October 2022 Grocery Challenge

Blackcats

Updating with a £13 spend in Lidl.  A strange month though as we were away on holiday for the first week of October (sending plenty in restaurants).  This means that I still have £172 left 

EssexHebridean

Feels like lots of spending here today! 

Farmers market this morning - £21 on the lamb stall - a half shoulder, some breast rings, stewing mutton and a pack of lambs liver. Then £27.20 on the other meat stall for 2 packs of mince, a nice big piece of beef skirt, 3 packs of haslet for sandwich fillings, and a lovely big smoked ham hock - not something we often come across down here so I pounced on that when I saw it!  Then on to Aldi for lots of storecupboard bits - I decided to use the first shop of the  month to aim to restock, then I’ll add to my list as needed through the rest of the month before repeating the restock the following month. So Aldi was £13.68 and the storecupboard is now heaving! Finally (thank goodness!) £27.40 in T’s for the regular weekly shopping stuff. Adding in the cost of the veg box - delivery of which I’m waiting for as we speak - that puts us at a hefty £105.28/£200 - EEK! 

Trying to remember that this is a very front loaded month - the farmers market stuff will basically keep us in options for Sunday lunches and batch cooks for the rest of the month, and the stock-up bits we bought really did top us up so well too. And that amount left does give us over £30 a week as well - so actually quite manageable. 

Once the veg box arrives I’m going to get the slow cooker out and throw a load of stuff plus the beef skirt in there - that can bubble away to itself overnight and will sort an easy and tasty dinner tomorrow, plus a meal for later in the week - do love a bit of cook once, eat twice! 

pinkypig

Sneaks in 🙄🙄🙄.  I’ve been MIA for a couple of weeks but I have been sticking to the GC.  

We’ve had a couple of weeks of minor illness which could easily have derailed us as getting through a day at work was a real effort and once home nobody had the energy to cook so we were very glad of all the batch cooking in the freezer for easy lunches and dinners.  

Spend so far this month is £128.38 which is three weekly shops, 1 TGTG veg box and a couple of small top up shops for salad bits midweek.  It also included quite a lot of toiletries because having been on a use up mission we actually needed both day and night cream, shower gel, bubble bath, make up wipes and a large pack of loo roll.  These added up (although the Aldi stuff is very good value and fabulous quality) but should last at least a month.

No cleaning products bought as my mix myself cleaner (Stardrops, pet friendly disinfectant and water) in a refillable bottle is still going strong and I think the bottle of Stardrops will last years and the disinfectant months.  When I think what I used to spend on cleaning products 😱. This , a pack of washable microfibre clothes and a tub of the Pink Stuff is all I use now.

The freezer has been refilled, the fruit bowl is full as is the fridge and pantry so I’m hoping that a small top up next weekend will see us through to the end of the month.  Hoping so anyway as these price rises keep rolling on.  Baking marg was up 15p this week and ground coffee has crept up from £1.09 to £1.39 and as for butter 😱😱. Thank goodness for these boards and the thrifty habits they help you to get into.

Happy Sunday 

PP x

Soontobeoap

I dont know whether its the colder weather or what, but i am finding it so much harder to resist the urge for a chinese takeaway! Keep thinking that one wouldnt hurt (we have only had one this year) but I fear it might be the start of a slippery slope. I have been ill for 10 days. Some nasty bug thing. ( not covid, I tested 3 times). The last thing you want to do is cook when you feel grotty and I have been so grateful for all of the batch cooked meals already in the freezer. 

I Have just found a recipe that uses left over fish and chips to make amazing fish cakes. Wish I had seen that before my daughter ordered too much for her birthday meal. We could have made them to try. 

Another thing that I am going to try that has worked for me this month is to string out my main big shop and try to cope until the 2nd week of November with just small shops in Aldi. I can’t believe how much food that we still have in the house ( I can’t resist a stock up bargain but have managed to resist them this month). I may regret it later, who knows? 

Although my shops were over budget at the beginning of the year it is paying off now as I do not need to buy any cleaning stuff or toilet rolls until next year at least.it is amazing how much these things add up. I don’t know if the national averages take cleaning and personal hygiene costs into account?

I love reading all of the hints and tips on here. It is so great to be in contact with people who have a common interest. It is good to know that others are joining in the same challenge without judgment. What a lovely bunch you all are.

PipneyJane

Good morning All

I have a shop to declare from yesterday: £32.36 in L!dl.  We stocked up on fresh veg, frozen fish, chorizo (2x£1.79), penne 5x32p, milk, etc.  No major price hikes to report this week.

We also made our quarterly trip to the butcher’s.  £100.52 spent from the Meat Fund* on a large chicken (£7.50), a big leg of lamb (£40, I got them to cut it into two joints), 6 chicken breast quarters, 2 chicken legs, 1lb lamb’s liver, 1kg cubed stewing steak, 4 lamb chops and 2 bacon-wrapped stuffed chicken parcels (£3.95).  With the exception of the chicken parcels, which will be dinner tomorrow night, I’ve just finished shoe-horning the last of it into the freezer.

Sadly, we don’t get an itemised receipt and I didn’t see the price for the chicken breast quarters.  I reckon there’s enough meat on each of them to feed at least 2 people. I packed them in pairs, and each pack weighed over 800g!  I think I’ll just be putting two into the Hoisin Chicken Traybake that I make, not 4.  (I usually make it with 4 legs or with 4 large chicken thighs, instead of the 8 thighs specified, and double the rice, etc.)

Anyway, the above L!dl shop brings our October GC spend to £102.09/£147.60, leaving £45.51 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

* We contribute £40 a month to the Meat Fund.

atrixa

I'm up to £140.25/£145 and I still have 10 days left. Looking through the kitchen I have 10 lunches lying about- 4 pasta meals, 2 frozen homemade soups and 4 tins of soup. As long as I buy bread, I have stuff for breakfast. Loads of rice in and on top of the stuff I already have in the freezer, I have ingredients in to make a chilli or curry without buying anything. I'll probably still go over, but not by much. 

I'm currently eating down the freezer so I can defrost it, so I don't really want to batch cook anything until that's done.

FrugalThymes

A couple of spends in co-op and lidl, including some things that we definitely didn't need, which means we're at £114.03/200

Picked up a fruit and veg box in lidl for the first time and happy with the selection, going to have a batch cooking session tomorrow and make enough different things to fill up the oven completely.

I made curry base sauce a couple of days ago and absolutely thrilled with how it went - I bought spice mixes last month so we had Tikka Masala and tonight Rogan Josh, and one more portion left to add coconut milk and korma powder mix to tomorrow! 

We've spent all day yesterday and today helping friends clear out a grandparent's house; sorting out things for the recycling centre and charity shops. Very sad and stressful for them so happy to make it a bit easier. They've been very generous and given us some wonderful things to put away for the eldest going to uni in a couple of years! We now have a microwave, toaster, pyrex jug, bowls and casserole dishes, saucepans and a colander stored for September 2024!

London_1

Good evening all, well I am home from my travels down to ilfracombe in Devon and had a nice,if expensive break. But it was all budgetted for in advance .As I ate down all my fresh stuff before going way my fridge looks like old Mother Hubards cupboard at the moment  

DD popped in and put a plated up dinner there for me to eat tonight ,looks yum and I will be tucking into it shortly.
 Lamb chops a couple of pork chipolatas some roast spuds and two lots of veg  All I need to do is microwave it and make some gravy.She also popped a Mueller corner yogurt in for pud so I have virtually no cokking to do tonight

 My washing machine is churning away with holiday wash at the moment DGS Henry dropped a small brown loaf and two pints of fresh milk in for me yesterday so I have the makings for breakfast.
But tomorrow, or Tuesday possibly as I go to coffee morning Tuesday morning, so use the car to drive there and its near to the supermarkets.I like to try to do several things if I'm using the car so library books returned ,coffee morning and food shopping seems to be sensible to save fuel and do it all on the same day.

 I will be doing my first shop of this month The monthly food budget of £60.00 is intact at least so although the prices will obviously have risen in the past two weeks I shall only be buying exactly what's on my shopping list .

Mainly fruit and  fresh veg as I am going to try to start using up existing stores, so fingers crossed by Christmas my freezer should have enough room for anything that's been reduced in the supermarkets after the Christmas madness that seems to occur very year.
I usually managed to snaffle a few odds and ends January is a good time to look for reduced jars of mincemeat and exotic stuffing mixes amongst other odds and ends.

 Last year I bought a reduced decent sized pannetone with lots of sultanas and choc chips in for less than a pound, long- dated to March. a bit of forward planning means I shall hopefully have some space in my cupboards and freezer for anything I find.My left over cash from food budgets from June -December usually helps to pay for the stuf and at the moment I have arourd £64 odd squirrelled away for an early January shop for discounted bits and bobs.

I daresay its going to be an eye opener just seeing how much stuff has increased in price since the end of last month
but at least my fridge will look less empty.

I shall do the list tomorrow and see what is really the essential stuff only ,plus I'll do my menu for I think two weeks tomorrow instead of my usual one and see what i can cobble together.

My DD and her OH are away until next Saturday from tomorrow morning so I shall also be probably doing a few extra bits for the two remaining DGS who are at home ,one is working but the other is not and I promised them a lasagne this week as its their favourite so I will dig out some beef mince from the freezer tonight and make one that can go into their freezer for during the week.

Right I'm off to have my dinner,kindly made by DD and then its feet up and watch some catch up tv from this week recorded on my TiVo box

Cheers chums

JackieO xx 

elsiepac

November GC Now Available

joedenise

A small top up shop this morning from Morries which takes me to £93.34/£250.  I did do a bulk shop at the butchers over the weekend but that comes from a separate bulk fund.  I'm pleased with where I am for the time in the month.  I'm trying not to buy too much extra stuff this month (for cupboards and fridge) as only have another month before going on holiday.  Hoping that I can again get everything from my inside freezer into the outside one so that I can switch it off again to save a bit of electric.