September 2022 Grocery Challenge

SausageDogSandwich

Well, staying out of the shops did not go to plan  had a couple of NSDs but husband had his day off yesterday so we went out. £8.21 spent in farmfo0ds - £5 of this was on lotus ice cream as they were 99p each I got a couple for the kids and some for family that love biscoff. Then £7.15 in Asd@ on cones and other bits for ice creams, mushrooms and rice. HB finally had my favourite instant noodles back in after months of not being able to get any so bought a case of those for £10.15. Today will be another NSD as will tomorrow. 

 Makes my new total £76.38/150. More than I wanted it to be, this is why I need to stay out of the shops  . 

FrugalThymes

@Greying_Pilgrim looks like my afternoon will be binge watching Southern Frugal Momma, thanks for the recommendation! 

Got the new cast iron pan, it's a big boi! Looking forward to making a 'hay box' or wonderbag soon.

Some more Oli0 gifts over the past few days, and currently enjoying a lunch of mini cheese and onion rolls, ham, coleslaw and cauliflower that was all completely free! I've been adding a few non-food items to the app while I declutter. I also have some lemons that I want to preserve but no jar big enough so will have to have a think.

Been thinking about lighting a lot, looking into solar lamps and such. Realised I had completely forgotten about the two huge strings of lights outside that I could clean up and bring in to test the idea before buying any more so I think that's a job for the weekend.

I've also been working out how to store pantry things, and we've decided to keep an old double kitchen cupboard where it was temporarily shoved when DH refitted the kitchen - I've cleaned it up and it's perfect for now just at one end of the living room. 

I put a cardigan on! I live in t-shirts and other single layer things most of the year, I am very overweight and always warm, so cardigans mean autumn and spooky season! Not looking forward to the cold but I do enjoy the cosiness.

With the chocolate DH bought for the cakepops we're now at:

145.43/£200

Ginmonster

I had to top up on a few things today - some fruit, veg, butter and baking block. It should keep me going until this time next week and allow me to make some apple cake and crumble over the weekend with some cooking apples I've been given from a neighbour.

£15.49 spent so my total is now £155.14/£200. 

Doom_and_Gloom

We spent £15.73 between Mr A and Mr S since last post.

£228.07/£285.
£56.93 left.

gill5blue

getting better!
week 2 I spent £49.27 (budget £50). (weeks 1 & 2 add up to £100.50)
So pleased with myself.
gill5blue

Greying_Pilgrim

FrugalThymes said:

@Greying_Pilgrim looks like my afternoon will be binge watching Southern Frugal Momma, thanks for the recommendation! 

Hang on a minute........ when y'all have got a pressure canner in your online basket, and are poised to press 'buy' I didn't introduce you to that site, ok? 😂

Brooke is going from strength to strength with her subscribers, so she must be doing something right/that's needed.  The new opening titles are a bit loud, but that's possibly my lack of experience using the toob..... I particularly admire her cheerfulness, and certainly with her 'emergency budget' videos, admire her 'fed is best' ethos, as unfortunately she has received nastiness about her ideas - naturally, from people who don't offer alternative suggestions, using the same financial constraints 🙁  Brooke is full of ideas, provokes thought/discussion and has a 'can do' attitude.  There is usually some 'take-home' from her videos, irrespective of whether you eat meat or no, live in the US or no, pressure can or no........

She has got her sons trying to complete their own $5 challenges - buy ingredients for 3 meals/buy shelf stable pantry staples etc - and although some have sought to criticise, they miss the point that if you start to 'think' about matters, and see what you can do, then sometimes you find what can be done with the resources available to you.  Brooke homeschools her children, but I don't think this type of thing is taught in any schools - in the US or UK - and yet we all gotta eat each day........

Greying X

Soontobeoap

Hubby home alone this week so only £1. 89 spent on milk but there is now absolutely nothing for lunches in the house. I bought a huge bag of apples back from DD's with me and I am going to look at store cupboard ingredients today to see what snacks I can make before heading out to the shops. Our budget is looking good and I don't want to suddenly blow it all now.

FrugalThymes

Hang on a minute........ when y'all have got a pressure canner in your online basket, and are poised to press 'buy' I didn't introduce you to that site, ok? 😂

@Greying_Pilgrim So I'm picking up a second hand pressure cooker tonight that I *think* can be used for canning but that's just a coincidence! It's a multi function one so I'm thinking about gifting my slow cooker to somebody, especially as I plan on trying the haybox/wonderbag thing with the new (secondhand) cast iron pot. I've been spending but ultimately this is all prep for managing through the winter.

I was reading something, might have been on MSE or on a fbook group but 'Cook once eat twice' encouraged me to fill up my massive saucepan with potatoes for mash last night, instead of just what we'd use. Now I have a ziplock bag of mash in the freezer for pie topping or croquettes or something. I also made a cajun spiced sausage and bean thing to go with the mash, two meals worth for 4 of us, but I think I'm actually going to add stock to the leftovers and turn it into 8 portions of soup to have with crusty bread. 

Another Oli0 win last night - two jumbo sausage rolls for the kids lunches, chicken and bacon pasta for my lunch, mini sausages for lunch snacks tomorrow, and some pork pies too. I'm still waiting to get a volunteer slot at one of the local shops but there are going to be fewer soon; I think Tesco are switching to gifting everything to local foodbanks and community kitchens which is awesome if it means more people who are struggling get help. 

Blackandgold_2

I think Tesco are switching to gifting everything to local foodbanks and community kitchens which is awesome if it means more people who are struggling get help. 

I know that in my area, Milton Keynes, both Tesco and Waitrose donate food to the Community Larder, as I'm a volunteer there. It's very popular.

thriftwizard

Hmm - I've just updated my total & it's looking like I will go over (again) this month, barring some real scrabbling round in the freezer & staying out of the shops. Which I could do, but to be honest I probably won't! I've realised why I had to buy so many store-cupboard staples last week, when I went to get some cashew nuts to add to a stir-fry a couple of days ago. There were two open packets in there last week (much to my annoyance) but suddenly - none. They've wandered off with DD1! As have a number of other things... I know they're at full stretch to pay the rent over there, so I'm not fuming - too much - and I suppose I did tell her to take anything she wanted! That explains some of why I'm struggling to keep to a fairly unambitious target...