September 2016 Grocery Challenge

thriftwizard

£15.56 gone on top-up bananas, apples & bread, and two buy-one-get-one-half-price items at Holland & Barrett, both things we use a lot of. Not doing too badly here; two members of the household are now away for 3 days, and one goes off back to uni next week so the budget's not quite so stressed from here on in. There's also some light at the end of the tunnel in that DS2 has been promised a substantial pay rise, so hopefully he & TDiL will now be able to afford a home of their own in the near future.

If I look at my original budget of £520, before the freezer "disaster", I might still make that figure and still have replaced some of the stuff I had to throw out. Fingers crossed...

purpleybat

shoppings for the week are done:-
coop 87p
Iceland £6
lidl £22.53


slightly more than I wanted for the week but the Iceland shop was nearly all loo rolls! so no need to buy for a goodly while.
while I think about it quorn mince and pieces are half price at £1.30ish in Iceland at the mo, I saw it and thought of the veggies here.
I think my total for the month is £86ish so I'm really quite pleased

purpleybat

CatherineMM wrote: »

S
my family think my jam attempts are hilarious as they set so solid you need a chainsaw! haha practice might me better... or else we just stop using jam...:rotfl:...as my jam and wine isn't a friendly gesture...:rotfl:

keep on trying, do you have a jam thermometer? they're not too pricy and can help with the elusive perfect set. I use the saucer in the freezer method, you drop some jam on the cold plate and if it wrinkles its done, tho admittedly some of my 'sets' are hit and mix but I think that's some of the fun.
the first batch of marmalade I made I was told was like araldite! since then I've labelled it 'murderous marmalade' and no ones dared to complain

pamsdish

£20 shop in Morrisons, cold meats, salad items, dog chews, cream and pork shanks for the freezer. £5 saver stamps and £1-25 on 8 reduced perennial plants.

t14cy_t

No spends again yesterday. Having withdrawal symptoms, I do miss my yellow sticker shops, however still have plenty in. I am looking forward to seeing the rain hopefully today.xx

sharronej

Hoping for a nsd myself - money will be spent but it is a work spend so doesn't come out of my food budget. The. F&V box arrived last night and it's ok ...... Not amazing but ok lol, I don't think I'll order it again though and it means I will only have £47 for the rest of my shopping which should be ample but somehow I still seem to spend every penny! I did rubber chicken last week - couple of roast dinners, chicken and veg pie and a stew and now my husband is moaning about not wanting any more chicken so I guess I'll have to think of something else this week!

tumptyteapot

Friday 16th Sept - £96 left of £200 to spend on groceries. Cupboards are full. Need to get a few things from Tesco and the market today. My tomatos got blight so I've chopped all the good green ones up to make chutney - might get some nice jars so I can make them into presents later in the year for that event that shall not be mentioned before Halloween.

Suffolk_lass

CatherineMM wrote: »

Switched to lidl from my usual...gradually have downsized from w@itrose-s@ins-mr T-Morrison and now on lidl... it has been a strange journey... but our average bill was at £160 ish per week and now we are at under £60 per week... also using meal plans... breadmaker and home baking alot more... hopefully can continue in this cheaper style... last years xmas week grocery bill was over £400! I hope that this year it is around £100... mostly as I do not have anymore funds than that...

I now use a meal plan and have inventories of all our cupboard stock... even been preserving... although apparently you can clean drains with my attempt at rhubarb wine and strawberry wine!

off hedgerow picking slow berries and brambles? on friday...

my family think my jam attempts are hilarious as they set so solid you need a chainsaw! haha practice might me better... or else we just stop using jam...:rotfl:

I am tight in on our planned budget now at a balance of £282.11 / £300... all we need this month for sept is milk... we use 4 pints a day so I guess we will go over budget a bit... plus getting low on fruit... (must stop dehydrating it all for cereals)

I did manage 3 NSDs in sept though... of which I am rather proud... don't often get those as we live rurally and order everything off amazon prime as and when needed... Yesterday could of been but i joined a book club at WI and they wanted £1 subs... plus I popped into hobby shop for felt squares...going to try making crafts for xmas gifts...as my jam and wine isn't a friendly gesture...:rotfl:

I love this post CatherineMM - loads of small changes resulting in a cumulative big impact. If you are struggling with jam, have you considered bottling some fruit? - it has kind of fallen out of favour but it's a great way of preserving - I do plums, damsons and gooseberries but I am going to try raspberries as my (4) freezers are groaning with this year's garden produce. Good luck with the foraging - we intend doing the same tomorrow - loads of damsons from Village hedgerows and apples and blackberries - saves us so much money!

Progress this month is limited by a salary-controlled fiscal-diet - paying off our credit card bills from our July-August holiday means I might be having a freezer-fortnight plus milk, yogurt and a little butter - and I am trying to get back down to my ninth of 13 portions of our annual budget. I am at 67.32% out of 69.23% so far. If I don't quite manage it this month I will pull it back next month.

SL

tumptyteapot

t14cy_t wrote: »

No spends again yesterday. Having withdrawal symptoms, I do miss my yellow sticker shops, however still have plenty in. I am looking forward to seeing the rain hopefully today.xx

I work from home and I'm having to train myself out of bargain hunting as a form of relaxation or excape from it during the day. I'm down to one shop a week with one top up which is better than it was!

oceanspirit

£10.45 vegbox. A bit of wastage this week which could not be avoided (dashing off to rescue sick relative) so am not going to beat myself up about it.

Did manage to make some soup yesterday for the freezer to rescue some and hope to do another batch today to finish up things from last weeks' box.