January 2017 Grocery Challenge. NEW BEGINNINGS!

pamsdish

Very small cash spend yesterday, 54p, not even going to count it as I round up to nearest £, got 14 bars of my 85% Tesco choc, 4 trays of chicken thighs, 21 meals, for dog, y.s. lemons to go over £20, used a £20 tosco birthday gift voucher. hence the 54p

maria3104

Had my delivery last night. I have updated signature. Dd will be home in 2 days and she can then in between uni exams do me a shop when required. Dd is very good at keeping to the list.

Good luck all

elsiepac

Hope everyone had a good weekend

Friday night I was really tempted to go to the shops but instead I came straight home and used up two pepper halves plus some broccoli, and an onion and sauteed them off in olive oil with some garlic and a bit of lemon juice and chilli and had the veggies with pasta. Really yummy tea and no spends needed.

Saturday I usually help at my friends poultry/small animal rescue (lots to do this week as we have three outdoor aviaries with rescued pet birds and had to get that all covered up with the worlds biggest tarp! The chickens were fine as their pens are in a poly tunnel anyway.) and we have lunch in the cafe on site, so that was £4.25 down. Then on the way home I stopped to get a bottle of wine - paused at several points in little T, by the veg, by the bread, by the chocolate etc, but thought no, I have a full freezer and still have random fresh bits so don't need anything. At the till they had a lot of reduced stuff and I would have walked on by but that included new potatoes and I didn't have any potatoes, so thought for 75p I would invest!

Had a lovely tea then Saturday night - new potatoes and petit pois from the freezer, both with vegan spread melting over them, and as the "main" I had some Quorn vegan fillets in the freezer, so had two of them (they aren't big!) and I spread them with pesto (Sacla free from that I had left from Christmas) and then sprinkled with breadcrumbs and baked. Wow, how delicious did they turn out!! So easy yet so worth it!

Sunday I was out for lunch for my and my mums joint family birthday meal (she's on the 3rd I'm the 17th) so that was all that was needed yesterday as we ate quite late. That's not from grocery budget though.

Need to sort a meal plan - I have £8.53 to last me till Wednesday when I have more money coming in, so I can buy bits if I need to but I would like to have some more from the freezer really! For my lunch today I've brought in a portion of my new year's day hoppin john - I have crackers to have with it if I feel I want something extra.

Revised Plan accounting for first 2 weeks over budget!
21-27 Dec: £40.22
28-3 Jan: £35.62
4-10 Jan: £20 (£8.51 so far)
11-17 Jan: £20
18-25 Jan: £24.16




Date.......Where.....Amount.....Remaining from £140 Budget
21 Dec.....T35c0.....£09.00.....£131.00 (Veggie Mains and Prepared Veg - lazy)
23 Dec.....T35c0.....£06.14.....£124.86 (Crisps, Nuts and Snacks for get together)
24 Dec.....H&B.......£03.88.....£120.98 (Mushroom Tofu Pate and Sandwich slices)
24 Dec.....T35c0.....£21.20.....£99.78 (Proper Grocery Shop and Toiletries)
29 Dec.....A1d1......£01.64.....£98.14 (Red Onions and Basil)
29 Dec.....Chippy....£06.95.....£91.19 (Oops!)
1 Jan......T35c0.....£23.53.....£67.66 (proper grocery shop)
2 Jan......T35c0.....£01.00.....£66.66 (kale)
3 Jan......M&S.......£02.50.....£64.16 (sandwich!)
4 Jan......C0-0p.....£03.51.....£60.65 (Cauliflower, spinach, more kale(!), packet of crisps and choccy bar for the boyfriend - that was 63p and I used 70p of points so really it was free lol)
7 Jan......Viaduct...£04.25.....£56.40 (cafe)
7 Jan......T35c0.....£00.75.....£55.65 (reduced new potatoes)

zafiro1984

Declaring a personal record:- It's been a whole week since I went to the supermarket and I'm not going today either.......:j

[Deleted User]

Oh yes Hummingbird, I find I have to keep a spreadsheet, even if it is just a total of the receipt rather than itemised goods, as it is so easy to forget but if receipt total is put down at least its something.

elsiepac

Apologies if anyone has posted this, as I'm still catching up on posts from the weekend, but I've just been alerted that C0-0p are selling off 200g bags of "Christmas" nuts (plain nuts, Christmas packaging) for 75p each instead of the original £3 per bag they were before Christmas!
I've been told included are almonds, pistachios, walnuts and cashews!

For me this is a BARGAIN as I usually buy Aasani cashews and almonds (use them both in loads of stuff) from Mr T which I thought were pretty good for £5.50 for a 500g bag! But this is ace! Know where I'm popping into later to stock up!

HTH!

Southern-Girl

A spend on Saturday of £47 exactly (!) for me. This is enough dinners to last the month. Plenty of thing for packed lunches (tuna/chicken).
Should only need to top up next weekend with milk / salad an bread.
I've only spent on two days in January so 7/31 No Spend days for me this month.

Caterina

Aiming for a NSD today, hoping to manage with what I have in store and a shopping trip to the allotment. I am missing lemon to put in my hot water (not having tea atm) but will make do, maybe a sliver of apple, or a frozen raspberry.

Loving being back home and using my own stuff, cooking just the way I like it without having to give account to anyone, and am so lucky that DH will eat anything that he is given. I know he loves beans so I am soaking enough for two meals for 2.

wishus

Well, when I tell you the weekend's spends, it will seem like I might have been lying about having a full freezer, but I included some birthday presents in with the shopping, so with an additional £27.43 at the weekend I'm now up to £62.13 and putting a lid on things.

I also bought a few more Christmassy bargains. 2 Star Wars baubles from Poundland for 25p :money:

And the cats got a belated pressie... a tin of Whiskas cat treats reduced from £4 to £2 from Asda, that's 2 x packs of Dentabites and 3 x packs of Temptations... They normally have fake Dreamies... or cat crack as I call it, but that's really good VFM at 40p per treat pack. And I also have somewhere to put them now! :T That should last them the year! Boy cat has been pushing it with begging for treats at Christmas... He has been going mad every time we rustle a pack of 'human treats' (Christmas chocs) and giving us the hard stare as if to say, "where's mine?" So, I think we need to ration now...

Cheapskate

Not doing too badly this month - since I began on 4th, I've only spent on 2 days, so 4 NSDs already! :j Only spent £22.95 at Sainsbobs, which included a cheap baking magazine and 2 large Christmas puds that were severely reduced, and £2 yesterday on milk and £2.10 on coffees at DS' football match as we didn't have time to make a flask - total of £27.05 and almost a third of the way through the month! I think I can do it this time.

A xo