January 2008 Grocery Challenge

pobby_2

Hi everyone
I know I am a bit late, but can I please join in?

I have managed to dig out of my shamefully untidy handbag all receipts from this month so far!!

I've no idea what we normally spend, so would like to come in at £250 as a starter and we'll have a more precise target next month.

We're 2 adults, one 4 year old and one 1 year old (who fluctuate between eating us out of house and home and being on hunger strike!)

Would like our budget to include food, cleaning products, nappies, toiletries, loo roll, etc - everything really.

Hopefully will make it as the freezer is still full of leftovers and I'm trying hard to stick to menu planning (and healthy eating but that's another story!)

Thanks in advance! Great idea.

jpe20

welcome pobby,
I would set yourself a relatively easy first month target say 10-20% less than you would normally spend in a month. [I set a target of 180 quid when I usually spend around 225quid pm] In your budget I would include all the items you would normally buy from a supernarket, so for me that includes beer and cleaning stuff as well as food.

Set a realistic target, not something silly and above all don't make yourself miserable by eating virtually nothing,

Good luck
Jools

pobby_2

thanks jpe20. I think £250 should be comfortably achieved based on what we've spent so far. The menu planning really helps. I have done it before but was about 2 years ago so I'm a bit out of practice.

rosieben

Forgot to add my spends last week - £8.37 for milk, veg and cheese. I was hoping not to have to shop this week but am dangerously low on bread flour and ketchup :eek: so will be doing a small shop tomorrow or saturday and hopefully spending less than £10.

I was planning on delaying my Feb Mr T order but may have a small one to stock up on essentials; hope I can find a code!

meanmarie

Spent €2.99 on some very nice apples this morning, so I now have €165.17 left until the end of the month...still to get to Lidl, not working for me at present but nobody will starve if I don't get there to-day.

Marie

theamazinggem

just bought a 15p banana from the market and it got me thinking, is it actually cheaper to get stuff from the market or not? it was definitely nicer than the bananas i got in tesco (which are on their way out actually, need to get a banana bread recipe...) but i'm pretty sure it cost more.

i guess it would be alright if i only got the £1 bowls he does, but they only come up on Friday afternoon so it's not really regular enough. any thoughts from you guys?

going to try cooking the quinoa i bought tonight, we had it alot in peru and liked it, so giving it a go with some roasted veggies and fish i think.

i'm doing a bit better at the not shopping than i was, but i'm still not feeling the creativity i was hoping for, i think since i've started the GC it's made me feel less creative, by virtue of my forcing it.... like wanting cakes when you're on a diet...

Frugaldom

Hello everyone. My grocery spend for today was under £10 and I think I did OK out of it from Co-op

4 litres milk - £2.96
4 tubs of Dairylea Cheese Spread @ special offer 67p each
tub of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (Lite) - special offer - 57p
2 x 6 Apple Pies - reduced to 45p per box, now in freezer

Total spend - £7.76

Signature updated and the grocery budget is well within its limit. That's because I used to count cigarettes in with it - none of those to buy any more

Hope everyone's having fun, I'm just going to try catching up with this thread before tea.

bebee_2

As OH gets his first full pay today is seemed a ideal time to start this challenge. As he is on Weekly pay i shall be doing per week. but i have put a monthly total in as well although this will possibly change as some months are 5 weeks.
Also i have judged from previous grocery spends. so here goes wish me luck, i'm sure i will need help sooner or later
I have had virtualy NS up to date this week anyway ( as had no money )

windowshopper100

Hi all, long time no post (I've been almost keeping up though and well done everyone!) - but had a few NSDs.... but after making meal plans up until Jan 31st, I went shopping for the required items and spend £26.53 - which has put me over budget by 73p (sig updated).

I'll have to go out for milk, but I can't think of anything else - on that basis I'm pleased with progress:D . Had a bit of a bargain (makes a change for me considering what you lot manage to sniff out!) - chickens were reduced to half price so I got 2.... good start for February I thought... not buying one would have kept me under budget, but that's where lines start to blur isn't it - you can't walk past a bargain you can carry over to the next budget can you.

Right I'm off to joint and freeze the chickens -bit of a priority as they're sell by today - and then going to glean some cheap recipes from previous pages.

Keep up the good work.:T WS100

windowshopper100

Back again, and so soon!

Just read nopot's brilliant tip for the cheap slow cooker (thanks nopot:money: ) and I have been deliberating this for ages... but at £8.49 I'm not sure I can pass it up even as an experiment and possibly trade up later.

jpe(?) - re your request for stainless steel - there was a link on the Argos page to similar items, and there were some branded ones for less than £20 if your still looking.

I do have a question for you knowledgeable lot though - 3.5l capacity - is that enough? (well presumably it is otherwise they wouldn't make them:o ). There's only us 2 but I would definitely want it big enough to be able to freeze at least half.

I did follow the advice of a previous poster (pages back, sorry I can't remember who:o ) of putting in a request to a couple of 'freecycle' sites - no luck unfortunately.

Thanks girls (and boys!).
WS100