January 2008 Grocery Challenge

JoJoB

Morning, have to brave the shops today as taking a dvd back. Really have enough in the cupboards to last me another couple of days, but feeling the pull of aldis already.

And fancy a little look round the charity shops as well, maybe peacocks... aaargh! The fact that i have saved on my grocery bill is giving my head the green light to start getting a few baby things in. Was too skint to consider this before now so will be nice to gradually build up a little store of the things I need. All pre-loved of course

izoomzoom

JoJoB wrote: »

The fact that i have saved on my grocery bill is giving my head the green light to start getting a few baby things in. Was too skint to consider this before now so will be nice to gradually build up a little store of the things I need. All pre-loved of course

don' underestimate what people will give you. we don't know many people but were given so many baby clothes (new and old) by almost strangers and my LO wasn't tiny when she was born either. I only bought 4 outfits in 0-3m (basic vest / sleepsuit) and now realise that even that was too much.

JoJoB

izoomzoom wrote: »

don' underestimate what people will give you. we don't know many people but were given so many baby clothes (new and old) by almost strangers and my LO wasn't tiny when she was born either. I only bought 4 outfits in 0-3m (basic vest / sleepsuit) and now realise that even that was too much.

Oh yes! I think i will buy one outfit at most. Not knowing if it is a girl or boy is a very good way to curb the spending on outfits too.

Going to concentrate on essentials like a cot mattress, and stuff for my hospital bag like breast pads and maternity towels (oh joy!). I would like a dressing gown and nightie as well. And slippers. These aren't essential but would make me feel more comfortable I think. Don't bother with them at home, I sleep starkers and just get dressed when I wake up.

My friend is dropping round loads of baby stuff today including a moses basket, sheeets, blankets, clothes and winnie the pooh mobile, so i will get a fix of baby stuff later on. Can't wait!

positivelypurple

Hi everyone, hope the New Year is treating everyone well :j

Doing really well with our grocery challenge so far only £36.49 but will need to get some bits in for DS's school pack-ups tomorrow. Making a meal plan for the coming week and eating out of the freezer tonight - chicken burgers and rolls plus all the pickles from Christmas :rolleyes:

Going to try Beef Madras in the sc tomorrow with rice - yum! Will let you know how it turns out

littlemissclumsy

morning all!

yesterday turned out not to be a No Spend Day after all...as i nipped to Tesco after my last post to check out the reductions.

Only spent £1.54 and got lots of garlic bread to freeze, more mozzarella!!(to freeze) and some yummy tubs of coronation chicken sandwich filler! oh plus a bag of apples

since i have started spending less monry, the kids\are amazed at their wonderful (and healthy) packed lunches!!!

not feeling too well today so spending morning snuggled up! hoping to get baking this afternoon to stop me buying any cakes and snacks over the weekend.

izoomzoom

JoJoB wrote: »

Oh yes! I think i will buy one outfit at most. Not knowing if it is a girl or boy is a very good way to curb the spending on outfits too.

Going to concentrate on essentials like a cot mattress, and stuff for my hospital bag like breast pads and maternity towels (oh joy!). I would like a dressing gown and nightie as well. And slippers. These aren't essential but would make me feel more comfortable I think. Don't bother with them at home, I sleep starkers and just get dressed when I wake up.

My friend is dropping round loads of baby stuff today including a moses basket, sheeets, blankets, clothes and winnie the pooh mobile, so i will get a fix of baby stuff later on. Can't wait!

Sorry to go off topic abit (for this thread) but I was really cheeky with my dressing gown / nightie - I planned on having a HB so didn't really need them, but I had to have a hospital bag incase - so I left those still sealled in their packs and after I had LO (at home) I took them back to where I had bought them and got a refund.

Jacks_xxx

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

Jacks I'm wondering if you'd have any way of getting a card for your local cash and carry? The quantities you buy stuff in suggests to me that you might do better there? The other thing that occurred to me for the rice was a chinese/asian supermarket where you can buy in bulk? You might also get cheaper meat for the cat (sorry veggie so no use on this at all ). And you often get cheaper fruit and veg, especially things like peppers and aubergines.

On the milk front I buy long life skimmed at 44p a litre (I think they do full fat in this too but for the sake of my waistline I've not investigated).

Tesco and sainsburys both do value range potatos for £1.98 for 5 kilos. I think they might be whites? Never got to grips with potato names really but they are fine and they keep okay (just steer clear of Lidl potatoes, they're rubbish). It's also possible here to buy them in what used to be 4 stone bags, probably now 25 kilo bags if you have somewhere cool to keep them - it's mostly farm shops etc that sell like this.

And if the cat was mine I'm afraid she would be mostly eating at the old lady's across the road

Thanks honey! :wave:
My hubby agrees with you about the cat! :eek:

I used to manage a pub/restaurant so I have a c&c card, but often they don't seem cheap enough to justify the petrol - sometimes it's not cheaper at all compared to the Value ranges

As you say rice is cheaper from ethnic shops - even though the 10kg bag is a storage nightmare, and the pasta I buy comes in 3kg bags from Tesco. Ive kind of worked my way up until I found the cheapest pasta that my family didn't whinge about - although there was a cheaper one at Lidl that they liked so I'll check that out on Saturday. (and I've just seen a slightly cheaper one at Asda at £2.20 for 3kg - I'm properly getting to grips with mySupermarket now! )

I haven't got on with anything potatoey with whites in the title. The last lot I had from Tesco were so green / sprouty and small that I found myself avoiding doing any potatoes cos they were such a faff (I'm such a lazy @r$e! )

I'm lucky that we have a locla market for fruit and veg as we eat tons of it - but yesterdays was a bit lacklustre so I'll pay more attention to the ethnic shops to keep me stocked up.

Cheers honeybun - all this help is exactly what I was hoping for when I posted my shopping list! :dance:

Love Jacks xxx

orchid-96

Hi everyone, well you all seem to be doing great so far..Just got back from my first Aldi shop in years, spent £25.20 and seemed to get loads for that, there were a few bits I didn't get (as they either didn't have them or I thought they were actually a bit expensive) like the grapes and cheese (cheddar I got some feta)...and I got a few bits that I had forgotten I needed like loo rolls and plain flour....

I have also bought 5lb's of chicken breast from our local butcher for 9.99, I don't suppose that is the cheapest I could get but the quality is good, they bagged them up 2 at a time and I have 5 bags so not bad and they seemed a good size so mostly should get a couple of meals from each bag (curries etc.)

I am going to Tesco tomorrow as the thing I bought from direct is supposed to be there after 4pm (a 2 day delay already :mad: ) so I might pick up a couple more bits especially if they have any knock down bargains, but I will be careful not to blow my budget (hopefully)

Good luck all for the weekend...

Jacks_xxx

:wave: There's loads of people I want to reply to - but I'll have to do that later as I've just seen the clock and I've got to update and skedaddle.

Actually, I don't even have time to update as my train goes in a few minutes (just checked!)

Has anyone seen a fab goulash recipe they fancy doing yet? (beef please as I bought braising steak!)

Seeya later!

Love Jacks xxx

kbl

hi, haven't been able to be on long enough to catch up with everything, in fact just on now to post, will be able to catch up tonight hopefully, so far haven't spent a fortune, and now the snow has hit, can't go farther afield to get my big shop, the local shops are sooo expensive, hopefully roads will clear in time for me to not damage my budget too much, still have plenty in freezer but lights went out last night before i got the dinner out, didn't want to break the seal and risk losing everything so ended up getting takeaway (dh paid for it, so not counting it in my budget, is that cheating?). Will update my sig and sign out now for mo, feeling really down at minute, must go clean and try to get out of this slump.