November 2023 Grocery Challenge

LadyWithAPlan

Happy Thanksgiving those who celebrate it! Hope we are all keeping warm, well fed and not too out of budget.


@CRANKY40 - i love a lemon drizzle cake and keeping one and giving away one is a nicely balanced act
@[Deleted User] I also prefer homemade and the pics Goldfinches posts are quite wonderful. I need to start playing with GF pastry - all these tarts (savoury and sweet sound lovely) and now the weather has turned..

I feel I need another sharpie for the kitchen I have some posh containers then some t/a ones/// i did buy a pack of 10 at Poundland which have lasted but I do struggle with labels..

Popped to huge Mr T by my college and managed finally to get the colman* mustard powder .. so tx for all the suggestions on here - It was v bottom shelf by the mustard in the jars as opposed to the herbs and spices. So thats for my bulk and the GF Leon fried chicken recipe I will attempt soon again 
Also got harissa paste as Mr T has Clubcard reduction on it and the tamari still  on offer so got that - thats all bulk for me.

Shopping £12.28
£158.23 /£150  grocery    + £9.65/100bulk 
I still bought some junk...  some Squashies - junk...£1.15  - in a sep budget..
 £3.73 on cavolo nero and YS chcken breast, Alpr* soy DF cream
£8.6 on bulk - 


My being over budget is skewed as £53 is Hello Fesh and i only had 3 meals on one box - £30 (4 meals (for 2)  is on credit as I was not back from an abroad trip to get it in time. So I will get my last HF meal with £10 off in Dec - another £24 and then also have the prepaid one prob in January or last week of the year. Then cancel it. 
Budget also skewed as I was away for work week one  and had a per diem and stayed with friend week 2  so largely undercounted grocery ..

I still cant find chermoula spice mix in a shop but I have found it on Mr Amaz so I will order some when I next do a shop.
 I had that amazing chermoula spice lamb recipe again from Hel Fresh .. the thai green curry was not great and the teriyaki chicken was pretty good but that lamb dish wow. I rarely eat lamb but I will have a go at making it with chicken mince. V rich - harissa paste, chermoula, tomato puree, condensed chicken stock, garlic , fried mince - and served with greek yogurt and frest mint and rice.

I was looking at GF bread - its over £3 a loaf so I rarely buy it unless YS. The breadmaker I have is never correct for gf - always not cooked or burnt - I am again eyeing up the panasonic bmaker as I know the GF recipes are brilliant - my sister has one - takes 6 mins, 1 stir then 60 mins for perfect everytime GF bread. I can see amazo has some BF offers on but ... I am resisting as its a want not a need.

goldfinches

@[Deleted User] - I took up baking in 2020 while stuck at home and began by following Delia's online course which is free. I now try to bake once a week for a group of friends who include a vegan coeliac and enjoy the challenge of making something everyone can eat and enjoy. I budget separately for it just to keep an eye on what I'm spending and because I do need ingredients that I wouldn't otherwise be buying.
@LadyWithAPlan - thankyou for the compliments. I will definitely be interested in hearing your opinions and experience of GF pastry, I have bought the Doves F*rm ready mix but haven't tried it yet.

I have felt horribly unwell this week which isn't pleasant but the silver lining is that I can claim 3 more NSD's. I am out of both milk and milk powder which doesn't say much about my planning skills so am about to trudge up to the corner shop.

Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating and enjoy the weekend to everyone else.

LotsOfTea

I've had 2 more top up shops and am now up to £190.14/£250. I had to get bits of fruit and salad veg but also things I'd forgotten I'd need like food for entertaining tonight and sweets for DS's class for his upcoming birthday and for his refillable advent calendar. Annoyingly for years it's been the done thing to bring in sweets for the whole class for your birthday. Luckily he'll be going to secondary school next year so that'll put the kibosh on that! 

I don't think I'm going to manage to stay in budget because I've got cake making stuff and party tea to cater for in my last shop but I'll do my best!

LadyWithAPlan

I am very excited as I had the double nectar points offer in the  app - deadline is tonight for those who haven't seen it - 
So swapped £20 points  for £40  and 2 x £10 for £20 each so effectively £80 free - which will help with this months bust grocery  budget and next month
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/latesttip/#nectar
You have to swap vouchers by Friday 24 Nov and use in a month - not on alcohol and tobacco etc

Never done it but worthwhile. I normally shop Lidl/aldi but will get more branded stuff and some bulk from there.

BULK £4.99 Chermoula spice 
£158.23/£150  grocery    + £14.64/100bulk 

Mr Tes xmas lights - there is a v good half price if you have a clubcard deal on lots of xmas lights - saw yesterday but wanted to compare prices .. and they are v good value for money. from 100-500 lights and both white and colour
Been given a free nice fake tree that currently just gone up so I will go back and get some -  Just seen I have a £3.50 voucher I will use against it.

Dinner tonight will be the nearly defrosted pork crackling joint I bought early in the week half price with some defrosted YS root veg mash and greens 

thriftwizard

Oh dear, there's no hope for me... instead of just under £20 at the market, I spent £30. Some irresistible bargains on the f&v front - 4 huge beetroot for £1, 3 big sweet potatoes £1, 5 avocados £1 etc. etc. plus some extra smoked haddock for the freezer - what else could I do? So I'm £10-and-a-little-bit over budget. Luckily this will not break the bank for us, but I'm a little bit cross with myself & determined not to let a single scrap of it go to waste. No grocery shopping now until next Thursday!

Wishing you a happy belated Thanksgiving, @JingsMyBucket!

Pennypincin

Evening everyone.
I'm determined to do 2 food shopping and this weekend. I may struggle Sunday as I'm meeting family go to a Christmas market Sunday and my family aren't the best with money.
I should have £5 to go into the bulk fund all being well this week.
I spent £3.15 in Morrison's today on what seems like loads of ys fruit and vegetables. Extra apples, that should last in the fridge, mushrooms, onions (whole and diced), sliced and whole mushrooms, sliced peppers, cherry tomatoes, potatoes and some fruit.
The bulk of the vegetables have gone into the freezer for future meals, along with 5 meals I bulk made last night.
I completely forgot to switch the plug on at the wall and came home to find the slow cooker cold.
I've had to switch to a big saucepan and using the hob, which is unfortunate as I was hoping to have not done but hopefully I will learn to make sure I switch on the plug at the walk next time, I'm hoping to have several meals left for the freezer tomorrow with the amount I've in the saucepan.
I will have a very full freezer then with plenty, so I should hopefully be able to save a little from the food budget to refill it if I am able to run it down and defrost it.

Suffolk_lass

Just quickly skimmed through 57 posts since I last caught up and also subscribed to the December thread.  I can see this is was because @elsiepac had still to finish setting it up and I wanted to nudge her to include Pip's wonderful post on page 7 of this month's thread. Here's a link to it.

Blackcats

We did another shop at lidls this week which should see us through til the end of the month apart from needing more milk.  We've created a few gaps in the freezer but there's still plenty in there. 

As I have a £3.85 voucher from Tesco which I can use for milk I'm going to declare now for November
I'm really pleased to end this month with an underspend
November ends with a £39.76 balance 😁

Soontobeoap

Finally done an Aldi shop. Been so busy that we have run out of everything! Very pleased that I found some, fish and chips in freezer to cook quickly on Sunday rather than give in to the temptation of a chinese take away. Its this time of year that I sometimes feel too tired to cook.

£28.45 Spent on mince and veg to make up some batch meals tomorrow.

I am declaring at £178.92! 🍾🎉 First time under budget in ages. 

AnotherNewDay

Last day of the November budget today and after months of battling to get the budget back under £100, I've finally done it! £95.69/£100. 
In the end it was the usual suspects that helped get me there...
1)freezer/fridge/cupboard audit (shop from home) ,
2)meal planning and prepping a week ahead,
3)make sure meal prep includes 1 or 2 portions that can be frozen so that have a HM microwave meal option for those days when cba,
4) shop with a list

For December I'm ready to drop to £95