November 2022 Grocery Challenge

kacie

Tesco delivery came so £44.01 spent so far this month. Will go to Aldi soon and get some more bits, but I've a full to brim freezer now, so hopefully that will do me for the month. 

SausageDogSandwich

 Morning everyone. 

I managed to stay out of the shops until yesterday which I’m happy about! Went to M to get some free items from my app only to find they don’t sell them in that branch, so bought two packs of donuts £1.70, £1.58 in Lid1 on a box of Cous Cous and 2 packs paracetamol. Then £2.20 in asd@ on coffee sachets (a resurfacing habit im going to have to stop again) and 50p on yogurts. 

Unfortunately there wasn’t a lot available on olio last night, so we’re on our last bit of fruit and fresh veg. I’ll have to go shopping to top this up at the weekend and a cheap jar of coffee. 

Total spend £17.34/150 

Greying_Pilgrim

PipneyJane said:

I’m not criticising @Greying_Pilgrim and @Doom_and_Gloom, but my thought re the 28p tins of L!dl chopped tomatoes is that 4 tins isn’t enough.  Since they are unlikely to remain at that price and supplies are intermittent, why not buy a tray of 12? FWIW, that’s what I did last month and I know that it’ll take me 2.5-3 months to get through them.    At a minimum, they are 5p a can cheaper than MrT’s best offer (now 3-for-£1), but we can’t hope they will stay at 28p for much longer. 

What I am trying to say is don’t just think of your next week’s meals when shopping.  If it’s something you regularly use, buy a couple of months’ worth.  Stock up when there’s a good deal.  (This is why I have a Bulk Fund.)

- Pip

None taken sweetie - but the reasons that I only bought 4 tins yesterday was a) because I pay in cash, and I only had a finite amount in my purse to cover the cost of my MrL shop - and had other things on my list, b) we use tinned tomatoes regularly, so these were in fact topping up the store cupboard, c) I do have passata and tomato puree in stock too and d) although they had the tins in stock in my branch, there weren't pallets and pallets.  I would say there were probably........... 100? tins.  Perhaps someone's need for a tin of tomatoes might have been greater than mine that day........

Our home isn't huge, we don't have masses of storage space, and whilst tinned tomatoes is definitely a high use item with us, I have to tread a fine line between having food on hand and having room to move about the house...... There is a history of hoarding in the family (although not, ironically, of food), so I'm rather keen for that trait to die off with the previous generations.......

I get that prices are on the rise, but I can only do so much to cushion the blow for our family.  We're all ready used to cutting down and cutting out. Doing without  may just be the next logical step and we will have to see how we go.  

________________________________

I went to the market town across the way today.  Principally to conduct some banking, but also did a couple of errands and dropped off a library book.  The market town is pretty compact and has most of what I need within walking distance of the edge of town car park.  Greying Town is much more spread out.  Anyway, I shall tally up what I have spent in a mo.  But I did have a wander around their MrM.  I don't tend to go there anymore - I had to when I was shopping for the parentals, but I find it rather on the pricey side - it hasn't changed in the intervening period........  I did however get some L1ndaMc veggie sausages as they were on offer for £2 (for the 10 pcs bag). 

Peace Out.

thriftwizard

Did it! A careful £39 spent at the market & the bakers this morning - so far, so good! We should now have plenty to see us through the week. 

Was given a couple of items "for the chickens" which will go towards keeping their carers instead - a large sweet potato with a couple of small soft patches which will be easy to cut around, and an enormous tomato with a bashed top. I think I'll dry-fry them up with some spring onions, herbs & spices to go along with tonight's baked mackerel...

ps86edi

I didn't get any milk yesterday after all. LO's nursery gives away any milk that might be left. We picked a few and with the end of October shopping; we are quite set for milk. I'm starting to worry if my aversion to waste, leading me to happily accept things and food that would otherwise go waste, makes me sound too eager for a free thing. I also wonder if I'm taking away from those who need it more. We can afford most things and can happily go without (with the pantry I keep).

Our windows are beginning to see considerable condensation, and soon keeping them open for hours will stop working. I got a pack of car cleaning sponges and a pair of cleaning gloves. I'm tired of buying these every few months and if someone has a recommendation, I'm all ears. Maybe we are just being too rough on them.

Spend for today 4.34
Total for the month- 9.33/100

Hild0

Joining again. £160 for November.

I came in just under budget at £159 for October, and that was with well stocked cupboards and a couple of trips away, so same budget this month will be a bigger challenge.

goldfinches

Waving hello to all the regulars and saying a warm welcome to all the newbies, this is a lovely, helpful thread that is full of clever ways to stretch our budgets until they squeak. 
Thanks to @elsiepac for the work you do to keep the challenge threads going throughout the year.

After much head scratching I've decided to continue with the same daily budget as last month even though I didn't spend all of it as I'm sure prices will go up again very shortly. So can you put me down for

£129 for November Grocery Challenge and £20 Baking Budget + £27.97 Bulk Fund.

That's for one moderately active vegetarian woman and covers all food, household necessities and basic toiletries. Thanks and good luck to all for November.

hazeldreams

Morning all,

We've spent £121.71/£580 budget so far. Exceptionally pleased with that. We are wasting absolutely nothing and the amount of quality food we're eating has gone through the roof since we started this challenge back in September. Any leftover veg goes into a bake or a soup and any left over fruit gets whizzed up into a smoothie. 

This week we've redone the meal planner and cut down even further by selecting even cheaper recipes to do - this also seems to have made a big difference. We've got loads in the freezer too (all home made stuff like soups, bolognese, curries) and we'll have more leftovers to freeze from this weeks shop too. 

I'm feeling quietly confident we can come under budget fairly comfortably this month.

Hazel x

Greying_Pilgrim

Morning!

Added up yesterday's spends and my total for November is now £52.72.  I must admit, I got quite a bit of "junk" yesterday.  Not food junk, but "stuff" which was a pound here, two pound there, that all adds up and really oughtn't to come out of the grocery budget.  But as it's more or less the only discretionary spend I have, I've lumped it in for now.  

Never mind, I'm not complaining, and whilst food prices are rising, food is the one area that I can focus on to get best bang for buck and ensure we don't go hungry - I'm hopeful that my juggling will come right 😉

We had veggie burger baps and some 20p mozzarella jalepeno sticks (bought from MrL weeks ago) along with some potato 'pops' that are in the MrA JE range - for tea last night.  The pops were cheap 'n cheerful and were eaten, but I don't think I'll buy them again as they didn't have alot of taste.  However, they didn't cost alot to buy (I'm sure < £1), they have been in the freezer for a while, and it was worth an experiment with them, as they contributed to a meal.   

£52.72/200

Greying X

Tink_04

Ok for my 1st week of November I have spent 

£61.95 Tesco delivery
£1.20 Morrisons on bread buns 
£3.40 Local Spar for milk 

This leaves me with £333.45.

I have found the meal planning really helped and having the youngest back on school dinners has stopped a lot of ‘top up’ shops. 

Going to plan a Tesco delivery for next week once I’ve done my meal plan and seen what we have still in.