November 2018 Grocery Challenge

JingsMyBucket

Greymalkin12 wrote: »

Hi
Please can I join starting today if not too late in the month. I would like a budget of £250 per month including weekly takeaways (bad habit!), Toiletries etc for me, DH and 4 month old daughter.

I've no idea how much we spend as find myself buying fairly small amounts very frequently. Today have spent £13.69 at Asda.

Thanks x

Welcome! Keep an eye out for the December thread that will probably start next Saturday or so. You may want to jump on there too.

@PipneyJane I hope those butchers you found will be able to survive. I wonder if it's always empty at that time of day or during that day of the week.

@thriftwizard Depending on how much the "expensive" online delivery slot is, it may be worth the cost in terms of peace of mind and just getting things done. If it's an extra £2 or £3, I would take it instead of making yourself go out to the store when you're supposed to be healing.


I've had three purchases the last few days.

€21.13 at Delhaize for 2x boxes of soup, clementines, tortillas, peanut butter, Greek yoghurt, cranberries, and strawberries.

€5.10 at the halal store for ramen, white beans, parsley, and corn meal.

€11.37 at Delhaize for boxed soup, clementines, mozzarella, and strawberries.

TOTALS SO FAR
€160.18 / €300.00
5 / 12 NSDs

While at the halal store, I ordered a turkey for Thanksgiving at their butcher counter. Well, at least I tried to anyway. I've been sick and my head was foggy and I couldn't muddle through the basic French. It culminated in a Seinfeld-like experience with 3 different people trying to convey to the butcher woman behind the counter what I wanted. I'm still not sure I'm going to have a turkey waiting for me next Wednesday! :rotfl: I'll take OH back over there tomorrow so we can put the order in properly and hopefully get a more attentive and intentional person.

The turkey should cost about €30.00 since it's €5.99/kg there. I may take a look around at other stores to see if there are less expensive ones but I think that's just the going rate in the country where I live. I made a Thanksgiving menu on Wednesday and I'll start planning more of the purchases and cooking tonight or tomorrow. For the cranberry sauce, I'll do that tomorrow to freeze and it will be still tasty for Thursday.

Couldsavemore

Another week... another shop..

£14.05 at Mr S
£16.67 at Mr A

Cats favorite biscuits were on offer so bought 2 bags so hopefully save me a bit next week!

Total £30.72

Total this month...£84.72 / 65.28

Happy savings

[Deleted User]

JingsMyBucket wrote: »

Speaking of Riverford, is there an equivalent to Riverford or Abel & Cole in Edinburgh, Scotland?

Och aye, it's called 'Deep Fried Mars Bar' #iJest



Spent another £4.53. Got £5kg potatoes, mushrooms, 1 Almond Milk, 2 x Tiger Nut Mylk. I may grab some more of the Tiger Mylk to stash if I get time, it's organic n a really good price. Have a lovely w/e everyone. Have updated sig.

PipneyJane

JingsMyBucket wrote: »

Welcome! Keep an eye out for the December thread that will probably start next Saturday or so. You may want to jump on there too.

@PipneyJane I hope those butchers you found will be able to survive. I wonder if it's always empty at that time of day or during that day of the week.

@thriftwizard Depending on how much the "expensive" online delivery slot is, it may be worth the cost in terms of peace of mind and just getting things done. If it's an extra £2 or £3, I would take it instead of making yourself go out to the store when you're supposed to be healing.


I've had three purchases the last few days.

€21.13 at Delhaize for 2x boxes of soup, clementines, tortillas, peanut butter, Greek yoghurt, cranberries, and strawberries.

€5.10 at the halal store for ramen, white beans, parsley, and corn meal.

€11.37 at Delhaize for boxed soup, clementines, mozzarella, and strawberries.

TOTALS SO FAR
€160.18 / €300.00
5 / 12 NSDs

While at the halal store, I ordered a turkey for Thanksgiving at their butcher counter. Well, at least I tried to anyway. I've been sick and my head was foggy and I couldn't muddle through the basic French. It culminated in a Seinfeld-like experience with 3 different people trying to convey to the butcher woman behind the counter what I wanted. I'm still not sure I'm going to have a turkey waiting for me next Wednesday! :rotfl: I'll take OH back over there tomorrow so we can put the order in properly and hopefully get a more attentive and intentional person.

The turkey should cost about €30.00 since it's €5.99/kg there. I may take a look around at other stores to see if there are less expensive ones but I think that's just the going rate in the country where I live. I made a Thanksgiving menu on Wednesday and I'll start planning more of the purchases and cooking tonight or tomorrow. For the cranberry sauce, I'll do that tomorrow to freeze and it will be still tasty for Thursday.

Good luck with the turkey. My French is terrible. It just doesn’t come naturally to me, and yet I’m the one who always talks to the shopkeepers/stall holders when we’re in France.

I can’t help re an organic delivery box in Edinburgh, but I can recommend a very good butcher a few miles north: Johnson’s, in the high street in Dunfermline. Excellent haggis, black pudding and Larne Sausage. When we go up to visit the family matriarch, we order in advance and collect our frozen goodies on the morning of our departure. (As does the rest of the family.)

Re the butcher shop, I’ve been there a couple of times on the weekend and they did have other custom. There were also several more staff, including at least 2 more butchers. During the week, I’ve been there on a Wednesday, which is their early closing - and they were waiting to close up - then last Friday. It’s only recently that I’ve been able to visit them during the week, thanks to the odd day working from home. Today, I want to drag my husband in there and order the Christmas goose.

Did I declare the £22.44 spent in Lidl on 8th November? I’ve completely lost track. That spend included two of their large, frozen, salmon en croute, a large block of mature cheddar (Lidl’s are cheapest) and a plain yoghurt. Anyway, as things stand my budget totals are £66.77/£120 leaving £53.23 for the rest of the month.

We will have to buy a couple of items today/tomorrow, but I’m almost at the point of declaring. We are off to New Zealand on Tuesday night, for the rest of the month and part of December. Whatever is left in the pot will be rolled into December’s money and that should see us through any big Christmas spends.

- Pip

Highland_Fling

Good morning everyone
what a beautiful autumn morning it is here. I have washing on the line and hope to have it dried by the afternoon. As I seemed to be doing well this month I decided to jump off the fence and visit the butcher shop. We have a lovely family butcher outside of our village. Has been there for ever and it is now third generation running the business. People visit from all over but it is not cheap. I spent £67.27 which is an impressive total but I feel it will keep me going for ages. With careful meal planning it will keep me going into the new year. Also my freezer is full of good quality ingredients.
GC total now around £107.
Have a good weekend everyone.

MrsPoyser

Hello all!
I have had a good week for freebies - a big bag of slightly overripe apples has done two batches of apple muffins, and I still have loads left. And I was able to bring home leftovers from a retirement party at work last night - dips, chopped veggies, bits of pizza, etc, as well as some fizzy water.
Loads of YS meat this morning - spent £37 but now we're well stocked up for Christmas hols when the hungry hordes will be around.
Hope everyone has a really good weekend.

thriftwizard

I've added £60 to my total, though I'm yet to clarify whether it's all groceries; need to do the maths & write myself a receipt as I seem to have wandered off from the market clutching two binbags of rather-lovely vintage linen, as well as fruit & veg! £55 spent yesterday, all on food (fish, cheese, baked goodies, & a trolley-load of fresh fruit & veg, including 2 x ripe pineapples for £1. And I think it was another £5 today on parsnips, broccoli, courgettes & kitchen roll, hence £60 in total from this budget. I will spend another £10 tomorrow - the butcher had run out of chicken, but is bringing more tomorrow - but that should see us through most of this week.

Feels very good to pick the reins up again!

selloptape

Thanks for all the veg box tips, I'm going to go for it I'm placing an order though a local company to deliver next week as a one off trial. Excited to see what I get now the only worry is that apparently they deliver around 5am so hopefully my neighbours won't all get woken up.

thriftwizard

JingsMyBucket, thanks for the suggestion! It would certainly be cheaper & more restful than driving my much-loved but not-very-economical van down to the nearest superstore, but I've not had good results from having deliveries in the past; too many substitutions, or large holes in my storecupboard when I've remembered to tick the "no substitutions" box! Luckily I live very close to the market & to the centre of our little town, so I'm only walking half a mile max, and generally tow one or other of my trolleys to save actually carrying stuff. OH & the girls have been very helpful - one of the girls works in a branch of Sainsbugs too, and gets a discount - but I'm generally pretty fit & happy to be up & doing again now. Though I'm also perfectly happy to go & lie or sit down if I feel I need to!

I'm very lucky that I'm self-employed, and this is my "quiet" time of year anyway, so I'm not having to juggle recovery with work. I won't be taking my stall out & about until mid-February at the earliest, and that one is an indoor event & fairly local. I will continue to maintain my fixed stall in a local emporium, and sell online, but I can take both of those at my own pace. So if I'm not bringing much money in, I can at least do my best to keep expenses down!

pamsdish

£8.92 in Asda yesterday, needed tonic water and got some pop.