October 2022 Grocery Challenge

Soontobeoap

Thanks for tip @Doom_and_Gloom

Meal plan for this week :-

Monday - pie and veg
Tuesday - meat balls and spaghetti.
Wednesday - southern fried chicken with chips for DH and veggie fingers with salad for me.
Thursday - sweet and sour chicken.
Friday - omelette with salad and leftover fried potatoes
Saturday - savoury mince with rice
Sunday - beef stew and dumplings with roast potatoes and plenty of veg. 

Hild0

Please add me to challenge. I'm looking to reduce my grocery spend and start reverse meal planning.

01/10 - £16 spend
02/10 - NSD

~~TJN~~

Thanks for this challenge! I’m new and looking to reduce my extortionate grocery bill to £450 this month. That’s a lot and I’m going t try a LOT harder to reduce that a lot further in future months. 

So, Can I please join for October with a budget of

£450 for 3 adult & 3 dogs

This includes toiletries and cleaning products, dog food and treats, and the month runs from 1-31 October. I haven’t tracked anything or been shopping savvy in September so this is also my first proper month of finally taking notice of what we’re spending. 

I’m also going to start reversible meal planning! 

How does anyone else work out what’s for their dogs when they have more than one? (Or several animals for that matter?) I’m treating my 3 dogs as I extra adult, since one Is big and two are medium/small in size. 

MissRikkiC

FrugalHedonist said:

My month started from the 24th September this time round and I have done a big shop around a few places and my spend is already £85.14 out of the budget - oops! I have definitely noticed some big price rises in Mr A and the fact that the shelves are incredibly empty - I couldn't get any of the 45p rice this time around. The store was very busy though so that might be the reason.
I have very good stores currently so going to try hard to run them down before I do anything other than a top up shop. A few luxuries or non essentials were bought - the small one requested crisps for her pack up (we have just tipped over in too old to qualify for free school meals boohoo) she only has then a couple of times a week and compared to other kids lunches hers could be considered 'boring'  so it's a fair trade - I got the huge 30 bag pack as this will last maybe 3 months. I also ventured to a discount store and purchased some H0rl1cks - we are big fans of a hot drink in the evening and with the colder months approaching and the heating staying off we may appreciate this. The last non essential was some cheap branded chocolate- 3 bars for £1 - this is for me and my weekend treat as I like a bar on a Saturday night whilst watching a film (I live a full life 😀)


£85.14/£160

Where did you purchase said Malty drink from please and how much was it? I put it back in Tesco the other day as it was £3.50 a tub (same for ovaltine) and I couldn’t justif it knowing I had hot chocolate at home already. That said, I really wanted it so would be keen to hear. 

goldfinches

I spent £4 yesterday at the Indian supermarket on chana dal and crispy fried onions which makes my total so far £4/£133.30 and my average daily spend £2.

I spent last month's treat money on a Yotam Ottolenghi hamper which includes a signed copy of his new cookbook. It arrived on Friday and was full of exciting jars and packets so I'm planning to cook my way through the recipes and not need to buy many extra, expensive ingredients but famous last words and all that. 

@Soontobeoap - sorry to hear about your expensive freezer woes and hope it hasn't spoiled the effects of your holiday too much.

Suffolk_lass

I emptied my big commercial upright freezer and turned it off yesterday. The contents are squished and squeezed into the "bee freezer" (we are beekeepers and freezing frames for 48 hours after extracting ensures the wax moth eggs and larvae do not destroy the comb that the bees have drawn) - anyway, it just about fits. I plan to clean down the inside and then switch it back on and repack so my inventoried produce stores are more straightforward to access and use. I knew there were one or two ziplock bags of chillies but there are actually five large bags!! I will put some in oil I think (cheaper to store and it flavours the oil!). Then I can move on to the smaller chest freezer that contains meat, bread and treats.

Then my neighbour showed up yesterday evening with a carrier bag full of enormous bramley apples. They all have a little damage on them so won't store wrapped in paper. So I plan to stew them and bottle them like jam, so they sit and wait for me to use them rather than paying to store them prepared in a freezer. I sent the neighbour away with some home-grown winter veg; a Crown Prince pumpkin (very good for eating, rather than carving!!) and two or three good sized butternut squash. He was amazed I had grown them but delighted with the exchange. I seem to have something of a glut of squashes...

No more money spent after my one supermarket order was delivered (a free delivery pass); this added £19.66 to groceries, and £17.42 to stores.

Also £64.23 to treats and entertainment (as I bought 9 bottles of wine with 25% off plus 2 boxes of own brand ice creams on sticks). Treats and Entertainment I track but don't include in my GC. The wine is to take some to my Mum's when we go and stay next week and ready for Christmas. 25% off was good value.

FrugalHedonist

MissRikkiC said:

FrugalHedonist said:

My month started from the 24th September this time round and I have done a big shop around a few places and my spend is already £85.14 out of the budget - oops! I have definitely noticed some big price rises in Mr A and the fact that the shelves are incredibly empty - I couldn't get any of the 45p rice this time around. The store was very busy though so that might be the reason.
I have very good stores currently so going to try hard to run them down before I do anything other than a top up shop. A few luxuries or non essentials were bought - the small one requested crisps for her pack up (we have just tipped over in too old to qualify for free school meals boohoo) she only has then a couple of times a week and compared to other kids lunches hers could be considered 'boring'  so it's a fair trade - I got the huge 30 bag pack as this will last maybe 3 months. I also ventured to a discount store and purchased some H0rl1cks - we are big fans of a hot drink in the evening and with the colder months approaching and the heating staying off we may appreciate this. The last non essential was some cheap branded chocolate- 3 bars for £1 - this is for me and my weekend treat as I like a bar on a Saturday night whilst watching a film (I live a full life 😀)


£85.14/£160

Where did you purchase said Malty drink from please and how much was it? I put it back in Tesco the other day as it was £3.50 a tub (same for ovaltine) and I couldn’t justif it knowing I had hot chocolate at home already. That said, I really wanted it so would be keen to hear. 

Hi, it was from the shop beginning with B and ending with M lol - it was £1.89 for 500g - they had the original and the chocolate one. 

FrugalHedonist

Meal plan for this week is as follows

Monday - veggie burgers with chips and salad
Tuesday cheesy chicken pasta bake (I bought a overly large back of chicken style ham so need to do something with it)
Wednesday - Quorn and veg curry with rice and naan
Thursday - after school clubs mean a beans or egg on toast evening
Friday - fishcakes, cheesy mash and vegetables

Lunches - homemade vegetable soup (me)  sandwiches, fruit and storecupboard snacks for the child
Breakfast, porridge, weetabix or toast 

HelenaPinky

Joining for my second month - shaving £5 off previous month's budget.

£295 for October please

joedenise

Back from holiday at the end of September and managed to get a TGTG bag so a start to the October food but came from September's money so not counted!  I've menu planned using a lot of food from the freezer and have had a couple of small shops from Mr Ts; Morries and £1land and have spent a total of £14.65/£250 leaving £235.35.  Shouldn't need to shop again until the end of the week when we'll need more fruit and veg.

The TGTG bag contained loads of potatoes so leek and potato soup is cooking now; I've cooked up a load and mashed and frozen some.  We've also had some with dinners over the last few days so now they are all gone!  I did have to throw a few away as they were really soft and manky and completely inedible.  Shouldn't need potatoes for a couple of weeks as we also bought some back with us from holiday.