October 2023 Grocery Challenge

joedenise

A few spends over the last couple of days across Tesco, Morrisons and M&S and have now spent £87.52/£200 budget for the GC leaving me with £112.48 for the 2nd half of the month.  Think I may need some more meat later in the month but still completely doable.  Pleased with that having reduced the monthly spend by £50 after coming in under £200 for a few months.  That extra £50 is now moved to other budgets where they'll be more useful.

goldfinches

I did a couple of shops yesterday afternoon in preparation for a planned cooking session either this evening or tomorrow morning. I bought frozen spinach, parsley, 3x leeks, baby carrots, cider vinegar, 2x bananas and vegan dark chocolate from M*rks for £9.44 and then went on to Sainsby's where I bought white vinegar and frozen fruit for £3.39.

The cider vinegar, bananas and chocolate are for this recipe which I'm planning to make to celebrate the birthday of one of my friends so I'll let you know what the verdict is later on this week.

The other bits are mostly for this recipe which I'll be making in the oven at the same time as this one for baked apples.

That makes my new monthly figure £63.81/£170 and my average daily spend is now £4.25.
The baking budget new monthly figure is £5.82/£20.

Florenceem

Managed not to spend much but that will change when we go away on Thursday. 

Blackcats

I had a bit of a wobble yesterday thinking that I didn't have enough food in and that I needed to go to the shops.  However, I thought of all the resourceful folk on here and I made a batch of spicy tomato and lentil soup, some stewed apples for adding to breakfast porridge, orange jelly with tinned mandarins and a herby focaccia style bread.  Dug out some frozen chilli.  So actually I didn't need to go to the supermarket until Wednesday.  

It's an interesting psychology where I thought I'd want to spend money in the supermarket but being here on these boards makes me feel accountable.  Thanks everyone! 

goldfinches

@Blackcats - more power to your elbow! Your soup sounds delicious and perfect for the cold weather we're having this week.

I forgot to put milk and yoghurt on the list for M*rks yesterday so had to go back this lunchtime where I was beguiled by YS asparagus and strawberries so am coming here rather shamefacedly to confess to having spent another £9.08. On the plus side I shouldn't need to set foot in any food shop now until at least Saturday morning.

That makes my new monthly total £72.89/£170 and my average daily spend is now £4.55.

SausageDogSandwich

Have done a big shop and a few small ones since last posting. Have started my next big shop order for Saturday, had an appointment with surgeon last week to say my surgery was planned for next week, called yesterday to ask when I will get my prep and more bloods taken to be told I’m not in the diary and no one will be in to ask until Thursday. Which has thrown a spanner in the works as I don’t know if I’m going to be here or not and what I should order now   
£138.97 spent

thriftwizard

@SausageDogSandwich  - {{{hugs}}} - that makes life rather difficult for you! Hope they can sort you out soon.

On return from looking after our family sausage dog & his feline sister for a week, I find that all £50 grocery "allowance" has gone despite me leaving enough food in the fridge, freezer & allotment to feed a small army for 2 weeks. Sigh! Oh well, added to my total, and the stuff that didn't get touched will feed us this week. We did surprisingly well in Wales (which I'm not adding - holiday money!) thanks to a visit to the local Farmer's market - a 1Kg+ turkey drumstick for £3.46, slow-cooked, in addition to the gammon I'd taken from home & some gorgeous local cheeses, was the basis of my diet for a week, plus the contents of DDIL's autumnal veg beds & greenhouse. The turkey also made the basis of a big pot of hearty soup, with lentils, leftover veg, herbs & seasoning from the store-cupboard, for DS1 & DDIL to return home to after their travels, and I brought some home to feed OH & I in a one-pot dish tonight. Brilliant value - why can't I find anything like that around here? Although we are technically rural, the surrounding area is mostly equestrian, and the farmer's market seems to specialise in olives - sigh!

Soontobeoap

DH "NEEDED" ice cream so he popped to our local Aldi to buy some. Returned  with milk, icecream and his favourite squash. Another £5.00 spent! 🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️

On the plus side I found an unopened bottle of soy sauce in store cupboard so I have been able to cross that off my list for the weekend. 

I was heading to the mainland for lunch with friends tomorrow. It looks like I will have to cancel as storm Babet is probably going to stop the fast cat running and I dont really want to get stuck over there. I have taken  cheeseburger pastrys from freezer as I will probably be eating here with DH.

Over half way through month so fingers crossed I can stay in budget this month. Still not needed heating on so far either. 

strandedinaber

Yikes. I've not been paying enough attention to the budget for this month and currently checking in at £162.82/£200 so far with two weeks remaining. But the cupboards and fridge/freezer are stocked so this should be entirely achievable. Lunches for the remainder of this week are already made (pesto pasta and roasted vegetables), there are leftovers for dinner tomorrow, and carrots and potatoes that need using up. Off to love food hate waste to decide what to do with some skinny and slightly limp carrots (I've already used up the good ones).

Pennypincin

Thank you for the advice.
I managed to get 4 big bags of ready prepared veg at the weekend reduced and made a big batch of vegetarian chili and a big batch of vegetarian Bolognese.
Monday I bought a little extra veg to bulk out a soup I made, several portions have gone into the freezer.
My freezer is now full and I really need to start using the vegetables make meals rather than buying more.
I've around £15 of this weeks money left after going a bit silly with the money for a midweek treat.
Sorry to hear that others are struggling.
Edit.
Popped into Tesco and did another odds and sods top up and have £10.99 in the food budget.
I'm hoping to get away with only buying milk for church Sunday, which will be out of other money and maybe a little bit of fresh vegetables.