November 2012 Grocery Challenge

cattysmum

Evening all can I please put down a budget of £200 for november of which I have already spent £26 Im on holiday this month but am still going to use my budget on bulk staples stuff as it comes on offer and going to get some xmas food too.
Thanks

GreenFairy

First trip to the shops this month. Spent €28, mostly on dairy products but got a huge amount of cheese on YS - fancy stuff that's only ripe by the time it's getting chucked out. Well chuffed
Resisted buying more bottles of sauces on special as am still working through the huge number in the fridge. Have promised DH that will make lemon curd again when the half jars of jam are finished up.

CompBunny

Reporting £3.80 spend. We had Mum over as she was coming with OH and I to our village fireworks display, so bought some shop pizza and coleslaw to make an evening of it The display was really good, its our first year living here and we're definitely going again next year. Cheaper tickets, closer, much less hassle and just as good/long as the nearest big town one!

Hope everyone has had a lovely evening enjoying your own fireworks, and that we have all managed to stay wrapped up warm!

Our first big shop of November is tomorrow, and need quite a lot so have a feeling it will be an expensive one. We shall see

Need2bthrifty

A..Ha, finally managed some NSD’s. Had to do a very quick shop mid-week to get some bread rolls, milk, shallots and cinnamon, also managed to pick up a 500g slab of reduced butter which I will freeze in smaller portions – that should keep me going for a while. So a spend of £5.27 to declare.

I’ve almost run out of greek yoghurt and bread is finished but I can make do with porridge or eggs for breakfast and I’m sure there are some pitta breads lurking in the back of the freezer so hoping to last out till Wednesday before going shopping again.

mossy

Went a little off track during the holidays but am hoping to make it to the 19th in budget without spending lots of next months budget towards the end!! Expensive month next month as a lot of Christmas preparations will be included in it so must be disciplined and not overspend this month!!

Haven't had a chance to catch up yet, hope everyone is well and enjoyed the half term (if it was there for them to enjoy!).

Kitchenbunny

Catching up with the thread now as have only had fleeting chances through the week. Luckily though, I've made no other spends so the total remains the same. So, status update for Kitchenbunny:

Mealplan is made:
Sun - Toad in the Hole with Beans
Mon - Black Bean Chicken with Noodles
Tues - Chilli con Carne with Sauteed Potatoes
Weds - TBC
Thurs - Chilli con Carne Toasted Sandwiches
Fri - Ribs & Chips
Sat - TBC
Sun - Chicken & Bacon Pie with Mash & Veggies

The shopping list is made and very little else is required this week - happy bunny indeed. I'm now planning to do some baking either for Christmas or just to "have in for just in case" so will use the oven when it goes on next (tonight).

Have a lovely week, everyone, and hopefully I can post a bit more in the week!

KB xx

gien

Had a very spendy Saturday - sent OH off to get some wine and beer as we had a group of people coming round and hedecided to take advantage if a few specials and spent 121€! So upto 351€ spent now for the month. Fortunately we have most of the wine and beer left so we should be OK for a while for drinks.

Suffolk_lass

Loving the mealplan Kitchenbunny. So I thought I would copy and post ours. Our mealplan for this week is:

Sun - Slow roast belly of pork with roast potatoes, shallots, squash and carrots, with steamed broccoli, apple sauce and gravy
Mon - cold pork with jacket potato, salad and pickles
Tues - fettucine with bolognaise
Wed - cauliflower cheese with Jacket Potatoes
Thur - chicken jalfrezi with butternut squash and onion side dish and steamed pilau rice (for 3 - DS coming for dins)
Fri - oven-baked pork sausages with crushed new potatoes, runner beans, steamed carrots and onion gravy
Sat - not sure yet - if it's cold either oxtail stew or chilli and if it's not, maybe baked trout with steamed veg might swap Fri and Sat

SL

Puddings will mostly be the reduced yogurts I indulged in at Azbos (extra special range)

armchairexpert

Thank you for the lovely welcome, MrsCD. I promise I have very carefully read the first page (and every page!) of this thread, but I still have a question. Does Saturday's family outing, which has its own budget line but involved buying lunch for four people at $25, count towards the GC?

If not, I am doing Excellently Well, with a weekly shop of a mere $89. Otherwise it's $114, which is still not bad, and I think I can get away with another minimal shop next week. We already had a lot of meat in, but usually I end up spending more at the supermarket and grocer's even without the butcher stop, so I am considering this a win. I could do much better but my OH is quick to feel deprived if we don't have a few luxuries in, like (supermarket brand) sparkling water and some tins of soup to grab on the days we haven't got time to have lunch.

Today was not only a NSD but we went to a colleague's party which ran from early afternoon through the evening, so we ate nibbles and things instead of lunch, and stayed for pizza and barbecue chicken instead of dinner. So that's a day's saving on my meal planning as well!

fedupandskint

Meal plan for me is
Sun - leftover veggie curry then either a micro choc/golden syrup pud or spotted !!!!!! with custard (recipe from front page)
Mon - batch bake chilli with veg and rice and leftover pud and custard
Tues - pasta and tom sauce and veg and chocolate mousse
Wed and Thurs - some kind of potato topped pie from the depths of the fridge and freezer and banana and custard
Fri - fish curry and rice and chocolate mousse

Going for a nsd today and also trying really hard to not buy any food this next week and eat up what I have in