January 2008 Grocery Challenge

tattycath

I was rather pleased with myself today. Went to asda and bought:
organic mushrooms - 20p should have been 86p
organic mushrooms - 20p should have been 86p
organic cauliflower - 25p should have been £1.31
broccoli - 19p should have been 76p
fresh pineapple - 25p should have been £1.25
mature cheddar £4.59
cheesecake £1.50 should have been £3.78
The full price total should have been: £13.41
The actual total was: £7.18
A total saving of: £6.23
I also had an internet voucher so got a further £2.49 off my shopping. So I only ended up paying: £4.69
So the total saved was: £8.72
Obviously that wasn't the saving in real terms as I would not have bought some of the stuff if it had not been on offer!!! but I'm a happy bunny!!!

galacticgreen

Fruit, veg and dairy order arrived tonight, so I'll update my total later. Pleased with our effort today, as we ran out of milk this morning, but we were due to get some delivered tonight, so I didn;t want to buy any more. Due to have mashed potatoes with tea, so instead of changing plan or going to buy milk for the mash, I used up with creme fraiche that was in the fridge that normally I would have binned without using!! Result - no spend, used up fridge items, kids didn't notice and OH thought the potatoes tasted great - YAHOO!! Still haven't done menu plan for next week, must get this done.....

bails

Mollymop5 wrote: »

Hay????? I know yu say you're veggie but surely you don't eat hay?

Ha ha, no that'll be for the guniea pigs!! I'm including my pet food in my budget (2 guinea pigs, 2 cats).
Loving all the info about what you can freeze, keep it coming! With eggs, can you just freeze them as they are?? Off to write down all the freezable items and catch up some more!

arbroath_lass

dawnylou wrote: »

Can someone please tell me more about these 'soapnuts'?
I just bought a huuuuuuuuuuge box of powder but if these work just as well I could consider it for future use....

I've ordered a sample from here last week - 75p

http://www.inasoapnutshell.com/index.html

Spent £5.33 in Mr Ts today. Found Tesco Value 9v batteries at £1.30 for two, though. Means I can use my kitchen scales and attempt HM bread again tonight. A big packet of TV custard creams (24p)has put me over budget :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: .

bails

All caught up now; well done everyone, some fantastic bargains being had out there! Might try again at some point this month, see if I have any more luck... With the milk diluting, would I do 25 milk/75 water for skimmed equivalent? Learning so much on here still, thankyou - really, really want to grow my own this year but at the mo we're not sure if we're moving or not; we should know by the end of this month, that'll still give me time to get the garden in shape if we're staying right?
NSD for me today so I'm happy! Keep up the good work folks; I wonder what our total savings for the whole thread this month will be?:j

clowe1

Is anyone else not doing so well? My budget for the month is usually £400 (i know really high - but i am keeping spending diary etc and once i have managed to stay withing my budget i will start reducing) 2 adults, 5yr old and 1yr old (lots of full cream milk and nappies etc).

Anyway my month started on 19th december because I had spent all my november's pay at this point (crap at getting to the end of the month) so I have five and a half weeks to try and last.

as at today i have £54 left for food and alcohol for the rest of the month, child benefit arrives on 28th, pay day is 29th. I have enough meet for the next five days, quite a bit of fresh veg but need loads of fresh fruit.

Anyway, I have done really well in me terms, lots of shopping at lidl etc, but everyone else here recently seems to be doing so much better.

Just thought I would ask?

i usually get to within a week of pay day and write a cheque on next months pay I am trying my best not to do this.

Clare

charleypink

hi everyone,
i put my order in for 500g soapnuts today, and iv'e got so many bottles of essential oils so my plan is to use these to fragrance my wash a little.
Only spent £2.00 today on some mince, my oh took me out for lunch today which was nice ( and saved me buying anything for lunch lol).
charley:p

lauradora

So far I have spent a total of......

£29.77

thats out of my £50 budget. I'm really pleased with how well i'm doing. this challenge has stopped me 'nipping to the shops' and buying things I don't need. thankyou all!!! xxx :beer:

Moniker

Have just popped in to update my sig having been to Sainsbury's this evening and only spent £24.86! I got a bag of satsumas for 20p! They looked ok to me! Have spent the evening cooking: made a quiche to take to DD2 on Saturday (she's just moved into a new flat and we are taking some furniture to her), and a fish florentine for tomorrow night's supper, which used up some spinach lurking at the bottom of the freezer.

Haven't had time to read all the posts since I last logged on on Sunday, but welcome to all newcomers and thanks everyone for the inspiring posts.

Off to bed now as soon as my breadmaker tells me the loaf is done!

rosieben

bails wrote: »

… With the milk diluting, would I do 25 milk/75 water for skimmed equivalent? …

I suggest you start off somewhere between 50 and 75% water, and do it gradually; or else do just a small amount at 25/75 to see if you like it then you wont have wasted too much if you dont. I am used to semi skimmed, so half and half whole milk is fine for me.

clowe1 wrote: »

… Anyway my month started on 19th december because I had spent all my november's pay at this point (crap at getting to the end of the month) so I have five and a half weeks to try and last.

as at today i have £54 left for food and alcohol for the rest of the month, child benefit arrives on 28th, pay day is 29th. I have enough meet for the next five days, quite a bit of fresh veg but need loads of fresh fruit. …

You mustnt compare your results with other peoples, its easier for some than others and we are all eating differently and in different situations. For instance I cant get to a supermarket easily (an hour’s bus ride for me) so I dont get chance of yellow-stickered goodies!

Just take it slowly, you are doing well to be keeping track of what you are spending, that is a huge first step towards reducing costs and also you have a very long ‘month’ for this budget, I think most of us would struggle to make it.

Try menu planning till the end of your month using up as much of what you have in your cupboards and freezer. If you want any ideas, please post what you have and I’m sure you will get loads of suggestions. Check out the threads in the OS mega index with cheap meal ideas too