November 2018 Grocery Challenge

Chloris

MrsPoyser wrote: »

So don't beat yourself up about it - I think it is one of those 'how long is a piece of string' things. There are so many variables, and personal preferences, that spending will vary wildly between families according to personal circumstances.

Thank you. That makes me feel a lot better. I think there are many variables. I'll just try to improve my budget. Xxx

Chloris

Save_Dosh wrote: »

Doom_and_Gloom - Thanks for the recipe. I'm going to have a try in the next few days.


Spends today of £18.29. Got quite a load, but kind of rubbish really . Lots of half price vegan freezer stuff, which I do like and will use, eg veggie burgers, Linda Mc Sausages, quorn pieces, a few tubs of houmous and some basic veggies and salad stuff. Want potatoes/sweet potatoes, courgettes and burger buns and that is it for a week.

My lodger is just back from Romania and she has bought me back some 'Moonshine' - Tuica!!! I think it's quite strong - I smelt it and nearly fell over. She said to 'shoot it' - no freekin way. I might mix it with pineapple juice - or clean the loo with it lol. Have updated sig.

Can I ask, where are the half price lovely Linda sausages from? I could do with stocking up. X

Chloris

thriftwizard wrote: »

Much rootling around in the ONS reports yields the information that the "average" household contains 2.3 people, arrived at by dividing the total number of households by the total number of individuals... it would seem that that's the household spending £60-odd per week on food alone. And I would certainly echo the idea that it costs a LOT more to feed growing or physically-active individuals than, for example, a toddler or my 92 y.o. mother! Or in fact a household of rapidly varying numbers, with wildly-differing diets like ours!

Also, the "average" spends seem to be self-reported, i.e. a random sample of people telling the ONS what they think they're spending on food. I know from having helped a number of friends through sticky divorces or financial crises that people generally have very little idea what they are actually spending on food, unless they're in the habit of recording & analysing it. So I would guess that a fair number of respondents are actually guesstimating their spend.

In "Other News" it's another NSD here today, mainly because I'm now full of scones with cream & quince & raspberry jelly... ham in the slow cooker for tea, which will "do" a couple of main meals for us omnivores, and plenty of veg/beans/halloumi for the herbivores.

Thriftwizard - that makes me feel much better! Talking to people in rl, lots are only thinking of the weekly shop and dismissing the top ups which can add a significant amount to a budget.

I can claim a nsd today afterall. I rummaged around and found two half used neglected shower gels! Granted, my teenage dd was not impressed with using masculine shower gel, but she soon brightened up when we lowered our voices to sound blokey and arranged to meet in the bar for beer after our showers :rotfl: I also had some free apples which were going spare at work for post swim snacks. So not too bad afterall. XX

[Deleted User]

Chloris wrote: »

Can I ask, where are the half price lovely Linda sausages from? I could do with stocking up. X

They are £1 in Morrisons.

trulymadlyhannah

Reporting in at £291.38 out of our £300 budget. I sat down with DH & my pile of receipts to see if we could see where all the money had vanished to! With the exception a meal out with my friend when Xmas shopping and the McDs when DH was ill, nothing else has been too extravagant! Definitely going over, but DH thinks that it's reasonable considering we are including dog food, toiletries and cleaning too. I would like to minimise to £360, which is possible as I've just done a 10-day shop, and there are only 6 days left in November after that!

£9.16 went on a 1kg side of salmon from Mr T that I've frozen to eat Christmas week. I thought that was a really good price!

£8 of today's big shop went on extra picnic stuff for our family Christmas day trip, its a little early but I hate crowds so we go on our schools random November inset day. we normally have the ice rink to ourselves which is amazing! We usually eat out and it costs us between £55 - £70, on those prices the £8 we spent today is a good investment!

Meals
Homemade kebab, chips and salad
Tomato & basil pasta
Baked potoates, beans and cheese
Roast chicken dinner
Mushroom risotto
Pasta bake
Sticky sausages with mash & veg
Spag bol
Homemade pizza, chips & salad
Mushroom Pasta

Chloris - I think 'normal' people have no idea how much they actually spend at all! I guessed at £300-£350 and I was actually spending £525-£550 prior to trying to cut down!

Selloptape - We have the same focus on sustainability! R1verford are amazing, their commitment and ethos are just incredible, they really are leading the way in terms of sustainability. We don't buy at the moment, but I hope we can return to them when I have better control and idea of our budgets. I did find that it was harder to use up the more unusual ingredients, mainly because my kids are 3,5,7 & 9, and they aren't brilliant at eating the more unusual foods - I think I need to get better at hiding those veggies in our meals!

PipneyJane - Thanks for the tip with kidney beans - Its actually never occurred to me to buy dried, we usually buy tinned!

Suffolk_lass

trulymadlyhannah wrote: »

Reporting in at £291.38 out of our £300 budget. I sat down with DH & my pile of receipts to see if we could see where all the money had vanished to! With the exception a meal out with my friend when Xmas shopping and the McDs when DH was ill, nothing else has been too extravagant! Definitely going over, but DH thinks that it's reasonable considering we are including dog food, toiletries and cleaning too. I would like to minimise to £360, which is possible as I've just done a 10-day shop, and there are only 6 days left in November after that!

£9.16 went on a 1kg side of salmon from Mr T that I've frozen to eat Christmas week. I thought that was a really good price!

£8 of today's big shop went on extra picnic stuff for our family Christmas day trip, its a little early but I hate crowds so we go on our schools random November inset day. we normally have the ice rink to ourselves which is amazing! We usually eat out and it costs us between £55 - £70, on those prices the £8 we spent today is a good investment!

Meals
Homemade kebab, chips and salad
Tomato & basil pasta
Baked potoates, beans and cheese
Roast chicken dinner
Mushroom risotto
Pasta bake
Sticky sausages with mash & veg
Spag bol
Homemade pizza, chips & salad
Mushroom Pasta

Chloris - I think 'normal' people have no idea how much they actually spend at all! I guessed at £300-£350 and I was actually spending £525-£550 prior to trying to cut down!

Selloptape - We have the same focus on sustainability! R1verford are amazing, their commitment and ethos are just incredible, they really are leading the way in terms of sustainability. We don't buy at the moment, but I hope we can return to them when I have better control and idea of our budgets. I did find that it was harder to use up the more unusual ingredients, mainly because my kids are 3,5,7 & 9, and they aren't brilliant at eating the more unusual foods - I think I need to get better at hiding those veggies in our meals!

PipneyJane - Thanks for the tip with kidney beans - Its actually never occurred to me to buy dried, we usually buy tinned!

I love this post. Been on this thread less and less frequently since the chatter stopped and it seemed to become a drop point for people's shopping records. It used to be so much more about mutual support, advice and reassurance and it is lovely to see some posts like this coming back.

My spend has genuinely come down by two thirds since I have been on this thread (7-8 years now). I don't post often any more and I dip in flick through and disappear again, chipping in occasionally. I seem to have started my Suffolk hoard again, with loads of store-cupboard things and stuffed freezers so maybe I need to be more disciplined, or maybe I will wait a while and see if the Brexit deal makes it through Parliament before I reduce them too much (a sort of edible comfort-blanket!). I need a big drawer to be empty as I have the offer of a haunch of Venison from a neighbour whose husband culls deer - we will swap for some frozen fruit (I definitely get the better deal!)

MrsPoyser

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I love this post. Been on this thread less and less frequently since the chatter stopped and it seemed to become a drop point for people's shopping records. It used to be so much more about mutual support, advice and reassurance and it is lovely to see some posts like this coming back.

My spend has genuinely come down by two thirds since I have been on this thread (7-8 years now). I don't post often any more and I dip in flick through and disappear again, chipping in occasionally. I seem to have started my Suffolk hoard again, with loads of store-cupboard things and stuffed freezers so maybe I need to be more disciplined, or maybe I will wait a while and see if the Brexit deal makes it through Parliament before I reduce them too much (a sort of edible comfort-blanket!). I need a big drawer to be empty as I have the offer of a haunch of Venison from a neighbour whose husband culls deer - we will swap for some frozen fruit (I definitely get the better deal!)

I agree about Brexit! I had been wondering whether I should up my stores - we buy tinned and dry goods in bulk from Suma, and I was debating about a hefty order in January! I have always lived in the country so have a bit of a thing about being snowed in - not that we are that remote now.

I am the opposite to you about fruit and meat - we often get given odd pheasants which my family love, but I am a veggie, so not so exciting for me. But this week I got a big bag of free apples - given to my DS, but he forgot about them until they were soft and wrinkly. I put them in apple muffins, so soft and wrinkly doesn't matter - made my week! :j

XSpender

We are doing better than usual this month at £187.01/£320.

This is because DH and I are both trying to lose weight this month and have cut out a lot of snacks and extras. DH is doing a specific diet plan and, because I only have to feed myself, I have eaten almost totally vegetarian and out of the freezer. I have also had meals like jacket potato and cheese and beans which I would not normally feed DH as he would still be hungry.

We have also cut out most booze which always leads us to nipping to the shop for 4 cans and spending £25 on stuff we didn't really need!

I have defrosted some broccoli, pea and basil soup for lunch and have macaroni cheese with peas and dough balls for tea. Don't think the mac n cheese and dough balls will help with the diet but helps clearing the freezer ready for feeding the hoards at Christmas

I have been sent a money off coupon for Mr T so will venture there for my weekly shop tomorrow instead of Mr A. I will need to add a couple of extras as we have family visiting for lunch on Saturday.

MrsPoyser

selloptape wrote: »

Sustainability and reducing food miles are really important to me so currently looking at veg box schemes, not sure how this would affect my ability to plan meals and budget though, would love to hear others experiences with this

We buy a box from Riverford most weeks in the winter - I don't get the same one every week and pick and choose according to contents/how many I am catering for. It is very good quality and minimal packaging - better value the bigger the box (delivery is inclusive), or if you choose the homegrown box. In the summer we try to grow most of our own stuff - some years better than others! Because I have to make a special trip in the car and drive a few miles to a supermarket (I live and work in the country) it is definitely cost effective and sustainable for us.

medsdemon

MrsPoyser wrote: »

We buy a box from Riverford most weeks in the winter - I don't get the same one every week and pick and choose according to contents/how many I am catering for. It is very good quality and minimal packaging - better value the bigger the box (delivery is inclusive), or if you choose the homegrown box. In the summer we try to grow most of our own stuff - some years better than others! Because I have to make a special trip in the car and drive a few miles to a supermarket (I live and work in the country) it is definitely cost effective and sustainable for us.

I just had a look at their site. I have always considered doing this and it tempts me, but that would be a big chunk out my budget as we don’t buy wholly organic atm. It may be something to look at again once I’m back working maybe.

Went for a local hill walk and went a roundabout route home past the Morries and bought some bits I can’t get at Al*di like gf pasta. Also bought a wee houseplant with wee orange fruit on for £1. I think I’m addicted to plants atm :rotfl:
Yesterday spent £12.53 basically on rubbish food that I’d normally never buy. I was feeling a bit bleugh and I blame the rainy dull day for that encouraging my spending

Dinner will be something rice based. Not sure yet.

Edited to say I think we might make it, after reading someone’s previous post we have only 12 days till the end of November budget. We shall see