October 2008 Grocery Challenge. Please read first two posts.

curly_cabbage · 30 September 2008 at 1:50PM

HI all

Well another month and we're off again. MRS Mc can you put me down for £200 again . Good luck all my month starts tomorrow. Hours been cut at work so i really need to keep this budget with no excuses. I have planned a menu with what we have in the cupboards and produced a list so i only buy whats required to cover them Menu & pack lunches. BUlk buying Mince & Chicken from Costco on friday as i like the quility and price. Lidls for ham, toliet roll and couple of other bits and everything else from ASDA or Mr T's. Going to print off as many coupons as possible and see what they'll take.....Every little helps as Mt T say's.

CC

Piquant_2 · 30 September 2008 at 1:54PM

I did this for the first time last month and came in £17.83 under budget and it was a 5 week month for me!

I am setting myself the same target of £200 and hoping to come in well under budget. All surplus is going to the Christmas fund.

leebarton · 30 September 2008 at 1:55PM

Right, that's October kicked off with a Mr T delivery this morning of £40.38. We struggled to find room in the cupboards for everything.

Frugaldom · 30 September 2008 at 2:16PM

Just found the October thread and it's 9 pages in already, so I have no chance of keeping up with it but am still doing the challenge anyway

Househunting means we may have a house move within the foreseeable future, so I'm planning on using up as much as possible from my freezer during October so I can empty & defrost it in November, when we hope to move house. I will try my best to keep a menu diary alongside the spending diary. Good luck to all, I've no planned spends for today and will be having beef mince, homegrown potatoes and mixed veg for dinner this evening plus we'll be eating more than our fair share of soup as I need to use up all the stock I have in the freezer

calleyw · 30 September 2008 at 2:36PM

Right I spent £50 out of a £100.

This month my budget will be £100 again. But I do need to do a little stocking up so I suspect I will end up spending about £75 ish this month.

Will not spend today as my wages have only just gone in the bank today. So I will start to spend tomorrow.

I have managed to meal plan this week as well :j been a bit lazy the last few weeks.

Yours

Calley

Chell · 30 September 2008 at 2:40PM

mummygems wrote: »

Hello.

I got my big monthly shop this morning £134 but this is the staples for the month which includes 6 packs of nappies, baby wipes, baby milk........

I am also going to use up my store-cupboard things this month and then try and cook from scratch next month (although hubby is so fussy its a nightmare). He loves those pasta bake jars so if anyone knows/has a recipe for the Bacon & Tomato pasta bake which doesnt taste like "tomatoes" please could you share. The last time I tried DH said it was too tomatoey.......

.

Do you buy the baby things in the supermarket? If you have a Boots Advantage card then you might be better getting them there. You can get extra point coupons from the advantage card machine if shopping instore or codes for extra points/free delivery online. You might not save cash but you'd get lots of points for other things eg Christmas pressies.

Re: pasta bake, how about doing a tomato based sauced but stiring in creme fraiche before you serve it, this gives a nice creamy tomato flavour.

mumzyof2 · 30 September 2008 at 2:55PM

1.70 today i willpost a bit mroe later just off to pick ds up from school

beltainebabe · 30 September 2008 at 3:16PM

Ok, so I've been reading through some of the posts on this thread, and I was about to ask where this Mr T place is as so many of you seem to be shopping there and I've never heard of it..... but I think I've just twigged it.... is it Tescos?

cw18 · 30 September 2008 at 3:26PM

Yep. And Mr A is the green equivalent. Mr S (which I've seen a couple of times) confuses me 'cos I assume that's the orange store - but we have a different Mr S (think seasonal meadows) within walking distance. I don't think we're supposed to mention the stores by name.

russetred · 30 September 2008 at 3:35PM

This is the first month I've been able to keep up with the posts! For general interest we are 3 adults and 2 kids family.Our budget includes all food,alcohol and cleaning stuff.Eating out and any other spends are not included.Just as well i had to fork out £300 for a new washing machine and I need new towels as the old washing machine ate mine:mad:

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October 2008 Grocery Challenge. Please read first two posts.

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