October 2012 Grocery Challenge

cheerfulness4

Annoyingly went just over by £30 this month in the challenge but has been a disaster mealwise with my being poorly so back to cooking well next month.

bossymoo

I've got a bit lost. I do remember going to mr s on Friday which I may have added, but I don't think I've been shopping since.

Am thinking I might switch my days to go from 20th as that's when I get paid and I'm getting confused with my different purses...

Will decide tomorrow...

Suffolk_lass

I am here to the end although DH gets paid on Friday. I think I will avoid the shops as long as we can and see if we can get to the first weekend in November with only meagre top ups. Except I will need stuff for my half term cooking marathon. I know everyone likes the bright shiny new thread but I like it when it thins down to the stalwarts at the end of the month! :hello:Keep it going everyone:hello:

SL

liz-paul

Ran out of time today so defrosting mince went in the fridge for tomorrow and dinner was made in 10 minutes flat - packet of cheese sauce (the shame!), pasta and grated cheese. Followed by tin of rice pudding and fruit purees! Will use my mince to make a hige batch of chilli tomorrow, should get three dinners worth if I add loads of beans & lentils.....

Tiglath

Our October ends tomorrow night. We've come in £2.49 over budget which I can live with, and it's £25 less than what we spent in September. I got a real shock when I analysed our spend though - a third of the budget went on non-essential treats like trifles, pork pies, packs of salami, milkshakes, sweets etc. Although November's budget will actually go up as I'm planning on stocking the freezers with 2 months worth of meat and fish AND increasing catfood by 25% for the winter months, a lesser % will be spent on rubbish, and I will meal-plan diligently. DH has been very good at handing me receipts, but I'm definitely leaving him at home when I shop on foot from now on.

Just signed up for the Farmfoods email and got lots of 10% off vouchersin multiples of £25/50/100 valid until 30th November which will be put to good use.

meg72

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I am here to the end although DH gets paid on Friday. I think I will avoid the shops as long as we can and see if we can get to the first weekend in November with only meagre top ups. Except I will need stuff for my half term cooking marathon. I know everyone likes the bright shiny new thread but I like it when it thins down to the stalwarts at the end of the month! :hello:Keep it going everyone:hello:

SL

I am here to the end as well, but I keep flitting over to November so I dont fall behind on the posts.

meg72

Wanted to make Bolognaise sauce to use up some mince but didnt have mushrooms, then I remembered the ones I dehydrated and used those. Very successful although I did use too many , must remember next time just how much these reduce when dried.

Taranaman

Just added another £11.50 in small spends since the weekend, leaving me with just enough to cover the organic box on Thursday. Freezer and store cupboard pretty full but likely to go just a bit over on milk and eggs by the end of the month. Aiming to bring the budget down by 10% for November

Bluegreen143

Tiglath wrote: »

Our October ends tomorrow night. We've come in £2.49 over budget which I can live with, and it's £25 less than what we spent in September. I got a real shock when I analysed our spend though - a third of the budget went on non-essential treats like trifles, pork pies, packs of salami, milkshakes, sweets etc. Although November's budget will actually go up as I'm planning on stocking the freezers with 2 months worth of meat and fish AND increasing catfood by 25% for the winter months, a lesser % will be spent on rubbish, and I will meal-plan diligently. DH has been very good at handing me receipts, but I'm definitely leaving him at home when I shop on foot from now on.

Just signed up for the Farmfoods email and got lots of 10% off vouchersin multiples of £25/50/100 valid until 30th November which will be put to good use.

For he first couple of months I analysed my spreadsheet and worked out how much I'd spent in each category - it was eye opening. Only stopped at OH is doing one week a month & doesn't keep his receipts, just uses the bank account to check he isn't over his weekly allowance. When I did do it I worked out that we spend £30-40 on rubbish for OH like coke (4 bottles of the branded stuff a week!), crisps & pot noodles (I wouldn't touch any of these things). I was horrified but it is his money too. I now just keep it to certain limits - one one multi bag of crisps a week, for example, and only one pot noodle ever couple of weeks. Anything else he can buy himself!

No grocery spends, went for a hot chocolate with a friend after work but different budget. Made vegetable chilli & rice for dinner with two extra portions now frozen for next week

Coxy11

liz-paul wrote: »

Ran out of time today so defrosting mince went in the fridge for tomorrow and dinner was made in 10 minutes flat - packet of cheese sauce (the shame!), pasta and grated cheese. Followed by tin of rice pudding and fruit purees! Will use my mince to make a hige batch of chilli tomorrow, should get three dinners worth if I add loads of beans & lentils.....

:rotfl:Talking of 'shameful' dinners, I realised tonight that I had no potatoes in so the children and DH (when he gets home later) had DR steak burgers, chicken noodles and green beans Clean plates all round, and DH is out for drinks so he will be passed caring when he eventually rolls in :rotfl:

Just popped to MrT and snaffled some ys bits for Chrimbo. Got 6 packs of mozzarella sticks rtc at 50p and they went through on a multibuy discount (-£3.50) so MrT paid me 50p to take them away. Love it when that happens, albeit hardly ever.

Total from GC is £17.89 and still need to get to next Tuesday AND pay back 2nd purse. Talking of which about £150 of my GC budget has been recycled back through my purses this month - could do better, but it's money that is WORKING for me and not leaving the house and adding to SMs coffers. Every little helps