November 2013 Grocery Challenge

malamay

Spent £19 on a H Fresh box instead of going out for our wedding anniversary tomorrow. It has three meals, and as Hubbs is working from home tomorrow, we can prepare a meal from it together. He normally gets in about 6, by which time I'm starving and have dinner ready and waiting.. he is a little spoiled

I didn't go to the shops again today, and we are now out of milk. I'm trying to hold off going for a day or two yet.

lynnejk

Hi been shopping again and spent £12.83 at the butcher and £6.09 at M & S. So a total of £18.92.


Hope you all having a good week
Lx

2childmum

Shop at Mr T on Monday night. Spent £44.40. Highlights include_

YS haddock from the fish counter - half price, so that's gone in the freezer alongside lots of smoked haddock I got YS a while back, ready for a big fish cook off next week some time! There doesn't seem to be much YS stuff at this shop but what there is seems to be mainly fish!

Having said that i got two lots of sticky chilli beef reduced from £3.50 to 70p each.

Two lots of ready rolled pastry BOGOF. I know it would be cheaper to make my own but time is a bit precious at the moment. I have some bacon to use up so am planning a quiche for dinner one day this week and will use the rest of that pack for more mince pies for the freezer! I could freeze the second pack but it has a date some time in December so I shall see if I have time to make another quiche or a pie or something.

They did have a variety of 'bits' from the deli e.g. mini samosas, spring rolls etc, reduced by quite a bit but I wasn't sure if they would freeze ok. I decided not to risk it but when I got home I wished I had - I think they would have frozen - what do others think?

I also got a bag of mixed chopped veg (mainly carrot and leek) with pulses in it for 34p. I wasn't sure if I could freeze it so I cooked it in a casserole (as per instructions) thinking I could freeze it cooked and then find some sort of casserole meat to go with it, but decided that would make too large a casserole which i wouldn't be able to refreeze so in the end I got the stick blender out and turned it into soup! Very nice too! I also had a bag of potatoes that when I tried to cook some boiled away to nothing so I bought leeks and turned them into soup too. And the lemon lurking at the bottom of the veg box (obviously having an identity crisis) got turned into a lemon drizzle cake - although I make the icing too runny so the cake is now sitting in a pool of icing!.

One thing I have noticed since reading this board is how much better I am at thinking about using up stuff - not that I threw loads away before but it sort of didn't become a whole new meal (if that makes sense), so thank you for all your help.

I am stuck in November until Dec 6th, so I think I will have to read the December thread alongside this one or I will be left behind completely. I love reading at this time when everyone is declaring - it cheers me up to see you all doing so well, and even those going over budget are, I'm sure, still spending less that they would have done without us all supporting each other.

Keep battling on everyone

physicsgirl

This month has been ridiculously stressful so haven't been keeping up with this thread at all, no sign of things easing up either But it does mean I haven't had much chance to go shopping at all, so will definitely come in under budget in November.

Spent £3.67 on the 11th, with 2 of my first proper YS bargins! Ken Hom noodle meals for 53p and 94p Plus milk and sandpaper (it's a big T*scos!).

Then on the 16th I spent £11.36 in T*sco (inc toiletries - £3.20) and £30.79 in Ald! (inc meal for parents who came to stay).

£3.93 on the 21st mainly on carrot cake ingredients, plus YS beansprouts and hummous.

£4.00 in P*undland on the 24th on candy canes (part of Chrimbo presents), a dishmatic head, a puncture repair kit (well worth it when it saves £1.40 each way on the bus), and a tape dispenser.

So that takes me up to £96.59/£220 so far this month (:eek: no idea what we've been eating, fresh air apparently), although I'll do a big shop in Ald! on Thursday with the £5 voucher.

Congrats to all finishing under budget, and hope everyone's well.

shiningfaery

completely agree with u 2childmum. I am an organsied sort of person with a spreadsheet for the finances and always thought we spent £200 a month on food and that my money was being wasted on takeaways then this month it has shown me we actually spend £400 a month on food then a further £100 on takeaways :eek:

Billie-jo

Had to pick up something from Argos earlier today so with B&M being next door I had to call in and say hello! Was glad I did because they had Garners pickled onions in 750g for just £1.49 where as I have been buying them for £2.79 for just a 454g jar in Te$co
Not counting these in my budget though because have used my second purse for these. (There is a thread somewhere that explains the second purse system. I get how it works but there is no way I could explain it to anyone)

Also brought some gravy granules and some vegetable oil so a spend of £2.78 today.

Bookworm42

Hello everyone. Had a NSD yesterday. And remembered I also had one last Friday so must update my signature. Spent £13.65 in Mr T today. Just going to make a fish pie.

poppycracker

what shop is being abbreviated to B&M please? I'm usually good at working out abbreviations but this one has stumped me!

My November ends today I suppose since December starts tomorrow. Haven't spent any money on food since my last post so I declare £173.01 for the month .

just_the_two_of_us

Declaring - on £218.48 /250 as decided to take off the Xmas cards and treat tea which isn't really "grocery". This is looking good for December challenge:j

Billie-jo

B&M is B&M that's what is on the door although have a feeling it stands for Bargain Madness http://www.bmstores.co.uk/