November 2009 Grocery Challenge

scotsaver

Hi everyone - hope the weather is better where you all are, it's been raining constantly here since last night, getting heavier now but I still had to go out shopping in it as we needed things for the weekend.

Have updated my total with this mornings spends from Aldi and Asda, getting close to total but meal planned and I know we can make it.:cool:

Dinner tonight is my usual lazy time in Kitchen, fish, hm chips and mushy peas.:D

Got friends over for the weekend so will be getting up early tomorrow to make lots of lovely grub, picked some really nice recipes from Delia's Winter Collection.;)

Have a good weekend everyone.:D

elizabunny

sheba wrote: »

Arrrrgggghhhhh!!
Had £40.77 left -spent another 17.08 and now have a pitiful 23.69 to see us till 28th November- have meal planned and made up shopping list to see us till 28th but def going to go over budget!! Arrrggghhh!!! Only a first attempt and have cut the budget from over 400 a month to 230 so can see why struggling but think I am going to have to go into damage limitation mode between now and then, but surely that is better than, 'oh sod it- might as well spendaway mode' (the old me- hopefully securely repressed?!)
Will update with todays shop later!

Good Luck All

Sheba

Hello everyone!

Sheba I really struggle to come in under budget and hardly every achieve it. More often than not I'm in damage limition mode which is a huge improvement from my old 'spend what I like mode'. I've spent loads less this year than I normally would have and feel quite proud of that alone. It would be nice to come in under budget once in a while though:o

Which brings me onto my next point, I'm already £2 over budget:eek:

Went into MrL last night and just had to buy the Dishwasher tablets which were on offer at £3.49 (2 boxes of those) and the Ovaltine was also on offer at £1 a jar, there were different flavours and I stocked up on 3 jars. In my defence though, I was stocking up so much of this won't be used this month. However I still need loads of bits and bobs , so it's damage limitation mode yet again.

Have a good day everyone!

MrsBartolozzi

I haven't been on here much this week and so didn't update on my spend at Sainsbury's on Monday. Spent £62.35, which includes enough milk, fruit and veg, and cheese to last til Monday at least so still on target. Might get harder towards the end of the month as we run out of treats and meat/chicken/fish and I need to restock, but £200 was just a hopeful amount and still looks more or less achievable.
Total spends so far £98.73 / £200

russetred

You know I just think November can be a pig of a month.The supermarkets start with the Christmas offers and I stock up on stuff I wont use till December.Like today I picked up 2 kilos of rump steak reduced by 75% to £6.19, too good to pass by but wont be used this month.I'm keeping a track of spending but it's not a true picture as so much isn't for this month's groceries.I thought of trying to seperate next months shopping from this months but it was too complicated so I've decided that what I'll do is anything over my Nov GC will be added on to Dec as I reckon it will even out.

Keiss_21

Oh dear, November is looking a bit dire!! I have just tottted up my spends for this week....getting awfully close to the month total with still 2.5 weeks to go!!!! :eek::eek:

Admittedly, the freezer and fridge are full, and I have paid for all the veg boxes for this month...but will we manage it?! I think this will be a good time to work really hard at a storecupboard, challenge for the next couple of weeks!!!

I did pop into Waitrose today for hot choc & cream with a friend in the cafe, then a "wander round the aisles". I did spend £32 there (:eek:), but most of it was on presents (3 for 2 G&B choc bars, and Whittards 8 coffee collection for DS1 20th on December 28th). I also got one of their red canvas Xmas bags (£2) to put some pressies in rather than a paper one. Much more useful and safe for the HM preserves I am giving.

So like others here, I will probably go over the GC limit for this month, but I would definitely have spent soooo much more if I hadn't been trying to stick to a budget of any form!

Right, off to get the bread kneaded and into tins for the second proving. Might use up some of the brown bananas and make a few banana breads (yummmm)...see I didn't buy anything from the scrummy bread section in Waitrose today :T!

Have a good weekend everyone...I am hoping for 2 NSDs (my first since Tuesday!)

mumto2monkeys_2

I'm doing shockingly as well. I've got about £20 left, and my family might develop scurvy if I don't do some careful menu plans for next week and buy some veg. We're in danger of jackets and beans for the rest of the month (pay day 26th:j).

I'm just pleased we're all going home for Christmas for over a week, so hopefully December will be a bit better. I will offer my Mum some money towards everything, but being at someone else's means that I won't spend anything like I would if we sat in at mine, stuffing our faces with rubbish for the entire festive period.

I'm hoping the savings will fund the Christmas tips - they add up. I've done with presents, but need to find cash for tips. I need a plan...

Hope everyone is having a fabulous OS Friday!

Lady_Battenburg

Hi All

Just realised as I was writing the shopping list that I haven't posted my last weeks shopping spend. Just to remind you its for 2 adults and a total of £140 for the month

Week 1
Aldi £12.03
Asda £6.34
Butchers £9.60
Home Bargains 78p

Total for Week 1 £28.75

Amount left for the rest of the month £111.25

nmlc

Afternoon all

Have shopped today at MrA without making a list - what a mistake, knew vaguely what I needed but bill came to £100.63! Admittedly I have bought the 4 items of meat for £20, have put this in the freezer, and they had Quorn pieces and mince on offer for £1 per bag, so bought 3 bags, also needed DW powder, toilet rolls, etc. Both inside and outside freezers are full to bursting as is the storecupboard so shouldn't need to spend anymore money this week, as this is my last week of my GC and next Friday I start all over again! So have unfortunately gone over by £26.98 but I'm not overly worried as I know that it's due to buying extra this week and extra other weeks. Hoping the next four weeks will be easier. Will put the BM on tomorrow and make pizza dough for the boys lunch and I will have my fav salad. I will also make some hob nobs and possibly something else for lunchboxes next week.

Have a good weekend everyone, keep safe and well, hugs to those that need them.
nmlc

Kerfuffle

Hello everybody,

I have just totted up how much I've spent so far this month, and it arrives at $250.80, which is a little worrying.

I hadn't realised when I set my budget of $300 that I had 5 x weekly shopping days (Thurs 29th Oct - Thurs 26th Nov), so the remaining $49.20 is to last me up to and including the 26th.(That's 2 more shopping days).

On a positive note though keeping track of things more has identified how much I spend at the post office sending cards and letters back to the UK so I think in the future this will have a budget of it's own, and it's also identified how much I spend eating lunch out on the day that I go into town to do my weekly shop.

This week I also realised that if I consider that my husband and I use half a loaf of bread each day (because he takes a packed lunch) this equals 15 loaves of bread a month, at $2.99 a loaf that amounts to $44.85 a month!!!!!!! (approx 22.42 GBP)

So, I'm off to check out the Bread recipes at the front of the thread :rolleyes: check out the Cheap and Easy Cookies recipes, and do yet another freezer inventory.

Have a good weekend.

ellemm

Spent today £25.86 in Aldi, £13.07 in Mr M which included an bottle of red wine. Was feeling quite good about that but then spent £5 on a fish supper :eek::eek::eek: however that fed both of us for tea as huge !

So just under £50 left with 2 weeks to go to my end of the month. Still confident of coming in on budget though.

Interesting that we now spend more in Aldi than Mr M and sticking (more or less ) to the shopping list and meal plans.

Have a good weekend everyone