January 2019 Grocery Challenge

Hollyberry

The new concept of the monthly big shop got delivered and that's £160/£320 spent. Gulp! But the cupboards and freezer are crammed, and I have a meal prep list for the next fortnight, which should account for the perishables, while leaving plenty of non-perishables for the rest of the month. We're likely to be at the farm shop later today, so I've earmarked a bit more spend for their veggies which are gorgeous and will take me through on fresh stuff until nearly mid-month.

Liking the sound of that parsnip soup too Shabbychic12; it's close to what I make, but I've not added cinnamon before, so will give that a try next time.

ma-ri-ella

so my total so far for this month has been 33.19 which is way over budget for me but has included a chippy, takeaway , bottle of wine plus eating out in staff canteen several times which although is subsidised still adds u compared to make your own .the last bottle of wine was jan last year so not a problem area .with the weather being so cold the thought of going home at lunchtime .this is a problem area cause i see and smell the fresh cooked hot meals i want them lol. Take away the eating out it is around 12 quid which involves loads of nibble foods plus topping the freezer.

System

Well I did stocktake and we have things in freezer but needed a few basics for cupboard and fridge like Porridge, Juice, Sandwich meat, Tomato puree, mustard etc as well as a few cleaning bits. So I have done a Click and Collect for £25.69 and OH will pick it up in the morning. I don't normally use Asda much as think Lidl and Aldi are better but am still not feeling well enough to venture round the shops.
Also done a fruit/veg/egg order from our lovely local greengrocer (who buys locally from the local farms etc as well, and his stuff is such good quality) and that came in at £9.85


OH might need to pop into local butcher as well for me, but shouldn't be too much. Will see how it goes.


just had to edit as I had forgotten about the local honey the greengrocer was going to get me, so another £5


So happy to report that so far I have spent £40.54/£200. I reckon I can crack this budget no problem.

lantanna

Called into Tesco today to get some bits to make soup and eggs. £6 spent. Really makes all the difference to me having my budget in my head as I found myself saying no in my head to loads of things lol.

pamsdish

£33.58 on 2 sacks of dog food, that should last about 10 weeks, no discount code offered, but 2 sacks is free delivery just couldn`t wait any longer.
£15.14 in Aldi, mostly fruit and veg.
will deduct £50 as owe a £ from other day.

Wysiwyg49

lantanna wrote: »

Called into Tesco today to get some bits to make soup and eggs. £6 spent. Really makes all the difference to me having my budget in my head as I found myself saying no in my head to loads of things lol.

Me too! Spent £13.90 in Sainsb last night - chicken to make fricassee, fruit juice, butter, milk, bread and olive oil - but if I hadn't had this budget in mind I would have bought 2 packets of a quite expensive sauce instead of making my own. So that's £5 saved there!

Been trawling the eatnotspend blog for meal plan ideas too.

PipneyJane

VickyV wrote: »

Hi all,

I would like to rejoin (for the umpteenth time) but really need to stick with it. I have had a bad few months so I need to get back in the game.

My husband died in November so there's just me, 3 kids (one unfillable ds with ASD) and 2 cats. Not sure how being a man down will affect the budget or if I'll be able to cook from scratch as much now but I'm hoping to stick to £65 per week for food, toiletries, cleaning and washing stuff and cat food. We'll see how it goes.

Good to be back on the boards.
Vicky x

I'm so sorry to hear about your husband, Vicky. Hugs to you and the kids.

My suggestion for the days when you've been side-swiped by life is to make an enhanced pasta-bake. It costs as little as £2 to make and feeds 4-6 adults:-

1. Preheat the oven to 220C.
2. Put the kettle on to boil.
3. In a baking dish, dump one jar of any pasta-bake sauce.
4. Add the following: a complete bag of value pasta quills (500g); a drained tin of sweetcorn +/- a quarter of a bag of frozen mixed veg (defrost in a sieve under the hot tap, first); a 400g can of pilchards in tomato sauce OR mackerel in tomato sauce OR pink salmon (drained) OR 2 cans of tuna (drained). Make sure you smash the fish up a bit while you add it.
5. Add 1.5 times the sauce-jar's-worth of nearly-boiling water.
6. Give it a good stir.
7. Place it into the hot oven and bake for 25 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, grate some cheddar. 100-200g worth.
9. When the timer goes, give the bake a stir, flatten the top and sprinkle over the cheese. Bake for another 25 minutes.
10. Let the cooked pasta sit for 5 minutes in a warm place to rest before serving.

HTH.

- Pip

juliejukes

First shop of January done and I’ve came in under budget - £74.50/£80 and that includes my delivery saver plan of £6.99 and some extra toiletries for my ‘brexit Prep’ stash

PipneyJane

Ploppy, I hope you’re feeling better and that the antibiotics are working properly.

I have two spends to report. We took out the cash for our January GC Budget on New Year’s Eve, because that’s when we were paid, and since we were using MrT’s cashpoint, it would have been rude not to go in and check out the YS items. £17.57 spent on 2L milk (£1.09), 2 packets of Finest sausages reduced to £1.40 each (£2.80), a large tub of their Finest Lemon Curd yoghurt (68p) and a bottle of Southern Comfort, on sale at £13 (DH may reimburse this later from the Bulk Fund, which also pays for spirits). The sausages are now in the freezer, while the lemon curd yoghurt was divided up for lunch boxes. (It was lovely but I was surprised to read on the label that the ingredients include thickeners and 10% of it was cream.)

The second spend was £1.98 in Lidl, yesterday, on some pak choi and stir fry veg. The main reason I went to Lidl was to buy a bottle of their Formil Non-Bio, thinking that a) it’s cheap and b) it should be OK for woollens. (It’s not.)

When we were in New Zealand last month, I used a laundry liquid that removed a persistent chocolate stain from the sleeve of my cashmere cardigan. When I got home, I bought a bottle of the same stuff only to discover, after getting it home, that it says Do Not Use on Wool or Silk(!). . I thought Lidl’s Non-Bio should be OK but the label says not recommended for wool or silk. (No, I didn’t buy it.) They had a couple of other brands in stock - Bold and Persil IIRC - and both of them said the same thing: do not use on wool or silk. Can anyone recommend a laundry liquid that is good for woollens and silk?

(NB: We machine wash 99% of our woollens, using the wool cycle and non-bio powder, but I’d like a liquid for the odd time when there is a stain (so that I can apply it directly to the affected area). I’d washed the aforementioned cardigan a couple of times after the chocolate had melted into the fibre, but without real success until I washed it in NZ.)

Assuming DH forgets to reimburse the GC kitty for the Southern Comfort, the above brings our total spend to £19.55/£120, leaving £100.45 for the remainder of the month.

- Pip



PS: If it’s any help to the Newbies, here’s how our monthly housekeeping budget breaks down. There’s just the 2 of us and we each contribute half (£110).

£120 - General Groceries (tracked in the Grocery Challenge)
£ 40 - Meat Fund (for purchases from the local butcher. Not spent every month.)
£ 40 - Bulk Fund (for bulk buying, spirits and purchases from Costco or Wing Yip)
£ 10 - Christmas Fund (for the goose/turkey. Also raided at Easter.)
£ 10 - Gardening Fund (covers seeds, plants, garden supplies, etc)
———
£220
===

YorksLass

Condolences VickyV, take it one day at a time and, above all, be kind to yourself as you won't feel brave all the time. (((Hugs))) for all the poorlies, there seems to be a lot of bugs going around.

Well, I didn't quite make a full week of no shopping but managed until today when I needed some basics. Total spend of £15.43 on milk, potatoes, eggs, x2 pork pies, x2 steak slices, sandwich meats, a ys cauliflower (60p), ys tub of brandy cream and a ys tub of brandy butter (25p each).

Also bought a box of tissues (separate budget) using a 50p MOC. I've decided this year to put any MOC savings into a jar and also log ys savings; I think it will be interesting to see how these add up over the coming months.

I've got quite a few items on my home delivery list but I don't think they will add up to the required minimum order amount. But, I have a cunning plan. Sainsbobs are currently giving x10 points on F&V (fresh, frozen, tinned or dried) so I'm going to check my stocks to see what I could add on to the list. I don't need any fresh or frozen but tinned and/or dried won't go amiss. Like juliejukes, I'm building up a Brexit Prep stash.