September 2014 Grocery Challenge

Ellie_BB

Lost the plot a bit back in july when car needed quite a bit of work done and debt went up instead of down. Kind of had a oh-what's-the-point-anyway moment (or few weeks) before pulling myself together. Now DD is on the verge of complicating finances even more because she's a teenager and thinks she knows it all :wall:, so hoping returning to the grocery challenge will stop me from having a mega melt down when it happens

Soo, can I go down for a budget of £250 again this month please? I was going to go lower than b4 but I need to stock up on animal food and cleaning stuff again, so think I'll stick with the same. So far spent £30.19.

PennyGrabber

I've been busy today planning next week's meals and shopping list. Should be safely under the £20 mark.

I have plans for making soup for my lunches as back to work. I have the choice of celery soup or leek and pot soup as that's what I have in the fridge. Might even do both!!

Making a cake with some near-the-date eggs as we have friends coming over tom, so I'll use up some overripe bananas in it. Yummy!!

Looking forward to getting back on track as I did so well last month.

PG x

Maitane

I'm not going to join this month because we've got some bits and bobs going on in September and start of October - namely our wedding and honeymoon - but I'm certainly going to lurk to [STRIKE]steal[/STRIKE].. erm.. borrow and ideas people have to help me with October

lynnejk

GOLLY GOSH - lots of lovely new peoples :hello: and welcome to everyone

Caterina wrote: »

May I join in please?
Just one thing, DH and I will be away for 5 days in September, visiting relatives in Scotland, and we cannot be too careful with spend while there as we are guests in their home. So there will be a bit of extra for gift giving and food contribution I suppose. How do holidays get accounted for in the budget?

It's really up to you have you organise things but would suggest you set yourself some kind of ground rules that work for YOU.


Personally we have a separate budget for holidays and when we are away we adjust our monthly target on here. For instance, we are away for a week in September so I am aiming for 25% reduction in GC spending this month (£150 instead of £200).
HTH.


Hope you all have a fantastic Friday
Lx

Lenaia

Hi everyone,

It's my last month at full time work so I'm going to try to reduce down to £180 for 4 weeks (30 August - 26 September).

It shouldn't be that much of a struggle hopefully but I will be trying to improve my cooking skills and make more food from scratch. I'm going to try and do one new recipe a week but I don't have much of a stash going for basic ingredients (herbs, flour, spices etc) so I'll build up a store week by week.

Best of luck to everyone!

p-pincher

I've spent 64 pounds so far. Leaving me £186 out of £250. The majority was a large iceland order on Tuesday. The freezer is nice and full now. Stocked with plenty of veg. The rest was spent in Sainsburys for Dh birthday tea yesterday. He chose pizza but I persuaded him that we should get 2 of the large fresh ones from the pizza counter instead of shelling anything up to £30 at Dominoes.

Really hoping to come under budget as I really want to join Costco but I banned myself from joining until I can save up the £30 membership from my grocery budget. Not sure if it will be possible in the one month but hoping to be able to join before Christmas.

I've also decided to draw the rest of the grocery money out of the bank so I know exactly how much I've got left.

MissOrganised1972

Captain_ladder wrote: »

Have the most GIANT courgette to use up if anyone has ideas of what to do with one I'd be very happy!!!

Hi. Try this
https://www.philadelphia.co.uk/Recipes/Philly%20roasted%20veg%20pasta?r=29543
This is one of our staple meals in our house. Sun dried tomatoes can be quite expensive but only 99p a jar in Aldi. One jar lasts about 3 of the above recipe. HTH

joedenise

Captain_ladder wrote: »

Have the most GIANT courgette to use up if anyone has ideas of what to do with one I'd be very happy!!!

I've managed to grow a few of those this year!!! I usually stuff them in the same way as you would a marrow. I usually use a bolognaise type filling but I think you said you are veggie so I would use rice, couscous or bulgar wheat with loads of roasted veg stirred through.

Denise

Caterina

Thank you joedenise and lynnejk for clarifying the holiday "rule". I think I shall just stay with the budget as it is and treat the extras during our 5 days away as, errr, extras!

DS is still home during our time away and so is Ziggy our cat, both need feeding (although I have a massive stash of Ziggy's food). I plan to take packed lunches for our train journey, and a flask with tea. It might be difficult on our way back because we leave very early in the morning and are not in our home. Breakfast and lunch on our way back might have to be bought out, so will be treated as extras.

DH and I need to finalise our monthly budget, what's regular and what's extra, how much to allocate to stuff like entertaining, holidays etc.

I shall keep reading your posts with interest to get ideas and find out how it works for others.

michbright

I woke up this morning and realised I put the wrong amount down for my budget before - oops!

As DH is paid fortnightly, I budget £300 every 2 weeks. TBH I've noticed over the past year that we have managed to come in under budget more often than not.

So with that in mind, my budget this month is £600, starting today.