November 2021 Grocery Challenge

jozbo

@Suffolk_lass do you mean Pyrex dishes without lids? I sent my other half to look in HBs and he’s come back with two large glass baking dishes for £7 but they don’t have lids. Don’t see how they will be useful really, what do you use to cover them for the freezer? Taking up space isn’t so much an issue as we have a chest freezer.

Suffolk_lass

jozbo said:

@Suffolk_lass do you mean Pyrex dishes without lids? I sent my other half to look in HBs and he’s come back with two large glass baking dishes for £7 but they don’t have lids. Don’t see how they will be useful really, what do you use to cover them for the freezer? Taking up space isn’t so much an issue as we have a chest freezer.

@jozbo these are the ones I get. The lids come with them and if you've got room in your freezer, they stack well too. I never have enough room so I line the dish with a large ziplock bag, put the stuff in there, in the dish (open) and freeze it so it is in the shape of the dish. Then I can reuse the dish and when I want the bag out to defrost, it fits in the dish I will heat or cook it in. Sorry, previous post must have completely confused you!

jozbo

@Suffolk_lass gotcha … I think I’ll have to exchange the ones he’s got as they really aren’t what’s needed  another job for me then to return. I’ve batch cooked tons today with nowhere to put it for freezing. have some of the foil takeaway boxes that’ll have to do, in a pinch. 

Pixiehouse55

£61.46 Spent yesterday on food for the next 10 days aboard Squires our narrowboat 
It possibly will last longer as we already have bacon steak and 3 lots of sausages. Getting good at this when you havnt got space, it's amazing what you can achieve. 
It will beca few days before we pass any big towns again. 

Take Care everyone. Don't shops unless you have too 😁

PipneyJane

JingsMyBucket said:

Hi everybody and happy November! I can’t believe we’re in the 11th month of the year already. This year flew by so quickly. 

@elsiepac could you please put me down for £70 per week with a special/bulk fund this month of £100. I’m going to cook a Thanksgiving dinner this month and will need to buy a turkey and various trimmings. 

Does anyone have a good resource for a fresh turkey?

@JingsMyBucket don’t know if you’ve had a reply to this post - I am so far behind.  I would suggest that you talk to your local butcher ASAP.  Doesn’t matter if they are kosher or halal, in my part of London both sell “Festive Turkeys”.  They will have the best sources of meat.  They will have to order the turkey, though, from their suppliers, so get in quick.

- Pip

PurpleJay

Hi everyone, 

Just totted up my November spends so far...

I usually do a main food shop on Saturday and have a delivery pass with Mr T. This week though I didn't have a Mr T order as I needed a few bits from iceland so did quite a big shop there instead (some of which will last several weeks - including large packs of veg samosas and spring rolls, other frozen bits, Mayflower curry sauce x3 and southern style gravy x 2) topped up by the veg box.

Milk & More £24.00 (£12 per week on oat milk, lemonade and tofu)
Odd Box £9.99 (this was a large fruit and veg box with introductory 50% off - very impressed)
Tesco £88.63
Iceland £58.60
Wilko £4.00 (dog treats)

Total £165.22/£350 so pretty much on track

sarahj1986

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

Hello all

its been a busy few days here

Ive kept the receipts. I used to do this but stopped and that’s why I feel like our spends have gone a bit chaotic in recent months. My husband working loads probably didn’t help. He’s only working part time now and our daughter is in nursery. This is giving me so much more time to keep control if spending, meal plan, make things in advance etc 

Anyways!

€78.95 spend over several shops. This does include some Christmas treats. We went into Lidl on Thursday as they had special buys on. We got pjs for our daughter and slippers for hubby. I’ve deducted that cost from the above. I’ve got to get more water and milk today from Aldi but that should be it. We are doing a big Carrefour shop for next week which will have all the bulky items in it. I’ve gotta make this last as much as I can in November. It will obviously include many fresh and frozen items. 

Just to update this 

€12.85 spent this morning. I didn’t intend to spend that much BUT they had reduced meat, pork mince, chicken breasts and pork chops. I’ll happily use those next week or following week. All bagged up in the freezer. Discount of 30% off which is great. I also got the big bottle of washing detergent as that was on special offer. 

€188.20 left with our big shopping coming next week too 

€22.35 spent today

i went up the other end of Palma Nova to get Lidl and Mercadona specific items - pasta, cereal bars, chocolate, mince beef, yogurts, cakes and Lidl special buys of Christmas presents (deducted from the total). I always treat myself to sushi from Lidl 30% off not bad and I love it. 

€165.85 left

shopping due to delivered tomorrow. Some of it is for December so I’m going to deduct an amount off the spend based on what we will use. We tend to bulk buy tins, cans, toilet rolls etc every 6-8 weeks. We shouldn’t in theory need very much for a good 2 weeks. Certainly don’t need any meat or fish for at least 2 weeks. Fresh items like fruit and veg maybe. I’ll update you on that tomorrow 

€100 spent on Carrefour shop

it was €146 but as it’s a bulk shop I’m allowing the €46 for next months spend.

we got a lot of stuff - fizzy drinks, lentils, beans, chickpeas, frito, water, toilet roll, cling film, foil, cleaning products, nesquik, milk etc etc 

€65.85 left which in all honesty will be fine. We’ve got at least 10 days worth of meals. I’ll need to buy fruit next week and maybe bread but that’s it for at least 10 days. 

€5.10 spent in Aldi

I needed more cheddar cause I couldn’t get any in Lidl last week. We are having lasagne for dinner so needed it and baguette to make my own garlic bread. I’m going into Lidl tomorrow so hopefully it’s back in stock. I much prefer it and on weight/price it’s best value for money. We use enough cheese anyways. 

The reason why I spent over €5 is cause my daughter was with me and I let her pick up a few things. I don’t do it often trust me cause she will buy the whole shop :-D

€60.75 left. I don’t need much tomorrow just some fruit, protein yogurts and hopefully cheese. 

ancientmum

I have spent £41.87 so far this month.  £20 of that was at the butcher, £6.00 on 4 little bottles of wine, £2 on cake (because I had been out all day and was cold and tired) and the rest on general groceries, milk, bread, veg and fruit.  The meat will last until the new year at least and is all in the freezer either portioned up ready to cook or ready meals of chilli con carne and lasagne.  I use the plastic takeaway type boxes from £land, last time I bought any they were £1 for eight.  They stack tidily in the freezer and also make good sandwich boxes.

The individual bottles of wine were from @sda, get 4 for the price of 3.  The empty bottles are useful for making Christmas gifts of sloe gin.

Leaves £28.13 for the rest of November.

thriftwizard

I'm beginning to think that this month is just going to be an exercise in seeing how much I go over-budget by. £58 added to my total, which has bought the five of us food for the week, but doesn't leave nearly enough for the next two weeks unless we just eat from the freezer! BUT to be fair, we already have at least £50-worth of Christmas food bought this month & stashed away, which I haven't taken out of the Christmas savings, so perhaps the true picture isn't that bad; if I take that back off the everyday grocery budget, I'd have just over £110 to last us, which is much more do-able without going through freezer contents we might yet need if we have to isolate. Though that does leave me feeling that that's a bit of "creative accounting!"

Used up the last of our fresh HG apples today in a blackberry & apple crumble; there are both apple & rhubarb in the freezer to see us through the winter, plus oodles of pumpkin. Oh, and runner beans, corn both on & off the cob, & "ratatouille" from HG tomatoes, onions & courgettes. And a big bag of blackberries, HG & locally-foraged, several bags of raspberries from the allotment, and a big bag of blueberries donated "for the chickens" at the market - the chickens did get the ones that were going over! There are chard & kale down at the allotment, and my poor tiny leeks (mostly planted in May!) are finally putting on a little bit of growth. So it's not all doom & gloom...

mumtoomany

The beer and four packs of lard came to £5.56. Don't often go to Tesco or Morrisons so buy a few at a time and freeze some. Total now, £2577.40/£2750. Mumtoomany.