November 2014 Grocery Challenge

JIL

I am really trying hard to save some money.
This weekend I sent my husband to the shops with a list and he spent £11.20, we then did not get anything else.
Today I made a Victoria sponge and cut it up and froze six portions. I made a cauliflower, broccoli and leek in cheese sauce using left over cauliflower from last nights curry and some oddments of cheese. Then I made a pan of tomato soup using up some tomatoes bought from lidl last weekend. This will be work lunches for two days so will make another pan on Tuesday. I bought some soup mugs on offer in Saintsbury's. Plastic multi coloured ones with a vented lid. So I just pour the soup into the mugs to store and then reheat.
This month I am going to try and make some room in the freezer and try to use what I save as the Christmas present money for my neices and nephews. So I think I will need £50 per weekend so that's£200 for the month starting 31/10/14 which is payday. This will be drawn out of the bank and put in a separate purse. There will be no cheating.

barneydee_2

Still haven't finished Octobers grocery challenge yet will post later In the week I know I have gone over £300 but I'm going for £300 again for November I did not plan much last month so that's why I went over , I have made a list of meals for the month firstly based on whet I have already got in then made my shopping list fingers crossed we can do better this month
Dee x

maria3104

joedenise wrote: »

I've had my first spend for the November GC - bought 2 rabbits at a farmers market for £8 - one of which has been frozen and the second is currently in the SC nearly cooked and will be dinner on Tuesday night!

To make the stew I needed some vegetables so also spent £1.75 at the local farm shop. A total of £9.75/£250 so far.

Denise

Well done on the rabbits. We have our own and they make the most marvellous stews and pies. There is a stunning Rabbit and cider pie. Yum and almost free. If you are rural often local farmers will give you the rabbits they have shot. Free protein!:money:

joedenise

I'm sure DH would love rabbit & cider pie but I don't actually eat pastry so don't make pies very often. I'll have a look at the pie filling recipe and see if it would work with either a sliced potato top (like hotpot) or a mashed potato top (like shepherds pie).

Denise

XSpender

Please can you put me down for £150 this month; 30th October to 27th November and includes toiletries, cleaning and laundry and food for the dog.


This is an incredibly low figure for us but I have set myself a target this month of no more than $1 dollar per meal per person per day. I have been reading an article on this so chose this figure to work on. There are three of us but I have deducted the meals that we will not be eating at home such as a weekend away I have, DS school meals etc. I have stuff in the freezer but it is not jammed full so this is going to take some ingenuity on my part.


My plan so far is:


Freezer and cupboard inventory (stick it on kitchen fridge)
Meal plan and stick to shopping list
No takeaways or meals out
Meatless Mondays and another veggie meal per week
Use Aldee £5 voucher x 2 (have one from last week)
Make all snacks - no crisps or sweets
Zero food waste


Any other tips to make this a success gratefully received.:)

joedenise

Have just updated my signature as realised I forgot to add on the £1 I spent for half dozen organic free range eggs from the farm where we were staying over the weekend.

We had a couple each for breakfast yesterday and they were absolutely amazing, so much nicer than anything you can buy in the shops.

Denise

craigywv

Nsd here today up to eyes getting ebay stuff parcelled up for posting

lolls89

Hello,
I would like to join
For my first ever GC could you put me down for £210 for 1st November-30th November please.

ETA this includes all toiletries and cleaning products

Ladyluck1

I'm going to have tons of meat for November! They messed up my muscle food order this month so that's coming Wednesday with some freebies (we're off on holiday Monday too so lots will be going in the freezer) and then I've got Novembers half price!!
So I will have got;
2 x rump steaks
6x 250g chicken breasts
4 x burgers
A pack of sausages
Veal escalope
400g Pork steaks
2x hatche steaks
5 x 1.2-1.3kg corn fed chickens
Meatballs
Pack of chicken breast chilli sausages
And a few other bits for £45!

happydays_70

Er...well...I went to al*I as arranged. Thought about it before I went and spending just £30-35 wasn't doable.
I spent £98 of my November £150 budget. I got lots of staples that needed replenishing.
I am cooking from scratch, batch cooking and freezing.
I expect to do another big shop in about a fortnight with milk in between.