March 2019 Grocery Challenge

PipneyJane

elsiepac wrote: »

Budgets updated to here

I've been a bit absent, sorry guys! My rota has changed at work and I've gone from being on call once every 6 weeks to once every 3... except that at the moment 2 of us are trying to train the 3rd one in the team, so in reality we are shadowing him so are actually doing every other week! And the week we aren't, we are on early shift but often end up with overtime so pretty shattered at the moment!! Should be temporary though, so hopefully in a month or so it will calm down!

Elsie, sounds like you’re having quite a time of it. You must feel knackered by the time you get home each evening. Thank you for the effort you put into the Grocery Challenge.

I will have some shopping to declare later today. Not got a huge amount to buy, just want to stock up on Lidl’s Spanish stuff.

- Pip

thriftwizard

Total fail here! Ended up in hospital again for 5 days and off my feet for most of the next weekend, during which most of the family descended to make sure I was behaving. And needed feeding, of course. DD1 went into a total bake-a-thon and DD2 cooked every vegetable in the house/garden/freezer/allotment - well, the ones that OH hadn't inadvertently composted - he's not too sound on plant identification, though I'm not quite sure why he would think that weeds might grow in rows!

So I have some catching up to do; I have no idea how much they have spent between them! But I do know what I've just spent at the market trying to build stocks up enough to see us through the next week or so, so I'll start from there and see what receipts I can find, and how much is left in the "housekeeping" pot.

I desperately need to get to L!dls and the wholesalers this week; can't drive again until Monday & have a number of appointments down in the city upcoming, so I'll have to work around those. There is a L!dl en route, but that one is always crowded and not always well-stocked; the one in the next town north, a military town, is usually a better bet, but I have no other reason to be going that way. I wonder if DD1 (and her car) might fancy an outing to their rather-good charity shops...?

ETA: updated with what I've spent this morning, plus what's gone from the "housekeeping" cash pot. I have no idea what OH may have spent on the bank card, however, and won't know until I can go to the branch on Monday, but it's not going to be a vast amount.

Need2bthrifty

A very small spend to declare for this week, had hoped not to spend anything at all but I fancied a naan bread to go with the leftover/use up curry bits I'm having tonight, so popped into L1d! for their 2pk garlic and coriander ones for 46p that takes my monthly total up to £61.29.

Like others on the thread the plan is to eat freezer stock for the next two weeks. So everything on next weeks plan is in the freezer or can be made from what I already have in, just need to remember to defrost it on time.

Sun - Chicken & pea risotto, slice garlic bread.
Mon - Mixed bean chilli, taco shells, sweetcorn salsa & side salad.
Tues - Cheese & ham pasty, mashed potatoes & baked beans.
Wed - Mediterranean fish parcel.
Thurs - Thai Chicken curry, noodles & stir fry veg.
Fri - Glamorgan sausages, baked beans.
Sat - Liver casserole, mashed potatoes, sweetcorn.

ditty1234

Ok adding to groceries £249/£260
Well hopefully doing medium. Spent £29 in A today for a small weekly shop that should last through to about Wednesday. So I might go over but the breaks are on.
Making chicken fajitas tonight, pizza tomorrow, fish and chips one day so anyways that's a start. And still have a chili in the freezer. Had lovely bean veggie burgers last night, that went down really well.
Hope everybody is having a cosy Saturday out of the wind.

[Deleted User]

thriftwizard - wishing you a speedy recovery.


A few spends - £5.68, got a load for that - 3 romaine lettuce, 2 cucumbers, a large bowl of tomatoes, a sack of onions, 3 long sweet peppers, 2 tins of coconut milk, a jar of peanut butter and 2 jars of bolognese sauce (I usually make my own, but hey). I noticed when I checked my receipt at home, that I hadn't been charged for the peanut butter and a tin of coconut milk, so theoretically I 'nicked' them. Am not intending on shopping 'till next Friday/Saturday. Have a lovely rest of w/e everyone. Have updated sig.

pamsdish

No grocery spends to report just a tale, bought 10 freezer drawers on e,bay to fit my upright freezer, £35 for the 10, various depths, from someone whos` freezer had died, plastic drawers still get damaged and once the sides start to go, the weight in the drawer pops it off the tracks, to buy from dealers £25 each, spent yesterday moving stuff about re- sorting drawers, mine has 6 drawers of varying depths, changed 4 stood back admiring a tidy freezer, no drawers hanging at odd angles lovely, and stepped on a complete drawer full of food I had missed, still ended up pushing stuff into spaces but it is better.

tighteningthebelt

pamsdish wrote: »

spent yesterday moving stuff about re- sorting drawers, mine has 6 drawers of varying depths, changed 4 stood back admiring a tidy freezer

oooh, i love a good sort out... that lovely smug feeling of done! i reckon declutterers might have the best job in the world.

shirlgirl2004

First shop of March pay done at £76.20. Bought extras due to party but will hopefully come in under budget. £76.20/£85

PipneyJane

Thriftwizard - hope you’re on the mend and that the latest setback is the last one.

I have a three spends to declare. We went to Lidl yesterday, buying two of their Spanish Tortillas, stocking up on mixed nuts (4 packets at £1.19), a packet of 6 batteries for my FitBit for £1.99, some chocolate cookies and some YS fresh milk (76p for 2L). Total spend at Lidl was £16.58.

Today, we went to the Farm Shop for a dozen eggs, 1kg carrots, 2kg potatoes, a bunch of spring onions, purple sprouting broccoli, regular broccoli and a cauliflower. All for £8.70. Then on to MrT’s for the Sunday paper, 4 large Yeo Valley yoghurts, some YS blueberry-&-maple-syrup “hot cross buns” (we’ll see what those taste like) and some YS cooked, sliced chicken (which immediately went into the freezer for wraps later on). The spend at Mr T’s was £6.27.

Sadly for the Grocery Challenge kitty, in both supermarkets, we received a £2 coin. We have a house rule, which is that all £2 coins belong to the Running Away Fund and get deposited in a money box. So that’s £4 for the Running Away Fund and a £4 reduction to the Grocery Challenge kitty.

All of the above brings our GC spend for March to £151.76/£162, leaving £10.24 for the rest of the month. It should be do-able. We bought enough yoghurt for nearly two weeks’ lunches; I’ve already frozen half the milk; and the fresh veg will keep.

I have a vague meal plan for dinner for the next few days:-

Tonight - Cheat’s Bacon Tagliatelli Carbonara (uses cream cheese for the sauce)
Tomorrow - beef chilli made in the slow cooker, served with rice
Tuesday - either peppered mackerel or salmon fillet with couscous and purple sprouting broccoli (we definitely have the mackerel in the freezer, hopefully still have some salmon, as that’s my first choice)
Wednesday - Aloo Gobi using the cauliflower, some of the potatoes and to which I’ll add chickpeas. (This is dependent when I cook the dried chickpeas, currently soaking. Might have it Thursday instead.)

With the exception of Tuesday’s dinner, all will produce leftovers for the next day’s lunch and, possibly, extra lunchboxes for the freezer.

- Pip

taka

PipneyJane wrote: »

Sadly for the Grocery Challenge kitty, in both supermarkets, we received a £2 coin. We have a house rule, which is that all £2 coins belong to the Running Away Fund and get deposited in a money box. So that’s £4 for the Running Away Fund and a £4 reduction to the Grocery Challenge kitty.

I know how you feel... Any £2 coins I get while grocery shopping go to my 2019 Mortgage-Free Wannabe fund. I've had £10 worth this month! :eek: Currently avoiding my local Tesco as one lad there was responsible for £6 of them this week alone! :rotfl:

I'm currently at £72.63 out of £161.20 (£62.63 on food and £10 (5x £2 coins) to 2019 MFW pot )