September 2022 Grocery Challenge

LittleGem

Checking in to declare our spends this week. Made the mistake of sending DH to Lidl with DD - he did stick to the list but as always additional items were added (bags of marshmallows and sweets 🙄). I also popped in today and got the extra bits needed to complete this weeks meal plan, so a total of £50.97/£200. 

One thing I’m struggling with is keeping a well stocked store cupboard. I was doing ok picking up a couple of tins a week but have basically used those up! Do people buy like a whole tray of baked beans/tinned toms for example? And at what point do you restock?

Not necessarily GC related but I’ve decided it’s time to get a slow cooker (never had space for it and still don’t but can’t be having the oven on as much as we have been). Does anyone have any recommendations or perhaps there is another thread that I should look at.

LadyWithAPlan

LittleGem said:

Not necessarily GC related but I’ve decided it’s time to get a slow cooker (never had space for it and still don’t but can’t be having the oven on as much as we have been). Does anyone have any recommendations or perhaps there is another thread that I should look at.

I have  (I won it!) a Clever Chef Pro 6 in 1 that is a pressure cooker, slow cooker, saute, steam, sous vide plus it rises bread and bakes cakes, multi cooks, makes yogurt etc  etc  - they currently online for £80 and it has transformed my cooking with all the functions. It speedy, cheap to run and I have not had my oven on since apart from the hob a few times.
Review https://www.idealhome.co.uk/buying-guide-reviews/drew-and-cole-cleverchef-pro-multicooker-review-290770
The only thing it does not have is an air fryer which I would like but I do have a halogen oven so that picks up the frying tasks.
If I was going to buy (as I won this)  I would buy an INSTANT POT  11 in 1 or 14 in 1  as that has the airfryer as well. They often retail for £119-£130 on amazon
 warehouse eg https://www.amazon.co.uk/Instant-Pot-Multicooker-Sousvides-dehydrates/dp/B08VNPVFWW/ref=sr_1_2?crid=BGICO9KX8SLH&keywords=instant+pot&m=A2OAJ7377F756P&qid=1662324357&s=warehouse-deals&sprefix=instant+pot%2Cwarehouse-deals%2C126&sr=8-2
The ninja ones are similar to instant pot but cost much more.

LittleGem said:

One thing I’m struggling with is keeping a well stocked store cupboard. I was doing ok picking up a couple of tins a week but have basically used those up! Do people buy like a whole tray of baked beans/tinned toms for example? And at what point do you restock?

I only count bulk if its more than for a month - maybe try buying a can or 2 each time  or when reduced to get a backlog in there?  I am sure others will have better suggestions.


GC £31.52/£160 + £0/54.50 bulk)
I finally went Grocery shopping after eating out of the freezer for 2+ days. Paid all in cash

No crisps or sweets but I did buy raisins for baking and have snacked on a few too many and now feel sick! Plus I bought lidl salted peanuts but only ate a few ..

Lidl £19.79 - I had some reduced pork and chicken which I have divided and frozen into smaller portions. 2 x DF milks finally back in stock. Lets see how long I take to drink them .. Veg

Co-op - all YS veg £6.16 - didnt have app on new phone annoyingly so missed offers

Sains £5.57 - all YS in GF DF crumpets
YS lamb kebabs and YS veg inc YS spiralized courgettes - they had a recipe on the back so I thought I would have a try before doing my own.. I had to buy pesto with recipe but Sacla was £2 reduced from £3, Sains own £1.10 so I got from Lid* own 79p. Not great tasting but was OK as a side with YS caramelised onion beef burgers and my home made gf bread toasted with the onion oil

NSD 1/16

bupster

One thing I’m struggling with is keeping a well stocked store cupboard. I was doing ok picking up a couple of tins a week but have basically used those up! Do people buy like a whole tray of baked beans/tinned toms for example? And at what point do you restock?

I buy four at a time of chopped tomatoes and two at a time of kidney/butter beans - as I usually use two tins of tomatoes in a dish and/or one tin of beans, I never really run out that way. 

Not necessarily GC related but I’ve decided it’s time to get a slow cooker (never had space for it and still don’t but can’t be having the oven on as much as we have been). Does anyone have any recommendations or perhaps there is another thread that I should look at.

I picked up one from Amazon warehouse - open box (so someone's sent it back) - just £30 for a six litre Morphy Richards thing. I thought it would be miles too big for me and the kitchen, and it sort of is, but on the other hand you can fit a whole chicken in there and that's the kind of batch cooking I like to do

goldfinches

LittleGem said:

Checking in to declare our spends this week. Made the mistake of sending DH to Lidl with DD - he did stick to the list but as always additional items were added (bags of marshmallows and sweets 🙄). I also popped in today and got the extra bits needed to complete this weeks meal plan, so a total of £50.97/£200. 

One thing I’m struggling with is keeping a well stocked store cupboard. I was doing ok picking up a couple of tins a week but have basically used those up! Do people buy like a whole tray of baked beans/tinned toms for example? And at what point do you restock?

Not necessarily GC related but I’ve decided it’s time to get a slow cooker (never had space for it and still don’t but can’t be having the oven on as much as we have been). Does anyone have any recommendations or perhaps there is another thread that I should look at.

I have this one Sear & Stew 3.5L Slow Cooker | Morphy Richards which is good because you can put the pot on the hob and then move the whole thing over to the slow cooker base. The pot is also non-stick and very easy to wash. There are a couple of drawbacks that I've found which are that the non-stick scratches very easily and the pot is so light it skates around a bit on the hob. I also think that the oval shape is slightly awkward when you're emptying out the last little bit of a dish and would prefer a round shape but that's a minor niggle. I get so much use out of mine that I've bought a second pot for it just for the convenience and it is one of my most used bits of kitchen kit.

ms_iiwii

checking in early as i can't sleep! Yesterdays spends at mr T £9.07 on the basics, bread, milk, eggs, cheese, yoghurts, pop, garlic bread and a bar of chocolate. 
i made a huge veggie chilli yesterday using up lots of frozen veg and various tins of beans and tomatoes. there's enough left for lunches with the garlic bread. 
need to do a big freezer shop as its looking pretty empty in there at the moment, we need meat / plant based protein stuff, but i'm trying to stretch what we have as long as possible as we really do need to sort our spending out. we just cant afford to be careless anymore now i'm starting uni in a few weeks, and i'm so bad for deviating from my list! 
total so far £11.70/£200. pretty pleased with that , largely due to OH mum bringing us lots of stuff last week. we have plenty of cat litter,cat treats (food will need topping up next weekend) cleaning stuff, huge box of washing powder, tea bags, nuts, 3 packs of butter, tins of tuna, and pasta sauce jars. it really is a big help! 
i'm going to try and ,make a very loose meal plan utilising what we have and try to keep this week as low spends as possible. 
hope everyone is feeling positive about the week ahead

ancientmum

I have updated my signature and the running total for the year after spending on stocking up the store cupboard at Sains and Adil.  The price-matched (ie. cheap) SRflour shelf in S was empty, but full in A, both 55p.  

My plan from here on is to do a "one out, one in" shop at the beginning of each month then top up fresh milk, bread, fruit etc each week. I like to have a safety net of a few tins and full freezer and do not have space to store masses of stuff, but I'm worried that prices will rise faster and higher over winter.

bupster

Checking in with a £75.87 shop at Waitrose - managed to get a few bargains (all the veg and bread I bought was reduced and about half the meat) but I've had better Sunday afternoons there. I think I was there a bit too early, plus it's a bit hit and miss whether you get good reductions on the meat counter. Still, that's all the main meals for the month in the freezer, a couple of reduced loaves of madly expensive bread, and a few 'this is going to hurt' items like Azera coffee (I'm addicted) and giant packs of loo roll. Would love to say that's me for the month but I'll need a veg box in the next few weeks, and daily stuff like bread, milk and eggs. At least I've no excuse for filling up the basket with any more bargains! 

Rolling total £82.36

FrugalThymes

Stupidly got a takeaway pizza at the weekend after a few drinks, then decided to add up everything we've spent on takeaways since January. Genuinely embarrassed to admit that, including meals out at the pub we have a games night at, we've wasted nearly £2000 this year. We could have paid off half of the credit card or taken the kids on a lovely holiday with that money, absolute insanity. We have now banned takeaways indefinitely!

£50.80/£200

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning GC'rs!

Now FrugalThymes - no point in beating yourself up about historic spends - we've all done similar to a greater or lesser extent.  And don't forget, my only saving grace with takeaways/meals out is that we're veggie and are always underwhelmed by the choice/know that the takeaways locally are really, really dire.  You've had your lightbulb moment, won't perhaps do the same in the future - so that's a win.  A positive for a Monday 😊👍

I've managed to spend £30 this morning. On.the.nose.  You know if I'd of only had £30 on me, it wudda come in at £30.09....... 🤣  Anyhoo, it mostly consisted of soap/shampooo/toilet roll purchase (and y'all know how expensive that all gets!) and some pantry/storecupboard stuff.  I did manage to get some '3for£1' passata - Nap0l1na brand good until August next year, in HB.  I have a feeling that it's not as good as the offer that was on in Farmf00dz 🤔 but not bad.  And we do use alot of tomato products anyway, so it doesn't even really feel like 'stocking up'. But if the price gets too high, we'll just have to do without.  I did get some YS'd tomatoes (salad 29p for 6) and YS'd lemons (25p for 5) from HB.

Right, washing to peg out on the line and then I'm off to find somewhere to eat our picnic at.  LG returns to school tomoz, so it'll be nice to spend time together.  We did manage a museum this time last year, although we'd done less in the hols, due to circumstances, but I've not got myself as together for today.  Ho hum.  Ah well, onwards and upwards!

September GC £68.72/200

Greying X

wishus

Reporting £11.79 spend on Saturday at A*di. 
I'm going to have to go out and buy more cat food though, my little kitten is mainly just eating snacks, part protest for us going away last week I think. He's turning his nose up at everything. £132.59 remaining.