April 2008 Grocery Challenge

bertiebots

pink_princess wrote: »

hi bertie bots im in shock at your target for the month were also a family of 5 and have managed to reduce our budget from £650 to only £500 so far any advice on how you achieve this would be great i don t even bin any thing :rotfl:
hope your first month goes well
pink princess

I am lucky that I am a SAHM and have time to cook all our meals from scratch, I also make my own bread so save a fortune there. Its taken me a month to get to grips with my spending on food :rolleyes: .I have found that writing a list and sticking to it when I go shopping helps. I only buy what I need for each week otherwise by budget goes haywire...!(I have a tendancy to stock up when I dont need to:o ) I shop at asda now and buy a lot of the smart price products..(avoid cleaning stuff!!) and the fresh veg is very cheap. I have a good market where I can buy good quality meat and we are eating a little less meat than we did. I have found OS invaluable in helping create cheap tasty meals and we have never eaten such a great variety of food! We are actually eating more now for half the money I was spending!:T

MrDT

Hello all, I'd like to have a go at this if you don't mind I'm single, no kids, so my target will be pretty low compared to some here feeding whole families!

I reckon I spend about £100 a month in total on food, household bits and toiletries. This should be quite easily reduced.

I've worked out a meal plan for April (not sure how it'll go, never done this kind of thing before) and drawn up a shopping list to see me through the month. I'm looking at £50 including toiletries and household bits, but to be fair I have a few bits in the freezer and store cupboard that'll help keep the cost down this month. If I manage on £50 in April, doing so again in May will be very difficult as I intend to use my stored bits up!

My 'big shop' for April will be done tomorrow, please put me down as £60 for the month the extra tenner will cover emergency topups I might need along the way (such as a bottle or two of wine lol!) :beer:

alli_baba2

Can you put me down for £250 for April please.

mhe

PINKPRINCESS - i have me DH and 3 DSs to cook for. I have no real idea how much i was spending before as i just put stuff in the trolley and didnt even know when i was going to use them - make that IF. ID guess it was £400 - 500 a month as DS3 is only 2 so doesnt eat that much. Now I am spending 250 but am aiming for £200. I work full time but thanks to a slow cooker and a bread machine I am also making a lot of out food from scratch. I find that if I make some thing eg sausage casserole or savory mince or pizza dough or curry etc... I make more than I need and freeze the spare portions. All this bulking out with carrots and oats means I know have spare portions from the same amount of mince i would have used for one meal before. I bake a lot more often now - most weekends - and all family seem to be enjoying the stuff i make and the DSs like to join in (they call it help but hmmm) so this has meant that I no longer buy cakes and biccies from the shops. Middle DS says the dinner lady in his school keeps coming to look what he has in his lunch box for that day as she loves his cakes and was impressed he had HM tortillas for his sandwiches (Thanks MRSM:A )

I bet in another few months youll be amazed how much you have shaved off your bill. Im saving my savings in a savings account (lots of savings in that sentence!!) and that has been one of my greatest spurs to keep doing it as i can see how much i was previously wasting. Its all going to my new house fund. The other is the great people on here who always have a tip or recipe to hand.:D




MRDT - wine isnt an emergency - I think its an essential!!

MrDT

getting-sorted-sarah wrote: »

Lidl have 24 Charmin loo rolls at £5.69 - I now have enough to last till summer........

Makro in Preston had a deal on last weekend 24 charmin rolls for £8.49+vat bogof, so that's 48 rolls for £9.98. Not sure if all makro outlets will be running this deal or for how long but could be useful if anyone has one nearby but no Lidl

boredofbeingathome

I would like to aim for £180 for April please.

MrDT

mhe wrote: »

MRDT - wine isnt an emergency - I think its an essential!!

lol too true! :T

Since this is the OS forum though, maybe I need to go talk to grandad to get some money saving tips... I know he used to make his own home made wine back in the day, some he made using carrots and beetroot even, sounds more like moonshine than wine if you ask me! :rotfl:

funkyfunkymonkey

teedy23 wrote: »

Just thought I,d let you know I bought Flora Omega3+ in Tesco today at 60p, inside was a 30p moc, on the foil inside. No mention of it on the tub, have a peek inside before you buy though it,s a good price anyway.

You're right, there's one inside mine too :j

I think I will stock up on these - it makes them only 30p per tub effectively.

FFM

pretz_2

please can i join in im hoping to start on about £180 for the month for 3 of us me, oh who eats for 2 and dd who is very fussy and will only eat certain things however i am hoping to cut this down eventually as this is just for food :O :O :O

saveaholic68

Hi, please can I join too? I did the challenge back in September, and found that it was really helpful, as even though I only did it for one month, it did change my shopping habits for quite some time afterwards. I am now starting to slip back into my old ways, so would like to try again in April, especially as I am going on holiday in May and would like to save some money for that. I live alone, so want to try for £20 per week/£80 per month. I'm not including toiletries or cleaning stuff, just food and drink.