January 2008 Grocery Challenge

lil_me

fallen_angel_shelley wrote: »

just been to tesco & they have loads of stuff reduced, large cream 10p, chesse half price and more, not sure what time it's closing today but if you can get down it's worth it.

Is if you have anywhere to put anything :rotfl:I can't fit a thing in my freezers etc and know if I buy anything it'd be binned. Made the mistake of 'bargain hunting' then having nowhere to put any of it and it being wasted before. I popped into a small Coop but avoided Tesco, I know I would be tempted to buy more than I can use.

Milk Powder - I use it in cheese sauce for lasagne etc, bread making, yorkshire puddings, baking, basically most cooking. If I have fresh spare then I will usually use it in the yorkshires but use half milk half water, the rest I don't.

MERFE it'll keep for a couple of days, what I would do is chill it tonight then when you get tomorrows dinner out pop it in then. Ben and Jerry's, I'll send my son round it'll be gone in 5 minutes :rotfl: he's LOVES Ben and Jerry's! Then you can have the freezer space back.

Where is this £4000 a year challenge, sounds interesting but think I will need to read through before I 'commit' myself....

fallen_angel_shelley

lil_me wrote: »

Is if you have anywhere to put anything :rotfl:I can't fit a thing in my freezers etc and know if I buy anything it'd be binned. Made the mistake of 'bargain hunting' then having nowhere to put any of it and it being wasted before. I popped into a small Coop but avoided Tesco, I know I would be tempted to buy more than I can use.

i have asked my ex to put the cream in his frezzer for me, just hope he don't use it like he has in the past with stuff i have left in his frezzer, and then tells me i didn't put it in his frezzer :mad:

Sassamac

FAS I went to Tecos this morning too and thety had a whole extra chuckout counter for cream cakes, one for bakery and one for meat as well as the main one. I bet loads more will be reduced by now. G et down there girls and stock up. We couldnt bring anymore home as we have limited freezer space.

I have just used by bank statements to work out my Nov and Dec grocery spends. They total £225 for Dec (inc. this morning) and £210 for Nov. So to do £150 for the Jan challenge is going to be tougher than I first anticipated. Still I am determined to do it.

TheBees

Hello everybody in the January challenge.
We are so glad we found this website at the end of 2007 as it has really made us focus on saving money.

Unfortunately I have been poorly since Boxing Day with a nasty virus called Slap Cheek (caught from some of the little darlings that I look after at Nursery) so I have been feeling dreadful with aching limbs and joints and just wanting to lie on the sofa for the past 5 days! I have, however been plouging through the MSE website and entered loads of competitions! I was looking forward to going to the sales but can't imagine I'm going to feel like it for several more days until I'm completely over this bug. OH has also got "Man Flu" so we are both moping about feeling sorry for ourselves!

Good luck to everyone with the January challenge. Our target is £350 which we hope to stick to. I am going to try cooking double meals and freezing a spare as suggested by someone else. This not only saves money and time but prevents impulse take aways when we get home late and are tempted to buy fish and chips or a chinese because we can't be bothered to cook from scratch.

We also recommend the £2 coin challenge as we have quickly saved £50 in a couple months.

HAPPY NEW YEAR
From the Bees

egon

Had Mr T delivered today. Very pleased with it. It came in at £69.10. This includes reductions of £12.10 for offers and a £10 money off vouchers. This should last us for the next 4 weeks. Should just need to stock up with fresh things eg milk, veg. All that shopping will be done in Lidls and Morrisons. So hopefully the January challenge is off to a good start.

Egon

PS: I also bought some more eggs today.
All this comes out of the January challenge.

sweetpea03

lil_me wrote: »

Where is this £4000 a year challenge, sounds interesting but think I will need to read through before I 'commit' myself....

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=640131

here you go lil_me Its on the dfw board, nykmedia started the thread & we are all doing it for all sorts of reasons, to pay off debts, mortgages, increase savings & some people are doing it because they are a low budget anyway. You'll be made very welcome if you decide to join! :j There are 90 challengers at the mo & hopefully it will be up to 100 by the time midnight comes

bails

Hi everyone and Happy soon-to-be New Year! I just had to post as I am so excited about the shop I did today (can you tell I'm new to GC?:rotfl:) I just went to get for the next couple of days til I can menu plan but ended up with loads of bargains and still only spent £23.47!!:T and saved £11.35! :T That's not even including the downsizing I did on a few labels either. I bought things that were reduced or 2 for1 as usual but also dropped a label and even asked for a reduction on something (I would never do this normally!) - the cat litter was the last one and had a small hole in the bag so they gave me £1.49 off (AND I had 10% voucher for it too). Used the £2 voucher from Mr. S as well and I was laughing! It's funny, I am always quite careful anyway but today I was really motivated by the Challenge, so thankyou to everyone on here! I look forward to a successful first month!

Hollysan

Hello everyone,

I can't believe how long this thread is! Hello to all the newbies, and good luck.

I dropped off the challenge in the middle of November, at least I didn't post anything as life got so frantic!

Anyway, we are back in for January 2008 with a full freezer and fridge and actually, we didn't overspend in December. Only £380 which is pretty good considering we had visitors over Christmas and we tend to push the boat out at Christmas.

For January, I am setting a budget of £320. This is £50 (roughly) a week and £60 for the wholefood wholesaler. I have decided to go to the wholesaler once a month now. It will be easier with the monthly budgeting, and I can buy more from there and less from the supermarket.

Looking forward to hearing how we all get on.

Hollysan

hypno06

I don't have the children with me for most of January, as they are skiing in France. Therefore it is just me, OH and the lodger. I will therefore be aiming for £125 for January. I am doing the "live on £4000 a year" challenge on DFW, so this will fit in nicely.

Meal plans are done for the next few days, and I think storecupboard meals can keep us going for a few days without the need for a massive grocery shop. I have washing powder in stock, so am strangely optomistic!

Happy New Year one and all!!

poohbear59

Please can I join you for this month's challenge? I have missed a few months and DH last worked on Dec 17th so we have an extremely limited income now. We are down to five adults living here and our aim is for £160 for the month.