November 2021 Grocery Challenge

thriftwizard

£45 added to my total, which is a total fudge of what I spent today minus the amount spent so far this month on Christmas food. I'm definitely going to go over; I could just not go shopping next week & raid the freezer instead, but I have several good reasons for not doing so, including the fact that our market's closing forever just before Christmas and I want to show my appreciation to the traders who've made it possible to feed my family so well on a tight budget for nearly 30 years. So I'm equally not celebrating Buy Nothing Day next Friday; I'll do it on the Saturday instead.

LadyWithAPlan

Happy weekend all 

Nov  Groceries Challenge  £125.05/ £140  + £15.07/ £100 bulk 

Just popped into local lidl after the gym for some rice ... and of course have ended up cooking a beef hotpot with potatoes instead .. will be able to batch at least one portion..
£4.20 bulk on pulses, passata, DF yogurt, tinned mackerel + £14.27 of Grocery - YS : pork loin, chicken crown & salamis all reduced plus a fair amount of veg, guacamole,  cashew nuts salsa

That £140 limit is nearing ) but I do have loads food in the freezer and my own ready meals. Last month I had a £160 challenge plus £10 bulk so lets see if it makes me start to empty the freezer for meals..  reluctant to eat all my own tasty meals but maybe dial it down to only a portion left of each. 

Making beef hot pot at present with YS mince, never made one as such before - I always make chilli but got loads potatoes in from the lidl veg box and no kidney beans to buy in lidl. Will have to go to Sains etc..
I do have a huge Morrisons but its a good 15 min walk  .. so lidl/aldi easier

diminua

I ran out of a few things - vinegar, mayonnaise, marmite, oil - this week so I’m not too disappointed to have spent £58.65 (that's with a £5 voucher off). Mostly groceries, but one takeaway coffee while waiting for the bus, and a pastry for breakfast and can of fizzy drink to go with my lunchtime sandwich on Thursday. Little alcohol bought either as I was gifted a bottle of fancy gin. 

DanielleNic87

I had to get some squash today and we really like Vimto so I stocked up at Mr T as it was on offer. Also bought some burger buns to go with the ys burgers in the freezer. £11.90 spent. 

Suffolk_lass

Still living on meat out of the freezer, I got DH to help me de-ice the garage chest freezer. We emptied everything into crates and then shovelled out the ice in the bottom. I have masses of frozen blackcurrants and seriously considering making a vitamin c-rich compote and some cassis to make some space. In the meantime we bought a bag of satsumas and some baking potatoes to allow postponement of the next supermarket shop

ancientmum

The total spend so far this month is £61.38, leaving £8.62 for the rest of the month. The DGCs came to tea one day last week so I bought some extra food and squash.  I'm pleased they ate well as they can be fussy and it was lovely to have them here.

PipneyJane

thriftwizard said:

£45 added to my total, which is a total fudge of what I spent today minus the amount spent so far this month on Christmas food. I'm definitely going to go over; I could just not go shopping next week & raid the freezer instead, but I have several good reasons for not doing so, including the fact that our market's closing forever just before Christmas and I want to show my appreciation to the traders who've made it possible to feed my family so well on a tight budget for nearly 30 years. So I'm equally not celebrating Buy Nothing Day next Friday; I'll do it on the Saturday instead.

I was sorry to hear about your market, @thriftwizard.  Devastating news for the traders too.

On the subject of having/maintaining a Bulk Fund: yesterday, DH and I dropped into the Chinese supermarket/cash-and-carry, WingYip.  We needed rubber gloves, washing up liquid and vinegar, which I buy in bulk from there. £67.99 spent.  Guess what was the most expensive item on the shopping list?  The 6-pack of rubber gloves, at £7.98.  The main indication of shortages we’re signs in the warehouse saying that “customers are limited to one box of ..[whatever]..”.  Our 4x5L bottles of distilled vinegar cost £7.50, while the 5L of washing up liquid was £4.75.  (Cheaper if we’d bought a box of 4, but that bottle will last around 2 years, so no point buying more.). I also stocked up on large bags of spices.

- Pip

PipneyJane

In other news, I have three shops to declare:  £41.12 spent in MrT’s last weekend; £6 today on 6 packets of dental floss in S@vers; and 85p in Sainsbugs today on a large head of broccoli.

I have no recollection now of what was in the shop at MrT’s.  

We went to S@vers for the floss because they sell Oral-B’s Satin Floss Tape for almost half the price of anywhere else and it’s the best I’ve found.  They were cheaper, too, than B00ts/MrT’s/Sainsbugs for my usual brand of hair dye but they only had a limited range of colours and none was mine.

Anyway, the above brings our GC spend for November to £86.37/£159, leaving £72.63 for the remainder of the month.

- Pip

pamsdish

I am struggling to keep accurate records, buying for 2 others as well as myself, and other people occasionally, ie, my sister in law asked me if I could obtain gussetless tights for her friend, not the sexy type, lol, ordered from Amaz0n, £9, they were delivered to her, she took round to her friend, not very sure I got the money for them.
I have also had to buy a new/old car so most of my savings gone.
I am decamping to my S,I,L, in 2 weeks for 3 months, with visits home some days, not entirely sure why I am doing this, feeling ambushed, so my figures are all awry, and between us we have Christmas dinner sorted except for veg, I will try and keep some sort of records. Starting fresh in 2022

Suffolk_lass

@pamsdish that sounds a bit as though you are uncomfortable with that arrangement. I hope you are OK.