October 2015 Grocery Challenge

selloptape

Hi Everyone,

I'm going to go for £220 again in October.

Instead of reducing the target I'm going to include all my work lunches as well, hopefully this will motivate me to make them myself time to break my M&S salad and rocky road addiction!! I think I've spent about £80 on lunches in Sept :eek::eek::eek:

Good luck for October x

candygirl

karenccs67 wrote: »

I have meal planned for the month and for a change we are going to do one big shop and top up with fresh fruit etc. We are going to try Aldi, never shopped there before, it is a bit of a drive. Are there any items to definitely try or steer clear of?

There's a thread about stuff to buy , or avoid from ALD1 N L1DL, on here somewhere:j

wannalot

Hi all

I did my first big shop tonight for October at Mr L1dl, to take advantage of the discount offer they are running here in Scotland. I spent a scary £54.86, which is far more than I want to spend each week, but I actually managed to save an extra £14, by splitting my shop into two and asking the cashier to put them through separately.

I got a lot of clearning stuff (which technically comes from a small extra fund , and some YS lamb and steak, which were too good to refuse. I also have stuff to make lots of soup for the freezer (chicken noodle, and vegetable broth) - winter is coming!!!

I need to be careful for the rest of this month, but I'm really happy with the amount of food I got. I shouldn't need to spend much more money for at least another 2 weeks, although I'll keep an eye out for offers!

Coxy11

Hi everyone,

Budgets updated to here

A very warm welcome to our new joiners and returners:
debbiedodge1737, Dia Pita, Nicki-Sue, savingsnewbie, saving4life, dkcrooby and sugar23

I don't normally post much, apart from the budgets list, but whoever asked about turkey mince recipes, I made a SW recipe last night - turkey kofte kebabs - and it was fab.

500g lean turkey mince
1tsp ground cumin
2tsp smoked paprika
1tsp dried mint
1tsp ground coriander

Mix all ingredients together and form small meatballs (I made 15 from this mixture). Thread onto skewers - I did three on each skewer - and then flatten into a kofte shape (knobbly sausage shape!!)

Grill for 12 mins, turning once.

I served this with plain boiled rice and a harrissa tomato sauce: 2 tins chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper, 2tsps harissa spice. Simmer for 30 mins until thick.

Delish - and the children loved it.

In other news, we have had a really expensive month. Our washing machine broke down and was unrepairable, so £300 on that. Our dog has been in intensive care at the vet - £900 and counting, plus one car needed servicing and the other it's MOT.

Usually I budget £450 for groceries and nearly always go a little over that. This month I am shopping at Aldi on a weekly basis - means I need to use cash/debit card instead of putting groceries on the cc and paying it off in full each month. I have budgetted £80 per week and so far have only spent £70.43, so we are on track.

Good luck everybody.
Coxy

complimentschemistry

Hi all,

Been coming and going from the MSE forums for a while now, but I'm back and ready to get saving

My personal budget is £135 - me and the boyfriend don't share any food really as I am a veggie and he avoids vegetables completely!!

Going to try and trim this number down each month, but this is my starting point. Good luck everyone

saving4life

another 1.20 on snacks today, making me realise that its not the shopping budget that goes over its everything else! maybe need separate budgets for everything.

Dawning

I need to come in to GC again as it looks as if there are going to be some big changes ahead at my workplace.
My target for October is £300.
My month starts tomorrow, 1/10/15

debbiedodge1737

I did the cowboy chilli and the soup with the left overs as planned ... soooo yummy , I did lentil and gammon with lots of veg and that has done our lunch and I have a tuperware soup in fridge for me for tomorrows lunch (can eat soup alot ) and the cowboy chilli was loved by the whole house for tea, I used up chillies needing used up and celery needing gone on a tomato passata 31p and chopped tomatoes around 30p base .. I didnt even need rice as it was such a heavy bowl of chilli. So very please a very cheap start to my grocery challenge. There is left over rice (untouched) that i made but nobody ate.... can I reuse ?

joedenise

I often reheat rice although I know some people say you shouldn't - just need to make sure it is heated right through. If you you're not happy reheating then just use it to make a rice salad.

Denise

lynnejk

Evening all and welcome to the new peoples and returners :hello:

Just to let you know that I will now be adding your recipes to the index as soon as I get all the instructions. It would be fantastic if you have a favourite recipe - not already indexed - that you would like to share. Just type it up in one of your posts.

Coxy11 wrote: »

This month I am shopping at Aldi on a weekly basis - means I need to use cash/debit card instead of putting groceries on the cc and paying it off in full each month.

Sorry to hear all your bad news money-wise - it's so difficult to budget for such unexpected problems eh.

I will add your recipe to the index when I get the info how to do it It sounds lovely and will give it a try myself.

BTW - maybe this will help

'We are now accepting credit card payments in all our stores. So there are more ways to pay for the quality and value that you've come to expect from Aldi. Aldi, in store, accepts cash, Visa Debit and credit, Maestro, Delta and Electron and MasterCard credit cards only. No cheques'

debbiedodge1737 wrote: »

There is left over rice (untouched) that i made but nobody ate.... can I reuse ?

You can but be careful. If you cooled it quickly and refrigerated it will keep for three or so days and then you must make sure it is well heated when you use - maybe as fried rice. HTH

Good luck one and all
Lx