May 2008 Grocery Challenge

saffouri

Have now added £11 to my sig - the takeaway that DH and I had last night after we'd exhausted ourselves with decluttering and cleaning! Still on course though....

saf

clair2305

just updating my signature and catching up....I'm already over my spend :mad: and today I have to buy bread, butter, toms, mush, pots, ham/cheese, loo rolls, so i will be well over and there's still this week and next to go. I think the rising cost of food is really getting to my household and my local Asda wasn't what I expected last pay day (boo hoo)

Still to make the hobnobs and herby bread. Made the brownies, one in the freezer, but was upset, as ended up throwing away half the other brownie as it went stale....normally I could guarantee that DS would scoff his way through anything chocolatey....and again my fridge looks empty, have lots of store cupboard ingredients and freezer still pretty full (which is a shame really cos it could do with a defrost)

feeling sorry for myself.....failed this month....any ideas for next month people?

I normally do a big monthly shop but I think I may buy cupboard, household and freezer stuff monthly, but fridge stuff weekly. THINKING OUT LOUD....could have my monthly budget, buy cupboard/freezer stuff then divide remaining budget between number of weeks for fresh stuff. What do other people do?

And why am I about to buy my 4th tub of butter in under a month?????

madmittens

Morning everyone!

Spent £16.04 (of which about £6 was catfood, can't remember exactly) on my weekly shop last Friday. Noticed that the value UHT milk has gone up 5p in a week - doesn't sound much but that's more than 10% :eek:

Made barm brack and a batch of Twinks on Saturday. Wanted to make a yoghurt cake but didn't have any sunflower oil - do you think I could use soya oil instead? Also finally got round to making paneer yesterday - used it (well, half - rest has gone in freezer) with spinach for a scrummy curry last night, with HM naan (nuked from the freezer - always keep some in there ).

Have a lovely week!

WelshWoofer

The deliberated upon Tesco delivery came yesterday and I was charged in total £41.75 - not bad for thre amount of stuff that came. Did a quick meal plan last night and even with just using the obvious stuff and not being particularly inventive there's enough to take me through to about June 7th (will be away for a few days in the middle too).:j

I'm just about at my budget limit - just a few pounds left - but shouldn't need anything much and I'm willing to go over a bit as at least the first week or two of June is already catered for and should be a cheaper month.

I have visitors all weekend coming and they'll want to go out for Sunday lunch (we'll all pay for our own though) and will probably want a meal our during our day out on Saturday - have budgeted for these though separately. Just need to get some milk and bread for the odd sandwich for the guests.

Seem to be doing OK this month. Famous last words!

earthmother

Well - end of week three, and contrary to previous posts, I am now going over

Finished week three on £323.58 - almost £40 over budget.

All I can say is that all five of us have been ill in some form or other this last month, so we've spent a heck of a lot more on smoothies, fruit etc, and admittedly comfort food, than usual, as it's all people have fancied - and of course the medicine cabinet has had to be refilled more than once :eek:

I am hoping we've turned a corner in the health stakes, so allowing for half term next week, I'm intending to spend no more than another £100 for the last 2 weeks of my month. If I do that, I'll still have come in at less than previous 4-week spends, so still good, if not the great I was hoping for.

Moniker

Just updated my sig - spent £3-64 in Somerfield today on flour and fruit juice and some veg. I still have £51 to last till 29th May when I start my June challenge. It should be ok as we are out for supper next Saturday and lunch next Sunday and have no visitors till the following weekend, so it's just me and DH and we should be eating out of the freezer for most of the week.

Slightly off post - I just had my statement from Scottish Power and despite being in credit they wanted to up my payments by £15 a month from June. I phoned them (using a landline number found on SAYNOTO 0870) and negotiated it down to an £8 a month increase. One tip the helpful lady at customer services gave me was to submit a meter reading every month (we manage the account online to maximise discounts). This way they will be able to build up a consumption history based on current usuage rather on what we used in the past year and this may help in setting the price of our monthly payment more accurately. As we have fewer people in the house than this time last year and are making a real effort to economise on our gas and elec usage it should hopefully make a difference. Hope this tip helps.

Moniker

superspam

Just a quickie, spent £11.17 in Asda so off to update my sig! Hello everyone, hope you are all having a lovely day!

clair2305

moniker, switch switch switch....or ask for your credit back, they are earning interest on this amount, when it could be in your account earning interest for you...just switch to quarterly bill rather than payment plan and then put the £8 per week into another account (or if you think you will dip, into a tin or ask family/friend to hold onto it)

Sharon_1970_2

Mushrooms - Anyone got any suggestions? I have a huge box of mushrooms to use in the next few days. The kids and OH are having them raw in their sarnies with chicken and I am making curry today so some will go in that but I am still going to have loads and load left

ifonlyitwaseasier

Sharon - slice and freeze them, i bulk buy and freeze, as OH can't stand them and then i can sneak them into more meals.