January 2008 Grocery Challenge

NEgirl

I would like to join too please Ive worked out meal planners etc and hopefully £53.50 per week for 2 adults and 4 children and thats just the basics - no sweets, chocs, biscuits, crisps etc so the kids know the reigns are being tightened!! :rotfl:So if you can put me down for say £210 for the month im hoping to come under it though

irishwexford

I am in for January with a budget of £160 for two of us. Have lots of beef from Christmas Day frozen into portions for curry and shepherds pies and also ham for soup and pies, mince for bol sauce and lasagna and stewing beef so will just have to buy chicken breast fillets for stir fry and our free range chicken each week from market. Will do my monthly shop tomorrow for store cupboard and cleaning items, I have my meal plan prepared so that is all taken care of. Best of luck to everyone trying this for the first time, it does get easier as you go along and the bonus is not food wasted.

cheerfulness4

First spend of the new challenge for me. £1.57 on:

A huge pork pie (oh the calories) 99p reduced from £3.99
16 large sausage rolls 58p reduced from £2.38


All now in the freezer, bagged and sliced ready for meals this month.

Keiss_21

Hya folks

Pleas can I join the Jan 2008 Grocery Challenge?
Put me down for £400 this month, and we will see how I get on.:rolleyes:

I have been dropping in on the OS weight loss thread for a few months and have a great time there. I have managed to lose a bit of weight and started cooking lots from scratch again.:D

Now I want to get our expenditure under control...we spend FAR TOO MUCH!:eek::eek:

Our house contains myself and DH (47 & 48) and two strapping 6 foot-tall teenager boys (18 and 14), who eat us out of house and home. The youngest is diabetic and plays rugby (a forward), so he eats every few hours, continually! I do a lot of home-baking already : no sugar oat biccies, low sugar muffins and high sugar flapjacks, but we never seem to have enough! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

So now, come the New Year, I am going to try and curb our excessive spending.

Wish me luck!
M

kittynortheast

Me too please, 2 adults, 2 children (appetites bigger than mine) and cat. I've been studying our spends for a while Best month July - £363.04, worst - Dec £764.25!!!! so will aim for £360, haven't been shopping since 20 th Dec!! so down to almost bare cupboards. Wish me luck.

fingersxed

Hi Every body

Happy New Year to you all.

I,m planning on miracle changes in 2008:j . This is with continuing to keep a book on all my spends and also not usuing the credit cards (well only in emergencies). I am going to plan meals all week.

My monthly budget for Jan will be £400. I am hoping to come in much less as freezer full so that should cut shopping bill. I'll be starting on the 1st till 31st.
Good luck every one

[Jan Grocery Challenge][£400]

Its_me_again_3

Hi There

I am new to this board and have decided that a new year means a new start. I honestly have no idea how much i spend each month but i do know that it is too much.

My budget for January is £250. This is for 2 Adults and 2 girls (1 & 5). My budget does include baby items such as nappies.

Here goes and best of luck to all.

FrenchMaid_2

am joining in as well - is groceries challenge only food or is it all spend after bills?

Well if it is only food then I think we can make it £200 - i.e. dh and me, daughter (1) and three cats...

Jacks_xxx

FrenchMaid wrote: »

am joining in as well - is groceries challenge only food or is it all spend after bills?

Well if it is only food then I think we can make it £200 - i.e. dh and me, daughter (1) and three cats...

:hello: Well everyone has slighly different "goal posts" in the same way that we all have different budgets, cook different things, and shop in different places.

The basic rule of thumb is usually all supermarket spending, including cleaning materials and laundry products are included - but we all differ about whether we include our pret a manger / starbucks habit, meals out, the kids school dinners, booze or takeaways.

(I include all of that except booze generally, although my christmas budget did include lots of alcohol so I'm considering adding it in from now on with it's own section on spending diary.com so that I can see how much we spend on it!)

Love Jacks xxx

LouiseJ

I joined the grocery challenge for the first time in September and came in just over budget. In October and November I nailed it! Coming in way under budget by a significant amount being the result of meal planning and home baking.

BUT! I totally lost the plot in December:

• I did not keep my spending diary at all!
• I Have no idea how much I spent on anything, never mind food in December
• Missed a credit card payment and incurred a £12 charge
• Had loads of take away meals and shop bought biscuits
• Did not even look at the MSE site throughout December

I have decided that next year I am not going to have a December.

I have now re-aligned my halo and have set a budget of £250 for January:A