June 2008 Grocery Challenge

belfastgirl23

Oh dear, I'm popping back in to hide my head in shame. This has been a crazy month and I've lost all notion of budget. I know I've already blown the 150 allocated and DH has also been merrily shopping in M&S (although on his own dollar at least ) so I'm not sure how to count this at all. I've been away a lot (by the end of this week will have spent 11 days travelling so far this month, including overnights) and it is taking a toll on the budget, waistline and indeed the state of my house. I am keeping trying and will hopefully have a chance to get to grips with the actual spend next weekend. But I think I'll be doing well to get away with 200

Hope you're all doing better....

fertyskids

Hi

I'm new to all this. i have been reading some of the posts on this site and have gained an increasing amount of respect for so many who are achieving what i want.

im a stay at home mum. hubby has job in IT for the time being. we are overdrawn by £600 this month. no other debts at mo but ive only just stopped working. our outgoings approx £200-£300 a month over thats just on essentials, mort bills food etc. i would love to know where to begin. i have 3 kids, 13yr boy, 3yr girl and 11mnth baby to feed. spend approx £100 a week inc lunchboxes, nappies etc. already buy cheap cuts of meat but starting to realise i but too much so will look at menu planning again.

any suggetions on how i can cut back a bit.
sky went ages ago. no eating out or holidays all clothes for the little ones are borrowed of friends. pay as we go mobiles. what else can i do.

thanks karen

tq16

fertyskids wrote: »

Hi

I'm new to all this. i have been reading some of the posts on this site and have gained an increasing amount of respect for so many who are achieving what i want.

im a stay at home mum. hubby has job in IT for the time being. we are overdrawn by £600 this month. no other debts at mo but ive only just stopped working. our outgoings approx £200-£300 a month over thats just on essentials, mort bills food etc. i would love to know where to begin. i have 3 kids, 13yr boy, 3yr girl and 11mnth baby to feed. spend approx £100 a week inc lunchboxes, nappies etc. already buy cheap cuts of meat but starting to realise i but too much so will look at menu planning again.

any suggetions on how i can cut back a bit.
sky went ages ago. no eating out or holidays all clothes for the little ones are borrowed of friends. pay as we go mobiles. what else can i do.

thanks karen

welcome-this site is great, I am on maternity leave but looking at not having to go back-dh also in IT. Meal planning has made such a diff to us, much less waste and much less cost. One thing that worked for me was to keep a notebook and write down everything that I bought over a month, scary how little things add up. -switching energy suppliers etc has also saved us money.
Goodluck. Everyone on site really supportive, I learn something new everyday :-)

fertyskids

Hi
thanks so much. i think hubby has already checked our energy supplier but i will ask him anyway.

has anyone got any ideas about how to reduce shopping bill? thanks karen

Frugaldom

*BigBird* wrote: »

Is there anything I can do with chicken giblets?

You can boil them up with the carcass for stock then strain it and freeze it if you don't want to make soup etc at the time. I freeze mine in empty plastic milk cartons.

arkonite_babe

MrsM

put me down for £300 this month again please. I lost track completely last month so I have no idea what my spend was. Sorry

TheBees

Evening everyone

Tonight we counted up the contents of our £1 bottle and loose change terrarium bottle. It was a real family event with everyone having a guess how much we thought was in there and helping to count! Been saving in it for nearly 2 years and usually we use the contents for holiday spending. Well the grand total was £379:j :j :j .
Will be putting aside £200 for spending money and £164 to cover the channel tunnel. Trouble is the jars now look very sad with nothing in them!

On the food front we had the planned toad in the hole for lunch and I will be making a very simple mild chicken curry for toms tea.

With only about 8 weeks til our holiday I am going back to following Weight Watchers to hopefully lose a pound a week before the holiday! Trouble is I am trying to eat more fibre due to the IBS and on checking the points values of some of the foods I've been eating I've noticed they're quite high. (Wholemeal bread, prunes, seeds & nuts etc) Any advice from fellow W watchers?

Anyway off to bed now!

Have a good week.
TheBees

mandy_moo_1

mornin all :wave:
thanks mrs Mc for letting us see your x-stitch....the hawk (i think its a hawk?) looks hard work, all those shades of grey and black! i'd go cross-eyed!! As your mum also x-stitches, she'll appreciate her pressie even more cos she'll know all the hard work that has gone into making it

welcome to the newbies :hello:

fertyskids the best ways to reduce your shopping bill is to write a meal plan using all the stuff you already have in your freezer and cupboards, then you only need to buy bits&bobs to go with it. most people on here batch cook and pad the food out with veg to make the meat go further, for example, making spag bol, i'd pad the mince out with some grated carrot, grated courgette,peppers, handful of porridge oats or breadcrumbs, or lentils. then you can probably get about 6 or 7 portions from 500g of mince. then you just freeze extra portions to build up your stock in the freezer. there's always loads of good recipes on here as well that are dead easy to make, even if you're not that brill in the kitchen. good luck, and you've come to the right place. there's loads of advice and help here

anyway, i'm off to asda this morning cos my brother needs a lift there, but i'm determined to be good. i only need cereal, salad cream and chocolate if its still on offer, oh by the way, fertyskids always go to the shops with a list, and only buy whats on it!!! forgot that vital tip!!

hope everyone has a good day, i'm off to put my rolls to rise now! x

poppyoscar_3

Hoping for a NSD today - in fact hoping for NSD's all week, until I shop next Saturday! Managed two NPD's this weekend which was good, and trying to work out the feasability of walking to work the two office-based days i will have this week - it's 3.7 miles in the car, but i think there may be a slightly shorter way if i walk. how long would i need for that - about an hour and 20 mins? i wish my bike was here!!!!!!

cheese and salad sarnies for lunch, carrot sticks, digetsives and eco-jelly with eco-mandarins. total cost less than 30p i think! then the next mince concoction tonight, maybe chilli and potato cakes made from leftover mash last night!

have a great day everyone!

PO xx

PO xx

dink1

Hi GUys,

I am planning a day out with my mother this friday but kinda dreading it in one way as only have £15 in cash to spend (usually have loads to spend but now on one little wage (part time) it will really be a challenge. Don't want to cancel it as could really do with a break (a bit of girly time) Any one any tips?

The Bees - well done its amazing how much those bottles actually hold!

FertyKids - you will pick up tips all the time on here. Have you seen the sneaky ways to save the pennies thread (sorry dont know how to put on links) welcome anyway:j

Mrs M - I stand amazed, if it not the garden its cooking and now cross stitch!!!! you put us to shame although you have given me some ideas to take my brain off the food and money situation. I am off to think of x stitch christmas cards etc. :beer:

Have a good day - dink1