January 2017 Grocery Challenge. NEW BEGINNINGS!

zafiro1984

I was trying hard to get to the end of this month without spending any more money......failed.......I realised last night I needed a few staples, bread, milk, butter plus some fresh fruit and a few vegetables, so I did a small online shop (under £40) to come tomorrow. The logic behind spending £2 on delivery was
a) it probably costs me that much in petrol to get to the supermarkets,
b) I won't impulse buy,
so I'm feeling resigned but not too annoyed by not meeting my goal.

Soworried

A spend of £14 today on stain remover, pop, mozzarella and pepperoni for hm pizzas, kale, onions and mushrooms.

Franalamadingdong

You're welcome wanttobeSE, I think there are a few of us that have the same feelings around having a good stock.

Didn't get to pop to the shops when picking mum up, she needed to meet a delivery driver at the other house. I then fell (brambles), mum nearly fainted (vertigo) and then dad tried to kick a bag, tangled himself up and did the most comedy fall! Honest it was worth not getting to the shop! Absolutely hilarious - we were all fine.

I have to take the boy to the Drs early evening, I'll try to go into town and get milk (and maybe ys goodies), if not I'll have to get it from the village store. He's so excited at getting to stay up a bit later. Lol. Will update costs after shopping.

Good plan for the online shop zafiro, don't beat yourself up for spending, that's what your budget is for, guilt free spending for items in that budget.

kkffoo

Southern-Girl wrote: »

kkffoo - What do you mean by 'descaling your pans'
Do you mean saucepans?

Yes. Got this information from an Indian website. Just 1mm of scale on an ordinary everyday pan will increase the fuel needed to the heat the food by 10%.
My new pressure cooker came with descaling instructions, but I had honestly never thought of descaling pans before (only kettles). I guess the situation is worse for pressure cookers as you are more likely to be boiling just water.
I had also thought of scale as a nuisance causing 'bits' in my tea, and had not considered the energy wastage.
I'm thinking this would not be a problem for non stick pans?

The other useful info from that website was that once brought to the boil / simmer that food does not cook any quicker on a larger gas ring. They suggested shifting pots to a smaller burner once cooking temperature was reached. You can save up to 50% of your fuel that way.

Islandmaid

Hi all,

Second spend of the year - £41.27 - I will round up to £42.

This included list of basics i.e. Cat food, wet and dry, loo rolls, kitchen roll, bleach, bin liners, washing powder, spray cleaner, shampoo and tissues which came to about £17 of the total. So only £25 on food

Off to updat siggy now.

K9sandFelines

Not sure where i report in from last year but i was under by £108.61. Not sure if this included bulk buys aswell, or if i missed anything but i've been so busy since my granddaughter arrived, and with work and Christmas, not sure where i am at sometimes.

Anyways, will try my best to keep up this year even if it is a once a month update on the grocery finances. i will work with this same figure rounded up or down i think, so £4,374 for the year, so rounded down to £4,000. This includes all bulk buys of vegan food bits on subscribe and save, but toiletries and cat food are seperate. This should be ample as there are now only two of us in the household, my eldest daughter is now sorted moneywise (so not having to spend half as much as last year helping her out, i hope) and granddaughter not yet old enough to eat me out of house and home!

Happy "late" new year everyone btw .
Off to update signature.

elsiepac

Did my shop in my lunch hour and spent a whopping £28.77! Don't feel like I got loads for that, but I guess I did to an extent - huge bags of oats and lentils alone came to £5.50, and I got a treat off-list which was the Coconut Collaborative's little pots of chocolate - they are a proper treat but at £2.50 for 4, just a once in a while thing!

Revised Plan!
21-27 Dec: £40.22
28-3 Jan: £35.62
4-10 Jan: £9.40
11-17 Jan: £30.76
18-25 Jan: £24




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)
9 Jan......C0-0p.....£00.89.....£54.76 (milk for the boyfriend)
11 Jan.....T35c0.....£28.77.....£25.99 (Proper grocery shop except for loo roll!)

Cappella

Four NSDs so far this week (if you count Sunday. Cupboards and pantry finally feeling manageable after many years of resembling black holes. Tempted to shop today as we had no bread left after breakfast, but I decided to come online and catch up with this thread first.
Once again it really helped me to stop and think. I realised that I had plenty of flour so I hauled the mixer out and made bread instead; also made quick naan breads to go with the recycled "spicy veg stew" for tea - it's the remains of yesterday's spunach and potato curry with added potato, peas and red peppers.
As my baking mojo was working I made pastry for a quiche tomorrow. We have some bacon and cheese to use so that's tomorrow sorted.
Extra bonus from avoiding the shops too. I've finished the back of a jumper for a friends 2017 Christmas present :T
Thanks once again to everyone for their inspirational posts!!

greent

Had to go to A5da to get joggers for DS2 (pesky child keeps growing! ) so thought I'd get milk whilst in there (would need to get it tomorrow anyway) - £21.41 later I finally left the shop - argh!

Caterina

Another grocery NSD! Plenty of other spends as I had to get my herbal medicines and top up Oystercard, but for the purpose of this challenge I am counting only grocery. So, going to update my sig.