September 2020 Grocery Challenge

peony40

Hello All,
Just catching up, had two shops since the beginning of September totalling £168.89.  This leaves me with £31.11 until the 25th, so I need to be mindful and menu plan.

goldfinches

BrassicWoman said:

I have also gone a little bit organisationally OTT. I'm using an app to track my pantry contents. 

Pricks up ears and asks which app and is it available for android please? Should love to be able to track my pantry contents like this especially if it would mesh with my inventory in Excel and my stored recipes as well. Thanks in advance, goldfinches.

BrassicWoman

goldfinches said:

BrassicWoman said:

I have also gone a little bit organisationally OTT. I'm using an app to track my pantry contents. 

Pricks up ears and asks which app and is it available for android please? Should love to be able to track my pantry contents like this especially if it would mesh with my inventory in Excel and my stored recipes as well. Thanks in advance, goldfinches.

It's called "out of milk" and yes, it's available for android. It's a US app so the barcode scanner basically doesn't work, but it's only taken me a couple of hours to add stuff and now I know what all my stuff is :-) I renamed all the categories as it helps me remember where I put things ("bed pulses" are under the bed), so that bit is totally customisable.

It doesn't mesh with excel. You can send yourself a plain text version of your pantry contents which you can make into excel if you're skilled at that sort of thing. You can also share the shopping list with others who may do your shopping. 

joedenise

Thanks @BrassicWoman.  I was going to ask what the app was as well.  Will have a look at that as it sounds really useful.  I assume it would work for freezer contents too (hopefully!).

moneyonmymindsam

Borrowed £2.65 from next week's budget as just fancied some cakes (!)
Samx

VickyV

Ooh, I used to have the Out of Milk app but had no idea it kept a stock inventory - just used it as a shopping list.
Couple of shops in the last few days £9.25 on crappy convenience food (we really wanted fish finger sandwiches and chips for tea!) and milk in t3sco then £20.03 on fruit, veg, a few bits and yet more milk in ald1. Will update sig.

Vicky x

goldfinches

Thanks @BrassicWoman. That sounds really up my street, am looking at my plans for the next few days and thinking "when can I reorganise the entire larder and shall I take this opportunity to install the shelving I've been contemplating too?"! 

@moneyonmymindsam you did make me laugh, hope the cakes were yummy.

Sweet dreams all, goldfinches.

moneyonmymindsam

@goldfinches - life too short to be cakeless lol 
  

PipneyJane

moneyonmymindsam said:

@goldfinches - life too short to be cakeless lol 
  

I totally agree.

I feel like I’m running to catch up, today, so hope this post makes sense.  We did three shops yesterday, rotating through the local supermarkets.   In the process of shopping, we received four £2 coins in our change plus 31p in coppers.  We have a rule that £2 coins don’t get spent - they go into a money box and then into the Running Away Fund (for holidays).  All coppers go into a jar, which holds about £20 when full.    That’s £8.31 we won’t be spending on Groceries.

We spent £5.36 in A$da, on two packets of toilet paper and a bag of peppers.  DH bought some beer, but that was out of his own money.  

At MrT’s, a miracle happened.  They had tinned chopped tomatoes on offer at 25p a can!  Not seen those prices since February.  Naturally, we stocked up and bought two shrink wrapped trays totalling 24 cans.  They were also selling 16kg sacks of Allinson’s bread flour for £4.95 and 10kg sacks Chapatti flour for £3.50.  We lugged a 16kg sack to the checkout, only for the cashier to have difficulties ringing up the price.  The computer didn’t recognise the bar code.  She involved the duty manager, who eventually went off and came back lugging a sack of Chapatti flour and instructed her to use that for the bar code. He then asked us if we were happy to pay £3.50 for our 16kg sack of flour!  The Bulk Fund spend £9.50 (£3.50 for flour and £6 for tomatoes), while the Grocery Challenge fund spent £33.11.

Finally, we popped into L!dl to buy fresh veg, cooking bacon and cheese.  £16.82 spent, which included 3 packets of cashews.  (Can someone tell my DH that the cashews aren’t to be nibbled on?  I’ve tried and failed.)

Anyway, thanks to all of the above, our Grocery Challenge spend is now £136.40/£165.40, leaving us £29 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

PipneyJane

PipneyJane said:

moneyonmymindsam said:

@goldfinches - life too short to be cakeless lol 
  

I totally agree.

I feel like I’m running to catch up, today, so hope this post makes sense.  We did three shops yesterday, rotating through the local supermarkets.   In the process of shopping, we received four £2 coins in our change plus 31p in coppers.  We have a rule that £2 coins don’t get spent - they go into a money box and then into the Running Away Fund (for holidays).  All coppers go into a jar, which holds about £20 when full.    That’s £8.31 we won’t be spending on Groceries.

We spent £5.36 in A$da, on two packets of toilet paper and a bag of peppers.  DH bought some beer, but that was out of his own money.  

At MrT’s, a miracle happened.  They had tinned chopped tomatoes on offer at 25p a can!  Not seen those prices since February.  Naturally, we stocked up and bought two shrink wrapped trays totalling 24 cans.  They were also selling 16kg sacks of Allinson’s bread flour for £4.95 and 10kg sacks Chapatti flour for £3.50.  We lugged a 16kg sack to the checkout, only for the cashier to have difficulties ringing up the price.  The computer didn’t recognise the bar code.  She involved the duty manager, who eventually went off and came back lugging a sack of Chapatti flour and instructed her to use that for the bar code. He then asked us if we were happy to pay £3.50 for our 16kg sack of flour!  The Bulk Fund spend £9.50 (£3.50 for flour and £6 for tomatoes), while the Grocery Challenge fund spent £33.11.

Finally, we popped into L!dl to buy fresh veg, cooking bacon and cheese.  £16.82 spent, which included 3 packets of cashews.  (Can someone tell my DH that the cashews aren’t to be nibbled on?  I’ve tried and failed.)

Anyway, thanks to all of the above, our Grocery Challenge spend is now £136.40/£165.40, leaving us £29 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

Sorry.  I got it wrong.  It’s Heygates’ Flour not Allinsons.  The sacks look like they were sold to MrT’s for use in their own bakeries.

- Pip