October 2013 Grocery Challenge

mrs-moneypenny

im in again after a disastrous september

thank you to everyone that posts in the monthly challenge threads

ive declared in the sept thread and set my new budget at £400 for october

tonight is soup made for roasted veggies left from yesterdays dinner so pretty much a free tea for us.

NSD today

JustKaren

First spends of the month here mrt delivered this morning, £49 for groc challenge and a few bits in there for xmas box but still need to come from budget, finally hubby is in on the challenge we have a few bits weekly from work free but he's promised to get receipts for any spends x

[Deleted User]

Hi everyone, well i totally lost count last month. It wasn't so much with the food, thats pretty much under control, but i also include alcohol and any eating out into that, so maybe i need to rethink, as its been a rather boozy month. I think i might up the budget to £80 and go on a health kick or just make my own

vodkawitch1

GC for October is £120.00 - spend £42.00 today so £88 left. should be ok as got lots in.

mrs_motivated

Hi Folks,

Please can I join in. October is a 5 week month for me so put me down for £350 this month. That's for 3 peeps and 2 (tiny dogs).
My October started on Saturday (my weekly shopping day) and I spent £41 and I got everything for the coming week.

Good luck with the challenge everyone :T

RomanyLass

O.K, done a menu plan and I reckon that I can do the whole Month for £150 for us and 3 doggies

robberbutton

Peggybabcot wrote: »

The most common reason for popping to the shop and therefore overspending is bread and milk. Now I've got bread covered since I started making my own but wanted some advice on freezing milk. I've had a clear out of our freezer and finally we do have some room. Can you freeze semi skimmed or does it have to be full fat? And does anyone have any baking suggestions for savoury snacks such as sausage rolls etc for when the kids get in from school and also to replace crisps as a savoury element to lunch box fillers as we seem to get through too many crisps and the inevitable top up shop/overspend happens. I'm hoping for more NSD and only 1 trip per week to the supermarket in October as this is where our weakness lies. We're not veggie, I love cooking and we're 4 adults (2 teenage kids with hollow legs). Any advice would be much appreciated thanks x

I have frozen milk in the past - just make sure when using that it is totally defrosted, or else you just get runny water. Give yourself ages, then give it a good shake.

Scones are a good snack, and really easy to make. You can add different things like cheese or raisins. My fave recipe is Nigella's - recipe posted here.

Cambs85

Spend of £12.79 in B&M and £6.20 in t3sco today to restock cupboards. About to look at what I have ordered from sa1nsburys to see if I can take anything off that I bought cheaper today. I know everything I have bought has been on my list but not so impressed that October hasn't yet started and effectively a quarter of my budget is gone, not including my sa1nsbury's order that is also lined up! Might not make it! Need to keep trying though!

K9sandFelines

Bluegreen143 wrote: »

Hi everyone, hope you had a frugal weekend

Made proper yoghurt for the first ever time last night! The simplest way ever, just heated milk up to pretty much boiling then let cool down again, mixed with the end of a savers natural yoghurt tub (which had passed its use by date but smelled and tasted fine :cool:) and stuck it in the my e*syyo maker, made up the usual way with hot water in the bottom. (Side note - it was a gift, I used it once with the sachets, hated it and thought it was really 'processed tasting' and it's lived in a cupboard ever since - so pleased I can use it to make yoghurt the old fashioned way )

I left the yoghurt all night and in the morning I had thin yoghurt! Which I strained to thicken through kitchen roll as I don't have any muslin atm :cool: and it worked!! AND I used the whey that came out in my bread today. So.... do I get a frugal gold star??? :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I've had a grocery delivery yesterday so will get my spends totted up and post them plus mealplan after I have.

PS welcome to all the newbies, you'll do great just wait til you get addicted to the grocery challenge like the rest of us

PPS I think it was K9 who was saying about getting sparkling wine by mistake - just to let you know you can cook with this, it works just as well as white wine and is rather nice in fact. I use white wine, cider or sparkling wine interchangeably in cooking depending what I have left. BUT I wouldn't want to make you feel guilty about drinking it so feel free to ignore me if you'd rather do that

Twas I , thanks; but it has been guzzled now. Was very nice, but would have lasted alot longer being used in cooking.

NSD for me today. Had Ratatouille for tea from freezer and DDs had HM pizza, and got breadmaker on the go making Spiced fruit loaf using up some AF Hovis bread flour.

studentmidwife

:eek:Just noticed I've been put down for £2 for the month on the list. Looks like I've already blown my budget then :rotfl: