November 2021 Grocery Challenge

zafiro1984

Just added my annual spend so far this year of 2813.82 leaving 503.18 to the end of the year.

It's going to be tight but I think I'll be OK as I've got quite a bit made already for Christmas and stored in the freezer/cupboards - home grown turkey, christmas puddings (1 large, 8x small) venison casserole x 3, blackcurrant sorbet, sausage rolls, pickled pears. Christmas cake underway (fruit soaking for 7 days).

I think my best saving this year has been to change supermarket. I do my main shopping there and than call in at the original one for things they don't have but is on my list. I try to keep my eyes closed as I walk around - don't want to be tempted.

jozbo

Eek, spendy day for us…
£75 on veg and fruit boxes
£126 at L*DL on a monthly bulk shop

remaining £63.60 so is going to be a bit tight

try_harder

Suffolk Lass ..Could you please explain how you work out your grocery spends please ? Do you divide it by the 52 weeks and what do you do regarding bulk shopping .I am really struggling as i can more or less stick to 50-60 pounds a week but then when i spend say £50 on items on offer i dont really know where to take it from and too often then give up ..Thanking you for your help in advance

JingsMyBucket

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?

Herbyme

@jozbo same here. The squeaky tight end of October  means a spendy start to November. 

£56 at Morries, £84 at A1di and £4 at Tesc0. Morries and Tesc0 were for things I couldn’t get at A1di, I’m doing as much as I can there. Now I think about it, I’m a bit horrified at how much it adds up to, it didn’t seem that big a shop altogether. Maybe because I had to do it in two runs because I’ve only got a small car (with a flat tyre 😒) this week. 

 I was very 😇 and took all the many plants I bought out of a different account. My local Mr M is very good on plants. 

Anyway some stocks topped up, this weeks food planned and bought, hardly any beer or Magnums, honestly 😉
I did buy this years first box of mince pies though. Amazed by the till lady saying how she’s looking forward to the Christmas songs in the store… I’d have thought the sheer repetition would drive them mad!

Finstickle

So, having said I didn't need to shop, i promptly went to Tesco on the way home last night - another £25.38 spent.

£8.29 on a large gammon which promptly went in the slow cooker and will do tonight's tea plus ham for the next week and a half
£8.00 on turkey rashers which will also do at least the next week and a half
£3.58 on cheese, which never lasts and £2.96 on butter which we are trying to use less of.

Starting to put together an Asda order for the end of the week.

£73/£550

Suffolk_lass

try_harder said:

Suffolk Lass ..Could you please explain how you work out your grocery spends please ? Do you divide it by the 52 weeks and what do you do regarding bulk shopping .I am really struggling as i can more or less stick to 50-60 pounds a week but then when i spend say £50 on items on offer i dont really know where to take it from and too often then give up ..Thanking you for your help in advance

@try_harder this is what I do
I start the year with £200 for each of Jan to November
£400 for December and
£400 for stores. 
£3000 annual budget. (This is for two adults, one cat, and a regular raiding party by DS who lives nearby and lives on what we call a salary-controlled diet) It covers fresh food, cat stuff, toiletries and cleaning products. It does not cover treats and entertainment (wine, chocolate, take aways or meals out)
I also grow some fruit and veg and freeze, bottle, preserve and store lots. My milk and eggs are delivered (not the cheapest but a great way of reducing the "pop to the shops" temptation).

If I spend under £200 for the month, I move any round £10s to the stores heading. Each time I buy, I go into that month's running total cell (double click, curser to the end and +££.pp) and add the new bit. Same with the stores running total. By starting with £400 I can buy my store cupboard and brands when they are on offer in multiples of up to 6(!) - so shower gloop, coffee, tea, flaked salt, soap and so on, plus baking ingredients, tins, dried goods, cleaning stash, cat litter (!) all go in stores

I tried to paste a pic of the year to date (from a spreadsheet) but it didn't work. I could paste a copy of my spreadsheet into google sheets if you send a PM of your email address, and share it with you.

I just want to add that I really struggled with paying myself back out of my second purse when I tried that system (see link from post 1) so this works better for me. You might need to build up a small buffer stores amount (could be cash that you stash when you make a saving), for a few months before you start this annual thing, or you could reduce your weekly by, maybe £10 a week for a few weeks to build a little pot so that when your (can't live without) things are on offer you buy multiples, never paying full price unless you totally run out.

When I have almost completely run out and something is not on offer, I buy just one (and make a shopping list to buy it on if on offer, next time). I meal-plan, run a list on the fridge and use from my larder. If my Suffolk siege stash is getting out of hand I have a freezer week (or month) and try to run my stores down by consciously including them. Over the years my smugness and conceit stopped me learning the layers of lessons in grocery shopping. It happens in stages so don't worry if it does not all work for you. I have over the years made my own products (laundry, cleaning, soaps etc) to try an keep costs down and sometimes I still make soap (I call it gardening soap) but mostly life is too short to do everything. So pick your low hung fruit first. 

Blimey, I didn't mean to write a book!

Doom_and_Gloom

£62.27 between A&C, O~box and Mr S. 

Large fruit and veg box and 2 packs of corriander as additionals from O~box. 



£62.27/£240.
£177.73 left. 

goldfinches

Waving hello to all from a very chilly Dreaming Spire as the weather hereabouts has been clear and sunny for several days in a row so my windows are closed and the heating is most definitely on.

My first spend of the new month yesterday and I succumbed to temptation in M*rks and bought two red and two orange pointed peppers to roast for a change of veg. However, when I was checking the receipt at home I realised that I'd been charged 80p for each pepper and not the labelled 55p. I was absolutely sure that I'd remembered the shelf label correctly because I'd looked at the bags of three peppers for £2.50 and thought what a bargain the loose ones were by comparison. So back I went this am and was refunded a pound for my trouble. I was evidently the first person to raise the issue with the Customer Service Desk as the member of staff sent a colleague to remove the incorrect label pronto.
After all that garrulity I spent £7.88/£120 on 4x organic milk, 1kg f/f greek style yoghurt, cucumber, 2x little gem, 4x peppers and a y/s tzatziki which makes my average daily spend £3.94. No spends on baking this week as I'm planning to make Twink's hobnobs for which I have all the ingredients in stock already and no festive spends yet either as I bought the gin for sloe gin last month and the jar is now sitting in the bottom of the wardrobe maturing nicely.

I nearly forgot to say a warm welcome to all the new people this month, this thread has really helped me to rein in my y/s habit as well as my "buy it when I see it" impulse purchases and I hope you all find it equally helpful. The people on this thread are a mine of useful tips and tricks too so do ask when you're stuck, someone will have been there before you and can tell you where the pitfalls are. 

elsiepac

Budgets updated to here!