September 2019 Grocery Challenge

elsiepac

Thanks joedenise and zafiro, I have no doubt it'll change as I don't want so much of the same meal, but it's a rough idea for me and I'll no doubt amend it as I go along!

tessie bear Thanks for the kind well wishes for my mum - she's going stir crazy but no choice but to keep foot elevated, so tough haha!!

Jings are you pleased to be back in the US? I'm so jealous of Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, wish we had them here!!

No spends to report, have a few odd bits of veg in fridge now leftover from Wednesday so will update meal plan later I think once I've double checked the freezer.

joedenise

Elsie the meal plan is just that "a plan" which means it can be changed as necessary. It's important to use up your LOs. My plans never stay exactly the same, which is one of the reasons I'm thinking about going back to weekly plans.

Denise

debtfreeforlife

Declaring a spend so far of £196.89/£200 :mad::(:sad: So so so annoyed at myself. That spend does include £50 on stocking up the cupboard with tinned and dried beans etc, but it also includes way too much food waste by me buying lunch rather than using what I have in the cupboard, plus lazy dinners etc. I'll dial it back as far as I can but no way am I going to come in under budget this month.


From the end of this month, I have two "normal" months- Dec is always a random grocery month as I come home for Christmas and although I'm not shopping as normal I do try and do at least one shop for my parents and I which means it's hard to budget. I am DETERMINED that I'll start 2020 having got my grocery budget under control.

Saver-upper

quintwins wrote: »

I can't stick to a strict meal plan so I plan out about 10 meals at a time that I can make from stuff I have in or with little added to it, then I decide the night before/morning of which things I need to lift out/throw in the slow cooker.

Thank you quintwins,this,very loosely,is what I do.I try to always have chicken,pasta,assortment of veg in the house,so then I can decide what I want on the day.
Problems start when I don't plan ,even on the morning,exactly what we will have that night.So I go to make a meal Inthe evening,only to find I am missing an ingredient,or I hadn't defrosted meat etc.

I mentioned yesterday that I was going away for a girls' weekend,so had been shopping to make sure there was enough simple meals for the family left behind.

While I am away,12 yo daughter is having a couple of friends over for a sleepover.My partner said it might be nice to get some drinking chocolate,marshmallows and squirty cream so they can make hot chocolate.So that is all I went into ASDA for!!!
£32.32 later...........:eek:
To be fair,some of that was treats for my weekend away (I will deduct those,because they aren't really groceries.)I bought large bag of pasta which I can't get when shopping at Aldi,frozen peas,Flora light x3,which I only buy when on special-that was £6 right there.
Total spend for household groceries was £18.22.
I am a bit disappointed I haven't been able to stick to my budget this month.When I get back home,will do lots of creative meal planning to try and reign the spends in abit.£258.86/250

jam2019

Total spend today of £10.56, bought loads of frozen veg and porridge, which should see me through a few weeks. Plus a little splurge on some vegan chorizo slices (the only thing I really miss since going veggie!). Including a midweek biscuit excursion (:o), that leaves me at a total of £31.82/£40, so £8.18 left for the last shop of the month next weekend.

Edit: had to buy some more milk midweek, so that's an extra £0.79 bringing me up to £32.61/£40.

Doom_and_Gloom

We have spent £75.38 since last post.
Including today we have 10 days left, OH is home today and it is a possibility of him going shopping later.

Going to make vegetable stew for dinner.
OH will either have beef stir fry with noodles or sausage pasta with cheese sauce.

£183.47/£200.
£16.53 Left.

Looking at the very full fridge and working on the meal plan for the remaining days of this month. Not much needed to buy for me and not too much for OH either. In all I think we should be able to come in within budget as long as we don't get side tracked by treats etc.

Chloris

I have been reading along and thank you for the inspiring posts, it has certainly helped keep me on track. I'm doing well this month with my budget, currently at £395/£500 so I'm really pleased. I also am completely surprised as circumstances have not been great for a good budget as my oven died and all my plans were scuppered for a week. I had to put on hold all baking and much cooking but I resisted panic buying and went for cheap solutions like homemade soup and bread. I also had some homemade ready meals in the freezer I could just zap. So all that lovely money I have saved has been spent on the electrician (new spur point needed) and a shiny new oven - and I'd only just cleaned the old one!

Batch cooked stuffed seitan and veg for tea. Also made a foraged plum crumble and custard, vegan choc brownies and a massive pot of quinoa and veg salad for packed lunches. Tomorrow I'll need to make carrot and sultana muffins and cashew nut and sultana flapjack. I wish my family ate the same snacks �� it would save me a lot of effort.

Final stretch now - good luck everyone! X

Doing_it_my_way

Just a quick update. £7.58 left in the budget of £150 for September, needs to last for the next 7 days, I don't think I am going to do it, but will be close, of that I am determined!!
Have upped our budget for next month as it has been very, very hard just need to keep focused for the next week and try harder
Good luck everyone

Suffolk_lass

Chloris wrote: »

I have been reading along and thank you for the inspiring posts, it has certainly helped keep me on track. I'm doing well this month with my budget, currently at £395/£500 so I'm really pleased. I also am completely surprised as circumstances have not been great for a good budget as my oven died and all my plans were scuppered for a week. I had to put on hold all baking and much cooking but I resisted panic buying and went for cheap solutions like homemade soup and bread. I also had some homemade ready meals in the freezer I could just zap. So all that lovely money I have saved has been spent on the electrician (new spur point needed) and a shiny new oven - and I'd only just cleaned the old one!

Batch cooked stuffed seitan and veg for tea. Also made a foraged plum crumble and custard, vegan choc brownies and a massive pot of quinoa and veg salad for packed lunches. Tomorrow I'll need to make carrot and sultana muffins and cashew nut and sultana flapjack. I wish my family ate the same snacks �� it would save me a lot of effort.

Final stretch now - good luck everyone! X

Well done Chloris - I always say, these things cannot be avoided, but having a bit of money aside that you can pay towards them makes things less traumatic. It's three years now since my DH wrote off our commuting car on the way home while too tired (and someone else's too) entirely his "fault" so it is the gift that keeps on giving in both our motor insurance policies but I used some emergency fund, the write-off value and an interest free card to buy the replacement. I hope you like your new oven!

Suffolk_lass

Our spend is still under £120 for the month so far but has got to last until 2nd October now DH has stopped work as his occupational pension will pay on 2nd where he used to get paid on 26th. We have a fridge full of cheese and vegetables but should not need more until next week as we are off to Scotland this weekend for my Mum's birthday - just lots of fuel!