October 2016 Grocery Challenge

Hi all,

My weekly shop today came to £34.35, which I was really pleased with, considering that that included a huge box of soap powder which will do me for ages! I used a £9 off £60 shop voucher from Tosco, so I also got some tea lights (which I quite like for winter cosiness) and a mattress protector which I have been meaning to get for a while. Both of these things aren't counted in my GC. I also nearly made a blunder - I picked up a travel mug which I thought was £5, but it turned out to be £13. I noticed this at the checkout and then got a refund on it!

I've probably got enough food in to do me all week. I made a really nice couscous salad tonight (this is definitely going to become one of my regular meals!), which I'll have for lunch tomorrow and Tuesday, and I have pasta sauce waiting in the fridge for tomorrow night. I've also got some real treats - very nice yogurt and 2 packs of smoked salmon (on special offer) which make a great breakfast/lunch/dinner with cream cheese on toast, or with scrambled eggs.

I'm suffering a bit from lack of planning though. - I now have loads of cold meat which I need to use up by Tuesday. I guess I will be snacking on that. That's part of my plan anyway, since I'm trying to stop eating crisps and sugar, and eat more protein!

I was given another £9 off £60 voucher today, so I'll probably shop at Tosco again next week.-With a bit of careful planning, that shop will see me through to the end of the month, except for milk.

Good luck all!

Wannalot , can you freeze the spare cold meats?

wannalot - you can always shed up your cooked meats (chicken/turkey/ham) and freeze - useful to have to add meat to omelettes/scrambled egg/pasta - likewise (chopped up beef/corned beef) gets stirred into veggie soups etc.

£65.75/£250 spent so far this month.
We should have enough washing detergent and fabric softener to last until November.
I also downgraded the coffee and I'm trying the supermarket own brand. I don't drink much coffee and have some speciality coffees to use up anyway and I don't think Mr tc will notice.
Cup a soup are on offer in asd@ at the moment-0.50 a pack. They are my 'go to' when I know I should eat something but only want a light snack.

Managed a NSD yesterday - would have been my second but MIL picked me up some washing liquid and fabric conditioner cheap from S@vers so had to pay her for it on Saturday. Still, have enough of both to last til at least next month now. I bypassed Mr T on the way home from work earlier and did the extra mile to Liddle to get some fresh fruit and veg and some staples, and while I was there picked up two 1Kg packs of chicken and three large packs of minced beef, as although they weren't on my list they're soooo much cheaper than in Mr T I thought I'd bung them in the freezer as I know we'll use them.

DH is now officially unemployed, so bless him he's going through the cupboards, fridge and freezer and planning / cooking meals while I'm at work. Have asked him to keep roughly to the meal plan, but in fairness he's using food we already have rather than shopping for more so the end result should still be no waste! Spent just over £50 today, if I'd gone to Mr T it would have been at least half that again - I mean business this month though, after the eyeopener of our spends in September...:eek: