November 2016 Grocery Challenge

meg72

Had a fabulous weekend at Gloucester Victorian Christmas market with DD, Son in law, DGD ad my lovely man. No grocery spend involved as everything came out of Christmas Fund, which I save for all year

Had to call in Asbo on the way back to pick up milk because he wont drink longlife in his tea and of course couldn't resist the reductions. The grand sum of 45p was spent on carrots parsnips, babycorn . fine beans and sprouts. All prepped and I freezer. that's the Christmas veg sorted.
so will count it as Christmas money and claim a nothing spend for grocery this week.

Week 3 0000000000000000000, zilch woo hoo.

We are off to Portsmouth Victorian Market next weeked so hoping to do the same again.

t14cy_t

spent £2 on milk and £5 on the frozen meal deal in co op. the meal deal was a bargain for us as dh adores kellys icecream, i only buy it when on offer usually £3, so paying an £2 for peas, swede and carrot batons, croquettes and a big chicken and bacon pie was a no brainer!! so, £31/£80 left for the rest of the month. xx

kkffoo

meg72 wrote: »

Had to call in Asbo on the way back to pick up milk because he wont drink longlife in his tea and of course couldn't resist the reductions. The grand sum of 45p was spent on carrots parsnips, babycorn . fine beans and sprouts. All prepped and I freezer. that's the Christmas veg sorted.
so will count it as Christmas money and claim a nothing spend for grocery this week.

45p, wow!

Frozen up freezers. my mother in law gave me her old chest freezer for our first house. It worked but the lid seal wasn't up to much. I used to defrost it with a hammer.

Son brought home a bag of junky christmas treats, but he is paying for it, and those are ok for dates and stashed away.
I was more pleased (maybe astonished would be a better word) when he came in with a bag of items which were variants on my usual list items, and discounted to half what I could manage. Short date offers from H!ron, so I froze some of the yoghurt. I know it affects the texture but I'll mix it with something.

Funny tummy bug from midweek reared up again Sunday, but subsided after a good rest. While I had my feet up, I researched 13 month accounting. The idea coming from several people within this thread.

The variant I found most interesting was to split the year into thirteen four week 'months', all starting on the same day of the week. Having done this I thought it would be handy to redo our annual calendar to fit with this scheme as a reference point.
So beginning in what used to be December, we are working with thirteen months! I have given each unit the name of a bulb which flowers at that time, so we are shortly entering the month of Aconite, and followed by the cold days of Snowdrop.

I colour coded with the original months so I can see where I am with regard to the rest of the world's timetable.
I am considering having an imaginary fourteenth month, which could be the budget for holiday food, maybe bulk buys etc. Can't think of a good fictional flowering bulb name though.

H!ron £7.43 (Christmas junk not my money so won't count for budget)
Moreishons £16.68
Áldi £7.51
H!ron £1.44

Now spent £233.16/£350
Think we will do it, with enough left for the fish and chip takeaway incentive. Need to be organised though.

elsiepac

meg72 wrote: »

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.

Yep - that's exactly my problem - I'm a great planner, as in I make sure I have loads of stuff in so I can always make a healthy meal, but the trouble is the minute I haven't prepared something, everything goes out of the window. I have frozen portions of meals in the freezer generally but as I don't have a microwave they aren't much use to me unless I've planned to have one for lunch or tea and have taken it out to defrost! I need to be more organised and think about making food BEFORE I get hungry, not when I already am, as that's when things go wrong.

meg72 wrote: »

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.

It's purely poor planning on my part with the loo roll thing - I like to buy recycled loo roll and there's a nice brand which I can get two packs of 9 for £5, but I have to go to a shop a bit out my of way to get it (not that far really, only 15 minutes drive if that, just only ever go that way to go to this shop hence I have to plan it!)

meg72 wrote: »

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.

sometimes I'm really good and literally just get what I went for and other times I'm terrible for grabbing extras. Another thing I need to reign in!

meg72 wrote: »

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.

Well, I am VERY impressed with the veg box! There was sooo much in it for a tenner! Plus, it's no commitment and you can swap items out!



The garlic wasn't a great one, but I have salvaged 3/4 of it.
They left out the celery by mistake but are giving me free courgettes on my next box to make up for it!
The potatoes are wonderful - proper ones with dirt on! The variety is called Wilja which I haven't heard of before but they are very nice indeed.
And I got the world's biggest parsnip! Certainly the biggest I've ever seen anyway!

hanb

And there goes my monthly budget...


Spent £35.67 on the weekly shop this week taking us to £148.36/£140 and I think I'll need to buy more milk after unexpected visitors drank gallons of tea yesterday!


So, looks like about £10 over budget for the month (ends this weekend for us) which isn't too bad for a first go and beats the £200 spend last month. Also, had it not been for visitors this weekend and buying 2 bottles of wine for £8.50 and snacks we wouldn't buy normally, we'd have made it The wine also hasn't been drunk so that is a little annoying. Hey-ho.


Will update again at the end of the month with my grand total.


Hope everyone else finishes of in the green!

pamsdish

The potatoes are wonderful - proper ones with dirt on! The variety is called Wilja which I haven't heard of before but they are very nice indeed.
Haven`t had wiljas` since I left the west mids 20+ years ago, they are a fabulous allrounder.

thriftwizard

NSD today, woohoo! But need to raid the freezer for tomorrow's tea... DS1's popping home for a couple of days, so I will try to make his favourite things. Apart from chicken Jalfrezi, which he's missed out on tonight...

Another Wilja fan here; Desirees are our absolute favourite, but Wilja comes a close second.

JAMIEDODGER

Back after four wonderful days in London with DD, seeing Wicked, Winter Wonderland, Shopping in Oxford Street and Panic! at the Disco at Alexandra Palace amongst other things:) All spends came out of money which we had saved for all year, so no grocery spends there. Managed another 4 NSD's in a row until I came home today and had to pop to Tesco for a few fresh bits. Will be heading to Lidl tomorrow for the weekly shop, then hoping to have another few NSD's before needing to shop again.

Spends so far:
1st - Tesco - £44.18
2nd - Lidl - £35.45
3rd - Sainsburys - £8.70 Tesco - £51.67
4th - NSD
5th - NSD
6th - Lidl - £17.97 Sainsburys - £7.94
7th - NSD
8th - One Stop - £1.00 One Stop - £1.30
9th - NSD
10th - Lidl - £20.83 Tesco - £5.68
11th - NSD
12th - NSD
13th - Lidl - £11.58
14th - NSD
15th - NSD
16th - Lidl - £26.05 Tesco - £17.51
17th - NSD
18th - NSD
19th - NSD
20th - NSD
21st - Tesco - £13.98

So total spend so far : £263.84/£400 (£136.16 remaining) and 12 NSD's:T

With only 8 days to go until the end of the month, I am sure I will come in way under budget, and the freezers stocks are starting to reduce:D

lynnejk

Evening all

Another NSD here today :j

Tried a new recipe today - Mary Berry's Chardonnay Chicken. Really tasty, with chestnut mushrooms and artichoke hearts in it. We had it with creamed pots and peas - yummy

Hope you all have a super Wednesday
Lx

[Deleted User]

JAMIEDODGER wrote: »

Disco at Alexandra Palace amongst other things:)

That is just up the road from me - I can walk there - glad you had a nice time.


I have had a few spends, amounting to £11.42. Have updated sig. The alcohol budget is out the window, well and truly busted - have not updated it - will do 2moz, when I know exactly what's been spent. Been a bit of a boozy week.