December 2014 Grocery Challenge

lushlifesaver

I am spent up, January budget is to start on the 19th (early pay day due to Christmas so I have to stretch it further than usual until January Pay day) and I officially have nothing more to buy


Very happy as I have lots of delicious extras to take to bf's parents at Christmas (his mum doesn't do condiments so I have bought some nice ones and some soft drinks etc to take. I'll make deserts but loads in already to get baking with so no spends there - winner!) and I have gotten much more confident with feeding wonder bairn 'real' food so haven't even thought about buying more jars


She's still on formula and will be for months yet but that's not really a cost I mind


Thinking of banning all take aways in January so will need to work on a meal plan with lots of variety and easy things I can cook quickly on an evening/prepare ahead and reheat

scotmumof3

£9.80 spend for me today in tesc* but that includes a nice box of biscuits to take to MIL at xmas which was £4 and a box of 30 packs of crisps for £3.

Hope everyone had a good Tuesday

peaceandfreedom

The shopping I had planned after work didn't happen because I needed to go straight home to give DS a lift somewhere. Instead I did an extra shop at a Mr T Express. Spent 12.14 in total which included loo roll (had intended stocking up on that in Mr A). Bought dinner for tonight - sausages which I served with onion gravy, mashed spuds and veggies. Have some left over for lunch at work tomorrow and have also frozen some sausages.

Also bought mince for a double-batch of bolognese sauce which is now in the slow cooker, where it will simmer overnight. Should be lush tomorrow. Also bought eggs (which I eat a LOT of) and mushrooms.

Another quick YNAB report shows that our meat as a percentage of total grocery spend is currently 49% :eek:.

lynnejk

Caterina wrote: »

Floored by a cold.....

Hope you soon feel better and back to form. Sending 'get well' vibes

Florenceem wrote: »

I have been awol from mse for 4 months. I am still being thrifty/frugal - downright tight in my spending.

Hi Florenceem. I have kept wondering where you were and missed you on the thread. GREAT to see you back with us

lushlifesaver wrote: »

Thinking of banning all take aways in January so will need to work on a meal plan with lots of variety and easy things I can cook quickly on an evening/prepare ahead and reheat

Have you tried always cooking at least double and freezing the rest ? I usually do three times and freeze two, though if it's chilli or Bolognese I do a huge slow-cooker full and so usually freeze about 8 separate portions.


If you do this all the time, even with roast meat (make sure covered in gravy when you freeze) it soon mounts up and you just have to add veggies or pasta. Saves loads of time and money :money:


Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday
Lx


:xmassign:

muffin_man_7

Bobarella wrote: »

I went to do my Aldi shop which is my first time there. I went with a list & stuck to it except for switching sausages for bacon in the end. I so wish it was closer, I could save a fortune there. I wont bore on but for me the main high lights were the super 6, which today meant I got 3 lemons for 49p (they are 33p each in Sains) a 6 pack of tomatoes for 49p, (would be 70p in Sains) & 1kg of white onions for 49p (80p in sains)
I was also overjoyed to see they do a store brand cheese string at only £1.49 for 8 vs £3 in Tesco for the actual cheese strings. My son loves them but I only ever buy on offer as I appreciate what a mug I am being to pay so much for effectively less cheese than you get in a simple block. But it is nice to be able to treat your child to something they like a lot.
I also rate the full size baguette for 45p vs £1 in the supermarkets.
Total spend was £8.48 which was a little over my budget for the day, but as I said earlier it hasnt ruined things due to no shopping day yesterday.
Funny enough the only thing I did notice is they dont do a cheap loo roll option like Lidl. Cheapest I spotted was 4 for £1.45 unless I missed something?

15 days to go on Dec GC for me.

Bob

Hi Bob i ve not been on here for months real live got in the way as it usually does any how just wanted to say cheapest loo roll in aldi are £1.99 for 9 not too bad either i will be getting them instead of the cheap ones in mrA that is same price for 12 but dont last as long hth.

muffin_man_7

Hi all really missed joining in on here as real life was getting in the way im going to follow for the rest of this month and would like to join in again in January it might take me a while to get back into it also i need to set a budget and as im not sure of incoming money from next week ( youngest will be 18 on 17th dec ) it makes more sense to wait til next month and might be just me soon as shes hoping to share a flate with her friend my fingers tightly crossed this will be soon i really do need the place to myself

Id love the potato bake recipie plz i love mash and gravy only prob is so does dog person (aka cezer the dog he sits on sofa like a person thats how i gave him the nickname) if its my food he always wants some mmm i wonder if thats why im starting to loose afew lbs

CRANKY40

I buy toilet rolls from Home Bargains, £3.49 for 18 and they're fine. Ive been buying the same brand for years now and apart from the pack going up 50p in price a while back, nothing has changed. They're every bit as good as the brand with the puppy dog that the late Mr C used to insist that I bought......

First_Trouble I keep my grocery money totally separate from my "ordinary" money. I have a small purse that I use and any coupons and my shopping list also go
in there. Any money I don't spend can be carried forward to the week after that way on the off chance of spotting incredible bargains and needing a few pounds extra :rotfl:

Solstice_3

Let me see veg and toothpaste spend yesterday was £6.18 (£3.50 of that was from my penny pot)

NSD today (2)

Caterina

Thank you Lynnejk, I am on the mend but still a bit slow and sniffly. I hope to be fully recovered in the next couple of days.

amandaatnumber7

Got fruit & veg, meat, milk, eggs and a few other bits today for the week today came to $153,,, I forgot dog food and butter so I'll need to go back to the shops tomorrow :mad:

My Grocery Run order can take up to 10 days to arrive,, I didn't factor this in when I ordered so I'm probably going to have to buy nappies before it arrives