December 2022 Grocery Challenge

Palmtreesandcustardcreams

I think I might find this more challenging than I first thought!  I’ve already had my first non-planned spend.  Long car journey with three children straight from work/after school club meant s quick dash into Tesco’s to buy sandwiches etc that they could have for a car-tea (I should/could have been more organised with this and made pack-ups on Thursday night).  £8.15 spent.  

£8.15/£350

£341.85 left 

mumtoomany

Had use of daughters car yesterday, so did a bit of shopping. Veg shop, cash and carry and Aldi. Total spent £31.83! Now over budget for the year. Spent £2645.58/£2640. Damage limitation for the next few weeks.

 Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xxx

PipneyJane

Soontobeoap said:

Thankyou to whoever highlighted the bonus points for shopping in sainsburys through nectar app. Only ever drop into sainsburys for bits and bobs on offer but by shopping for christmas presents through app and getting the small bonus points i have gained £7.39 in points since November. Its all got to help in the new year.

That was me, @Soontobeoap.  Glad you’ve found it helpful.

@Elsiepac, apologies but I had £2.20 leftover from last month.  

Please increase my GC budget to £142.20.  

I have shopping to declare from Thursday.  Stopped at Sainsbugs in our local “market town*” on my way home from work, to withdraw the GC money from their cash point and popped in to buy Lindor Balls for our advent calendar**.  They had sachets of chestnut purée for £1, so I stocked up and bought.  I use it to make stuffing for the Christmas goose and any other poultry I roast***. £14 spent out of the Christmas Fund.

Took advantage of Sainsbugs “free” parking (if you spend over £6) and walked to the nearby L!dl to buy something for dinner. (I really didn’t feel like cooking.). Picked up a YS Chicken & Bacon Pie for £2.79 and a YS Mediterranean Veg thing to roast for 70p.  Also purchased a Family Pack of Mushrooms for £1.45 (up 15p from last month), a frozen Salmon Wellington (now £4.29, having been £3.98 for years) and a couple of pots of Greek-style yogurt with honey.  £11.13 spent.

We had a friend over for dinner last night, so I cooked the Salmon Wellington and served it with roast potatoes, roast sweet potatoes and broccoli.  We’re now almost totally out of fresh veg - only have onions and mushrooms left - so today’s plans include a trip to L!dl to stock up.  I’ll also have to go to Sainsbugs to buy more loose broccoli, and a couple of multipacks of Mars Bars to go in the Chocolate Vodka I want to give to my team at work. (The latter will come out of my funds, not the GC challenge.)

 £11.13/£142.20 spent so far with £131.07 for the rest of the month.

- Pip


* It’s a suburb of London now.

** A string of 24 small Christmas stockings, each takes 2 Lindor balls

*** Chestnut Stuffing:  Combine 1 sachet of chestnut puree, 2-4 slices of bread, a peppercorn, a couple of cloves of garlic, the juice and zest of an orange, and an egg in the food processor +/- a small onion.  Puree until smooth.  Stuff into the bird’s cavity and add 20 minutes to the cooking time.

herebeme

Had a spend on 1st Dec when popped into local Budgens on way home from work, always dangerous as not planned. Managed to limit myself a bit, but splurged on an avocado that was so bitter as to be inedible. £4.39 on food.

Today did big grocery shop. I’m getting used to having a car, so still tend not to think to bulk buy, but I did size-up on washing detergent and got some tins to stock up cupboards. £44.43 on food (probably most of 2 weeks worth), and £9.75 on household.

Total so far this month £58.57 / £150

PipneyJane

Afternoon All

Well, I’ve survived the hell that is our local Sainsbugs.  (I don’t know why, but they are my least favourite supermarket chain.  I can never find anything.). I was surprised by how empty some of their shelves were, including an entire section of fresh produce where (I think) they normally have fresh fruit.  I did look for things that I’d normally buy at MrT’s: e.g. bulgar wheat and own-brand low-fat hot chocolate but they weren’t in stock.  Even the sweets section was depleted - they only had one tray of multipacks of Mars Bars and plenty of empty shelf space.  No crème fraiche, but I did manage to buy sufficient MB’s to make Chocolate Vodka as a present to my colleagues.  Also bought some unwrapped broccoli.

Prior to Sainsbugs, I went to L!dl, spending £15.40.  Stocked up on veg, as planned.  They had their Simply penne pasta back in stock, so I bought 5.  Shelf price was 42p per 500g pack, but I was charged 41p at the checkout.  (A year ago, I was paying 29p a pack, more recently 32p.). Bought sufficient dark chocolate to make some Coconut Rough, for the colleagues that don’t drink.  (Since I paid for the broccoli at Sainsbugs out of my own purse, while the GC purse paid for the dark chocolate, I’m treating them as a 1-for-1 swap.)

The above brings our total shop to £26.53/£142.20, leaving £115.67 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

Gettingmyshiztogether

Another small spend today in Sainos, £11.28. In that I got 2kg of courgettes for £1.48! These have been chopped and put into the freezer. Freezer is looking nice and full after spending two hours batch cooking this morning. Still some more to do and use up what's left in the fridge. That can wait until tomorrow when DH is out! 

To date £85.22/ £460
= £374.78 left to spend. 

Sayschezza

I haven't seen greying pilgrim on here recently. Hope she is ok.

Soontobeoap

Tesco delivery today. £71.00 spent. Didnt look much but hoping to batch cook tomorrow so will see how many meals i can make up from what was bought. Did get quite a bit of meat so fimgers crossed i have all of the meat i need until January. Used new Tesco crediit card to pay so hoping that the tesco points will be boosted too.

Must confess that we finally gave in to our third chinese takeaway of the year last night. ( different budget) and there is enough to warm up for our dinner tonight. 

PipneyJane

Sayschezza said:

I haven't seen greying pilgrim on here recently. Hope she is ok.

I sent her an MSE message last night.  Will let you all know if she replies.

- Pip

SausageDogSandwich

First spend of the month for us, had tesc delivered yesterday, came to £77.58. This included stuff for over Xmas and normal food shop like 24 cans of coke, 2 months of washing stuff, Ribera squash instead of Tesco own, expensive coffee instead of the cheapest etc as we like to treat ourselves over December. 

£77.58/350