October 2020 Grocery Challenge

wishus

joedenise said:

@wishus you can eat really cheaply on low cost fruit and veg.  If you incorporate lots of pulses too you'll get lots of cheap protein.  I assume Green mean a veggie diet for the month - is that right?  If it is might be worth looking at Jack Monroe's website for lots of cheap veggie and vegan meals (www.cookingonabootstrap.com).  One of my favourites is her mixed bean goulash (she uses a tin of baked beans and a tin of kidney beans but because there is just the 2 of us I just use a tin of mixed beans).

I would definitely like to eat more veggie-like. I used to be completely vegetarian, but got out of the habit. Hubby needs some meat otherwise he Hulks out. UnJolly Green giant! But the David Attenborough Netflix has got me thinking about eating more sustainably, with less plastic, less meat etc.  WW gives you a colour code: green, blue, or purple. On green I get 'free' fruit and veg (not legumes or grains) but have to 'point' everything else.

joedenise

I've never done WW, I go to SW and all lean meat and most fruit and all veg and pulses are Free foods, makes life really easy!  It's only high calorie stuff which has to be "synned" (like WW points).

goldfinches

@wishus try substituting cheese, nuts, eggs and marinated tofu for the meat part of his diet, not every day but some of the time. I'm a vegetarian and I find that concentrated protein in those forms really helps build muscle rather than flab which sounds like it might suit him. If you're eating fish still that makes a good and cheap substitute too. The trick for me is not having too much, which it can be easy to do if you don't portion it carefully so maybe start by weighing portions to get your eye in IYSWIM.

Purple_kitten

I really miss the good green grocer stall we had, they retired last year and now it's literally not a patch. very missed. So far I think I am very in budget thanks to the freezer, 2 more spends this week, an asda delivery was £39, lots of bits missing. And we are trying a butcher delivery on Friday which is £80 exactly, I think this month I am well in budget, which is just as well as no amount of repairing has repaired the dishwasher....

JustMum89

So I well and truly smashed through my budget this month and am declaring a total of £757.48 😭.  

That does include the shop that is being delivered tomorrow which will be eaten in Nov but was paid for in Oct.  How do people normally deal with those? Would you put it on your October or November budget? 

I have also ordered some Christmas bits this month chocolates and baileys etc so when I get a bit more organised that will be budgeted for separately.  

I'm going in for £400 again in Nov.  I know I can achieve it.  We are going to have at least 2 meat free meals a week next month and I'm also curbing all the snack/convenience food for lunch boxes.  Fingers crossed we can make it work. 

Hope everyone had a more successful month than me.  Though £400 was a really rough guess to start that is where I want to be at so if we keep budgeting £400 and see where we go if it becomes impossible I will have to reconsider. 

Hope everyone is taking care.  Just Mum x

joedenise

@JustMum89 I count shops in the month in which I pay for them.  By doing it this way it doesn't matter that what I buy this month won't be eaten until next month, the following month or even longer down the line!  For example frozen stuff is often in the freezer for 3 months or more so by counting it in the month it's spent it doesn't really matter when it gets eaten.


Hope that makes sense!

Hettyhound

Hi hello, been to Aldee this morning and managed to squeeze another weeks shop out of October.  Spent £28.01 so the monthly total is £224.73 out of a budget of £230.  It’s payday tomorrow so I will set a budget of 220 for November I think.  I used to do far better than this so may have to review my meal plans 🤔

joedenise

Went shopping this morning and have gone a bit over so have moved some money over from my Bulk Fund to cover it.  

Have bought a leg of lamb to put in the freezer for Christmas as butcher had them on special offer.  Not sure what else we'll have, possibly pork but it definitely won't be turkey!

MrsDippy

I looked at all spend last month and was horrified to see the size of the food bill.  So this month trying only two supermarkets shops a month.  This is working out so far and has proved healthier too, as week 1 after shop sees all the goodies being eaten and week 2 sees creativity in cooking options to use up what is left and not eating goodies as they are all gone.  This has led to the great house crisp shortage of 2020.  We like to eat crisps every day.  This is not the biggest vice we could have but we are over a crisp barrel.  We love them.  Crunchie, munchie crispees.  During the great house crisp shortage I even tried to make them, but not cracked that yet.   So had to chop up a carrot and eat that.  An actual carrot.  Reckon I’ve saved a load of money and calories through new two week shop method. Now where are the crisps....

goldfinches

@MrsDippy your great house crisp shortage really made me chuckle.
Maybe I shouldn't tell you this but the only way I've found to conquer that vice is to go cold turkey.
Any other method just made me more creative about getting round my own restrictions!  

Before I shove off to bed just checking in to say after my last top-up shop of this month I'm declaring at £182.87/£190 
which isn't bad but could be better like most things.
See you all in November, goldfinches.