January 2008 Grocery Challenge

witchypoo

Thanks rosieben and brummiebabe for giving me insight into how you plan your takeaway spends - that's what I have been doing too but trouble is I haven't been managing what's left after the grocery budget terribly well! I need to get my act together, honestly! So thanks for that, I feel I know now what needs to be done, and that's sort the whole financial thing out. I hope I stick to it this time!

I had to get a 4 pinter of milk from ASDA today and resent paying £1.34, I usually buy it from Iceland or Somerfield for 24p less. I also ended up calling into Costcutter tonight, and rather than just the two chocolate Freddo frog bars I went in for I succumbed to Ginger beer (over coke, so saved a bit there at least) and a Jam Roly Poly, plus a tub of custard powder cos ours had run out at home. So today I spent £5.04 of the grocery money. We'd been and got another takeaway, which I had managed to blackmail hubby into paying for with his work tips money!
I'll make a new siggy tomorrow when I am more awake.

catralense

sweetpea03 wrote: »

hi kiwi, it was MRSMCAWBER who mentioned the bread offer, it was in Lidl for 48p no idea if its still on offer (does anyone else know?) I will check for you when I go there this week if you like

I was in Lidl's at the end of last week and got four bags of bread flour for 48p each - bargain! I didn't notice any sign saying that it was a special offer thoug, just assumed (hoped) that was the normal price! I'll check again when I'm there next.

windowshopper100

No wonder everyone's doing so well with their budgets - we're all too busy posting on here to go out shopping for unnecessaries....:D I've only had time to catch up on the last couple of pages so sorry if this is a bit disjointed.:o

Went out last night to friends... all well and good - free dinner! NOT, may I stress, that I see my friends as a free meal..... but anyway, you've got to take something round haven't you. And it all comes out the budget. So we took a bottle (no choice really as we drank so much of theirs). But it was half price (£4.99 from £8.99 - you don't want to take anything too plonky do you) and I made New Year presents for our hostess and another friend who was there too (as I wasn't organised enough to get them Christmas presents) of Lemon Drizzle cakes and some chocolate truffles each. The gifts went down really well and a lovely evening had by all... have been nursing sore head all today:cool: .

So total spend on presents and dinner gifts £7.58 (sig updated)... pleased with that.

What do others do as thank you gifts.....?

See yous lot later.
WS100

arbroath_lass

Did our weekly shop in Tesco today. Didn't find any real bargains but the shop came to £54.16 :eek: so I'm under budget by a wee bit but I may need some odds and ends through the week.

There were quite a few special offers but the shelves were empty. Did I read somewhere on the site that Tesco will give vouchers for special offers if they've run out? Or was I having a bizarre MSE dream?:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

My slow cooker is all set up ready to switch on tomorrow morning (ham and veg soup) and the breadmaker is mixing away in the background.

If everything is ok I should be able to freeze some of my fresh meat for another week as the soup will do us a couple of days :T .

Sunnyday

dawnylou wrote: »

Oh dear. Been out today to get some dog food - I'm sure it s more expensive to feed them than us!! Over £20 for 16 pouches and 12 cans. Seems a lot to me. Think they will be eating cheap food like us soon!!!!

I almost forgot about this,
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.
SD

Sassamac

Hi guys, a NSD day for me though I have just about run out of eggs and fruit juice so we'll see what else runs out tomorrow to see whether a shopping trip is justified but Id ideally like to wait til Tuesday.

Had my parents round today - they tend to visit for a roast every other Sunday or so. When they first started coming to visit (when we moved away nealry 3 years ago) they would maybe bring a token bit of food - something that needed eating for e.g. and either we would incorporate into the meal, or they would leave it with me to eat the next day. well over time, this has increased and they now bring all the ingredients for lunch and dinner and often leave us with a few other odd bits.
So I have aquired 4 pints of milk, some veg, half a joint of beef etc. all for free.

Sunnyday

arbroath_lass wrote: »

My slow cooker is all set up ready to switch on tomorrow morning .

:eek: Reading this made me remember mine wasn`t switched on!
The crockpot was sat on the worktop with everything in it and i hadn`t even put it in the base, never mind - all sorted now i must be getting old or tired
Thanks
SD

LilMissEmmylou

re tesco and vouchers - YES they do - if you go to buy an offer and there is none left they will give you a voucher to get it next time its in stock means if u get it and its still on offer next time keep ur voucher till the offer has expired

My shop is going out of control! OH has had a Chinese, pre packed sarnies etc. Driving me nuts. Almost half the budget gone and we haven't event passed the first week!!!! Cor blimey good job im on a diet so not spending a fortune lol.

freyasmum

I've been so bad at this the past few weeks! I did manage to stick to my budget though

I haven't been to the supermarket since before Christmas (I hate all the pushing and shoving and general busyness!) and I intend to stay that way for as long as possible!

I want to spend maximum £40 this month Again, I have loads of stuff in; my cupboards don't seem to be decreasing!!!

Lx

CanadaBound

What a great idea! Our financial month runs from the 15th of each month - should I join this one or wait for the Febuary one? (Excuse the possibly silly question - I am new the forums and have searched but can't see if there is a cut off date as such).

Our current grocery budget for just two of us is a ridiculous £200 and I would love to cut it substantially. Also, what do people define as groceries - should I include general household items such as bathroom cleaning products etc? I would normally include almost any household disposable of that type in my budget.