December 2018 Grocery Challenge

Vanlady

Another NSD day for me:j 12/15
Wow!! ! Elsiepac your meals look amazing! So healthy too. Great idea, and no stressing or cooking for you for the next few days too. Well done!!:T

Just a staple cupboard midweek meal for us tonight, spaghetti puttanesca (4 tins tomatoes, onions, garlic, red wine vinegar, tomato puree, chilli, black olives, cinnamon ). Ill make extra to put in 2 packed lunches for tomorrow too.

candygirl

Send me a chick pea curry ELSIE

CRANKY40

Hello folks,

I didn't go shopping last week as there was no real need but the closer it was getting to "buy as much junk and queue up the aisles to pay for it" time, the more anxious I was getting (I hate crowds and pushing and queuing and too many people) and the more I was worrying so I took the rest of the months shopping money and went shopping today. Total including milk money for the rest of the month is £129.82 and I've updated my signature.

If we need anything at all it will probably only be a loaf of bread which I can go to the local shop for. I'm hoping that is us catered for until the beginning of January and probably beyond apart from fresh fruit after Christmas. If it is then I'm under budget for the month and I put a bottle of cherry vodka in the trolley too because it's Christmas and I could. My bestie is bringing gin with him when he puts his head round the door sometime over Christmas so that's the booze sorted.

I can't get anything else in the freezer or cupboards so I've joined the "eating out of freezer and cupboards" thread too. I took some rhubarb out of the freezer this morning to make a bit of space so I made 4 mini rhubarb crumbles (2 for me and 2 for my mate who's on steroids due to chemo and eats anything that I make her). The HT had a chicken dinner with mash and veg for his dinner tonight. I had rhubarb crumble and custard - oops :rotfl:

K9sandFelines

I've got Ocado coming tonight, and have some spends in Morrisons and work since today and the Asda shop. I am going to see the amounts in a minute. I was meant to add them last night but fell asleep

Ocado should be £61.14, but won't add this yet.
The other spends were under a tenner, so will add all to sig once i have receipts in hand.

NeverendingDMP

I lost count lsst weekend. Whoops. I am more or less on budget though. I was aiming for 341 with a new month starting on friday. Im either at 323 or 343. I think ive counted the same shop twice. Im about right though so that will do. I need to spend a fiver or so before then for random bits but have bought tea coffee and sugar in already for xmas so cant complain.

[Deleted User]

Hi folks, my December budget is out the window now! Been ill over the past week or so with a heavy cold so no proper shopping done and just bits and bobs bought adhoc. I have about £30 left and will need to add to this to get to the end of the month and through Christmas.

I will sign up again in January and try to do better . I am planning a version of the Uber Frugal Month in January so hopefully this will get me back on track. I am also going to change how I organise my food shopping money to minimise temptation. At the moment we withdraw the full amount in cash as the start of the month and it's kept in a jar in the kitchen. However, the easy access to cash means that OH and I dip into it for non-grocery items. Next month I plan to use a separate account just for the grocery money and not withdraw cash.

Doom_and_Gloom

We've spent £18.70 since last post.

I'm having shepherdless pie mix with houmous mash potatoes for dinner.
OH is having beef stew with mash potatoes for dinner.

£140.56/£200.
£59.44 left.

YorksLass

elsiepac: Those meals look really good, especially the herby pasta salad - I just love pasta.

Thought I was coming down with a cold at the weekend but, after a couple of early nights/paracetamol/hot lemon drinks, I'm back to normal. Well, normal for me

DH went for milk today whilst I was doing the ironing. Yes, he got the milk but also came back with a box of ginger greentea bags (OK, I'll let him have that one as he likes them and we were running short), a tub of beef spread (not really needed but it will get eaten) and a tin of red salmon - why? So, another £9.44 gone out of the budget. And, to top it off, he forgot to take a letter I'd asked him to put in the postbox. :mad: Not sure how he managed that as I'd left it on the table along with a MOC for the milk and my Co-op loyalty card, both of which he'd picked up!

On the plus side, I've made 8 mini cheesecakes for the freezer - all ingredients from existing stocks so no spends there. :)

thriftwizard

Well, £0.00 spent today, on 6 tins of chickpeas and 6 tins of butter beans! Used up some of the points accumulated on my Co-op card from doing Mum's shopping. There's still nearly £15 left on there, which will buy a couple of festive bottles at the weekend - a welcome bonus!

Erm, why do the major retailers remove staple items like chick peas & butter beans from the shelves at this time of year? I do know it's to make room for all the festive fare really, but it's making it difficult to feed my two veggie daughters!

CRANKY40

thriftwizard wrote: »

Erm, why do the major retailers remove staple items like chick peas & butter beans from the shelves at this time of year? I do know it's to make room for all the festive fare really, but it's making it difficult to feed my two veggie daughters!

I don't usually pay much attention to the food that is aimed at Christmas shoppers, but I was horrified yesterday by the number of cabinets full to the brim with "party" food. Things like mini half potatoes with what looked like a spoonful of mash and cheese resting on top, chicken goujons etc all in festive looking packaging...that kind of thing. It wasn't cheap either. Some of it looked so nasty I'd be ashamed to put it out for guests to eat. Oh smack me now, I'm old and boring or do any of you feel the same way?

NSD today by the way. Just as well as the cat cost me £28 at the vet and it's going back tomorrow (the vet thinks it's thyroid issues - she's insured thank goodness as tomorrow's plans don't sound cheap). I had the other rhubarb crumble for tea with the other half of the custard from yesterday and the HT had pasta and meatballs in tomato and basil sauce. Well actually he had 2/3 of it before the cat's spectacular collapse and our trip to the vet. He had a ham and cheese wrap when we got home to make up for the 1/3 he didn't get to finish.

I delivered 2 rhubarb crumbles and a Christmas cake to my mate on steroids this morning and then took her for her Christmas present shopping. We called in here on our way back to hers as I wanted to check on the cat (I thought she wasn't right this morning). Friend was gobsmacked to see jars of mincemeat on the counter as she was planning to make mince pies but had only bought dried fruit. Can't wait to see how those turn out I gave her a jar of mincemeat anyway