November 2017 Grocery Challenge

XSpender

I have had to up my budget again this month as DS has decided to go back on school lunches. He only started having a pack lunch when he moved schools in October but I was concerned that he wasn't eating much and he wasn't having the healthiest meal. Packed lunch children get lunch after school dinner children so have less time to play afterwards and he was leaving his lunch to go and play. Plus he goes to DPIL after school almost every day and they feed him utter rubbish. They also provide his packed lunch when he stays over and again it is full of rubbish.

School lunches will cost £10/week where as his packed lunch didn't really cost me anything extra. This will increase my weekly budget from £90/week to £100/week so my budget for a 5 week month is £500 but as we are on the 16th I will just add the £20 paid yesterday which will cover school meals to the end of my month.

I have meal planned for the next 2 weeks and have placed an order with Mr T for delivery tomorrow to use £13 voucher and £13 clubcard vouchers. Total for this is £95 but I will add the actual figure tomorrow.

YorksLass

Small spend on Tuesday as we needed more milk, so total for Week 2 comes to £23.48 with 5 NSDs. Pleased with this as it means I've pulled back Week 1's overspend.

Tonight's evening meal has changed from the planned one in order to use up quite a few fridge leftovers: a casserole/pie type concoction of cooked chicken, wrinkly mushrooms, some chorizo, half a jar of creamy white wine sauce, topped with pastry. To be served with braised cabbage/onion/apple and potato croquettes. A bit of a mish mash but I'm sure it will be fine.

Week 3 will see me using yet more freezer items for meal planning as I'm still struggling to make wriggle room in there. And I need some for the festive season!

debtfreeforlife

Mini spend today to take me to £136.08 - a few sweet treats and some YS veggie 'sausage rolls'. Still on track, I have just prepped a big veggie bolognese to go in the slow cooker tomorrow but it's right to the top. I can close the lid fine but does anyone envisage that it being completely full will be an issue? There's liquid to the top (chopped tomatoes).

elsiepac

I've gone over my budget. I'm okay with that though. I set it low for me, and I'm still going to come lower than I have for a while, so I'm still chalking it up as a win. I think I'll be better off carrying on with my higher budget for a while of £200, and stop trying to run before I can walk!!
I will actually also have more spends before my November finishes next Thursday. Just a few pounds though. Loving the thread this month everyone - I'm enjoying seeing your meal plans!
Stuff I made and ate in the last week (I always cook full recipes and portion and freeze extras):
- Vegetable and Chickpea tagine (3 portions now in the freezer)
- Tarka Dal (4 portion now in the freezer)
- Creamy vegetable curry (1 portion left in freezer)
- Mushroom and red lentil pasta sauce (had leftovers and got 4 portions from it but all eaten over the week)

Next week's plan includes:
- Smokey butternut squash pasta sauce
- Mushroom and lentil shepherds pie
- black-eyed bean stew
- One pot Mexican quinoa

This will give me more leftovers for the freezer, but I also have I think 3 nights where I've planned to eat leftovers/freezer meals with fresh veg.
I may end up doing a soup as well for a couple of lunches, but we'll see how my salad stuff lasts and if I feel inclined to buy more - which I don't really!


...............................£165 Budget
Date.......Shop......Amount....Remaining
26 Oct.....Sains.....£29.55....£135.45(WEEK 1)
26 Oct.....A1d1......£00.65....£134.80(WEEK 1)
27 Oct.....Tesc0.....£00.50....£134.30(WEEK 1)
27 Oct.....Fete......£00.50....£133.80(WEEK 1)
30 Oct.....Co-0p.....£04.70....£129.10(WEEK 1)
02 Nov.....Tesc0.....£13.12....£115.98(WEEK 2)
02 Nov.....M&5.......£10.21....£105.77(WEEK 2)
02 Nov.....A1d1......£04.93....£100.84(WEEK 2)
05 Nov.....Tesc0.....£06.59.....£94.25(WEEK 2)
05 Nov.....M&S.......£02.31.....£91.94(WEEK 2)
07 Nov.....M&S.......£04.65.....£87.29(WEEK 2)
08 Nov.....Tesc0.....£02.10.....£85.19(WEEK 2)
09 Nov.....Tesc0.....£02.75.....£82.44(WEEK 3)
09 Nov.....Ald1......£04.49.....£77.95(WEEK 3)
09 Nov.....Tesc0.....£15.79.....£62.16(WEEK 3)
10 Nov.....H&B.......£12.46.....£49.70(WEEK 3)
10 Nov.....M&S.......£06.20.....£43.50(WEEK 3)
11 Nov.....M&S.......£09.50.....£34.00(WEEK 3)
11 Nov.....Tesc0.....£08.25.....£25.75(WEEK 3)
15 Nov.....Tesc0.....£39.63....-£13.88(WEEK 4)

Need2bthrifty

I only went if for some pitta bread, honest, then noticed Sainsbugs had my favourite coffee reduced; I will need one soon so thought I would grab a jar before the offer finishes - mind you Mr T will probably have the same offer in a week or two, he usually does.

I'm normally pretty good at eating F&V that are in season and I have been working my way through my favourite brassica's and root veg but I think this cold weather has me craving summery/mediterranean type foods and I have a notion for ratatouille and crusty bread or baba ghanoush/moussaka, so I picked up some peppers, courgettes and aubergines as well = a spend of £8.00, taking my running total to £55.48 so still within budget and my new month starts on Monday :j.

XSpender

Mr T has been and delivered my shopping and after more editing and tweaking of the list last night my total, after vouchers, was £80.96. That is the main shop until the end of the month, I should not need to buy anything else until we do a fruit, beer and milk top up next weekend.

Now to keep DH away from the shops or from saying 'I fancy X for tea'. Having prepped food last Sunday and sticking to the meal plan so I had already started making or cooking the meal before DH got home has really helped and we have stuck to the meal plan all week for the first time ever. I have had no waste and only have 1/2 cucumber and 3 dodgy bananas to use up asap. Carb free pancakes/smoothies and cheese and cucumber sandwiches over the weekend should cover tha

The meal plan for next week is:

F- AGCJ Chicken in a creamy mustard sauce with green beans and new potatoes
S- SW Chicken and Chorizo Spanish Rice
Su - Chicken Pie, mash, kale, carrots, cauli and gravy
Mo - If SH away I will have a JP or SW pastie with beans if DH is home Veggie chilli, spicy wedges and grated cheese
Tu - Jamaican Chicken, rice and roasted veg (courgettes, BNS, carrot, red onion)
We -SW pasties, SW chips and mushy peas
Th- SW burgers (beef and in a bun for DH, veg and no bun for me), SW onion rings, spicy wedges and corn
F - SW Sweet and Sour Chicken and rice

The plan is to make enough chilli, Jamaican chicken/roasted veg and pasties to cover several of our lunches this week. I will also make some SW inspired courgette, feta and mint fritters and a most-definitely-not SW pear and mincemeat cake for snacks and pudding on Sunday with custard (the cake for pudding not the fritters )

We are not gong to SW currently but I really like the food and the emphasis on lots of veg so I am using their recipes for inspiration. DH says he is feeling trimmer this week

adventureofmemories

£42.73 - Food for next week
£20.00 - Little bits I've brought today for fry up plus baking stuff
£3.00 - House hold stuff from pound stretcher

= £67.61 left , roughly

YorksLass

DH did the market run this morning and spent £9.00. Another £6.90 at the chippy on battered fish for tonight's dinner (a bit pricey but it's our Friday treat ). And I repaid him £4.50 for the prawns and mussels that we'll be having tomorrow. He buys them from the fishmonger every so often as he gets a discount for bulk buy, I portion them up for the freezer and then pay him back from the h/k cash when we use them. Total: £20.40.

I didn't do the usual Friday Sainsbobs shop as (a) we have an awful lot in stock (b) I need to make some wriggle room in the freezer and (c) I didn't really want to go out in the cold for "not a lot".

Meal plan for the coming week:
F - Battered fish, mushy peas, B&B
S - Prawns, mussels, sliced tomato, wholemeal B&B
Su - Roast pork in gravy, sprouts, carrots, mash, Yorkies
M - Burgers, braised red cabbage, hm potato & veg cakes
Tu - Tuna & veg in a creamy white sauce, pasta
W - Hm fishcakes & chips
Th - Bacon chops, courgette bakes, potato croquettes

This morning I made a batch of lentil & bacon soup that will do us for a couple of lunchtimes. Normally I'd use cooking bacon bits from the freezer but there were 2 rashers of bacon in the fridge that needed using by Sunday so I used those instead. Just the job for this chilly weather.

caronc

£24 this week which did include £10 of Christmas food so really just fresh stuff for me. £92/£120 so far this month so I might go a wee bit over budget

adventureofmemories

Added £2.00 cough medicine on my Asda shop.
I didn't realise we were out of it and I need it.

I refuse to pay £4.00 on benylin brand!!