November 2024 Grocery Challenge

PipneyJane

@elsiepac, please increase my budget to £160.40, to include the 40p left from October.

@thriftwizard - I feel your pain re your Panasonic bread machine.  Mine keeps threatening to die - the bread pan sometimes seeps water from the seal at the bottom, and can’t be replaced - but, fingers crossed it’ll keep going for a while yet.  It did its “leak trick” again at the weekend, pre-bread making, while I was weighing the ingredients.  After baking bread, I filled the bread pan with liquid and, guess what(?), no leak.

I have shopping to declare from the weekend.  Friday afternoon, I spent £48.63 in L!dl, where I succumbed to two YS rump steak at 20% off (£3.99 each down from £4.99), and a double packet of mussels in white wine sauce for £3.49.   They weren’t the only impulse items purchased.  I literally went in with 5 items on the shopping list and came out having to purchase another shopping bag, because the 2 I’d taken into the shop were spilling over with stuff!

Oh…and you know the one thing I didn’t purchase?  Peppercorn sauce to go with the steak, so I went back on Saturday to buy two sachets of that, a dozen large free-range eggs - we only had one left following breakfast - and to collect our “free” sweet treat (a chocolate muffin).  £4.80 spent this time.

Also on Saturday, I went to Sainsbugs.  £14.63 spent on 6x450ml tubs of Yeo Valley Yoghurt (£1.50 each, Nectar price), broccoli, sweet potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and the only tea-tree shampoo on the market for DH (Alberto Balsam at £1.10).

The above brings our total GC spend to £68.06/£160.40, leaving £92.34 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

PipneyJane

Welcome @florence5281  There’s lots of useful information in the threads linked at the start of the Challenge.  If you get a quiet time, they are worth reading.  

Welcome back @Doom_and_Gloom .  Sounds like you’ve been through the mill and then some.  Hope your new home is your forever home.  Also, good shopping by your OH.

Mrs_Cheshire said:

Does anyone have any good meal ideas for chicken drumsticks - either uncooked or already cooked ones. I've got loads of packs

In any recipe that calls for chicken thighs, you can substitute drumsticks instead, usually on a one-for-one basis but if small, do it as 2 drumsticks per thigh specified.  If they’re in a single layer, drumsticks probably take half an hour to roast at, say, 200C.  They’d be really scrummy with a sticky sauce - something like this recipe would work well.

HTH

- Pip

zafiro1984

Terrific box at Lidl's Carboot-Karaoke That would set us up for most of a week. They never seem to have any boxes at my local Lidl's, maybe I'm just unlucky or get there at the wrong time.

Two shops so far this month, one online, the other one was in store.  A big mistake, I overspent even though I went with a list. Hopefully I can get to the middle of the month without venturing out again. 

There's a serious tightening of the purse strings from now until Christmas

£109.66/225 spent

Blackcats

We have managed quite well on our current budget for the last couple of months but with the caveat that we have had a few nights away meaning eating out or being fed by friends we've visited.  So for October I declared a balanced budget and moved the surplus across to our holiday pot
.@elsiepac thank you for running the 11th challenge of 2024

£350.00 for me please

MissRikkiC

Hello everyone. It’s been a while since I’ve been here (over 12 months) as life got in the way but having been transferring more into the grocery pot every month than I’d like, I’m hoping being back and having accountability will help in reducing that. 

We moved house and now only have a coop other than travelling a 35 minutes round trip for a main supermarket which won’t help but I have been picking up some good reductions over the last few weeks and bunging them straight into the freezer. 

This month is a tricky one as we literally emptied our freezer, cupboards and ran everything down to nothing before we moved so we’ve slowly being restocking all of the dry goods through the month. I didn’t increase the budget vs usual to take this into account however it was already £500 so definitely more than I want to be spending anyway. Couple that with now having only £153 left I think I’ve still a tough month ahead. It’s been half term and I didn’t budget for that either having never done one before 😂

So if it’s okay, I’m going to declare my budget at £153 which is what i have left to last the month in my pot. Month runs to 23rd this month so approx £51 a week to include all food, nappies, household items such as cleaning stuff and toilet rolls  

@elsiepac  thank you for still being here and doing this. Sorry I can’t get my post to have the budget as bold, if I try it makes the whole lot bold, maybe because I’m doing this from my phone.

ej22

Annoyingly went shopping yesterday as kids wanted snacks. Spent 

16.50 on food and 6.50 on toilet paper (24 rolls) 

175.50 left for food and 13.50 for toiletries  

Not sure if I can manage this month on that money. 

TravelCrystal

Morning all
A few bits to report
YS carrots from Asda 44p
Eggs from the farm £6.50 (tray)
Lidl for the rest
As I had one of their boxes for £1.50 last week and still plenty of grapes and oranges left decided not to buy another until I saw 👀 this.

For £1.50 it’s ridiculous.
Also bought a loaf to go with the YS piri piri chicken £1.59.
YS on muffins and mushrooms 
No aubergines in Lidl’s so will be making a different meal for now, plenty in the freezer to decide.
Also bought milk, yoghurts, celery, lettuce, butter for future cake making and flash for the bathroom.
Total spend this week £27.99

Total so far £191.16/£400

Have a good day everyone 

T.C

carboot_karaoke

Morning all,

A smallish spend to declare of £13.71, this was for toothpaste, new toothbrushes, bleach, and shampoo and conditioner.

New totals £248.02

Food £197.02 / £420

Petrol £51 / £180

Thanks @Suffolk_lass l plan to use up the supplies as follows:

New potatoes, were eaten with Sunday's roast dinner
Peppers, were added to yesterday's chilli 
Half the red cabbage will be used for coleslaw to go with Wednesday's Lasagne 
The other half of the cabbage, leek and remaining potatoes will be used for cottage pie on Thursday.

My eldest has requested the sweet potato, to cube and air fry. 

Fruit will either be eaten, or if it goes too soft blended into a smoothie. Waste not want not 

Nelliegrace

An impressive box of fruit and vegetables @TravelCrystal

I made a large, wholemeal, apple crumble, a sultana and apple bara brith, and a dozen rock cakes while the oven was on for a pot roast.
They cost under £2 to make, with foraged apples, two eggs from our hens, and a bit less sugar than in the recipe. I use a butter and rapeseed oil spread in baking. I use a teaspoon of treacle and white sugar instead of expensive brown sugar in the cake, and it doesn’t use any of our fat ration. They are all easy to make by hand. Treacle and wholemeal flower are on offer at Asda this week. Basic baking helps with the grocery budget. 

TravelCrystal

That looks lovely @Nelliegrace.
Will make sure I make full use of my box of goodies, I don’t like waste. Good job I’m retired although always busy doing something.

On another subject, don’t know if anyone is interested but in the Christmas edition of the Good Food magazine if you subscribe for a year you can get a free slow cooker. Mine is 40 years old and still going strong but I couldn’t resist it in case mine soon dies.
Subscribed on Saturday £49.99 and it arrived today. Maybe a useful Christmas present for someone. Picture below, excuse the kettle and washing up liquid 🤭 Offer expires  28th November 

T.C