September 2021 Grocery Challenge

PipneyJane

Finstickle said:

Kicking my month off which a chunky one at Lidl - £95.18.
Annoyingly my £10 voucher earned in July had expired while we were away - that's the second month in a row I've not managed to take advantage of it       I also realised that as I shopped on Tuesday (31st), the £95 doesn't count towards September's value 

Goal for this month - use all free vouchers from Lidl!!!

£95.18/£495 

@Finstickle - those vouchers only last for a week after they’ve been earned. My DH had the mistaken idea that you had a week to activate them and then had a week to spend them. He learned, painfully, that that was untrue but wrote to L!dl and got the voucher reinstated.

I have two spends to declare from yesterday:  £13.77 in L!dl and £11.45 in MrT’s.  The L!dl spend included 4x200g packets of cashew nuts, to take advantage of their 99p offer.  (I use them in nut roasts and stir fries.).

£4 of the MrT’s spend was spent on a 10kg sack of chapatti flour.  We’ve nearly finished last year’s 16kg bargain sack of Addison’s bread flour - purchased for £3 from MrT’s - and that can’t come too soon, as far as I’m concerned.  I’m not impressed by the bread that it makes; it’s dense and tough, even when I add Lakeland’s flour “improver”.  (I use a bread machine, so the only real variable the flour.)

The above spend brings our total for the month to £25.22/£146.90, leaving £121.68 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

ETA - I’m another one who used to shop at the street market in The Cut.  In my case, it was < gulp > 30 years ago, when I worked at St Thomas’s.

jozbo

Need to get myself some more staples, the things I couldn’t get in l*dl (red lentils, gluten free bread). 

Though I know I’ll get tempted by other bits if I hit h*me b*rgains.
made a big quantity of delicious GF carrot cake yesterday and froze about 12 portions. Very glad we got the chest freezer a year or so ago. 

Got a YS chicken (1 of 2) from l*dl for Sunday dinner today that has been frozen since Friday. Was one day before use by but the packet was all blown up. Going to give it a good sniff after defrosting (quick defrost) to make sure it’s ok.

elsiepac

Budgets updated to here

If I've missed anyone please do tag me!!

Welcome to the newbies! Tons of helpful and lovely people here

I've not had any grocery spends since my last post which I'm really pleased about. Was very close to it a couple of times but talked myself out of it as I really didn't need more.

Thanks for the good thoughts

Blackcats

Pipney Jane I was going to The Cut over 40 years ago but I wasn't interested in the fruit and veg I liked all the "tat" on the other stalls.  I remember my mum buying a Max Bygraves LP with no label and a wonky cover - it was cheap though 🙃.  

Went to L's today to use my £10 voucher.  My shop ended up costing £4.25 and I got 
3 x coconut milk, 2 x 4 pints of milk, 2 loaves, posh tomatoes, Mediterranean vegetables, 8 Greek style yoghurts, 1 squeezey honey, 6 eggs, 3 x 2 litres fizzy water, blueberries and bananas.  Very happy with that.  Feeling quietly confident that I will be ok with this month's budget .... famous last words!  

£4.25/£380.  Balance £375.75

goldfinches

I have to shamefacedly admit to a veritable orgy of spending some of which has been caused by my misplacing my bicycle pump and the rest of it is simply because I've been going into the shops! 

Here is my awful warning to everyone else on this thread
57p at Mr T for y/s salad
£6.95 new bicycle pump
£1.08 at Sains for radishes
£13.47 at R*b*rt Dy*s for WD40 and dishwashing brushes
£1.76 at M*rks for 4 x y/s toms and "free treat from Sparks" crispbreads (but if I hadn't gone in for the free treat I wouldn't have spent anything at all would I?)
£0.75 at Sains for feta
£5.49 at M*rks for 3 x y/s tangerines, 2 x y/s new pots, 2 x y/s butternut squash slices, large red onions and 2 x tins sweetcorn because they didn't have any frozen packets in stock.

My new total is £52.24/£120 and my daily average spend is a horrifying £10.44! Ouch 

nannygladys

Goldfinches - if you take the price of the pump and WD 40 off your total it isn't too bad at all and you can't clean or eat them.... Just saying

I haven't been out all day, so I haven't spent anything, I should be ok for a few days and then it will probably be just milk and bread.

Nannyg

joedenise

@goldfinches I agree with @nannygladys that the pump and WD40 shouldn't come from your grocery spend.  Do you not have a pot for your bike expenses/household items etc which is where they would come from for me; definitely not the grocery pot!  I have so many different pots for so many different categories the only way I can keep track is to use YNAB, although I'm sure a spreadsheet would work just as well and even cheaper.  Although in my defence I did buy my current YNAB back in 2014 when you purchased it outright so it doesn't really owe me anything as it got me completely back on track including paying off my mortgage and debts!  I even have savings now which I don't think would have happened without it.

If you did that it would reduce your daily spend by quite a bit I think.

Finstickle

A couple of spends to declare here.

Went to Sains on Fri to get some dinner and toddler snacks were on offer with at least 20% off, so i completely stocked up - £17.50.  Some mince, bread, pizza, pork pies and wine took the total to £35.74.

I also went to the corner shop whilst walking the dog and in a moment of weakness spent £18.22 - mostly on alcohol as I couldn't decide if I fancied a gin or a wine so bought both 

Happily the fridge and freezer are still looking full and we definitely have enough drink for a while.  (I go through phases of fancying a wine and then will go another couple of months not drinking at all)

Current total £149/495  

LadyWithAPlan

Grocery spending Sept  is now £29.43/£170
Shopping – grocery £7.75 – all largely unnecessary but wanted something sweet so got pack of sweets ad a large bar of choc plus some reduced food

@goldfinches I also have a separate pot for household goods so wd40, bleach, bulbs etc, I just throw £10-20 a month in there and it works well as it does not impinge on my grocery budget

I should really have a crisp/sweet/chocolate budget .. I did win a free large pack of crisps at a local fete yesterday )

joedenise

I should really have a crisp/sweet/chocolate budget .. I did win a free large pack of crisps at a local fete yesterday 

That actually sounds like a good idea if it is something that you regularly spend money on.  Fortunately it's one area I spend very little on - don't eat crisps or sweets and buy just one bar of dark chocolate about once a month from L*dl for less than 50p so I feel that can easily come from the grocery budget!  I never eat more than a couple of small squares at a time as I find that's enough for a chocolate "fix".