April 2020 Grocery Challenge

candygirl

Sending get well vibes to ELSIE.It must've been awful for you
I'm the same as ZAFIRO , only being able to shop online,  so am also buying more than I usually would, in case I can't get a slot again .
Really missing RL shopping , n bargain hunting

Merlin's_Beard

That sounds absolutely terrifying elsiepac. Glad you've come through it okay.

£22.45 in the supermarket, which leaves me with £7.23 for the rest of the month... well, I don't think so, but let's see. Hopefully by the time I go back to the supermarket the cut price Easter eggs will be gone... 

GreenFairy

I hope everyone is doing ok in these "interesting times". 
I've been having regular days of feeling completely overwhelmed, and have to remind myself that we're healthy and have a safe roof over our heads, which makes us very, very lucky indeed . 
I'm spending too much on groceries again this month. We're buying too many convenience-ish foods, as I don't have an oven or a prep space.  I didn't think I'd miss the oven so much, or that it would have such an impact on the food bill, though we though it'd only be for a couple of weeks - the timing was just a bit rubbish with lockdown. 

I'm at €300 for the month already. We're going through a tenner's worth of bread and milk a week alone! Need to have a rethink about how I can keep the grocery bill lower in my present situation. With car insurance and tax both coming up next month, there won't be any wiggle room!

Doom_and_Gloom

Elsiepac - I hope you are feeling much better now. Be kind on yourself, go slow and try and eat well. The wasted food was unavoidable in this instance so don't beat yourself up. 

£41.29 spent since last post. We are finally out of 'quarantine' so it was shopping after I finished work.
OH needed shampoo, conditioner, deoderant desperately. He also got meat; enough for at least a week (hoping the rest of the month) in the form of a beef joint, sausage meat and beef mince.
He also picked up cheese, eggs, yogurt, tortellini, pizza and tinned soups.
Hoping we come within budget this month.

Did manage to pick up some bargains today; baby button mushrooms, 2 packs of extra fine green beans and a pack of fine asparagus all just 20p each! Couldn't believe it. Not just reductions but really amazing reductions.

£140.49/£200
£59.51 left.

Suffolk_lass

I have provided a shopping list for DH, who gently insisted on going himself rather than letting DS go for us. In the absence of going out I have been eating too much. I think i will fast today (until evening meal) and just work outside in the garden - no shortage of jobs to do there.

I have defrosted a very large rolled shoulder of pork and will be giving half to DS and his housemates who have pooled their food shopping and consumption. We spoke to each of them separately at the weekend because I'm conscious they would drive me round the bend if I was in the small house with them so we were quite sure they would be doing that to each other. They each separately observed that no takeaways had approximately halved what they spend! - Like it is a surprise...

A bit of a pep talk to each about respecting each other's need for a bit of time and space on their own, and I am hoping they are staying home (except when our DS gets a shift - much worse than being furloughed as they want him available to cover for the sickness of the contracted staff (and that also means he will only get called in when someone has symptoms. All very traumatic and I am trying not to dwell on that possibility. 

Good (and reassuring) to hear you are recovering elsiepac

PipneyJane

PipneyJane said:
....

I have a small shop to declare from today.  We walked to MrT’s Express to buy the paper and, while there, picked up 6 bottles of cider and a bag of new potatoes for £11.  I was quite surprised at how well stocked they were.   (We subscribe so get vouchers for the Sunday paper.  I’m not counting it in this spend.)  

This brings our total spend for April to £116.76/£130.96, leaving £14.20 for the remainder of the month.  That total may change because we argued on the way back about reimbursing the housekeeping for the cider and agreed that, if we did run over, we’d each put in a Fiver. (Alcohol doesn’t normally get purchased from the Grocery Challenge kitty.)

- Pip

Further to my post above, we reimbursed the Grocery Challenge kitty for the cider this morning, bringing it back to £24.20.  DH then set off for his weekly walk to L!dl, where he spent £14.49, mainly on vegetables and eggs.  At least this time, he didn’t buy fresh milk - we’ve only just started on the 2L bottle he bought last Thursday.

I’ve done a little meal planning since we have far too much fresh milk and must use it up.  (Normally, I’d freeze half the bottle for later but we have no space left.) Dinner tonight is a store cupboard special, tuna lasagne.  Dinner tomorrow will be Toad-in-the-Hole, using up some bratwurst from the freezer.  Between them and breakfasts, that will use up a litre of milk.  If it does go off, then I’ll make pancakes and/or one of the cake recipes that require “buttermilk” instead of fresh.  Nothing gets wasted here.  (I usually sour some milk instead of buying buttermilk specially.) 

The above refund and spending brings our total spend to £121.25/£130.96 leaving £9.71 for the remainder of April.

- Pip

Frugalistamama

Did the first shop out of my April budget (15th-15th). I spent £13.77 online for wheat gluten and oat bran. This is a total splurge but i can't find them anywhere. The wheat gluten is to turn plain flour into bread flour as there is none to be found so will last a long time. The oat bran is to make it better for us.  So in the end will save me some pennies. Also nipped into Sainsbury's (I say nipped except the queue was so long!) I got lots of yellow sticker items and spend £23 saving £10 on the yellow sticker items. I'll go to lidl tomorrow to top up,hoping not to spend more than £15. Swapping some home layed eggs for flour tomorrow so that'll save a bit.

Herbyme

Hi all,
Sympathies and warmest wishes to those who've been/are ill, and those who are struggling with the knock on effects of this weird world we are living in. I am grateful because I feel we've been quite lucky so far but needless to say 4 adults being at home almost all the time has a dreadful effect on the grocery budget, especially on the booze part of it. I've taken to shopping wherever/whenever is quiet - which is not usually the cheapest place. And milk/eggs from the milkman, super-handy but also not the cheapest.

We've not been able to get kale/spring greens for our rabbits for so long that we have been scouring the hedgerows for dandelions, which at least saves a few pounds a week. I've sown lots of seeds eg parsley, peas for pea shoots, coriander, kale, some for micro-greens, but nothing much edible except pea shoots yet and it's cost a fortune in compost! Luckily that comes from a local nursery who take payment over the phone, leave it outside and we can pick it up without any contact.  The pea shoots are good in stir fries.

I've sprouted some beans/lentils, some are nicer than others. Had to throw the pinto bean shoots away, they were gross, like alien creatures. A few of the mung beans stayed rock hard and nearly broke my tooth (my teeth are rubbish anyway and several are crowned) which would have been very very bad atm. So I might stick to lentils, at least they all seem to go soft even if they don't sprout. If the lockdown ends in 3 more weeks I might just about have edible veg! The sunshine is helping I'm sure.

Stay as safe as you can  everyone, we are all doing the best we can to adapt to the situation and that's all we can do 

supersaver1000

Hi @carolinerunner

It really is having an effect on the budget.  We have free tea, coffee, milk at work and I have noticed the effect at home.  We are also shopping when convenient/where quiet - I noticed Aldee is so much busier than MrS and it seems very tense in there - possibly because its so much smaller.   I do feel for the assistants who have to come into contact with lots of us during the day.  DH has taken to walking to MrS and he paid for the few bits he picked up yesterday - result.  

I love that you are planting your seeds and sprouting beans.  We were about to move house this month but of course that's now on hold.  No point planting anything where we are as we don't plan to be here to harvest and I don't want to be moving extra pots, but I will think about sprouting.  I used to do alfalfa seeds years ago - had a special bean sprouter and everything and would be nice to have some fresh salad to hand.

Have a good day all.  Mrs Supersaver

Frugalistamama

Oh dear did my top up shop hoping only to spend £15 but spent £48 on food so that's £85 this week. In my defense i had to queue for half an hour to get in and got fed up with that and was thinking i don't want to go for a while after this. So i bought some extras and a huge bulk buy of potatoes and a couple of yellow sticker items. So I'll try not to go for at least 2 weeks. Dinner tonight is a roast chicken all yellow sticker items so the whole lot cost £4.50 and will do for lunch the next day. Chicken, roasts and two veg.  I have a fridge full so just need to stay out of the shop!!