August 2021 Grocery Challenge

Pixiehouse55

@PipneyJane thank you xx
I love your "note to self" NO MORE YARN  🤣😂I've got 2 massive storage containers full of yarn and the old fashioned linen box full of yarn....itsall going with me on the narrowboat with my sewing machine,  fabric and everything that goes with it 🤣😂

goldfinches

Thanks to all who have suggested recipes for the blackberries and the apples which I shall be browsing over the coming weekend during my next meal planning session.
For those who also have ripe blackberries I cannot recommend this recipe highly enough (hic) Blackberry liqueur (Crème de mûre) recipe | BBC Good Food. I made it three or four times last year and the resulting liqueur has brightened many an evening since then and I've still got half a bottle left.
This year I'm trying it with some low alcohol rose and if I stumble across a nice fruity white might have a go with that too and I'm also planning to reduce the sugar by about 100g or so because I've found last year's version a bit sweet for my palate.

nannygladys

Eek, I only have £1 left until Tuesday pm, I get paid Wednesday thankfully. I'm hoping to be ok as I have plenty in, so I will have to go past any shops selling chocolate! Thinking on that (choc) I do have some dried choc drink stuff in ,I suppose I could make myself that if I really want some. Well it'll be interesting. This month I withdrew the cash for my envelopes and put my cards away and its certainly making me more careful.
Nannyg

joedenise

@goldfinches creme de mure is always very sweet.  I used to prefer creme de mure to creme de cassis (black currants) when I was younger but now I much prefer cassis.  Have never tried to make it though.

No decent blackberries where I live unfortunately.  The only ones near me are high up and unreachable for me as I'm only 5' tall!

elsiepac

Just a quick welcome to @Ellie79 and @LadyWithAPlan!  September challenge will be up by the end of today

I'm doing a big inventory today - I've already found lots of frozen veg I didn't realise I had bought! I literally only have a couple of quid to last till next Thursday, so 6 days, but I'm feeling ok about it!!

LadyWithAPlan

Thanks @elsiepac I have never done this. 
Do we put our Sept grocery goals on the new one - and carry on with this one for August Challenge?
My Sept goal is £170

LadyWithAPlan

Sorry newbie question.

When you all say you only have X for the week or til next Thursday, I understand that sometimes is the case in actuality, no more money incoming and no room on bank acct balances etc.

However I get the feeling many of you MSE's have budgeted and saved so tight that when you say I only have 'X left'  you mean that X is all that left in the grocery budget and you are refusing to spend any more or move anything over. How strict are you being with yourselves? 

eg @elsiepac as above - 

'I'm doing a big inventory today - I've already found lots of frozen veg I didn't realise I had bought! I literally only have a couple of quid to last till next Thursday, so 6 days, but I'm feeling ok about it!!

I do have a food budget but if I spend too much over  one month I just think ah well...  and take it out of next months income. I am guessing this is not the MSE Grocery Challenge way?  ....

PipneyJane

LadyWithAPlan said:

PipneyJane said:

@Goldfinches, are those apples crab apples (sour) or sweet?   If the former, then may I recommend the Cottage Smallholder's Hot Crab Apple Chilli Cheese?  It's delicious, very frugal and you can leave the chilli out or modify the quantity if you don't like hot food.  You start by making crab apple jelly and then, once the liquid has drained out of the apples, rub them through a sieve and make the "cheese".   

@Pixiehouse55 good luck with emptying the freezers and with your move.

@LadyWithAPlan and @Ellie79 welcome to the Grocery Challenge.  The posts at the start are very useful and some of the recipes are lush.  My own tricks are to microbudget and to only use cash for Grocery spending.  The cash lives in its own purse.  Our household is two people, me and DH.  Our monthly housekeeping budget is:-

£140 - Grocery Challenge.  This is for everything bought in a supermarket:  food and cleaning supplies.
£ 40 - Meat Fund.  This is saved for 2-3 months until we go to the butcher's.
£ 40 - Bulk Fund.  For stocking up on flour, rice, tinned tomatoes, etc.  Also spent on alcohol and our C0stc0 membership.
£ 20 - Christmas Fund.  For the tree, the goose and other foody treats.
£ 10 - Garden Fund.  For seeds, compost and anything else we need for gardening.
£250

See what I mean by "microbudget"?  Everything is kept in its own, individual pot and quarantined so it can't accidentally get spent elsewhere.   We also have budgets for nights out, haircuts, clothes, car repairs, petrol, etc, as well as the big household costs.  There are multiple, individual savings accounts.  I get paid on the last working day of the month; by the 1st, everything is transferred to its own pot.  The money that is left in my personal bank account is my spending money for the month.

HTH

- Pip

I LOVE your quote ) This is very useful info. Thanks.

Thank you.

I have lots of pots  eg for gifts, entertainment, restaurants etc and fill them up each month.  Groceries and home / cleaning stuff is split - I will look at how I can further split it as you have. 

If you have excess in your groceries do you tilly tidy them to savings?  Or just have a bigger pot for the next month? I have always kept it but then I realise it does not give me incentive to save within a category so I am starting to move excess out of those relevant pots at the end of each month. Some pots of course need to just keep being filled - eg my new tech,clothing or annual costs.

Normally, if there is any money left at the end of the month in the Grocery Challenge budget, I’ll roll it forward to the next month.  The other housekeeping budgets don’t get spent every month - they are left to accumulate indefinitely.  

The same goes for my personal spending pots.  It’s amazing how much more comfortable you feel, knowing that you can go mad on a day out or buy a treat, if you’ve got cash in that pot to spend.  It doesn’t take many months, either, to build up a cushion.

- Pip

joedenise

@LadyWithAPlan - I'm not currently doing the challenge at the moment as have had several holidays which makes it difficult to keep track in the usual way but I will be back next month!  I set my budget for the month and if I have anything over I move it to my Bulk Fund so that I can buy bigger packs of rice, a large quantity of, for example, tinned toms or baked beans to stock up the food cupboard.

However if I need extra money one month then I'm quite happy to use it and move money over from another pot, usually the Bulk Fund as at the end of the day it's still food!

nannygladys

PipneyJane - I like the idea of carrying funds forwards, I think I will start that idea to my personal pots instead of adding it to other pots ie emergency fund, that has a regular amount going into it.

No money spent, roll on next Wednesday when I get paid.
Nannyg