November 2018 Grocery Challenge

selloptape

Bit of a spendy Sunday today... £11.64 in Mr Ts, then £19.40 on the veg box trial (gone for a small veg box and a fruit box), and £28 on vitamins :eek: :eek: :eek: ... I'm not normally a sucker for an expensive chewable multivitamin - I tend to think supplements aren't really effective apart from a placebo effect however I've managed to not catch any colds since I started taking them. Doh! So now stuck taking them religiously in case they are actually keeping me well :rotfl: I spotted them in them online in a Black Friday type offer so ordered four packs to stock up whilst only slightly overpriced instead of outrageously expensive.

Menu planned til weds and then will see what the veg box brings

flubberyzing

A small £8.95 in Tesco for me today. I'd normally do the food shop on Sunday, but I have today off work, so went in early. For some reason, my Tesco were setting up a Christmas market outside the entrance. Advertised on signs for one day only... They had the traditional-looking wooden stalls, but no produce, or retailers in sight. Even when I left, at 9am, still nothing happening. A few workman standing around and a woman in a Tescos uniform on her phone, looking stressed... I get the impression it's not going to plan. They've already missed the early morning shoppers, and it looked unlikely anything would be ready to happen before 10am at the earliest...

I just got a few bits and bobs for meals this week, including a multipack of crisps... I rarely buy crisps these days, but a couple of times over the past week, I've just really fancied a bag in front of the telly in the evening... but nothing in the house!

I've still got at least one more shop left for this month. But do expect to come in around my usual mid-£40 level. However, every 3 months, I use the left-over cash from that month to re-stock some basics in the cupboard. This is the 3rd month in the cycle, so I'll be doing that next week.

medsdemon

JingsMyBucket wrote: »

I agree and it's funny you mention this. Sometimes I feel like I may "chatter" too much or give too much detail or context but maybe that's okay after all?



Speaking of Riverford, is there an equivalent to Riverford or Abel & Cole in Edinburgh, Scotland? I've searched the MSE boards and other sites and have found some local farms but a few seem to be hit or miss in terms of variety and quality. Ocado unfortunately doesn't deliver either. I know the big 4 stores deliver in Scotland but I'd like to get into a rhythm of getting a box and then topping up weekly at a grocery store or farmer's market. When I lived in London, I'd get an Abel & Cole box every 2 weeks and fill in the gaps with grocery store runs and YS deals.

I'll be moving there early summer 2019 so I have plenty of time to research but just wondering. OH will be going ahead to Scotland in February to look at places to rent before me so I'd like to give him a few ideas to possibly try out too. We're already looking at places to rent based on how close they are to Lidl, Sainsbury's and Waitrose! :rotfl:

Hi. I know there’s a veg box delivery scheme that comes from the organic farm shop in Fife ( Pillar Of Hercules) but not sure they’d deliver to Edinburgh.
There’s a nice farmers market in Stockbridge, Edinburgh on a Sunday ( great place to spend an afternoon as lots of lovely places to eat and a cheese shop and near the botanic gardens), but it’s not cheap. I like to get my game from there if I’m in the city.
I’m in Fife living now and I agree there are some good butchers. One in Cowdenbeath and Hunters in Kinross spring to mind.


Regarding my spends, a £1.60, a £20.30, a £4.00 and a £5.53.
So £31.43 to add on.

Greymalkin12

After five days of tracking spending I've realised I definitely spend more than I thought so will increase the budget a bit in December! We're at £67.81 / £125 (for the second half of the month) including £14.70 takeaway - those little trips to the supermarkets definitely add up. More positively I have bought 2.5kg of half price Quorn frozen mince from Sainsburys today which when bulked up with lentils and veg should go towards 20 days' worth of meals at some point!

XSpender

After a pop-to-the-shop-for-some-beer incident and buying a couple of treats at the Christmas fair I have the grand sum of £13.25 in the grocery budget :eek: The gluten free macarons were too good to miss.

I will go over as I need soap powder and some other bits but will try to limit the damage as much as possible.

The good news is I started listing the contents of my freezers and have already found a packet of GF Quorn sausages which saves me a special trip to Morries. I wonder what other goodies I will find?

selloptape

Quick shop in Lid/l after work to pick up pack up bits for tomorrow. Just need to pick up mozarella and cherry toms tomorrow eve for a very unseasonal Tuesday night tea it's not really on my way home but pushes me over 10k steps a day

Doom_and_Gloom

£7.01 spent today.

8 persimmon, 1,286g butternut squash, butter croissant, chocolate hazelnut croissant, pain au chocolate, 2 espresso macchiato and beef jerky.

Dinner for me: aduki bean onigiri with salad and miso soup.
OH had cheese sandwiches as well as the above pastries, the beef jerky and both espresso macchiatos for dinner.

£144.43/£200.
£55.57 left.

elsiepac

Hi everyone! Please note the December GC is now up and live!

elsiepac

K9sandFelines wrote: »

Glad the Hench Herbivore suggestion helped. I find him quite informative the times I have watched him. Need to revisit these videos sometimes, as I find meal planning easier with a visual than looking at a pic or recipe. Shame we can't find out if any MSEers have Youtube ... that would be interesting

Ooh I hadn't heard of Hench Herbivore, thanks for the heads up!
I've done some YouTube vids... they are vegan and Slimming World rather than focussing on money saving, but I don't think there's any particularly extravagant ones!! They may be helpful... search "lee-anne lifewillfindaway" and some videos will pop up :rotfl:

Nice to see you Suffolk Lass and I like the chat too!! I'm not on here much myself, I just seem to have got really busy this year! But when I do get chance, I love reading through and catching up on how everyone is getting on and their stories!!

I've failed miserably again this month, but I massively need to get myself in check. I have been doing meal prep on a Sunday for the weekdays, as I have no time in the week as I work full time plus a lot of overtime, and I have exercise classes/slimming world Mon-Thu evenings so I just need to be able to eat fast when I get in!
So glad I bought a microwave a few months ago, it's made my life loads easier!

I seem to be lacking inspiration for my meal preps though at the minute, so if anyone has any suggestions for more exciting things, I'll gladly hear them!!

CRANKY40

NSD for me today. I did go and do a little bit of shopping for my friend and I bought the HT some drumstick lolly chews while I was there but the chews and the cakes that I bought for my friend and I came out of our "pocket money" which is the money I set aside for things that we might want to do during the week rather than the grocery money.

I've also bought the cake boards for the Christmas cakes but again that wasn't from the grocery budget. I'm hoping that we have enough basics in to last until Monday before I have to go shopping.