October 2008 Grocery Challenge. Please read first two posts.

BrandNewDay · 30 September 2008 at 12:11PM

mambury wrote: »

HI Brand New!

Don;t forget to check the nutritional values too as sometimes the 'value' ranges have higher salt and sugar levels. Not much point in saving pennies if you put on pounds!!

Mambury

Not something I worry about, but thanks.

MrsHayes · 30 September 2008 at 12:14PM

Hello all ;-) please put me down for £50 / week again (£40 shopping+£10 Dh dinners at work).
Came in under budget last month so if I can do it again I will reduce my amount for November!
Thank you and good luck everyone xx

mouche · 30 September 2008 at 12:19PM

Hello all...my month doesn't start till tomorrow but won't need anything today so have declared on the September thread. Would like to declare my budget this month at £100 as usual for two adults. This does not include cleaning stuff or toiletries. It also does not include OHs lunches though it includes some of mine (the HM ones). It also does not include eating out.

SavvyStudent_2 · 30 September 2008 at 12:26PM

Hello all! Septembers budget went through the roof with the purchase of the new (second hand!) car meaning the BF had free access to the supermarkets! I'm not even going to count it up. The cupboards are absolutely choca now. Also means the farmers market plan has fallen through as well, so I'm relaxing that slightly to farmers market produce supplemented by the odd supermarket item (mainly chocolate lol).

Now, Octobers budget is going to be a bit odd - I'm back down south on a uni placement until dec so I'll be budgeting for just me, and the BF will budget for himself. So I'm setting octobers budget at £40 please if that's ok! Lots of drug company lunches available and another broke student and I are off together and aiming to keep costs LOW, so this one should be easy

Good luck everybody xx

ALIBOBSY · 30 September 2008 at 12:33PM

Would like to give this ago this month. We have been trying to cut down and I am cooking most of our meals from scratch, but think we can get down further (and as oh is having a meeting about possible redundancy at 2 pm today) need to save as much as possible.
Going to aim for £50 per week ie £200 for the month and see how we go.
Sat reading MSE and worrying lol.:o

ali x

SmlSave · 30 September 2008 at 12:42PM

Hello

Septembers budget failed wonderfully so I'm starting again with October. Please put me down for £200. Ta

I will:

-Menu plan
-Buy only want I need
-Do the storecupboard challagne

I will not:

-buy alchol
-things that look 'yummy' cause I'm hungry

Good Luck with this month everyone!

Lelc · 30 September 2008 at 12:43PM

I'll try again this month for £250. I must remember to keep a better check on how much I spend. I kept forgetting last month but think I kept it to less than £250....just.

That's for 4 adults and 1 cat and 2 dogs (although I'm not counting the dried stuff we get for the dogs as we buy it in bulk every 3 months).

Well, better get going on the menu planning.

cw18 · 30 September 2008 at 12:54PM

Chaos_Theory wrote: »

Haivng taken a look at your budget, I know there is no way I could go that low

If you were freaked by my budget before, then I hope you'll not be a nervous wreck after this post......

When I calculated my figure I took everything I spent in September (currently £118.72) and added to that the value of things I'd used from stock (a further £31.03) -- so a total of £149.75 divided by 30 (days in Sept) and multiplied by 31 (days in October). This gives me £154.75, but doesn't include cereals (hadn't bought), pickles, sauces, gravy granules, hebs/spices, or a few tins hubby has taken without me noting down. So I rounded it to £165

BUT -- I've just realised that over £19 worth of what I bought is still in the cupboards or (mostly) freezer. So that means my sums should be £130.59 / 30 * 31, which gives me £134.95. So if I then add on the extra tenner (and pennies) for the "missing" items.....

MrsMac -- sorry to be a pain

-- please can you adjust my budget down to £145 for the month :eek: This won't include anything I buy and haven't touched by the end of October (but items on BOGOF or similar will count in total even if I only open one of the items - else I wouldn't have got the special deal price!)

BigMummaF · 30 September 2008 at 1:30PM

Sorry to be a nuisance, but what is a BOSH PAN please Barneysmom?

As a quick note, my budget includes everything I buy from a supermarket or grocery-type shop. We are four adults with healthy appetites, a vegetarian Iguana & a Pup having hm food, such as offal, poultry or fish mainly cooked in a casserole. Because the offspring have their own money they will sometimes suppliment the budget by bringing in some milk or a paper but I buy all the bog-standard toiletries so it kinda levels out.
I buy what veg I can + taiters & eggs from our little pet shop, to support local suppliers & we like the taste

mummygems · 30 September 2008 at 1:40PM

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 for the month, flour, caster sugar, bread flour, yeast, cereals, this weeks fruit & veg, yoghurt which should last me the month, some meat, deodrant and cleaning bits. This means that I SHOULD only have to top up with milk, F&V and the little bits we need each week. Am going to try to stick to £35 a week or less on top of this shop so I come in well under budget. The nappies should last me a a 1.5-2 months so not too awful. (Just on baby things I spent approx £85 EEEEEK).

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.

I have also made a meal plan for the month and should hopefully stick to it 100% - the only reason I wouldnt is if we happen to eat at my mums or the in-laws.

Good luck everyone, hope you all have a good month.

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October 2008 Grocery Challenge. Please read first two posts.

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