September 2018 Grocery Challenge

Highland_Fling

Good morning everyone

I have still not started spending on September thread as my GC starts on first of the month. My GC includes all food, toiletry, cleaning materials but does not cover socialising outside of my home.

I have noticed others GCs are £100 or less for the month. Can Flubberyzing, Berries, Smurphington etc. offer me some advice on how they keep their spending so controlled. Do they include everything in their budget? Are they vegetarian?

I know everyone has a personal goal and makes individual choices. I was just wondering if anyone could give me anymore tips/advice to help me reduce my GC. I would like to bring my GC down a little further as my other bills seem to be going higher. e.g. electricity

I would say I consider that I eat fairly well at the moment. I don't buy luxury but I don't want to buy poor quality food. I am also trying very hard not to waste food. Any advice would be gratefully received.

Have a good day everyone.

Onebrokelady

Highland_Fling wrote: »

Good morning everyone

I have still not started spending on September thread as my GC starts on first of the month. My GC includes all food, toiletry, cleaning materials but does not cover socialising outside of my home.

I have noticed others GCs are £100 or less for the month. Can Flubberyzing, Berries, Smurphington etc. offer me some advice on how they keep their spending so controlled. Do they include everything in their budget? Are they vegetarian?

I know everyone has a personal goal and makes individual choices. I was just wondering if anyone could give me anymore tips/advice to help me reduce my GC. I would like to bring my GC down a little further as my other bills seem to be going higher. e.g. electricity

I would say I consider that I eat fairly well at the moment. I don't buy luxury but I don't want to buy poor quality food. I am also trying very hard not to waste food. Any advice would be gratefully received.

Have a good day everyone.

Is it just you that your budget is for
I'm vegetarian and I think that helps keep my budget down,I've noticed meat is quite expensive these days, I look after my DGS once a week and went to buy some mince beef yesterday,to cook and divide up into meals for him and it was dear,mind you they only had minced steak so I'm going to look elsewhere for it
I also don't mind eating the same meal for four days in a row so I mainly cook enough for four servings then divide it up into four meals,my DD batch cooks her meals for the whole week and she only spends about £15 a week on food but she is vegan.

Alwaysskint2016

Hiya, Can I join for September please for a total of £300 for the calendar month. This will be food/toiletries/pet food/cleaning products for 2 adults, 2 teens and 1 dog.

Overspent loads in August (Currently at £380.12 but that's for almost a 5 week month). Plus be glad when kids go back to school.

Highland_Fling

Hi
yes only me and I do eat meat. Also eat fish and chicken. Do use supermarkets for majority of spends but also use local shops (butcher, fishmonger)

berries

Hi highlander fing

I'm lucky enough that I work in retail so I always keep a eye out on yellow tags stuff also we get a 1p deal on items that can't be sold to customers. I'm new to gc too so will be interesting to see how I get along with it.

I have got a well stocked store and freezers. I do grow some of my own fruit and veg. At the moment I don't go out for meals etc just have friends over for dinner etc.

I have done my first month meal planner! !! Yesterday I made hm veg soup enough for the freezer plus 2 lunches. Also made a sausage and bean casserole same as the soup some in the freezer.

I do have a very sweet tooth so will need to get baking some cookies.... got all the ingredients just need to try it out lol!!

I love jacket spuds too so a few of them a week too.

Highland_Fling

Thanks to Onebrokelady and berries for replying to my post.:T

I too have a well stocked freezer and store cupboard. I bake quite often and also have a well stocked baking cupboard. I give a lot of home baking to friends and family so I suppose that adds to my food bill.

I do batch cook soup/stews/pasta sauces etc and then freeze them in portions. I wouldn't choose to eat the same meal for four days although I often eat leftovers the following day.

I have not been searching for YS items recently so I need to start again. I also will try to build more vegetarian options into my meal plans.

Hopefully all these small changes will have an impact on my September GC.

Thankyou once again
Highland Fling

MadamMim2013

Please add me in for this month at £325
Done ok in Aug so far.. shaving a little off of what I'd up'd it to for Aug after scraping or going over in the last couple months.
Thanks

JingsMyBucket

Evening everyone. I’m still on the August thread but am putting down my stakes on here now. For September I’d like to put the budget at €500 please.

Two factors are affecting the heavy increase:

— My birthday party is coming up on the 8th where we’ll have between 22 - 35 people attending. It’s a wide scope because 3 different family units haven’t RSVPed yet as to whether it’ll be just the parents or kids too.

— OH was just given a borderline diagnosis to the same health issue I have. This means he’ll be eating low carb as well too and has to radically change his diet. He’s swearing off pasta, pastries, etc. So, more vegetables, nuts, butter, and cheese will be flowing into this household! :rotfl: He’s vegetarian, so at least we won’t be doubling the meat consumption.

For now, expenses will be a wild card for a couple months until we figure this out. When I set up October’s budget I’ll take into account the September birthday expenses to determine a new springboard.

Good luck everyone and looking forward to catching up!

Suffolk_lass

JingsMyBucket wrote: »

Evening everyone. I’m still on the August thread but am putting down my stakes on here now. For September I’d like to put the budget at €500 please.

Two factors are affecting the heavy increase:

— My birthday party is coming up on the 8th where we’ll have between 22 - 35 people attending. It’s a wide scope because 3 different family units haven’t RSVPed yet as to whether it’ll be just the parents or kids too.

— OH was just given a borderline diagnosis to the same health issue I have. This means he’ll be eating low carb as well too and has to radically change his diet. He’s swearing off pasta, pastries, etc. So, more vegetables, nuts, butter, and cheese will be flowing into this household! :rotfl: He’s vegetarian, so at least we won’t be doubling the meat consumption.

For now, expenses will be a wild card for a couple months until we figure this out. When I set up October’s budget I’ll take into account the September birthday expenses to determine a new springboard.

Good luck everyone and looking forward to catching up!

Well worth reading the 8-week low blood sugar diet book for that issue with health - really reset my metabolism - by Michael Moseley - not the recipe book

Suffolk_lass

Highland_Fling wrote: »

Thanks to Onebrokelady and berries for replying to my post.:T

I too have a well stocked freezer and store cupboard. I bake quite often and also have a well stocked baking cupboard. I give a lot of home baking to friends and family so I suppose that adds to my food bill.

I do batch cook soup/stews/pasta sauces etc and then freeze them in portions. I wouldn't choose to eat the same meal for four days although I often eat leftovers the following day.

I have not been searching for YS items recently so I need to start again. I also will try to build more vegetarian options into my meal plans.

Hopefully all these small changes will have an impact on my September GC.

Thankyou once again
Highland Fling

There is a "using up your freezer and cupboard contents" thread here on OldStyle that can help reduce your spends. For me, I try to incorporate what I have in already into my meal planning, and then use up what I already have in (so I spend less). Meal planning and shopping to list are the key things but I also have a 13th monthly pot for my stores. I use this to buy any non-perishables like tins, packets, toiletries and cleaning products and buy them only when they are on offer. That has made a huge difference. I spend less than a third of my former levels now.