November 2007 Grocery Challenge

MissMuppet

Hello... Need to work out my overspend for Octobers challenge tonight but I am aiming for £150 this month for myself and my cat, including lunches at work. So far I've hardly spent anything as I have been too busy, will probably do a Tesco shop next week!

angelavdavis

I haven't done any more shopping since I originally stocked up at the start of the week for the month.

I will need to pick up some fresh apples, ham and milk at the weekend to last us through next week though, and I have made some fruit bread in the BM to use up some milk that will no doubt be off tomorrow. We somehow hover between 3 and 4 pints. OH isn't much of a milk lover, so I have to think of other ways to use it up.

I am away this weekend back home, so need to slice and freeze the peppers and mushrooms that are in the fridge as they probably won't last another three days without use.

I start my new job Tuesday (would have been Monday, but I have a checkup on my laser surgeried eyes on Monday that I shouldn't miss), so will have to get organised ready for this!

Have a good weekend everyone!

kbl wrote: »

Hi, me again, meant to ask when posting earlier, is it cheaper to bake your own scones or just buy it from Aldi/Lidl? My husband is a builder, really into healthy living but has a monumental appetite! He takes six slices of bread with meat filling for lunch with yoghurt and three different fruit. I send a scone (brown/treacle/fruit) with him twice a week for variety from ham/chicken sandwiches but his lunches still usually work out almost as much as our family dinner. Any suggestions?

Hi, thought I would also make a suggestion, how about making HM pasties or pies for him to take? You can use bargain bags of cooking bacon with mushrooms or turkey and leeks in a creamy sauce or buy cheap stewing beef and cook in a slow cooker to use as a filling? Quite filling too. Not a regular one as pastry is quite fattening, but for a once a week treat they would be nice. I would batch cook them using precooked filling (cooled) and then freeze them. Get them out the day before and cook them in the evening, let cool and pack up for his lunch next day. I would also second the HM soup and HM bread. I make my OH rolls instead of sliced bread so I can estimate how much we will need for the week. I use a variety of toppings and different flours to vary the types.

kbl

Thanks, didn't think of pies or pasties, he's quite partial to them (shop bought until now tho ). Have already started trying out the baking, Mammy had some flour and eggs at home so have been getting some lessons from her. I pity my poor kids tho, they'll have to be guinea pigs for a while until I'm sure I've got it right!!

No spend for me today, am going out for dinner with OH using a gift voucher my sis gave me a few months ago, and there is more than enough stew left for the kids, so hopefully will make up for yesterday. Still got a big shop to do yet tho, but have picked up a right few tips from this thread already.

belfastgirl23

Hi everyone, I'm back in for this month again and hopefully will have enough time to do it right. I've managed to put on about a stone in weight between September and October (holidays + meals on the run + no time for exercise) and I have got to shift it. Which means being MSE but no baking!!

On the bright side despite how hectic October was I came in just under budget. And looking at my year for year totals, my current 2007 total is £1958 and my total by this time in 2006 was £3090 so a saving of over £1100. November and December alone cost me £1,000 last year and it will be a lot less this year!

So for November I have set a budget of £170. It's just me for next week which will help, DH is off on a training course. And we're hoping to have a weekend away as well which comes out of a different budget. I might do a little bit towards Xmas but only BOGOF etc.

Good luck everyone!

zcrat41

Hello, just done my first grocery shop and spent 17.76. I have never walked out of an Asda with so little yet so much!! Very excited though - just making my first batch of rolls ever!!

Bobbykins

Afternoon folks!

I've just finished my main "big" shop for the month, split over a few days and between Aldi, Tesco and Sainsbury. Total spend £77.23 so far so I am on track at the moment.

Cheated a bit last night though as we went out for dinner - £25 - but that's out of a different budget :T :T

Here's hoping I can keep on track for the rest of the month. I don't know what it is but, despite meal planning and being as OS as possible, my food bill always seems to run away with me in the last week of the month - anyway, we shall see what happens this month!

*note to self, lock self in house for the last week of the month so have to survive from freezer!*

nopot2pin

Bobbykins wrote: »

Here's hoping I can keep on track for the rest of the month. I don't know what it is but, despite meal planning and being as OS as possible, my food bill always seems to run away with me in the last week of the month - anyway, we shall see what happens this month!

*note to self, lock self in house for the last week of the month so have to survive from freezer!*

Thats me too !!!!:rolleyes:
Always seem to spend loads in the last week.

So if you find the solution not to do this, can you let me know too please Bobbykins

Thanks

Doom_and_Gloom

I'm in again and my month is going to be from the 1st of November to the 28th of November. Going to drop my budget to £35 for the month from my usual £40 because I've had bad news about one of my female mice. She has a lump that needs to be operated on and removed on Monday coming which is going to cost my boyfriend and I £50 (£25 each) :eek: but with a 75% survival rate for her we want to give her the chance she deserves. So really I need to try and spend as little as I can to cope with paying for the operation.
Got my veg box that cost me £15 and I spent £2.50 on my vegan multivitimins (doctor recomended having some even though I am not deficient in anything :rotfl: ) that last basically 2 months (usually £5 but were half price :j ).
In veg box:
Potatoes (k) -17 - 2.2kg
Carrots - 14 - 900g
Swede (k) - 2 - 450g and 220g
Onions - 3 - 425g
Cauliflower (k) - 1.725g
Squash (think it's a buttercup but not too sure) - 900g
Watercress - 125g
Tomatoes - 4 - 450g
Cucumber - 325g
Bananas - 6 - 825g
Sasumas - 6 - 785g
Apples (k) - 7 - 650g
Kiwi - 5 - 550g

So total spend is £17.50
Left of budget = £17.50

This should be doable as I have loads of oats, pasta, soya mince, couscous, lentils, quinoa, soya beans (make own soya milk with maker as it costs less than 20p to make a Litre and they charge 99p/L for equivilant organic in local health store) flour, yeast etc to keep me going. There are also 2 meals in the freezer incase I need them aswell as a few stand by veg and a dough mix for bread/rolls/pizza base. Hoping I haven't set this too low as this includes the mice food (a mix of oat and grains and scrap fruit and veg of mine so not waste or extra cost really for me), aswell as cleaning products, personal items and similar items also. Have enough sawdust to last me near the end of next year so no worries there. Should be fine and will free up £5 for the operation on my poor mouse.

willow_girl

Looking forward to Novembers challenge. Have just moved house and it's like starting all over again (why exactly did we move ) Anyway it'll be beautiful when it's done (probably in a couple of years!).

Back to this month. I'm sticking with my £40 pw budget as I'm pretty confident I can stick to it again. I know it'll have to be reduced at some time but we're trying to restock what we ate before moving.

OK I'm off to replace the skirting boards :rolleyes:
Good luck everyone!

Queen_of_NO_MATTER_WHAT

I'm having a go this month. I'm going to put down £15 a week (£60 for the month). I am on a special diet given to me by my doctor which consists of 3 meals a day with no snacking, no grains, starches, sugars, (carbs basically, they make me poorly ) and lots of fresh cooked and raw vegetables, protein (meat, eggs, cheese, fish), fruit, fat - so I'm not able to eat normal bread, pasta, rice etc all the things that are storcupboard staples and really cheap!

I always have breakfast at home, (usually fruit and yogurt) and take a packed lunch so I should be able to do this if I plan well and stick to the plan.