November 2016 Grocery Challenge

meg72

Well having sorted my cupboards and just loving my new walk in pantry am now tackling the freezers Oh boy I must be queen of the leftovers and an absolute expert at not using them up

I`m only on one drawer and already found enough for 14 meals Got to get a grip and start using not hoarding, does anyone really need 12 bags of bread crumbs? will give them to the birds

Sooooooooooo starting today going to have NNN days instead of NSD and promise myself to buy NOTHING NOT NEEDED until Christmas.

elsiepac

Franalamadingdong wrote: »

Elsiepac, you should be proud you keep posting this time. Is there a reason for the overspend? Mine is usually fearing running out of something - I couldn't drive and we are rather cut off here. Perhaps you need to increase your budget a bit?

Thanks Franalamadingdong. It's purely bad planning but really it's that feeling of "I'll just grab this or that" or stocking up unnecessarily. The services (except for Glos) was purely snacks and things as I planned poorly. The coffee was in the services on the way to my fossil hunt on Sunday and on the way back. I keep thinking I must invest in a flask so save on these spends - but that is rare - once a month really.

Slowly57 wrote: »

elsiepac don't beat yourself up! I'll be over this month and I was last - but the important thing is that I can now see where it is all going wrong.. You might need a bigger budget - perhaps set yourself a coffee budget so it doesn't come out of GC? I can see YS reductions push me over the edge so for the time being I only glance a them .... :eek:

Coffee out isn't a usual thing - only usually on a long trip which is what these were. Usually it would come from spending money but I wanted to justify it visibly I guess!

I won't be able to have my five NSDs as I need loo roll, shower gel and soap all urgently. I'm going to get them after work and then try and have my 5 NSDs for GC from Friday. So no spends till next Weds. Scary!! HAS to be done though.

Caterina

Another NSD is looming! Will update tonight if it is successful.

Update: NSD.

kkffoo

Having an off colour day today. My brain is active with all the changes we are making, and combined with the change of light levels due to winter drawing in, my system is taking longer to wind down when I go to bed meaning missing sleep.
Decided I was fed up of cooking (+insert long list of other things) to do with money saving, but mostly due to hefty garage bill making my efforts feel a bit pointless.

To show how illogical it got, I vented my frustrations about all the complicated cooking by making some unnecessarily complicated and time consuming spinach, ham and cheese toasties for lunch, but they were delish and much scraping of plates was heard chez kkffoo! I also made some fruity rice pudding out of the a$da smartprice (40p per kg) rice, which may be only the second time nobody complained about the results from that product and I'm on my 4th bag. I sometimes think it may defeat me, having tried a different method on every use, and only rarely avoiding gloopmageddon.

I'm not sure what, for us, counts as an NSD. Living out of town much of our transactions are online, so spurious cash spends are much reduced, but it is oh so tempting to 'make up the basket to justify the postage' when buying other essentials online that are hard to find locally. If an NSD counts as nothing going out of the bank, and no cash spent, then yesterday counts Also received discount for split yoghurt, so spend was actually -45p
If garage bill, generated, received but not yet paid is considered, then worst day this month.:(

I shall choose the glass half full outlook :beer:

Franalamadingdong

I count my NSD days in this thread as grocery only as I don't watch each day for direct debits etc coming out and school is always wanting money for this or that, but that's a separate budget. This month I've set budgets for: Christmas, travel, eating out, school, discretionary, DS discretionary and grocery. Routine bills and direct debit are separate because they're set, I know what they are, E.g. £20 water pcm.

I have a casserole in the oven, that will do at least two dinners for us and quite possibly a lunch or two. Soup for tea yesterday has also made 2 lunches for me, paella made 1 dinner for us, and one lunch for me, last week toad in the hole covered 2 dinners. You don't have to put in huge amounts of effort, and you'll be surprised what tastes better the following day. You can make a mince base, turn some into spaghetti bolagnaise, some for chilli, some for shepherd's pie. Basic, quick things can taste amazing E.g. soften onion wedges, chuck in sausages cut into 3, lob in some frozen peppers, a tbsp of smoked paprika, and other veg that needs using, tin of baked beans, stock or pasatta, serve with mash and some veg, E.g. frozen spouts, broccoli etc. I'm a big "fridge surprise fan" of chucking in various bits in the fridge that work together into a pan.

Today was a NSD. Casserole in the oven and I'll be baking some brownies while it's on.

ab_saver

Spent £3.18 on YS bargains in Mr W - nothing more than 1/3 of its original price and still benefited from multi buy offers.

Total spend £61.98/£75

t14cy_t

nsd yesterday, yippee!! xx

Suffolk_lass

Oh dear, I see a few people are really struggling this month. I want to just reiterate an excellent piece of wisdom by Framalanadingdong - in her post about the six lessons learned, this one shines like a beacon of my own experience - 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..

This is the single biggest shift from planning your meals for the month, shopping for them at the beginning (blowing three-quarters of our budgets in the first week) and then not eating the planned meals because life gets in the way.

So take JackieO or meg72 - both live on what they have in, stretching and using up leftovers, minimising the shopping to reduce their spends, and always with a list.

For me, writing "meat" rather than what meat or cut, gives me the freedom to buy the stuff on offer, and I never buy as much as I think we need for the whole week and it rarely runs out. I have a few quick fixes for the unexpected or CBA nights-

beans on cheese on toast beats the cost of a takeaway and I always have a tin or three (pack of 4 on offer) in my stores and some scraps of strong cheese I can salvage to melt into "filling and deliciousness"

[LIST=2]
pasta and tomato and fridge sauce[/LIST]

And then there are the stews (casseroles) - I bung the stuff in the dish while prepping that night's meal and cook them long and slow and low and they are ready when we get home from work for dinner the following evening, then when cold, I make a pie with the remainder and add frozen veg if necessary to fill the little pie-dish - lots of eking out extensions.

Finally my stores. I know I keep hammering on about it but there really is a balance between running out (loo roll elsiepac!) and stocking up for the next siege. It is my money and once I have stocked up for every possibility it is not mine any more, so I should not spend it again.

I prefer to look for my store cupboard items when they are on my list because they will run out "soon" and I buy them on offer. If I can't buy them on offer I buy a single item to tide me over and keep it on my store-cupboard list until I have stocked up with an offer.

That is why I keep a month 13 budget that I use for stores and Christmas, because otherwise I use all of this month's budget on stocking up for Justin Case (damn him!).

Sorry for the long post. I feel your frustration and have experienced it myself

SL

[Deleted User]

Thank you Suffolk lass its true I do try my best to use it up before I buy anymore .Having just had a whopping bill for my CH and another one due next month I am being even more careful not to shop for food for the next few weeks or so.

Luckily I am also using up my freezer stuff as much as I can as I want to defrost it.So far this month I have shopped twice for necessities literally as I have run out of stuff and nothing else and have over half my food budget still left in my 'food purse'

I had a bit of Christmas shopping for presents this wee, but that has come from a seperate account which I save towards every year. When it comes to food shopping for Christmas I usually buy both of my DDs their turkey or what ever meat they need for Christmas dinner as I am away for almost 10 days flitting between their houses so I have no need to stock up in my house with the seasonal junk in the shops
I also make the sausage rolls and mince pies for them both.This year I won't be doing the sausage rolls as my DGS is getting married on Christmas Eve and I shall be away in Hertfordshire with the rest of the family for the day.but the mince pies can be made the day before and stored in lock 'n' lock boxes for each of them.

I have not done a Christmas food shop in 13 years as I am never at home and have no need for it .I usually like to find the bargains after Christmas and New Year if I can and the freezers of both my DDs usually end up full of Y/S stuff.I also stock up on reduced stuffing mixes which shops always seem to overstock with.

Menu Planning is a must, to help save the pennies and listing what you already have in the cupboards and what you can make from it helps as well. I always only use cash to buy food with as when you see whats left in the 'food puse' it does help stop you over spending and filling the trolley up with unnecessary stuff

meg72

elsiepac wrote: »

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

Very impressed with your spreadsheet Elsiepac, it shows you exactly where your moneys gone. Your actual grocery spend is reasonable its the takeaways and services which have given your budget a hammering.

One little tip if you don't mind. keeping a small stock of toilet rolls helps avoid running out and the associated risk of buying other things whilst you are in the shop. I bought a pack of 24 from Iceland, I think £5 and keep them in the bathroom where I can easily see if I am running out and then top up 4 for a pound. They are really good 3ply rolls.

I have found in the past that just popping to the shop for something I have run out of always resulted in over spending. Things like bread, I use crackers now, milk, use longlife.

Your veg box sounds like a good deal if the qualitys ok and free delivery is great, saves you going shopping and as said risking spending more.