January 2008 Grocery Challenge

tallullahbelle

My months run from 1st-1st. I know I won't need anything till Friday now so my total for January 2008 is £305.49... £5.49 over budget, but still more or less on target, and less than £10 per day.
My aim for Feb is £280... but as supplies are running lower its going to get harder!

cheerfulness4

My total spend for January was: £96.48. :T :T :T

Mollymop5

'm going to be over budget this week but just by a little.I need to buy more flour and yeast to make bread but thats it.I'm really proud of myself as usually spend way more than this and like many others would waste alot of food.This month my kids have anjoyed alot of homemade meals, fresh bread and home made cakes and biscuits.I haven't bought any crisps, sweets, bread cakes ect since xmas.And they haven't been missed!!!!!!!!!

irishwexford

My month has now finished, total spend £127.79. We had meat over from christmas so have been using that for pies and stir frys so saved quite a bit.
Started on February this weekend, our local co-op store had a big promotion on bogof so stocked up on loo rolls, washing powder and lots of other things I would have bought so spent £31 for £62 worth of goods. The only thing I bought that was not on my list was prawns so did well. Best of luck everyone.

MERFE

Had to pop to sainsburys to get some fruit,bread and milk to last till tuesday night so spent 7.76, still under budget just, next month is gonna be tough as i have to reduce the budget from now out of necessity.

mrs-moneypenny

not sure if im doing this right do i post my final spend in red like this?

Jan total spend so far £560.49 overspent £60.49

Patches41048

Well my good intentions have slipped a bit, I took my neice and DB out to lunch yesterday (22.35 for roast lunch for 3 - very reasonable really) and spent way too much at the nursery where we went. I wont include the nursery spend in the budget as i do allow something the garden every month.

I dont have problems with nsd's normally as i hate going shopping and am out of the house most of the time (proabably why we're running out of stuff) but was forced to pick up some bread and ended up at the bakers ... (never go in hungry!!) so 4.50 later :eek: :eek: :eek: and 1.50 for a macdonald muffin one morning when i was late getting out of the house.

I still NEED to do a major shop as DS is running out of standby food in the house so i wont post my final figures yet.

Fingers crossed i wont totally blow the budget this month! The new one doesnt start till the weekend and as im away for that weekend that could be interesting!!

belfastgirl23

HI Blushingrose

You've done pretty well on your shopping I'd say. I only have a few comments really. The first is to avoid lidl potatos if at all possible, or at least I know here in NI they are not good quality. The large value bags are £1.98 in asda, sainsbury and tesco (5kg) and are usually much nicer. The only other suggestion really is to make sure you have a plan that will use up all of the veg you've bought or freeze it. Finally I'd say just to notice that you spent £17 of your budget on meat. Now I'm veggie so feel free to roll your eyes if you want but it is a very expensive way to get protein in your diet and it is worth thinking about swapping in some lentil and/or pulse based meals as well (though I did see the baked beans in there). But well done for keeping it under £55, it's a good feeling when you realise you can manage it isn't it!

And MikeD for your info this IS my DH post-training. You should have seen him before!! I do blame myself for leaving him standing near the confectionary...I really should know better by now!

Oh and Annie, sorry to hear about the phone, more than anything it's the loss of all the nos and the little saved texts etc that's horrible...

theamazinggem

hey all, just a quickie, i notice reading thru that a lot of you get organic/local produce veg boxes delivered - do you find this a frugal way of going about things? i know there are moral/health reasons, but on strict money saving principles, is it a good way to go? thinking of trying it out but want to get some pros/cons beforehand...

mama67

Sassamac wrote: »

I havent updated on this thread for a few days but my total is in my sig. I am a bit over budget (on a pro rata basis) but nothing drastic.

I have £16.55 to last me til the end of the month, but I shouldnt really need anything - something always crops up though so I hope I can still manage it.

I stocked up on nappies today as the offer ends tomorrow and picked up a couple of yellow stickers at the same time.
Ive had to have a reshuffle of the freezer to make it all fit, but then I took some things out for dinner tonight so there is more space now.

Last week I devised a fortnights meal plan for the first time in a long time and Im impressed with how well Ive stuck to it. Several times I have swapped days but so far we have eaten 8 meals from it in 8 days. the best thing about it is that everything is currently in stock (and more) apart from Friday night pizza which will be paid for in Feb and therefore not count towards this months GC.
With the yellow stickered stuff I have bought since I devised the plan there are several more meals also in stock (a whole chicken, and two packs of sausages spring to mind which is 5 or 6 'free' dinners next month).

My challenge for next month is to meal plan properly. I didnt think that style suited me as when I have tried it before I fell of the wagon before I even started. Im going to make an effort to go through the freezer and meal plan for anything thats not already accounted for. Then every time I buy something (the theory is only to buy meat from the chuckout counter or on offer and base meals around this) I will add a relevant meal to the plan to use it.

Don't know if this will help anyone with menu planning but what I do is any things that is leftover and is a portion to use for a second meal gets frozen, then approx once a month on a Saturday we have a leftovers night, where I pull out all the bits and pieces and everyone just gets what they want. If there isn't any veggies I'll do a bowl of salad or maybe even cook a veggie and the same with carbs will either do some jacket pots or maybe just garlic bread, homemade of course.

This dinner is then basically a free dinner as these things used to get thrown away.

Any other leftovers which can't be used for this and are dog friendly get sent to OH work dogs.