September 2018 Grocery Challenge

PipneyJane

PipneyJane wrote: »

Hello everyone. Thanks Elsiepac for starting the September thread. Please put me down for £120 for the month, starting 1st September.

Many thanks.

Pip

May I change my budget, please? I did the last shop of August this afternoon and was surprised to discover an extra £13.50 lurking in the GC purse. I don’t know how it happened. In fact, I’d expected the opposite so stopped at the cash point on the way into A$da to withdraw September’s GC money. I can only assume DH didn’t take back cash when he bought something on the way home from work.

Therefore, I’d like to up the budget for September to £133.50, please.

— Pip (a happy accident for a change)

sprozza

Very happy, over the past few days have been given homegrown plums, green beans, beetroot and a large bag of pears from family and neighbors ALL FOR FREE! Plus DH and I picked a load of blackberries whilst out walking the dog. Looks like I have a busy weekend of jam and chutney making ahead of me and not cost me anything

pamsdish

£57.57 in Morries, found a mole who was willing to contact me when any Famous Grouse available, none been delivered but found a case of 6 in warehouse, saved me 3, that`s me sorted till Christmas, picked up some spices 2 speciality loaves for freezer and 2 reduced romesco caulis. machine spat out 2 £5 vouchers another one in credit next time for spending over £50, Will not want much more for at least a week or more.

Doom_and_Gloom

So last couple of months we were over so I'm going to take that as we need to put our budget up. I'm also going to put the bulk back into monthly shop so will be upping the daily from £5 to £6.50 (this is 50p more per day, 25p each more, when adding in bulk vs last year so not as bad as it sound).
September is a 30 day month so £195. for us as a couple for all food and non alcoholic drinks this month.

We have already spent £47 of the budget . Some of the Lidl veggie week items were put into this as I knew I wouldn't be able to eat all last month and it made sense to split the cost. The rest of the budget already spent is tin, packet etc items.

£47/£195.
£148 left.

stellata

I'm going to try this as I'm panicking a bit at my budget for the next months I'm going for £100 for September for food, toiletries, cleaning stuff, everything. I do have a fair bit in my freezer and cupboards so that helps. Only me and the dog to feed and I've got a months dogfood in.

Merlin's_Beard

So, it's day 1 and I'm on £50.36/£100 already... Oh dear! I haven't even really got that many meals in, either - I just had a lot of store staples that I needed.

fairy3

Can I join this month please? I will aim for £150 This will be for three adults DS1 and DS2, myself and one dog. Have quite a bit in the freezers and cupboards and will split groceries from food as can get confusing (to me anyway!). Spent nowt today and have made spag bol for tea
Fx

tiredwithtwins

Merlin's_Beard wrote: »

So, it's day 1 and I'm on £50.36/£100 already... Oh dear! I haven't even really got that many meals in, either - I just had a lot of store staples that I needed.

ive done similar .. stocked up, so the budget looks blown already, but hopefully will balance out as I wont need to spend much over the next few weeks

MadamMim2013

£14.04 on a few items in Mr Lidels.. Went with a friend so only picked up what I could remember on my list and what I could carry! :rotfl:

thriftwizard

And I'm off into September having spent £40 over the last couple of days, £35 at yesterday's market (cheese, sausages, nuts & seeds, fruit & veg) and £5 (two loaves of very excellent bread, half of which will be frozen for later reference) at the bakery in Mum's little town today. There will be another £30-odd tomorrow at the butcher's stall, the health food stall and the greengrocers, then a raid on L!dls for non-perishables at some point during the week. Also I will need to add to my bulk-buy & pet food totals, but what I buy now should see us through until after Christmas.

I'm booked in to do a free sourdough course locally in a couple of weeks. We all feel very much better for eating "good" bread (i.e. properly fermented & using decent flour) rather than the supermarkets' rapid-risen offerings, but it's too expensive to buy it in all the time. My old sourdough starter became too sour & eventually just died; I probably wasn't using & feeding it enough. Crossing my fingers that this course will tell me what I need to know to get better at it!

Just adding, for those new to thread, that I'm feeding any number between 4 and 8 adults - mostly 5, at the moment, for half of September, to the best of my knowledge & belief, then back to 4 - 2 of whom are pescatarians. Plus 4 cats (2 of them 6-month-old kittens) 2 cockatiels & 10 chickens/bantams, a figure that varies quite often depending on rescues/health/urban wildlife. Things happen; OH's family land on us at 4 hours notice, relationships end, landlords need their properties back, academic years & projects end, and various of the Offspring turn back up again at the parental home for varying lengths of time, with or without partners, but the budget remains the same!