December 2019 Grocery Challenge

Merlin's_Beard

Bit of a quandary, here.

Spent the weekend with friends and ended up paying for takeaway for a fair few people. Do I add that into my food budget, or do I write that off as just fun money I've spent?

So my running total so far is either £48/£100 or £105/£100... if I end up counting it as food budget, I will have to not care very much that I've gone over!

Topher

Merlin's_Beard wrote: »

Bit of a quandary, here.

Spent the weekend with friends and ended up paying for takeaway for a fair few people. Do I add that into my food budget, or do I write that off as just fun money I've spent?

So my running total so far is either £48/£100 or £105/£100... if I end up counting it as food budget, I will have to not care very much that I've gone over!

The following is my own idea, my own thinking, and my own response to a question you asked, so presented from the point of view of how I would apply my thinking to myself in your shoes ..... I think the idea of setting a food budget comes alongside all the same reasons for setting a "fun spends" budget which is to take a hold of your own expenditure and to plan things in order to keep a hold on your own expenditure. The point being that you ( I ) know in advance how it's going to go and to feel the security of having a handle on it. Therefore before meeting up with a group of friends I'd know in advance if a meal was implicit in the plan, what that was going to be, and how the cost of it was going to be met. (Clubbing together, or all at my cost as a host, or all contributing (pot luck supper or fuddle style) or "Going Dutch". That therefore would be out of an entertainment/fun budget, which would have had an amount, and a timescale (e.g. £20 for the next four weeks or £150 for this Thursday ..... whatever... ). If the evening's meal was part of my day to day functioning and I knew I was host, then it would come from my food budget, & I'd have to rob Peter to pay Paul, but all within the weekly food budget. T

Suffolk_lass

I went to Morries yesterday to try and get some of their baked-in-store speciality rolls and panettone for the freezer, for Christmas. Long and the short of it was I had to wait 15 minutes for them to cool and so I had time to do a food bank run round and filled a box with some nice things for people not managing.

It was my absolute pleasure to drop this off where things were going full pelt at one of the local Trussell Trust places. It does mean I am almost £40 down on what I am spending so fewer treats for us (I bet nobody here notices!). That is 20% of my Christmas budget I have given to Charity now as I also gave a lump on-line to Salvation Army who do so much for lonely and homeless people.

It is a bit off message for this thread but I think it helps me put my economising into perspective. Aside from the shock that in the fifth most wealthy economy in the World we have people living in poverty. It does not sit lightly with me.

Many SMs have a basket or box in their lobby or by the tills if anyone here feels able to pick up an extra packet, tin, or selection box, and help someone else at this time. I know my local food bank were delighted, and I am sure all of them feel the same.

Merlin's_Beard

Topher wrote: »

The following is my own idea, my own thinking, and my own response to a question you asked, so presented from the point of view of how I would apply my thinking to myself in your shoes ..... I think the idea of setting a food budget comes alongside all the same reasons for setting a "fun spends" budget which is to take a hold of your own expenditure and to plan things in order to keep a hold on your own expenditure. The point being that you ( I ) know in advance how it's going to go and to feel the security of having a handle on it. Therefore before meeting up with a group of friends I'd know in advance if a meal was implicit in the plan, what that was going to be, and how the cost of it was going to be met. (Clubbing together, or all at my cost as a host, or all contributing (pot luck supper or fuddle style) or "Going Dutch". That therefore would be out of an entertainment/fun budget, which would have had an amount, and a timescale (e.g. £20 for the next four weeks or £150 for this Thursday ..... whatever... ). If the evening's meal was part of my day to day functioning and I knew I was host, then it would come from my food budget, & I'd have to rob Peter to pay Paul, but all within the weekly food budget. T

Normally I would agree with you and would have planned, but it just turned into a weekend that went very, very off piste!

I'm lucky enough that I'm fudging about and trying to fit it into my food budget purely because I'm trying to meet an arbitrary savings goal, rather than desperately needing it elsewhere.

Doom_and_Gloom

Yesterday we spent £30.70. Got quite a lot for this. £6.50 of which went on a black pepper cashew cheese as a treat , it is very nice mind.

I'm having tofu and vegetable yellow Thai curry with rice noodles for dinner tonight.
OH is having chicken and bacon tortellini with cheese sauce tonight for dinner.

£139.99/£215.
£75.01 left.

boultdj

Another £8.64 to add, we'd run out of bread and fruit.

pamsdish

£20.78 In Aldi, got loads of veg some, y.s. lemons, 2 lamb shanks for freezer stock, and a turkey crown for myself and neighbours Christmas lunch.

PipneyJane

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I went to Morries yesterday to try and get some of their baked-in-store speciality rolls and panettone for the freezer, for Christmas. Long and the short of it was I had to wait 15 minutes for them to cool and so I had time to do a food bank run round and filled a box with some nice things for people not managing.

It was my absolute pleasure to drop this off where things were going full pelt at one of the local Trussell Trust places. It does mean I am almost £40 down on what I am spending so fewer treats for us (I bet nobody here notices!). That is 20% of my Christmas budget I have given to Charity now as I also gave a lump on-line to Salvation Army who do so much for lonely and homeless people.

It is a bit off message for this thread but I think it helps me put my economising into perspective. Aside from the shock that in the fifth most wealthy economy in the World we have people living in poverty. It does not sit lightly with me.

Many SMs have a basket or box in their lobby or by the tills if anyone here feels able to pick up an extra packet, tin, or selection box, and help someone else at this time. I know my local food bank were delighted, and I am sure all of them feel the same.

I hear you. My choir raised over £11,000 for our local foodbank on Saturday, at our annual carol concert. It's not just food and toiletries that they need - they don't get a penny of support from government/local government and need to cover the rent on their warehouse, pay the rates, etc.

Re people living in poverty, for several years I did a "£50 February" challenge: don't spend more than £50 on groceries for the entire month but you can eat/use up whatever is already in stock. (That's £50 for the two of us.) I have been thinking about doing something similar next year, but this time with a published shopping list and recipe collection, i.e. what you can buy for your £50 and what you can cook with it. February is a harsh month for many people financially.

I've lost track of what I've declared for this month's grocery challenge. Our spends since the start of the month: £66.05 in MrT's on 1st December (definitely declared), £10.99 in L!dl on 4th December (not sure about), £4.10 in Sainsbugs on 12th December (not sure about), £8.30 at the Farm shop on Saturday (definitely not declared) and £3 at Lidl on Sunday. Our total spend so far is £92.44/£129.90, leaving £37.46 for the remainder of December.

- Pip

pamsdish

PipneyJane wrote: »

Re people living in poverty, for several years I did a "£50 February" challenge: don't spend more than £50 on groceries for the entire month but you can eat/use up whatever is already in stock. (That's £50 for the two of us.) I have been thinking about doing something similar next year, but this time with a published shopping list and recipe collection, i.e. what you can buy for your £50 and what you can cook with it. February is a harsh month for many people financially.

- Pip

Thinking this would make a great new year separate thread something to get 2020 off to a frugal start.

thriftwizard

It's a tempting thought, a £50 February (£100 for us, as there are 4 of us?) BUT if I did that, I'd be hurting the traders, shopkeepers & craftspeople (e.g. the baker, the miller) I buy most of our food from. Not massively, but a bit, at a hard time of year. So I might do a no-supermarket month instead. And commit a regular sum to support our local food bank.