November 2016 Grocery Challenge

FurryBeastOz

Yay. Only £38.41 spent so far this month. (We were away last week). Hoping to put off spends another couple of days as DH working nights and we can live out of the freezer.

kkffoo

A$da delivery today.
£40.62 (£40.17 when refund comes through)

Delivery guy squished and split the yoghurt, so offered me a 45p refund. I asked if it had just happened, and if there was any yoghurt left in the pot ? I needed it for a starter culture for my yoghurt maker, and that only takes a small amount. He went to look.
He gave me the nearly full pot, and still put it through as a full refund.:T
Crates were spotless too, I pointed that out after the bad news story this week. He said they'd always cleaned them.

After my last post about my nerves going round Aldy I spoke to some friends, and I think our local branch might be the problem. One I spoke to travels an extra 5 miles to visit a newer store with better layout and ambience, and another petite friend commented that she got trapped there in a trolley blockade with customers emptying a discounted meat shelf . She had visited the store on the strength of the offer and was utterly frustrated.
Even my hubby who coped with it better, said the layout was awful. The aisles are narrow, very long and packed high, with only two escape points. I think it gives me claustrophobia.

However, I got used to shopping in 'the smallest cow-op in the world' while on holiday (turn sideways to pass other customers, reverse if mini-trolley approaches, cashier was 4'9"). so maybe I can find a way to deal with the issue. Unless they gut it and start again. I can hope.

If hubby holds off buying his nice whisky, which he works through at glacial pace, and all else works out we are on target...phew!

Wysiwyg49

Franalamadingdong wrote: »

Our biggest changes?
1. I don't need to do a new, interesting, varied meal each night, we are happy to have the same thing 2 days running (actually my son loves it).
2. I don't need to buy half the store "just in case"!
3. I'm eating the leftovers, not just thinking "hmm I don't fancy that now" and then binning it when it's grown fur.
4. We can have just bananas and satsumas this week and have something else another week instead of buying all varieties of fruit to have to dispose of half of it. If it's out of season it's best to avoid the "unripe" *blink* "bad" cycle.
5. If we have run out of porridge the boy can have something else and wait until we have it again. Storing oats plus 5 cereals for a family of 2 is ridiculous. We now have oats plus 2 cereals because of the delightful cereal medley I made for the boy yesterday.
6. Basing meal plans around what we have in and then writing the shopping list based on what is left to get rather than thinking up meals and treating each week as a blank slate.

Nothing huge or ground breaking, but has made a big difference...

These are all really great tips and I do find I'm being more gung ho with recipes - last night substituted some HM sauce thickened with cornflour because I didn't have the carton of single cream in the recipe. Nobody noticed...also totally agree with 3, 5 and 6!

Spent £4 on sausages and we'd run out of grapefruit juice yesterday, have updated sig. No way I'll be under budget but I started November's budget on 31 Oct so should probably add an extra week...(does that mean I was under in October?! no not really)

Took leftovers for lunch and have a salad for tomorrow, so that will save about £6.

Suffolk_lass

Save_Dosh wrote: »

Any butternut squash recipes - I would be so grateful - soup maybe. I find the ones i've bought very bland, but I have 3 that need using, plus broccoli, might do a soup with that also, not sure the 2 would go, but beginning to think that potatoes are bloating me, so kind of avoiding them, plus I don't eat meat/fish etc.

Here's my butternut squash soup recipe - we like it

Cut up your clean butternut squash (I only peel if they are damaged) and remove the core stringy bits and seeds - I usually go for 2cm cubes(ish). I used 6 tiny ones (the size of a grapefruit) from my garden

Put it all in a roasting tin and add olive oil, salt and pepper and toss the squash so it is coated. I also add a bit of onion if I've got loads - just cut in half and remove the paper jacket and the roots.

Roast this for about 45 mins, turning the squash after 30 mins so it just starts to catch and caramelise.

Meanwhile chop up some onions - I had a bag of damaged ones from the garden that I had prepped and frozen ;-) and fry these in a mix of vegetable oil and butter. When they are translucent add some water - maybe a pint and one of those vegetable stock pots/cubes and salt and pepper. I also added chilli flakes and two finely chopped red chillis (not the little red b-stards, the jalopenos) because the squashes can take it.

Cover and simmer until the squash is cooked. Turn it all off and let it cool a bit then pour a bit of the onion stock into the roasting dish to get all the sticky bits off.

Whizz it with a food processor/liquidiser/a wand mixer until it reaches the consistency you want. You can always add stock if you want it thinner. Taste and add seasoning (salt and pepper) to your taste, a little at a time. Don't worry if there are black bits - they are the tastiest bits!

I hope you like it
SL

Franalamadingdong

Thanks slowly and wysiwyg.

NSD for me today. I've to go to Mr T to pick up a direct order (Christmas gifts) while I am there I do want to get pitted dates, which I couldn't find on Mr S website because I'm a dope.

pinkypig

£3.02 on instant coffee for DD and a great haul of YS fruit, veg, bread and fish which either 5p or 10p. A whole sea bass was 10p:j. The veg is all par boiled and in the freezer except for a couple of packs for tomorrow's dinner. I also got a pack of mini pork pies which I've put in the freezer for Christmas treats, a pack of salad and a chicken cous cous salad for tomorrow's lunch plus some posh sandwiches which are in the freezer for packed lunches and four packs of different sorts of bread rolls.
I've had a frustrating month budget wise do filling the freezer for pennies really cheered me up

PP x

lynnejk

Evening all

Sorry been MIA but laptop eventually went STOP and that was that :rotfl: Now on new laptop, thanks to loan from my DH, and getting used to a new system etc.

Had an order from Mr T today and groceries were just £13.49 after using a £7 off £50 order voucher, which fortuitously arrived in yesterday's post

I will update the recipes towards the end of the month - so thanks a million for the new ones.

Hope you all have a super Wednesday
Lx

t14cy_t

i won a sainsburys £50 voucher,which i used and had a £9 off a £60 spend and used my nectar points yesterday, so a £75 spend cost me exactly £1!!!!! i do love that feeling!!!! so £37/£80 left for this month. xx

pamsdish

Small spends in Ms 3 reduced blocks of shortcrust pastry @20p, I cut them into 4 before freezing so I can just use as much needed at a time, and a kilo of onions 10p.

elsiepac

Things are completely out of control. This is why I tend to stop posting halfway through the month, because I go over and all hell breaks loose! At least this time I'm keeping track!
The £10 today is on a veg box I'm trying. I came across a post on a Facebook Bristol selling group where a guy was offering these boxes for £10 and delivered free anywhere in Bristol. Fruit, veg, or mixed. He's delivering mine this evening - it's a legit company, seems to be a wholesale grocer of some kind.
Anyway, in my veg box, I will get:
Potatoes, Carrots, Swede, Parsnips, Turnips, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Cabbage, Leeks, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Peppers, Celery, Mushrooms and Garlic
That's the standard box and then this week they are chucking in Beetroot and Radishes for free I think because it's my first one. It's not a sign up scheme where you commit weekly, it's literally just a case of messaging him when I want one and he can do next day! Hopefully it's good stuff because I think it is quite a good deal.

Anyway, here's the horrendousness of my "budget". On theupside, I literally have no reason to buy anything now so I should be able to manage let's say, FIVE NSD's. Starting now. GO!

Date.......Shop.....Amount.....Remaining
26 Oct.....Ocad0.....£47.04.....£62.96 (Bulk cleaning products, tins etc)
27 Oct.....Tesc0.....£00.78.....£62.18 (Reduced organic carrots)
28 Oct.....Tesc0.....£08.15.....£54.03 (Veggies for treat stir fry etc - NOT NEEDED!)
29 Oct.....Co-0p.....£13.16.....£40.87 (Chips, strudel, treat food etc - NOT NEEDED!)
30 Oct.....Tesc0.....£04.94.....£35.93 (Bread, Tomatoes etc)
30 Oct.....A1di......£09.63.....£26.30 (Proper grocery shop, basically all veggies)
2 Nov......Co-0p.....£07.15.....£19.15 (Except for bread rolls for £1, I needed NONE OF THIS)
2 Nov......Tesc0.....£02.39.....£16.76 (Onions, parsley, spinach)
4 Nov......Tesc0.....£16.39.....£00.37 (Proper grocery shop - all veggies plus coffee)
5 Nov......0cad0.....-£1.50.....£01.87 (Refund for missing pack of tofu)
6 Nov......Tesc0.....£13.37....-£11.50 (Proper grocery shop)
7 Nov......Tesc0.....£01.84....-£13.34 (forgot loo roll)
8 Nov......Wagamam4..£19.90....-£33.24 (I have no self control and was feeling very sorry for myself full of cold)
10 Nov.....Chippy....£02.75....-£35.99 (Battered mushrooms from the chippy - their gluten free batter is vegan!
12 Nov.....McD's.....£05.67....-£41.66 (wow I've been so bad lately )
13 Nov.....Services..£17.75....-£59.41 (fail to plan, plan to fail)
13 Nov.....Services..£02.30....-£61.71 (coffee)
13 Nov.....Services..£03.29....-£65 (coffee)
13 Nov.....Services..£18.84....-£83.84 (Gloucester Services - they have a wonderful farm shop with great breads and houmous etc so I've been having those with salad)
15 Nov.....Ald1.....-£06.53....-£90.37 (Proper shop - 8tins of beans and replacing some herbs/spices I'd run out of)
16 Nov.....Veg Box...£10.00....-£100.37