October 2020 Grocery Challenge

Doom_and_Gloom

£8.64 spent between A&C (£5.67, we also bought my parents dog their Xmas present which got us delivery) and Mr S (£2.97).

A friend of ours is going through something right now and wouldn't be able to get through all their food so they gave us the following 

6 sweet potatoes 
3 red onions 
1 1/2 garlic bulbs 
2 courgettes
1 aubergine 
2 red peppers 
5 tomatoes 
8 apples
Will have to go through my previous meal plan for this week to incorporate the haul given. I'm sad for what our friend is going through but on the other hand I'm happy this food won't be wasted as well. 

OH will be going back to Mr S later to pick up a few needed items for tonights dinners for us; we've been looking forward to what we planned today for dinner so we aren't changing it. Will update again later. 

OH dinner - okonomiyaki, crunchy Asian slaw and 3 deep fried vegetable spring rolls. 
My dinner - vegan Singapore noodles, stir fry beansprouts, crunchy Asian slaw and tofu summer rolls. 

£128.89/£180. 
£51.11.

peb

On the 1st October I spent £25, I did need to stock up on more bread as envisaged and got lucky with rtc bread rolls at 10p then again at 32p.  

On the 8th October I shopped at Morrisons, I haven't been there for over six months (it's opposite where I swim and I only reinstated the membership on the 1st October).  I prefer Lidl! I spent £5.77, then £2.50 at ASDA.  I'll try not to shop again other than bread and milk until my usual Thursday shop. Just just be doable.

I have included crisps and chocolate twix but not a chocolate orange (which has lasted a week do far) as this was instead of an overpriced pudding at a restaurant! Different budget.

Running total of £33.69.

PipneyJane

Welcome @FoxFace.  Hope we can help keep you on the straight-and-solvent.

Hello @JingsMyBucket.  I hadn’t realised it was so long since you’d seen your husband.  That must be really hard on you.  I hope you both enjoy your time together.  Any chance you’ll get back to living on this side of the Pond?

mumtoomany said:

Well we collected the pork on friday, so now have both freezers full again. Did well sorting the freezers for this, didn'tdo so well on sorting the budget! Cost to slaughter, butcher and vacpack 2 pigs, £150. Worth it to know we are eating meat that had a happy life. So spends so far £231.28/£200. Now to try not to go much further over for the rest of the month. Mumtoomany.

Don’t be so hard on yourself re the cost of butchery.  Two pigs is an awful lot of meat - about 288lb (128kg) per the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry.

I have two spends to declare from last week.  £43.86 in MrT’s on Wednesday and £15.68 in L!dl on Saturday.  The visit to L1dl was for fresh veg, two chorizo, eggs and some breakfast cereal.  We walked down there, so only bought what we could carry in our backpacks.

The most memorable thing from the visit to MrT’s is that we took advantage of their “Clubcard Prices” on several items, including Yeo Valley Greek-style Yoghurt with Honey for £1 instead of the shelf price of £1.60.  That is a good saving.

The above brings our spending for the month to £93.04/£140, leaving £46.96 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

mumtoomany

Hi Pip, the two together came to just over 80kg of meat. Could have left them a little longer before we took them, but 1. the abattoir is always busy, he's now booking in for end of January, and 2. last year when we left it till later in the year to take two ewes we nearly got stuck in the snow. Long single track road, on a steep hill, pulling a trailer of sheep, in the dark at 7am and another car and trailer comes the other way! Not an experience I want to repeat. Mumtoomany.

goldfinches

Declaring a total spend today of £34.52 of which £16.99 was for a replacement pestle and mortar due to morning butterfingers while unloading the dishwasher! On the more positive side apart from £1.84 spent on y/s items I did stick to my list like glue and managed to avoid several temptations in various places visited during the chazza search and supermarket visits. 
That leaves me at a new total of £110.18/£190 and am now stocked up for meals planned until this coming Friday so, touch wood, I seem to be on course so far this month. Night all, goldfinches.

joedenise

Not been good this month with posting my spends so thought I'd better post with what I have left for the rest of the month!

On checking YNAB I have £143.13 left for the rest of the month so pretty much on track as more than half the budget left with just over half the month to go.  Would be great if I can come in on budget for a change!

wishus

@goldfinches - I made labneh last month! I am wondering if I can make it again using powdered milk, as I've made a fair bit of yoghurt using powder over the summer. Going to have to go buy more to 'start' another batch though.
Signature updated. Bought some celebratory chocolates from Lidl and a £12 meal deal from M&S at the weekend as OH got a job! Saving the wine from that for another time. Went to see my brother the other day and he gifted us a pumpkin, as he managed to grow loads and mine did not grow at all! Lack of pollination I reckon, as it grew a few of the bumps that might have been pumpkins, which then fell off.
Didn't do a 'sensible' shop though and I'm down to the last loo rolls so will probably go tomorrow. Almost halfway through the month, we can do it!
Today's breakfast was porridge, with dates and homegrown apple. Gonna dig out the toastie maker for lunch - ham needs eating, so that with a smidge of cheese. And then I got some chops from the freezer for dinner, will have with homegrown spuds and a bit of broccoli I froze I think. My waist is pretty comfortable already, but it's getting towards that comfort food time, isn't it?

Doom_and_Gloom

£9.17 since last post.

OH dinner - beef stew and mashed potato. 
Ny dinner - quinoa risotto with garden vegetables and basil.

£138.06/£180.
£41.94 left. 

goldfinches

@wishus - that was my first try so I'm definitely not an expert but I should have thought that if you can make yoghurt then you would be able to progress to the straining and get labneh. Perhaps others with more experience will tell us their thoughts.

Less interestingly I have to declare a small temptation spend of £1.85 on y/s salads and milk this afternoon as walking past half price milk when I knew I had sufficient space for it in the freezer just seemed wrong.
So that brings me to a new total of £108.33/£190 which works out at an average spend of £6.28 per day so far this month and an average of £6.01 per day left in the kitty. 
Working it out like this really shows up the spending I do at the beginning of the month when the budget is topped up and I feel as though I can go ahead and buy the things that are nice to have rather than absolutely necessary, I'm going to mull that over for a while.
Night all and sweet dreams, goldfinches.                                                                                                 

FoxFace

Morning all,
Coming in with a spend of £8.77p yesterday. Kids decided they wanted burgers. I had intended on making the buns myself but had no time, Also needed a couple of other bits. Not ideal, but better than the amount I would have spent if I wasn't budgeting and was paying by card. I have £4.62p in my purse to last until Saturday. We should be just fine