath wrote: »

Good evening everyone. Have we got gremlins on the site again? I tried to get on to this thread about an hour or so ago and a message came up that said site was closed for routine maintenance and to come back on tuesday... very weird!!!

I had that too!

Day 25 for us today and only 6 days left to go. This is usually the point where I go mad and do a massive shop but this month I did it last week in order to buck the trend.

We'll need some mince, chicken, veggies, fruit, bread, milk, and packed lunch stuff before payday but as long as I don't do any more stocking up this month we should be cool to come in well under budget. :dance:

I want to do a break down of how much we spend on what (that's such a good idea! :T ) but I'm having a very social week this week so it'll have to wait!

I hope it's going Ok for everybody else?

Love Jacks xxx