September 2022 Grocery Challenge

cinnamon123

Managed to push out food shopping this week by 2 days, although we most likely will not make it a full week. Today needed to buy some household supplies so headed to a big box store for that. While there decided to pick up a few groceries (the selection is limited) and to avoid going to the supermarket. Even though I only wanted a few items, I just knew that if we went to the supermarket, we would end up spending a lot because of the selection.

Purchased a few bits of veg which will get us through several days, a bag of apples, cream, canned beans and tomatoes, soy sauce, olives and pickles for a total of $52.01. Adding in an additional $7.15 spent online on nuts that will likely be eaten this month, results in $59.16 for this week's food shopping. Also bought some canned + dried beans and a chocolate bar for the stockpile for a total of $13.71.

This brings my totals to $153.68/$400 (monthly food budget) and $66.48/$200 (stockpile budget).

Very happy about the decision to just buy a few groceries today. We were under the targeted $100 for the week but will use the amount not spent next week at a different store where we will be buying fish which is expensive. This should hopefully result in us spending $200 for 2 weeks which works!

I've made a curry (portions for yesterday and today) and in the coming days I will make a large pot of chili which will give us several portions. Next week I should make the first soup of the season - can't wait.

Have a good weekend all!

PearlRose

Halfway through the month, and here's how my grocery challenge is going:

Aldi £39.55

Tesco £62.24

Three top-ups totalling £15.27

Tesco Clubcard Plus subscription £7.99

£125.05/ £400 spent

We are testing out if the Clubcard Plus is worth it. So far so good. We do two big shops every month, stocking up frozen products, meat and fish (portioned or batch cooked and then frozen) and the weekly fresh veg and fruit. Each would be over £80 without the 10% discount. So that's at least £16 less than the original bills, then roughly £8 saved after deducting the fee.

goldfinches

I did a quick top up shop for milk, YS white bread to make into crumbs for the freezer, limes, ginger, garlic and a treat ready made salad which came to £8.50 in M*rks. Then today I discovered that I'd ticked off tomato puree from yesterday's list but hadn't actually bought any. I can't quite work out how this happened but suspect it has something to do with all their products being swapped around on the shelves so that the section that used to be cereals, jams, nut butters and honey etc. is now Christmas central. There's nothing I want to eat less in muggy September weather than a mince pie and I noticed all the other customers were shuddering at the sight too so think this may not be a good idea.
So I made an emergency dash up the road to Mr T's and bought tomato puree and tortilla chips for £1.65. 
That makes my new total £50.64/£120 and my average daily spend £3.16.

Sayschezza

I am definately going to go over budget this month. Yesterdays Mr S delivery came to £53.15 which would have been fine if I hadn't also stocked up with meat at Mr T this week. I do have a very full freezer, fridge and store cupboard so its not all bad i suppose. I only have £11.87 until the end of the month and that will not last as OHs weekly needs will  come to more than that without the booze which I dont count.Shouldn't have to spend on meat again until the end of October at least so I will be able to drag myself back on track next month.

leftatthetrafficlights

I'm over budget now as expected! 🤦‍♀️ I'm feeding the family this weekend as son in law is installing our new boiler so went shopping yesterday for food - £88 spent (that includes alcohol plus some expensive meat items that I would never normally buy at full price). 

My new grocery month starts on Thursday and I won't need to shop again between now and then (meal plan written and all items are either in my fridge/freezer/storecupboard or garden! 😉) so I'm declaring for September at £304/£300

London_1

Good Morning everyone ,well the month seems to be moving on at a decent rate. I will only probably need one more shop this month,but not until at least next Friday  hopefully.

I have sufficient fruit and veg and am making some more spicy carrot and coriander soup this morning to use up the carrots in the fridge (I do have a good few frozen as well )

One of my friends gave me three good sized leeks from their allotment yesterday, so once the carrot soup has gone I will make some leek and potato soup next week. With the onset of autumn there's nothing nicer than a bowl of home made soup for lunch.

Staying away from shops as much as possible, my exercise is in my local park for a walk around the small lake there instead. A small flask of coffee to warm me up if a bit nippy and seeing the tree changing colour is very enjoyable ,and free  

We all seem to be doing well at the moment and keeping a strict eye on our shopping. My local Dobbies restaurant is closing for a refurb next week so I shan't be tempted by their deli counter .We are moving our coffee morning to another garden centre for a couple of weeks ,but they don't have a food outlet so I shall be fine with no temptation put in my way.

My youngest DD has gone down with Covid and is poorly so I shall be avoiding her house for another week at least.

Definitely a nip in the air this morning though, so although I've not got the heating on yet warmer clothes are the order of the day and my sadals I've worn since almost July will be retired until next year  

Onwards and Upwards chums 

JackieO xx

14/17 NSDs                              £31.68/£60.00 spent so far from my September budget

P.S. My nephew has just texted me to say he finally got through the lying -in-state, after 14 hours of queueing, but said it was well worth it,despite the cold. xx

Soontobeoap

I am congratulating myself on a nsd yesterday. The urge to go out and restock my empty fridge after being at DDs for the week was very strong but I rolled up my sleeves and made the most of what we had in. After preparing and freezing apples, runners and tomatoes from garden and making some oat biscuits for DH to munch on I calculated that I had saved £10.thats without taking electricity into account but I figure that is a small win and another day without splashing the cash. I will have to shop today though as we are now out of milk and bread. I am not taking DH, going with a list and I am going to stick to it. Wish me luck! 

hazeldreams

Morning all,

Had a cracking week last week. Only had to go to Tesco to top up once and spent a total of just £136.51 out of the budget of £150, so I'm so pleased with that. Shopping day was yesterday and we did overspend unfortunately. But, it is my daughters 17th on Sunday and we have bought lots of treats to make her favourite meal and that will save us a small fortune on a meal out. The store cupboard and freezers are well stocked, so I'm confident we can recover the over spend over the next 2 weeks of September.

So far this month we're at £501.92/750. 

Hazel x

pinkypig

Hello 😀

I’ve managed another week without any top up shops although I did grab a TGTG veg box earlier in the week as these are few and far between so not to be missed when you get the chance. 

As previously confessed, I forgot to budget for birthday cake making and I also made a last minute decision to have one celebration at home rather than going out.  Toyed with getting a takeaway as I  was at work that day (and it’s been busier than usual) but baulked at the cost and in the end opted for a home fakeaway.  To make things easy on myself I bought ready made sauces, sides and those pouches of rice, all from Aldi. Lucked out with 75% off  marinated chicken for the meat eaters and had chickpeas at home for the non meat eaters plus some batch cooked dhal in the freezer.   Pudding was a posh tub of Aldi ice cream made into Biscoff ice cream sundaes with bits I already had in .  

We had a great night 😀. It wasn’t much work, the food was lovely, there was loads of leftovers and it was just over £13 for four of us (massively helped by the bargain chicken which saved £3). It’s meant an unplanned spend on my grocery budget but it saved taking a much larger amount out of the annual savings pot  as I think a takeaway with sides would have been about £50 and eating out probably double that 😱

Weekly shop is done and meals are planned up until pay day.  I’ll need milk and fresh bits next weekend but that should be it.

Despite my unplanned extras I’m now at £118.88/£150 with a full fridge and freezer and just over a week to go so I’m really pleased with that.

Wishing you all a lovely and thrifty weekend 😀

PPx

FrugalAspirations

We have just gone over our budget, £318.59/£300. I’m not too upset as it’s really close to the mark and hope that October will be better!