November 2022 Grocery Challenge

kayannie

ancientmum said:

I've spent £44.60 since the beginning of the month on topping up the grocery store, mainly  in Sainsbury and Aldi as they are my nearest supermarkets.  And thank you to the person who gave the tip about sugar being cheaper in Savers (not sure if it was this thread or one of the others where I lurk).  62p per bag as against 75p in the supermarkets.  As Soontobeoap said, it may not seem much but all adds up over time.

Glad to be of use, although even I'm not certain which thread I put it on. Popped into my village shop yesterday & it's £1.15 there!! 
KA

ps86edi

We spent a lot of the budget in the last few days. about 2kg of ground coffee, which should last us 2 months, was purchased for £13.61 from Lidl. Another meal kit that I had some credits saved for will bring in some twenty meals for £31.44. I am vegetarian and most of our meals are vegetarian as well, but I still selected all meat-based meals so that everyone else can have some meat and we can put some of it in the freezer to cook later. Experience with their portions means we'll be eating some variation of the 5 recipes for the rest of the month. Without the credits, I don't really see it making any financial sense for us.
We also spent about £20 on other things, including 6 packs of bread, which will be free to us through the cashback apps. Most of my bread comes from Olio now, and I have another loaf waiting for me in M&S rewards. We will at least have bread to eat even if one of my pains leads me astray.
I have bulk spices and sauces in my cart, which will be from another budget. I always struggle to keep very tightly in my budget, not because we spend excessively, but usually because there is no real need to and we would manage well even if we spend another £10/20. I'm hoping this will help.

Total expense- £63.01/£100

Doom_and_Gloom

Doom_and_Gloom said:

£55.16/£240.
£184.84 left. 

£19.60 spent at Mr S since last post.
OH is ill so this included paracetamol and cough syrup as well as yogurt making up at least £5 of that. He made sure to have a mask on when he went shopping. I've also come down with what he has so not going to be a fun time here. We're sure it isn't the dreaded lergy but we both feel very unwell.

£74.76/£240.
£165.24 left.

Gettingmyshiztogether

Hello,

I am going to join you also after working out that we spent roughly £500 on food shopping in October 😨 this is almost the same as our mortgage payment! 😱

We are a family of 4, two adults, DD 12 and DD 10. They are gannets, there is no other way to describe them 🤣

I meal plan and write a shopping list already and thought that I was being fairly frugal with the food as its all planned out, meals and snacks etc. I cook everything from scratch. I have a therm0m!x machine which is incredible and has saved us a lot on not only food but electric also (costs 15p an hour to run). I thought I was doing well... until I added it mostly all up... (mostly as I am unsure of the exact figures of just popping in for milk etc) 

I ve just spent the last few days reading this thread and making note of the tips. I have downloaded the TGTG app and have my first collection tomorrow.

So my goal for this month is £460.

Not a huge reduction but reading the opening post it suggests that we start off small. 

Things I am doing already;
Batch cooking on a weekend 
Baking treats not nipping to the shop on the way back from school collection to buy a £1 bag of yummiest
Using the Thermie more than the oven
Meal plan
Shop with a list
Just registered with TGTG and have my first collection tomorrow from Starbs. Hoping to use this for lunchboxes. 

So far this month we have spent £96.51/ £460.

hazeldreams

Good luck @Gettingmyshiztogether! This thread has helped us no end and we spend (and still do!) more than you!

Gettingmyshiztogether

hazeldreams said:

Good luck @Gettingmyshiztogether! This thread has helped us no end and we spend (and still do!) more than you!

Thank you for the encouragement Hazel 💗 

Hubby and I have just agreed to put our food shopping money into a cash envelope and use that to shop with. I think using cash will make us much more aware of what we are putting into the trolley. 

Just managed to reserve another TGTG bag, that's around the corner from the other one I am collecting later so I'll save fuel also. 

So far we have spent £103.59/ £500 

I'll report back on what we get in the magic bags 🪄

SausageDogSandwich

Morning all. Got my receipt back so worked out how much grocery spend was. I stocked up on toiletries while had a discount, but I won’t use it all this month so wasn’t going to include it until we use it however I don’t want to forget about it, so am just going to add it all. So a huge chunk of the budget has been spent now on two lots of loo roll, 4 toothpaste, 2 Handwash, 2 shower gel, 2 listerine, net of 15 babybel, pilchards, ready break, energy drink and paracetamol. Oh and 2 cleaning sprays. Think that is about all - £26.90 spent. 

Didn’t get round to getting milk when daughter had gym as it was throwing it down, so the kids had yogurts for breakfast this morning, will have to buy some tonight. 

Total £49.01/150 🫣

diminua

£63.10 spent so far. Treats included one mulled wine and a 'pint' in the pub. I've discovered my local PO does single pain au chocolat both cheaper and more consistently in the mornings than the supermarket I was getting them from, so will be popping in there on my way to work in future. I've left a tub of spreadable cheese and a large bar of fruit and nut in the fridge at work for lunches as well, and will get some mini tomatoes on Friday (still only in the office 2 days a week) to add to the stash. 
Other than that it's mostly tins of fish or tomatoes and veg for roasting, and the usual milk, bread and coffee. 

Ginmonster

I popped to the shops today to restock on fruit, veg, butter and baking block and picked up a couple of packs of my favourite veggie sausages which were yellow stickered while I was there. I was glad to see butter was still at £1.99 (I say glad, but it seems like not so long ago I was annoyed it had gone up to £1.25) as I've placed an online 'big shop' order for later this month with Mr A and they had butter priced at £2.15 so undoubtedly the rest of them will follow very shortly. Real butter is my non-negotiable luxury so far but at this rate it'll be like spreading gold on your toast soon!

Anyhow, enough of the whingeing, I spent £22.02 so my monthly total so far is £30.06/£200 so still doing well.

Greying_Pilgrim

Afternoon!

Jumping in to own up to a £21.68 spend yesterday.  Not technically all on 'food' as such, but at the mo, it's as simple to lump it all together, and I'll have to do all the head scratching and 'what do we do now?' when I run out of budget 3 weeks into November!  I know, you really would have thought I would know better at my advanced age, wouldn't you!?? 🤣

Anyhoo, got the opportunity yesterday to take in a number of shops as I was t'other side of town.  I took some articles to a charity shop, and then visited all the shops I could in the vicinity.  I did buy some chopped tommies from the little MrL, as they had some in stock and I've used up 3 tins already this month.  I also dropped lucky in fArmf00ds with some tinned ham.  Whilst it's not a product we use, I like - if I can - to purchase tinned meat for the FB as part of our donation at Christmas-time.  I know tinned ham isn't everyone's idea of luxury, and I'm sure all meat eaters would much prefer a slab of free range, rare breed, slow cooked, ham for celebrating, but hey-ho, things are what they is, and perhaps, just perhaps if someone can have a ham sarnie on Boxing day, where they might not have, well, then that's summat, isn't it?

So, the brand was a well known one that has been in existence for 70 yrs+, the tin size was 300g, and so I spent half my (remaining) FB budget on getting some tins.  I think I will purchase some smaller size tins of ham with the remaining budget.  I have (inadvertently) split the FB Christmas budget into 3 this year, as LG is donating some goodies as part of a group-giving initiative, so that has taken a third of the budget.  I always, always look to see what is required by the FB and try to get best bang for buck without resorting to buying totally cheap stuff I wouldn't be prepared to eat myself (always a bit tricky with meat products, being veggie, but you get my drift).  So whilst our tins will be but a pitiful drop in the ocean of what is required, they may help someone.  I saw exactly the same tins of ham in beeandM for 30p more per tin, so I'm pleased that shopping around/keeping an eye out has enabled me to actually buy more. The tins I bought are 'in date' for another 16 months yet too.

I did also buy some chocolate "required" (?) for advent, and a small gift for LG that will complement and complete their 'main' gifts for this Christmas.  All that will be required is some stocking filler gifts, and I have some of those, so we're about there with the gift buying.  We bit the bullet many moons ago now and asked relatives to stop buying us gifts, and only nephews and nieces were gifted (money) until they reached adulthood (21 yrs) - which they all now have.

£74.40/200

 Greying X