October 2025 Grocery Challenge

Soontobeoap

A good day for me too. Whilst I was at the dentist and hairdressers this morning DH went to Aldi and spent £9.90 on essentials. He didnt pop any treats in as we are both trying to eat more healthily.

This afternoon we went to Tesco's and bought a large pork leg joint, 2x2 battered fish fillets and 2 pukka pies all reduced with clubcard.  Everything came to £13.50. I had £11.00 in clubcard points so only paid £2.50.

Came home and cut the pork into 4 small joints for 2. Therefore we have got 7 meals for our Tesco shop. 🙂

itsthelittlethings

£6.50 in Sainsbury’s on the way home, tenderstem broccoli, tinned mackerel, lemons, kombucha. It was a little Sainsbury’s and I think it’s a bit pricey.

mandco

£3.37 yesterday on lactofree milk parsley & potatoes to make soup with some seriously in need of using leeks 
3.37/258

carboot_karaoke

thriftwizard said:

At one point we were 10 adults, 3 small children, a dog & 2 cats. Mayhem but also a bit magical - just DS3 missing. The slight puzzle though is that it wasn't any kind of special occasion, anyone's birthday or anything; they just love a good get-together & don't seem to need a reason! 

Love this 😊

l hope when my brood grow up they come to visit and eat me out of house and home 😄

thriftwizard

The bulk of this weekend's shopping is done & came to £65.32; this does include some bits that I'd normally put under "bulk buys" but I came to the conclusion that I was hiding too much from myself by doing that! £41.25 of it was for just 2 items (10 chicken thighs and a leg of lamb) at the butchers; they will feed OH, myself and any random droppers-in all week and some of it will be going forward into pies, along with some of the ham from last week, chunks of which are lurking in the freezer. (As will any lamb that's not eaten up by next Wednesday!) That would only leave me £11.79 for the market tomorrow, which I suspect I will overshoot; £5 for a tray of pullet eggs plus a fair bit of fruit & veg (the baby ate it all, honest!) will probably look more like £25. Ah well, still technically inside the (amended) budget but more than I'd hoped to spend. But if I'm to make the most of the resources already to hand, like the frozen ham, so be it.

moginstein

diminua said:

£170.51 spent, which feels an OK place to be. I have some carrots and cucumber to use up so the plan is to make carrot and lentil curry tomorrow (adapting a dhal recipe I've found online) and maybe rice and cucumber to go with it. That should do more than one meal with bread as well.  

Hi @diminua just wondering what you do with the cucumbers, are you adding them to the rice when you have a curry? I've normally a raita type side with cucumber, Greek yogurt and mint sauce, but the other week had 3/4 of a cucumber to use up, so diced it up, and added some chilli flakes and a bit of white vinegar and a smidge of sugar. We had that as one of the sides with pizza (I was going for an Asian style salad).
I do love a lentil curry though, especially with lots of lemon. Hope it was nice.

carboot_karaoke

Evening all, 

I have another few spends to declare £69.42 spent in total . Entertaining cost £60.18 not bad for feeding 3 courses to 16 people. £3.99 was on rubbish bags which will come out of the bulk fund. 

New totals 

Grocery Budget £285.49 / £400
Bulk Fund £44.12/ £50
Grocery Challenge £329.61 / £450

I have the next 3 meals sorted but will have to go shopping for next week.  Should be able to keep within the months budget. 

Suffolk_lass

I am at £141.65 so far this month with only milk (weekly milkman DD) that I absolutely know is coming. It's only just over a week to go. We can do this!

diminua

moginstein said:

diminua said:

£170.51 spent, which feels an OK place to be. I have some carrots and cucumber to use up so the plan is to make carrot and lentil curry tomorrow (adapting a dhal recipe I've found online) and maybe rice and cucumber to go with it. That should do more than one meal with bread as well.  

Hi @diminua just wondering what you do with the cucumbers, are you adding them to the rice when you have a curry? I've normally a raita type side with cucumber, Greek yogurt and mint sauce, but the other week had 3/4 of a cucumber to use up, so diced it up, and added some chilli flakes and a bit of white vinegar and a smidge of sugar. We had that as one of the sides with pizza (I was going for an Asian style salad).
I do love a lentil curry though, especially with lots of lemon. Hope it was nice.

I cut the cucumber up into cubes, and squeezed half a lime over the rice and cucumber mix. 
The curry was a bit bland at first to be honest (too many carrots!) so I muddled up some extra garam masala with some salt and a teaspoon of red pesto I had open in the fridge and added that in and stirred it through, which much improved it. 

Edited as I forgot to add my total so far - £192.95, spends this week include a half bottle of red wine, milk (as ever) orange juice, crisps, tomatoes and a pre-made sandwich. 

moginstein

Thanks, that sounds interesting with cucumbers rice and lime. I often add garam masala to my spicy carrot and lentil soup if it is tasting a bit "lacking", it tends to round it off nicely, and is okay to add at the end. I like the idea of a bit of red pesto though, will bear that in mind, thanks.