December 2013 Grocery Challenge

Shortie

Just back from a fairly big shop and spent more than I thought we would, but we did pick up bigger bags of pet food (bigger bag of cat food than usual as we niw ha e a rescue pud who needs to put some weight on and is eating extrodianary amounts of food!!). I also forgot how expensive cat litter could be - she's still being kept indoors at the mo

So, £47.77 for us today seeing pet food and loo roll to see us through December, and veg and fruit for the week, and sausages for this week and replace the meat in meals that my youngest won't eat


Ooohhh and also... I got £30 back from work for the christmas do (the co will pay it) so we spent it on bits for the food bank

chocoholic_chick

Really struggling as to what to set my budget at this month. Did really well in November but used nearly all my store items so need to restock, then I always allow more for treats for Christmas and we buy a few things to take round to my parents on Christmas day ( they cook dinner but I normally get the alcohol ). Neither of us know when we're actually getting paid in December either, I run my challenge from DH's pay day to pay day, which is normally last Friday of the month but he might be getting paid early this month... hmmm

Think I'll just go to the last Friday of December and if he gets paid early I'll just leave that until his normal pay day. So 4 weekly shops and I'll also get stuff for new year in from this budget so will set it at £350 alot more than normal but we do tend to entertain more in December and I had bare freezers virtually this morning which always has me in a panic which brings me on to my spends from my first shopping trip this month

£68.19 spent in Aldi today, due to going with no list, no meal plan and hungry!! Did have to buy washing powder, olive oil and vegetable oil, bought some quality streets to put away for us as a treat ( £3.99 a tub ), some chocolates for my Dad as a stocking filler, 2 cans of de-icer and wanted to try one of their 4 bird roasts which was £9.99 so a few things we wouldn't buy weekly and definitely a few indulgent items on there! Next weeks shop should be a more "normal" one though and I have now topped up my cupboards and freezer a bit.

just_the_two_of_us

Small spend of £2.80 on pudding rice and evap to make rice puddings - unfortunately we were in B**ths and not near another s/m as sure could have got evap cheaper in H Bags - but it is not something we buy on a regular basis so not sure if it was expensive or not! Looking forward to trying the slow cooker recipe tomorrow. Signature updated and now trying to stay out of shops, except for milk, until Friday.

Rachel021967

Please put me down for £700.

Soworried

A spend of £9.91 today mainly in lidl. I bought 4 packs of the pork loin chops and 10 bars of chocolate:o Well it was only 19p a bar

I spent the rest on 2 ys southern fried chicken breasts.

I will go and update my signature and catch up on the thread

Florenceem

Managed another NSD here.
Had a use up bits dinner.
We had LO balls + LO roast poatoes - crisped in oven + mashed swede/chopped up carrot & onion + LO naan bread.
The LO balls were okay - nothing to rave about.

jennypennysaver

Just stopping by to report my grocery spends: £23.50 on the market (£22 on meat, £1.50 on potatoes), & £4 at Poundworld (toiletries). Had already got my fruit & veg etc at A!d!

CountingPennies

Came back from town today to find my parents had bought me 2 large chickens, a nice piece of beef and a decent sized piece of pork loin. They come for lunch every Sunday and often land with a load of meat to say thankyou, which is MUCH appreciated! Also gave me some veg which needed using up so that will be going towards tomorrow lunch.

Wasn't feeling to well so just popped to Ald* to get the rest of the bits a NEEDED, rather than fancied. Spent £6.90 on milk, eggs, little bit of veg, pop and crisps.... oh and a packet of biscuits. Must try and get a food shop done tomorrow.

Also just remember parents bought me 4 loafs of bread too. All gone into my freezer!

CP xx

Florenceem

Working on spending as little as possible.
Sorted out tomorrow's dinner and Mondays.
I ventured in to the small freezer - searching for bits to use up. Got out - some bacon, 3 sage & onion stuffing balls and 2 bags of chicken. One lot of chicken is breaded.
We will have chicken for dinner tomorrow with roast potatoes and roasted veggies - red onion, white onion & tomatoes - all from stock.
Then on Monday - HM wedges with bacon, poached egg etc.
I really need to have a using up time.

lushlifesaver

Been to Tescos today for the first time in quite a while! Went with Dad and put his stuff through with mine but never got the money off him grr - frustrating but will just take it out of our budget for now anyway.

So I spent £49...
£4.50 of that's on part of mums Christmas present though so only £44.50
Dad's bits were razor blades (£7.19!!) Jam, fruit cake slices (treat for mum), pineapple in jelly snack pots, hairspray (£2.79!!!) So a grand total of £13.73 - wow, more than I thought actually.
I also got three bottles of schloer for Christmas day, two Choc oranges for bf at Christmas and a bottle of my favourite sav blanc (£6.24 instead of almost £13!) Which I will enjoy once the baby is here obviously. I sent those bits to the parents house so I don't eat/drink them. They came to £11.60.

Remaining £19.17 went on:
Sausages
12 meatballs (fresh)
Mango pieces in jelly snack pots (4pack)
2x cereal bars
2x 1.5l pure fruit juice
Dog biscuits
Deoderant
2x lasagne sauces
4x 2l pop (enough to keep us going 2weeks minimum I should think)
Pack of Aero Mousses for bf
1tin of ravioli for my draw at work

Money really doesn't stretch as far as you think hey?! I am deciding that we are having no take aways this week as the last week has been expensive enough with two plus buying the nursery furniture etc!
Thinking ahead I think our meals will likely look roughly like this (but no set order): sausage caserole, chicken wrapped in bacon with oven fries, chicken with veg sauce and rice, shepherds pie, chicken dinner, mini pizza and chips, carbonara pasta bake

At least two of those will give me portions for th. freezer/left overs.

Off to update my sig!

ETA: on updating my sig noticed I have £67.33 left from the budget! Should be plenty but this week we need: lettuce, ham, bacon

Not going to the shops for anything other than these. Christmas shopping on Tuesday which will be that almost finished. To be fair bf is away the week after next for 3 days so they will be freezer meal/cheap eats days the we are away for the weekend with his parents which will mean two breakfasts, two lunches and one tea to sort. Think we will take brekkie/ snack items and have two meals each day plus fruit etc so less expensive.then pretty sure I get paid five days after our return...so not so bad in fairness. Plus I have bought six months worth of dog food haha! Should really just need a top up plus Christmas baking/treats bits.