April 2024 Grocery Challenge

Suffolk_lass

PipneyJane said:

Pennypincin said:

I've £22.26 left after buying value washing powder and value clothes detergent in Morrisons, plus some reduced price eggs and peppers in Tesco.
I don't know how good the Morrisons value clothes washing stuff is, but I thought I'd give it a go at the price.

I’d be interested in your comparison, @Pennypincin.  Please tell us if there is a noticeable difference, after you’ve done a few washes.  Also, is the quantity specified for use different from your old washing powder?  (Most people use more than the specified quantity, so “portion control” is important if you want to save money.)

- Pip

Me too - I haven't bought their laundry detergent (I use about 25% of the recommended quantity of a liquid, or just washing soda or nothing at the moment).

I do buy their lemon savers dishwasher tabs (£1.99 for 40) and run the machine alternate days with a winged platinum tab. The savers work best on 50 degree economy wash. At 70 (needed if the dog gets to the plates and does a pre-wash) I use the liquid winged ones as we had a white powdery residue (might have been shortage of rinse fluid) with the Savers at 70 once or twice

navelorange1

@otb666 I don’t know if you live near $ainsbury’s but the best toilet paper I have found for value and price is their x16 quilted rolls for £6.50. I’ve been using them for over a year and they’re as good as the premium brands.

navelorange1

Some very good news today! My landlord offered me £350 compensation and I sold a games console which I haven’t played in a year, and altogether this had paid for my cat’s operation! Feeling very happy

PipneyJane

navelorange1 said:

Some very good news today! My landlord offered me £350 compensation and I sold a games console which I haven’t played in a year, and altogether this had paid for my cat’s operation! Feeling very happy

That’s excellent news @navelorange1.  You must be very relieved.

I have no spends to declare.  We will be going shopping tomorrow for fresh produce, so I’ll post an update then.   Also, I’m drawing up a shopping list for Wednesday, when I get paid.  We will be taking advantage of several L!dl+ offers on that day.

- Pip

Pennypincin

A £10.90 spend to declare in Morrisons.
Mainly on salad, fry light, 2 litre bottles of white vinegar, frozen veg and Morrisons budget toilet rolls.
I will let you know how I get on with the washing powder.
It will be interesting.

thriftwizard

Oooops - and I'm well & truly bust! Somehow between the supermarket (just £14.30) the butchers (£35.71) and the market (£50) I've spent twice as much as I meant to! Partially explained by an outrageous bargain on venison (will be slow-cooked tomorrow and several portions frozen for future reference) and another on a large slab of fish (half will be frozen after taking 3 good portions off this evening.) Plus the usual irresistible bargains on things we will use up (3 punnets of mis-shaped locally-grown strawberries, mostly just "too small" for the supermarkets, but very tasty, for £3) and I'm more than £50 over. Oh dear! But also, oh well - last weekend was lovely, having the family all together, I'm not going to regret pushing the boat out a little. Will try to do better in May!

PipneyJane

And…. We’re bust!  £142.29/£140 an overspend of £2.29

However, that’s it.  No more spending needed in April.  

Yesterday was a very bitty day, with visits to B&Q (for garden stuff), L!dl, Sainsbugs and the butcher.   We* went to the butcher in the hope of collecting some chicken livers.  Sadly, even though I phoned in an order earlier in the week, they won’t be available until Tuesday.  Who’d have thought that it’d be so difficult to obtain chicken livers?  I want to make pate.  (I have a goose liver and a duck liver taking up space in the freezer but, even combined, they aren’t enough to make a decent quantity of pate.) Also, you can now only by chicken livers by the kilo.  Not a problem in this house - I have 2 different pate recipes plus 3 different main course meal recipes. 

In L!dl, DH spent £2.75 on onions (99p), garlic (95p) and a 4-pack of lemons (81p with offer).  He also picked up our free 1kg bag of fusilli (normally £1.29), since we’d crossed the £150 voucher barrier (having purchased raised beds, etc, earlier this month.  The Garden Fund paid for those).  Last time we got the voucher, we worked our that the pasta was the best value product available.  It should make 3 meals.

In Sainsbugs, DH spent £5.54 on 440g loose broccoli (96p), 778g Fairtrade bananas (70p), 750g loose carrots (49p), sweet peppers £1.70 and mushrooms £1.50.  He added £2.20 to the GC purse to cover those.  

Meal plan-wise, right now, I haven’t got a clue.  Today will have to be some sort of beef stew, because I defrosted some stewing steak yesterday, but I can’t tell you if it’ll be a curry, beef bourgiugnon, or something else entirely.  I just need inspiration for the rest of the week.  We won’t starve.  We have salmon fillets, white fish fillets, lamb’s liver, minced beef, diced pork, a haggis, faggots, half a leg of lamb and a pork roast in the freezer, plus several frozen tubs of cooked (previously dried) beans, chickpeas, etc.  There are multiple tins of tuna, salmon and mackerel in the pantry.  I’m just lacking inspiration.

The only thing I plan to do is to make bread.  I will have to test the yeast we have, first, because the last couple of loaves didn’t rise much.  However, as well as the “instant” dried yeast required by the bread maker, we also have regular dried yeast in the fridge, so I may use that instead.  Also, I’m tempted to just use the bread maker for blending and kneading, and to then do a final rise in a tin and bake it in the oven.

- Pip




* I say “we”.  I haven’t been inside a shop since I started chemo in January.  DH does all the shopping and phones me whenever he has a query.

Blackcats

@PipneyJane - very sensible for you to stay away from the shops and well done to OH for checking back with HQ for any queries.  My OH did the shopping during lockdown and was much more freestyle with his shopping habits,  let's just say we still have stocks of some items that he stocked up on in 2021!

Finishing the month with an £11 underspend.  This will be paid into our Christmas savings pot to give that a boost.
we've had a couple of very long and busy days and on one day we succumbed to a takeaway but on the other day we were very grateful for a frozen home made bolognese sauce for a quick and tasty dinner.

finishing the month £309/320 -£11 underspend to go towards Christmas (is there a prize for mentioning Christmas in April?)

NeverendingDMP

Blackcats said:

@PipneyJane - very sensible for you to stay away from the shops and well done to OH for checking back with HQ for any queries.  My OH did the shopping during lockdown and was much more freestyle with his shopping habits,  let's just say we still have stocks of some items that he stocked up on in 2021!

Finishing the month with an £11 underspend.  This will be paid into our Christmas savings pot to give that a boost.
we've had a couple of very long and busy days and on one day we succumbed to a takeaway but on the other day we were very grateful for a frozen home made bolognese sauce for a quick and tasty dinner.

finishing the month £309/320 -£11 underspend to go towards Christmas (is there a prize for mentioning Christmas in April?)

Maybe a prize. Although a lot are all thinking it I'm sure. I've got 12 in my Asda Christmas rewards pot so I'm joining you in the festivities 😂

navelorange1

Feeling a bit under the weather at the moment. I think it’s stress. No spend day today. I made a vegetable soup from leek, remaining 2 potatoes, carrot, cauliflower, ginger and garlic. Also had bananas and custard for the first time in over 10 years! That was fun. I’ve written out my meals for Monday and Tuesday. Breakfast is either banana and custard or rice pudding with raisins. Lunch and dinner on Monday are defrosted samosas, rice, chickpeas and mixed veg. Lunch and dinner on Tuesday are prawns cooked in butter, tuna, rice and mixed veg. The tin of tuna is to pad out the prawns so I can use 1/2 bag for 2 meals instead of a whole bag. Then Wednesday I can go shopping again! 😊