October 2014 Grocery Challenge

tumptyteapot

My budget for the month is £250 for groceries (based on an average of 6 months reciepts). I know I'm spending too much on food! There is only me and my son and occasional guests.
I've installed goodbudget on my phone and I'm writing down everything this month!
So far groceries have come to £30 (it's the 10th) and we haven't been missing out on anything. I did really well at the organic wholesalers (who also sell to the public) and got 2 boxes for £9 - lots of it was past it's best and half price and I like soup :-)
Today I've got a few bits to get and I'm wondering if I actually need to spend £30 in Lidl to get the £5 off. I've only got eggs and almonds on my list :-) I do need to get soya milk from Tesco but I thought since I've got lots of budget I'd get 10 cartons so I don't have to go back for a bit.
Is it really worth spending £30 I don't need to spend right now to get £5 off?

craigywv

Well done teapot, and thaks for that meg i shall be getting the veg and freezing it

Soworried

A spend of just under £8 on our fresh things. That should last us until Tuesday now without going shopping I hope. It depends how much cereal we have instead of toast.
MrM had just done the fruit & veg markdowns and I got 8 bananas for just 5p:j
I'll make some jelly to go with them as a snack tonight.

Now to get on with my meal plan for the rest of the month.

XSpender

I decided to visit Aldeee today instead of Monday to do the weekly shop as leeks were in the super six and I needed some for the sausage casserole planned for Sunday so it avoided having to go with DH and or DS in tow.


Was a bit fed up when my total came to £40.30 but had to have a word with myself as after a £5 voucher, 50p for choc coins from a different budget, £11.27 on beer and wine from a different budget I actually spent £23.53 on food. This covers breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks and treats for 2 adults (one with special dietary needs) and all breakfasts, 2 lunches, 5 dinners and snacks for a hungry 4 year old, for the whole week. We do have a lot of meat in the freezer, only £5 spent on meat today, and if needed we could cut down further but we are doing well spending this amount so I should not feel so bad. We used to go out for a pint of milk and spend this much on carp.


Sorry for the rant at myself.:o


If anyone needs GF food Tesco have twin packs of Mrs Cr1mbles choc chip muffins coming up at 35p, not going out of date just normal shelf price. Think it must be a glitch. I don't normally buy ready made GF cakes as they are so expensive but thought these were good value and are full of choc chips:)


I always buy fresh chicken but after overhearing a customer rave to another about aldee everyday essentials frozen chicken I thought I would try a pack. I was very impressed, hardly any bits needed trimming off and no water came out when pan fried. I am converted:D


Tonight we are having AGCJ Creamy Mustard Chicken with Aldee mini baked potatoes and frozen broccoli.


I am planning to make lentil and bacon soup in the SC and some cheese and onion scones for lunch tomorrow after DH and I go on a bike ride, a veggie chilli for the freezer and a ginger cake so I better crack on.

tumptyteapot

Tesco have just introduced a hand held scanner thing - you go round and scan your items yourself, bag them and pay at the end. It's good because it gives you a running total and you can compare things easily - I never bothered to do the maths on value orange juice compared to 4 packs before - it's about £1 cheaper to buy 4 value cartons than one 4 pack! I still spent nearly £40 but in that was a crate of soya milk, 2 400g cheese slabs for £5 etc. etc. it should last a good while!

Caterina

tumptyteapot wrote: »

Tesco have just introduced a hand held scanner thing - you go round and scan your items yourself, bag them and pay at the end. It's good because it gives you a running total and you can compare things easily - I never bothered to do the maths on value orange juice compared to 4 packs before - it's about £1 cheaper to buy 4 value cartons than one 4 pack! I still spent nearly £40 but in that was a crate of soya milk, 2 400g cheese slabs for £5 etc. etc. it should last a good while!

I just discovered this system in w8rose, which allowed me to use my £10 off a £40 shop almost to the penny. Great stuff!


So far so NSD!

CountingPennies

tumptyteapot wrote: »

Tesco have just introduced a hand held scanner thing - you go round and scan your items yourself, bag them and pay at the end.

Ours has been in place well over a year now and I always use it. Mainly because when I see it add up I look and think "do i really need that" and often find myself taking stuff out and removing it from the bill.... I love it!

Do my shop today. Will update later... Left my purse in the car! :mad:

CP xx

MandM90

Two more NSDs to report. I'm smashing this month, if I say so myself :cool:

Eating at a friend's tonight and at a wedding tomorrow night. Think I'll just need some bread, spread and potatoes to see us through to the 18th at which point I'll do another shop.

CountingPennies

So did my shop and tallies up to £49.17 from 3 different shops.

Quite pleased with that. Got meat, veg, fruit, milk, juices, butter. Quite a few basic staples i needed.

Will update total now. Have a decent amount to bake with so hoping to get some baking done over the weekend for packed lunches.

CP xx

Caterina

Yay, bagged NSD no. 4! sig updated. Good night.