October 2012 Grocery Challenge

Tiglath

I've got 4 days to go till the end of my 'October' and I'll be under budget as per my signature, so yay! I've been diligently logging on my spreadsheet every penny we've spent on groceries including top-up milk from the corner shop; I can still see quite a few 'not needed luxuries' from earlier in the month so it's a work in progress. I also included the Pizza Hut delivery luxury which we did on payday; won't need to do that this month as I'm much more organized. I've made a special point of taking advantage of Lidl's offers this month which has really helped, and we're gradually building up a list of which staples are cheapest where in the local shops. Farmfoods is quite a discovery for me. Very pleased with progress so far I need to do a new freezer inventory as we've used quite a lot of the meat we already had in stock; once I have that list, I can set the budget for next month.

XSpender

Grrr just lost my entire post:mad:

£13.98 to add to the total from Mr S yesterday. Had a £1 brenad match voucher that needed using too. DH decided he wanted beer and not the wine I got in the Mr T delivery and Mr T do not do much in the way of GF cereal which I need for next week so got some while at Mr S as their range is good. Also got black bags as we have to clear out 6 years of junk in the loft for the loft insulation that is getting fitted sometime in the next 2 weeks:eek: Only found out Friday so I hope it's closer to 2 weeks than next week:eek:

Our washing machine seal and drawer get really manky so bought a cleaner to see if it will shift the black stuff and built up gunge and some bathroom cleaner for DH (it's his job;)). Not forgetting the half price jelly babies that fell in the basket for me:o

Busy afternoon in the kitchen planned. I am making the first of the four Christmas cakes I make as gifts, leek and potato soup and my first attempt at butternut squash soup. Might also russle up a lemon drizzle cake for DH as I have 2 lemons to use up.

Pancakes for a late breakfast to use up the 2 oranges I used the zest of yesterday to soak the fruit for the christmas cake.

I have had a bit of a brain wave and am wondering if pancakes would work as wraps for making enchilladas which I love but haven't had since going GF? I have had no luck finding any GF ready made ones. My friend has also given me a chaphati recipe to try too.

Have a lovely Sunday

WantToBeSE

I am into my November budget now, and want to be put down for £60 a week instead of a monthly amount.
I have now gotten into the habit of just taking £60 a week out of the bank, every Friday, and that has to see me through till the next Friday.
My weekly shop normally comes to £35-£45 and the rest gets put into a pot and used if necessary for odds and ends like milk, bread etc during the week.
Whatever is left at the end of the week (normally only a few £) it gets left in the pot. The plan is that if i keep doing that, i'll have enough in there for next Christmas' food shop

she_who_can_not_cook

flubberyzing wrote: »

I got 2 for £2 from Tesco, so that's good.
Don't have a Quality Save here. Do have a Homebargains but it's nothing special really.

oh what a shame i love mine i have the qualitysave where i work and the homebargain near sainsbugs 20 min away

vanoonoo

boo hoo - another fiver spent this morning at a!di and tesc0 but as we're away most of next weekend i think that should be the last of the shopping for this month so we'll hopefully still come in under budget. ugh. it feels like its been really hard work this month!

Nicky_Noo_Na

Well bigger shop this weekend than intended!

£44.74 in Mr A (bit of stocking up to get £5 voucher) and £10.92 in Mr T on some good offers so a lot more than I normally spend but should only need a very small shop next weekend and then we are into November! phew!

tattycath

Spent just over £18 in Mr As-needed dishwasher tablets, bleach, loo rolls and a couple of other bits and pieces. Also got some yellow stickered bread and doughnuts.

Billie-jo

Brought fruit, veg, flowers and sea salt yesterday putting monthly total now at £207-80 just £32.20 left for this month now.:eek:
Made soup earlier and have put enough for two people in the freezer before it got eaten, made a crumble out of some frozen apples and raspberries which we had with our lunch and enough left for tomorrow.

If anyone uses the Marco Pierre White knorr stock cubes they were on offer in Te$co on Friday - £1.50 for 8 they are usually £2.41 offer ends on the 23rd so not long.

Sue14

I've just added up my total for September (better late than never, lol!), and it came to £103.50 so I managed to get back the overspend from August and a bit more.

For October I am going for £130 again, and so far I've spent a total of £98.27 between Mr T's, HB, A1d1, and Mr M's. I am also giving us a budget of £150 for Christmas food, from now until Christmas, on top of the GC budget.

forever_saving

My total is now at £272.30. I will have to go shopping at some stage in the week.
I have had a productive day in the kitchen. We were given some apples yesteday so i made plenty of crumble topping, enough to fill a bag to freeze for another day. We ate that after dinner and it was lovely. There is still half left so that's dessert tomorrow. I don't always make a dessert so that was a bonus.
I haven't got alot of bread so i have made a bbq based onion, ham and cheese pizza and a tomato based onion, ham and cheese pizza for lunches tomorrow. Also made a fruit cake and chocolate brownies. Just using up bits and pieces in the cupboard and fridge.
Everyone else is doing well.
FS