December 2009 Grocery Challenge

elizabunny

Evening all,

A few more spends today on , eggs, breadflour, yeast milk, ham and tomatoes. We have DMiL and an Uncle coming for tea tomorrow so had to make sure we had something in they liked as they are very elderly and a bit fussy about what they eat...which is not alot anyway.

Made 6 dozen mince pies today, several of which, were snatched by DH before they even reached the cooling tray:D Some for tea tomorrow and the rest in the freezer for Xmas. Yippee job done:j
Need to update my totals soon, just haven't got round to it yet.

Off to get cosy in bed now with some hot chocolate, I'm sure I have a bug hanging around me.

cw18

Whoops - or should that be Whoopsie :rolleyes2

Took DD and GDs home after elder GD's school Christmas service in church - which took me past Mr M (on my way back home) at just after 8:30pm. As they close at 9pm on Thur, this means final reductions are in place...... so I couldn't resist calling in

And spent another £5.91 :eek:

But netted me goods worth a lot more than that :T

Got

4 x 580g diced Turkey Breast. £4 each (or 3 for £10), reduced to 79p each. That means I don't have to use the last few chicken breasts I have in the freezer to make curries for DS (and I reckon I should get 20 portions from that lot, so 20 weeks worth of curry)

Several types of bread - I know I won't manage to eat all of all of them, but at the prices I can afford to try (in readiness for customers asking for my opinion of them)

400g Organic white (which my manager says is tasty) - 19p instead of £1.19
400g Rye & Cranberry (a new special, today was the second day of making it) - 19p instead of 99p
800g 'The Best' white farmhouse - 19p instead of £1.19
400g 'The Best' multigrain - 19p instead of 77p
400g Wholemeal & Cracked Wheat - 19p instead of 69p
1x cheese topped French Stick - 9p instead of 39p

also from the bakery

1x Stollen - 35p instead of £1.49
3x packs deep filled iced mince pies - £1.59 each or £2.50 for 2 packs. Reduced to 19p/pack (this is the one thing I was hoping would still be left, as I knew there were a number of packs to be reduced today )

From the deli
1x twin pack of chicken & mushroom pies - 45p instead of £1.50

and topped off with
2x 100g packs dwarf beans - 17p instead of 50p


I've managed to find freezer space for the chicken from earlier this evening, the diced turkey, the C&M pies, and one pack of the C&O rolls (from earlier) Just need to prep and freeze the beans (and some carrots I have knocking around), and the freezers will almost certainly be full to capacity again :eek: But at least I should have loads of space at the end of the month



My spend as of the end of today is now exactly £2 under where my budget 'allows' me to be tonight. But I'm very happy with this as it includes

a chicken (for Christmas Day),
a big pork joint for over the holidays (one meal, plus butties, plus probably enough to freeze for a meal for 2 of us at a later date),
a number of savoury snacks for over the holidays,
6 boxes of mince pies (not the ones I bought tonight)
4x 454g sausagemeat (two for Christmas Eve, and the others to make 2 more meals for 2 of us next year)
Diced turkey for 20 portions of curry
My coffee for next year (and probably beyond - I don't drink a lot, but picked up 2x2--g jars on the '2 for £6' offer at Mr M... so that's actually a hefty chunk of my spend)

AllBuyMyself

I am up to £43.87 after grabbing some bacon and Piccalilli from the corner shop. Things seem to get rather random when you are budgeting!

skilly

morning all,spent £95.00 pounds in asda yesterday ,budget not looking good seeing that i have two more veggie boxes before xmas yet!.so its going to be a bit tight coming in on budget i think.

GemmaBuckle

I've been a little slack in my MoneySaving lately. Well, at least in recording it! I haven't totted up my October of November grocery bills yet, but I WILL. Aiming for £150 again this month.

ellemm

Morning everyone.
Been meal planning & grocery list compiling in my head on the bus into work!!

Dawned on me that I only have to find 10 more main meals until we go away on 23rd. Checked the freezer before leaving today and have 8 meals already so only 2 Sunday dinners to get - will try for the Mr M pork deal later (might even do it twice, send OH in for another one ) and so will hardly have to buy anything tonight as plenty of potatoes, veggies, butter, cheese, marg etc in already.
Only need eggs, milk, bread and fresh fruit.

Also pleased to see more spaces appearing in freezer as I took out today:
HM beef stew
HM parsnip soup
Carrot cake
Tub of margarine

May have to buy in some extras next weekend as having my lovely grand daughters to stay for 2 nights

Freezing fog here in Glasgow today, hope the sun gets out later.

Winged_one

I wasn't too bad after all this week, but I did spend €19.59 in M&S on Wednesday - I ran in there to get lunch (2 chicken legs were 2.70, which was much tastier and better for me than a sambo, as well as cheaper!), and grabbed some goodies for work to keep me going as we were very very busy (budget stuff). But I also grabbed some ham and sausage rolls for lunches for the rest of the week for the house. So I am including the entire spend there - even though much of it wasn't "grocery budget" per se (I have a different budget for coffees and lunches).

But the good news is that, apart from that and DH buying 2 bottles of wine in Lidl last night, we managed to have a no spend week in grocery terms. We had prawns and sauce Tues night, nasi goreng from odds and ends and a tin of tuna on Wed, and I made a risotto with dried mushrooms and the last pot of chicken stock in freezer for last night. Tonight, DH will go to M&S for the "dine in for 2" offer rather than the takeaway. So for 2 weeks into December, I am very happy with progress.

The BAD news is that we have a huige shop to do this weekend as we are running out of loads of stuff - washing powder and cleaning stuff, lots of long use stores items, and lots of bulky items. At least it's Christmas offers time in the stores, so going to Mr. D's near us will be good value - as long as we go early to avoid the mayhem!

JayneC

I've been really good this week. Just spent £5.02 on milk since Saturday.
Will update sig now x

poppy-glos

been to lidl as was driving by (not local) and bought the better value things i'll need before next going by, these being freeway diet coke (giving it a go as cheaper than diet coke), washing up liquid, dry dogfood (2.5kg), bought loo roll but (1.31 for four rolls), not sure whether they'll be better value or not! - will decide once used if we'll go there again...

have a fab weekend everyone

meanmarie

Managed to get to 9th without spending on food this month but have spent €115.86 since...must update signature as not even sure how much I spent last month, know that I was over.

Marie