October 2021 Grocery Challenge

scotmumof3

Weekly top up spend of £8.45 which isnt bad. Still have £26 for the rest of October so I am pretty  confident we will make it 😀

joedenise

Love that "keeping the kids alive" budget line!

We both only drink real coffee!  Can't stand instant at all.  So I suppose that makes us coffee snobs!  We always buy Lavazza E Crema and buy it 6 packs at a time from a wholesaler as it works out cheaper.  Used to buy it from Ama*on but it works out more expensive.  When we order from the wholesaler we always get a free gift or three included!  Last time it was 2 boxes of disposable gloves and 6 bottles of alcohol gel hand sanitiser.

MissRikkiC

MandM90 said:

My husband is also a coffee snob. He buys freshly roasted beans from a local 'roasterie' and then grinds them before each cup - either aeropress, cafetiere or espresso machine dependent on...something (I struggle to muster enthusiasm to care). I will buy him Lavazza beans from Tesco when on offer but the £££ stuff comes from him pocket money.

Just ordered to the tune of 77.91 - will come on Saturday and be the 3rd out of 5 deliveries this month. I now have £151.63/£400 remaining so each shop will need to be >£75

I'm quite pleased as within this shop I managed to get some nice food, low alcohol sparkling wine and a cake as it's my birthday on Thursday. I also got all the ingredients to feed lunch to in laws on Sunday.

I also ordered what I need for my birthing bag (maternity pads, breast pads, snacks, newborn nappies, cotton wool, some drinks) which came to £14 but I'm excluding that and taking it out of my 'keeping the kids alive' budget line!

Your husband sounds similar to me. In fairness there are more expensive hobbies 🤣 

Also stealing the pot name ‘keeping the kids alive’ - very appropriate and made me laugh! 

jozbo

Spent £45.33 on an online Mr T’s delivery as we’re having to self isolate. Noticeably more expensive than L1dl but we’ve got what we need. Have £80 remaining for the rest of October, we will need another delivery next week which I will try to keep to the basket limit (£40) leaving enough left over. Have lots of stocks in cupboard and freezer so we might be able to stretch without, but we are bored and need the distraction of something to look forward to!

nannygladys

Ladywithaplan - thanks for the recipe site, I'll have a look at later, but stuffed cabbage leaves here I com.  I gave one of the cabbages away today, so that's 1 down!!
Nannyg

nannygladys

Spent £5.50 at the community pantry, signature amended. Only one luxury, a box of mince pies that will get eaten accompanied by a cup of coffee for the next six afternoons!

Not much else happening.

Jozbo sorry to hear you're having to self isolate, hope you're alright.

Nannyg

Purple_kitten

For today I popped to Aldee and picked up a shop for 19.60, and also happened to pick up a frozen turkey for Christmas for 13.49. So new total 131.43

jozbo

Nannygladys 
thanks , we are ok but all have the dreaded Covid . Managing to still cook and keep the house running though so not too bad

JingsMyBucket

Afternoon folks. I have several bulk and regular spends to declare. This morning starts a new week for me. £4.12 carried over from the previous week plus the regular £70 gives me a £74.12 allowance this week. 

Bulk purchases from the £112.00 budget: 
£62.40 on a bulk Tesco order earlier this week stocking us up olive oil, paper towels, air fresheners, beans, cereals, snacks, butters, milks and cheeses for the freezer, etc. 
£25.33 at Amazon for KIND Bars to take with us on our trip
£5.98 at Aldi this morning for toilet paper. 

That leaves £18.29/£112.00 for the bulk fund. I still need to make a H & B order for teas and nuts, especially to take on the trip. Some of that order will bleed over into the regular weekly fund.  

On the same morning trip, I just spent £6.54 at Aldi for strawberries, blackberries, a ham hough that immediately went into the freezer, and some cilantro to make chicken taco soup this weekend. That leaves £67.58 / £74.12 until next Thursday evening. We'll definitely manage seeing as how we just need some trash bags from Iceland and more compost bags from M & S. We might pick up some eggs early next week, not sure. We still have tons of vegetables to eat up before we leave and will likely need to freeze some. 

I'll be really happy if we get out of this month spending less than the total figure of £315. That would be a huge reduction from the previous months of £400 – £500. 


Rough cooking plan for the next few days: 

Chicken taco soup - uses dried black beans in the pantry, leftover chicken in the fridge, carrots and celery for the chicken stock, fresh tomatoes and limes from the veg box

Apple and pear crumble (low sugar) - uses veg box apples and pears; also oats from the pantry. We'll eat this with Greek yoghurt for breakfasts or desserts. 

Cauliflower yellow lentil dhal - uses veg box cauliflower, coconut milk, cilantro and pantry lentils. 

Have a good afternoon everyone!

goldfinches

@jozbo - sorry to hear you're all ill, get well soon.

I bought my favourite frozen fruit bag from Mr T and was rather horrified to see that it had increased in price by about 50p but decided to buy it nevertheless as it has so many red and blackcurrants in it which I really like. I also bought some Madras curry powder which has been on my spot and snap up list for about ten days, those came to £4.05. Then I bought some more f/f greek style yoghurt from M*rks for £1.60. 
That makes my new total £47.13/£124 and my average daily spend £3.14 which is pretty good for halfway through the month.