August 2008 Grocery Challenge

mandy_moo_1 · 5 August 2008 at 10:16AM

annaangeluk wrote: »

I've just checed my bank statement for last month and over the whole month I've spent at least £347 in supermarkets:eek: :eek: :eek: ! To make it worse there are quite a few restaurant meals on there and I spent a few days at my mum's so didn't cook/buy food for then etc! What a complete and utter waste of money. I'm really angry with myself. It's an obscene amount of money for just myself, a six year old and a skinny cat!

Def not spending that kind of money this month. I'm setting myself a limit of £120 (school holidays and a very hungry child so it's more than it'll be when she goes back to school!) and I have to stick to it! I've started grocery challanges before but never stuck to it but I've never added up how much money I've wasted before!!

This is the new money saving me!!!!!

Anna x

just catching up on the posts, and wanted to welcome you annaangeluk

your post caught my eye, cos you're being really brave in trying to reduce your grocery money by so much in one go.... i really hope you can do it. you'll get loads of motivation and ideas on here.

if you want some advice.........

make a list of what you've already got in your freezer,stick it on the side, then cross things off as you use them.
try and meal plan....it really does save you money, cos you can see at a glance what you might need that week to make up a meal to go with stuff from the freezer/cupboards.
make a shopping list and be strict with yourself...only buy what's on it!
bake biscuits, cakes etc with your DD so you don't need to buy snacky things

there's always loads of lovely recipe ideas on here, and angelnikki has put links to loads of them on the first page of the challenge

Good ~Luck !!

Chell · 5 August 2008 at 10:22AM

mandy_moo_1 wrote: »

.......

got 4 boxes of Mr M's burgers at 50p each, and his chicken chargrills are on offer at £1 a box so i got 5 of those!! DS15 eats 2 at a time so i'll stock up the freezer i think as the offer's on till sept 5th

there were quite a few £1 offers in the freezers as well...can't really remember what, but i think i saw fish, chicken nuggets and maybe pizzas.....good makes ie birds eye but i was making sure i was sticking to my list so i tried not to look at anything else!!

Grassingtons veggie burgers and cauliflower cheese burgers were on offer for £1 too.

KAAT_LADY · 5 August 2008 at 10:34AM

chelltune wrote: »

Grassingtons veggie burgers and cauliflower cheese burgers were on offer for £1 too.

these are 2 for a pound at heron if you have one near you

KAAT

mumoffour77 · 5 August 2008 at 10:39AM

Ok!!!
NSD yesterday:)
had to nip to the butchers today and spent 16.60, on meat oh and a jar of coffee!!! So today is going to be bulk cooking day!!! Bolognes, mince carrot and onion, brown stew and shepards pie!! Cook masses of these, portion them up and freeze them....also yknow the foil cartons that the local chinese use.....I got a load of them last night....for free:) so i am going to make individual lasanges and freeze them too.....so that when the kids go back to school and come home and say im starving:( is there anything to eat.....i can point them in the direction of the freezer and they can have a piece of lasange to tie them over until tea time!!.....This happens quite a lot with DS1 who gets home at 3.30pm and is starving all the time:)

nicki_2 · 5 August 2008 at 11:06AM

NSD for me yesterday

However DD was desperate for pizza last night (again) so she bought one out of her pocket money - £3. I told her I'd give her half the money back IF she eats anything else I give her this week for her tea to which she has agreed.

So I have a feeling I'll be making sweet & sour and other things she's not keen on this week

;)

newlywed · 5 August 2008 at 11:10AM

Well I thought today would be a NSD but even though I asked OH what we needed just before I left to go shopping at lunch - he waited until 8pm to tell me what we'd run out of :rolleyes:

So have to go back again today

Hoping that after this, on Friday I will only have to get a chicken to roast for the weekend - hoping :rolleyes:

gunsandbanjos · 5 August 2008 at 11:55AM

Was hoping for a NSD but forgot to buy celery so need that. Made a really good start this month, hoping i can keep it up. Still have loads of food in, bought 5kg of rice the other day at makro as it was half the price of supermarket! Will be having lots of rice based dishes i think;)

BigMummaF · 5 August 2008 at 11:58AM

Another NSD for yesterday to go on my total :j

May I ask for your opinions please folks? I've a set of pre-historic scales that only have divisions for 50g at a time...I'm afraid that I'm an 'old money' gal at heart & these new fangled lengths, weights etc leave me scratching the wooden block that passes for a noggin:p So......is there a particular brand/type of scale that you would recommend?

I see some peeps have digital gizmos, which will be OK as long as I remember to keep some batteries in, but prefer bog standard cuz there's less for me to mess up:D

sleepy-lady · 5 August 2008 at 12:06PM

Well, I completely messed up my first GC. I'm finding it very difficult to motivate to cook for just myself now that my old dad has gone into a care home. I really mean to try to be organised with my meals but I end up eating popcorn and takeaways. And cans of coke. I would never feed another person rubbish like this, so why do I do it to myself?

Sorry for the moan, will pop out at lunchtime and see if I can buy some get up and go!

Herbaholic · 5 August 2008 at 12:13PM

Afternoon all, just caught up with posts and updated signature I've spent over a third of my budget already and still have 22 days to go before the next pay day :eek: Still the freezer is full and we have plenty of stuff in the cupboards, but do need to get frozen peas, stork, eggs, flour and oven chips and that should be that for this week. DH is having this Friday off, so we're off out with a picnic (all homemade stuff) that is if I feel okay, started with a cold this morning, woke up with a sore throat which is still there and have a snotty nose. Drinking my herbal cold tea whilst I catch up on posts, so feel a little better.

I survived the weekend with the SS (thanks for your messages Denise, really cheered me up!) Sorry to hear about your DH losing his job, fingers and toes crossed for you that he'll find something soon and hopefully somewhere he'll be happier going to everyday!

DH requested homemade mince & onion pie with mash and the rest of the cabbage from the one we picked from the garden on Sunday. It's not on my meal plan for this week, but I guess I can be flexible qnd it will be nice cheap comfort food. I better get the baking done before this cold gets any worse, made blackberry & cinnamon muffins on Sunday the pips make them a bit crunchy but they taste nice, will make the mix again but add some sultanas or chopped apple to the mix. Need to make bread and I'm craving chicken noodle soup, always do when I get a cold, don't think I have any in though and no noodles in cupboard to make my own drat!

Spent yesterday listing unwanted stuff (DVD's, games, books etc) we had on Amazon, and by the end of the day £78 worth of it had sold!!!! I was astounded, didn't expect any of it to sell, having a sort out this afternoon to see if I can find anything else, all I make is going towards paying the CC off. I told DH I'd list his Dr Who collection last night, his face was a picture. Just emailed him to tell him I started listed them this morning and listed one of the rare ones and got £5 for it, I haven't of course, but its good to pull his leg every once in a while, get my own back for the last time he pulled one on me lol! Hugs to everyone and welcome to all the new people to the grocery challenge.

Herby x

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August 2008 Grocery Challenge

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