January 2008 Grocery Challenge

lauradora

Gone a little over budget this mo nth but am still happy with myself as I had guests all weekend last weekend and I had a dinner party and of course thats whats affected my food budget.

So I have come in at a total of £57.46 for January when I budgeted for £50. :beer:

Put me down for february, i'm in for £50 again. Well done everyone xxxx:beer:

Sunnyday

Hi all, nice to see you all doing so well!
Even peeps that have gone over budget are spending lots less than normal which i`ve learned is a good thing as we all improve with age

My January budget has ended as i started it on the first and got in a bit of a mess as it didn`t coincide with my pay days lol
My February challenge will start tomorrow as i get paid today and it will be easier to keep track.
I will be over budget but not by a great deal ( i`ll have a look later)
I will set Februarys budget at £160 for the month - hope i`ve done that right and this time it will include the freezer budget as keeping it seperate meant trawling through reciepts.
Catch up later
Good luck everyone.
SD

mikeD

Rosieben & BG23, thanks for asking - DW's arm was found to have healed satisfactorily so she doen't have to go back to the hospital. They gave her some exercises to do to strengthen up the arm so we are all very happy about that :j:j.

Nykmedia - you may have to start chitting your spuds pretty soon but really it is better to buy "Seedling potatoes" as old ones may have diseases that will leak into your ground. "Seedling potatoes" are usually guaranteed disease free.

BigMammaF - Go on then, kiss me; wilya , but please be gentle with me .

jackiegibbo - So your pets don't like dry petfood then - we used to have dogs and we quite often fed them on dry food, but my DW always made some nice meaty gravy and they gobbled it up like nobodies business.

NSD for me today, so cheerio folk.

Love the FM

missyg_3

Hi guys, I'd like to join you to help get my grocery bill down!

Grocery bill for 2007 was £2,392 - or just under £200 per month for two of us. This includes toiletries, cleaning products etc, not just food.

This month it's £96 and we've been using up some store cupboard/freezer stuff. Hope to do the same in February.

Good luck everyone and I'll look forward to picking up some great tips!

Sunnyday

Jackie gibbo - would this help?
I posted it a while ago for someone else, maybe you could adapt it or try it in small portions.
Also it`s worth mixing tinned meat in with it getting a bit less each day.
Ours love it and because the mince is cooked in the slow cooker the gravy tastes really meaty and they like it just warm so it will smell nice.
HTH
SD

My dogs were eating us out of house and home but i changed their diet gradually adding the new food in and soon they were on it full time with hardly any problems changing over, here`s what they now have.

They each have a big pot bowl and each night before i go to bed i put in one and a half mugs of supadog chicken, half a mug of vytalin and half a mug of porridge oats, i boil the kettle and fill each bowl with boiling water, give it a stir and go to bed.
In the morning i mix it all up again sometimes adding a bit more hot water to make it a bit warm and they love it.
This lasts about three quarters of the day and later whatever is left in each bowl gets a mug of supadog added to it left dry and either half a tin of food or half a tin of pilchards or tuna (drained) this makes sure they get something crunchy for their teeth and oily fish a couple of times a week for their coat. They drink a bit more after this meal but they love it, i also sometimes add in my slowcooker dog mix if i remember to defrost some.

The slowcooker mix is brown rice, red lentils,pearl barley, carrots and a full bag of Morrisons bettabuy mince and a kettle and a half of boiling water.
When its cool i put it in tupperware and freeze it, to use i defrost and microwave it then let it cool until just warm and mix it in with the dry food meal and they can`t get enough.
The supadog comes in a big sack about 15k for £13.99 and the vytalin the same size but around £11 i look for it on offer, the porridge is plain old value porridge oats from the supermarket and is very good especially for older dogs, the tuna is the cheapest i can find around 25-30p and the pilchards are around 45p this means i only use 2 to 3 tins of dog food per week and i buy what ever is on offer. The sacks last around 4 or 5 weeks and i think the whole lot works out around £6 or £7 per week and my 2 are big dogs and big eaters.
Hope this helps you save on feeding your dog and anyone else who finds the cost a bit high.

MRSMCAWBER

Afternoon all ....

Well im going to give my total now -hubby gets paid in a few days, but i have plenty in to last-and to start FEBs challenge so im not spending another cent -and by handing in my total i won't feel that i can even if i want too -not that you lot are scary or anything :rotfl:

LIL_ME
Right my budget was €200 and i have spent €61.12 :dance:

That leaves me -€138.88 ....so Februarys budget will be the €130 -just to make it a nice round figure ......So that means that when hubby puts febs housekeeping in my sweaty little palm-it is going straight into my savings account :j

In february i won't have to buy any:-

1. cleaning stuff
2. toiletries
3. tea/coffee
4. bread flour
5. cooked meats
6. cheese
7. dilute

as i have plenty in :T , So once again it will be mainly fresh stuff i need, but i will want to replace the HM sausages that i have just used the last of..and i may take advantage of any whoopsies i see (not usually many here) which will hopefully have a knock on effect in the coming months...
But must keep telling myself that "its only a bargain if i would buy it anyway"

The grocery challenge and OS cooking is definitely healthier in this house... another 2lb gone this week - making 4st4lb gone so far.. and im not in the least bit hungry or feeling deprived :T and we are saving a fortune not buying food we don't need
so thankyou to everyone on here and on the os weightloss board:D

poohbear59

Hi just a quickie to say that we came in exactly on budget this month, well we had 16p left. Our new month starts on 24th so I will try to keep to £160 again.

arbroath_lass

bebee wrote: »

Had a thought last night, and wanted to ask a question if i may.
Do you find doing the GC helps you eat more health?

I'm doing GC to save money (really :rotfl: ) but what I really want to do is stop wasting food. We spend a lot but some of it gets chucked or languishes in cupboards and a lot of the spend was coming from daily visits to the supermarket. This is what I want to cut down on. I'm not starting to buy TV where I wouldn't otherwise etc (although I will try odd item occasionally). Nothing against TV or basics etc I do like some of it but not everything.

We have eaten better food this month because I've cooked a lot in the SC instead of bunging something in the oven when I get home from work.:T

If I've bulk bought anything I've either split it over a few weeks (just keep a note to add it on) or included it in the weekly budget ( sack of potaoes were only £4).

theamazinggem

hello my dears, does anyone know what to do with buckwheat groats? only they were 40p....

tattycath

Managed to spend £14.00 today and hope that I don't have to spend much more this month. We're having spag bol tonight and roast pork dinner tomorrow night.