November 2025 Grocery Challenge

Suffolk_lass

Your record keeping might not be great but your totals look brilliant @oceandreamer! Well done. We are all a bit guilty of paying the SM to store their food for them. It is that gradual reduction of long held stores that is important, if we are to make best use of what we have.

I always find my larder is over-stocked after processing everything we grow, and the produce freezer is choc-full of garden produce.

thriftwizard

More freebies to report - I popped round to the 'lotty neighbour's house to say thank you for the squashes - half are now portioned up in the freezer & the other half in a giant batch of soup for this weekend, along with some of my HG peppers. Whereupon she pointed out lots more Japonica quinces under their hedge... so they've come home with me, along with an equal weight of little apples from a plot that's been given up, which I'd already been given permission to harvest. Not quite sure what I'm going to make with them but probably some kind of hedgerow jam, using up some of the older fruit in the freezer. The little quinces are particularly high in pectin so I'll boil those & strain, then add whatever berries & currants (I know there are blackberries & redcurrants, probably raspberries & blueberries too, mostly from previous years so needing to be used up) I can dredge up to add some body to the result. It'll be rather nice in porridge when it gets really cold. The apples can just be cooked & frozen to go into crumbles etc. over winter. It'll all add some variety & sweetness, just about for free, in the cold dark days of January & February.

thriftmonster

@JingsMyBucket thank you for the Danish recipe -that is definitely adaptable. Hope you're feeling better 

PipneyJane

Good evening All

@thriftwizard that is quite a haul of butternuts.  Being an Aussie, I’d use the cooked pulp in pumpkin scones, pumpkin bread (like banana bread but orange), and American pumpkin pie, as well as savoury things like soup and ravioli filling.

I have a shop to declare.  £2.12 spent on a sourdough bloomer to accompany a soupy Chickpea & Chorizo Stew on Monday night and soak up the excess liquid.  This purchase was due to a huge lack of planning on my part.  I chose the recipe because I needed to cook something which would use up the excess spinach from Saturday’s purchase, but I completely forgot that we’d need bread to accompany it and, until I was cooking, didn’t check the remains of the loaf that was lurking in the fridge.  Naturally, it was mouldy.  If I’d thought things through, I’d have checked the bread situation first thing in the morning and put a loaf on to bake in the bread-maker.  Humph!

I’m declaring at £195.02/£193.60 so £1.42 over budget.

Not a big overspend, but I’m not happy with my lack of planning.  Must try harder.

- Pip

whitecatcreamsofaDOH

Hi everyone, checking in with a few days left til month end. 

@Blackcats this user name is an old one, after the feline housemate/boss I had when I set it up. Currently live with/work for a very demanding tuxie these days 😆

Spends seem suspiciously low - £359.90 / £500.

I’ve definitely captured everything but had bulk bought cat food last month (need to decide if that’s having a separate budget as I’ll need to top up her wet food next month). Plus did have two takeaways this month (if I counted these then we’d be around £440-450), so may I need to set an eating out budget. 

Soontobeoap

We spent £32.00 in Sainsbury's yesterday on branded bits that we can't get elsewhere. I was going to get some minced meat to batch make shepherd's pies. I just can't believe how much it has gone up. In fact when they had the beef joints half price you could buy prime beef for the same price. Anyway I left it on the shelf. Shepherd's pies and lasagna are no longer cheap meals even when I bulk them up with other things. I am going to check out the price of frozen to see if that is any cheaper. I have to confess that I have been so busy this month that I have thrown some ouff pastry and a few salad bits away through bad planning ( no planning actually). I am kicking myself as I know that if I had kept an eye on everything I could have stayed in budget.

Would also like to give a quick shout out for @elsiepac please post and let us know you are OK. We miss you.

carboot_karaoke

Morning all,

I have my final spends of November to declare totaling  £17.75 including cheese, bread, custard, a roll of wrapping paper and a bunch of flowers. This means ;

Final Totals 

Grocery Budget £252.47/ £360
Bulk Fund £29.66 / £50
Grocery Challenge £ 282.13 / £410

Honestly, cant believe how little I've spent although i'm sure ill make up for it next month 😂

See you on the December thread. 

mandco

@JingsMyBucket hope you’re feeling better soon there’s some horrible bugs doing the rounds at the moment 

I’m Another who’s not been well this week spent a small fortune on lucozade & plain crisps from the local express store which were all I could stomach. 

My American style fridge freezer decided to pack up at the weekend so couldn’t do my usual big shop as currently only have a tiny table top fridge so there have been almost daily top ups at the local express for fresh bits -no idea what they spent as no receipts & they mostly paid cash but guessing I’m over budget yet again.

LotsOfTea

I spent £198.26 on a shopping delivery yesterday which was more than I wanted to but I had to restock a bunch of things like bread flour, cake baking ingredients and tea and it doesn't take long to rack up a big bill these days. I then spent another £12.30 today on bits for the food bank as they were collecting in another supermarket today. 

I'm declaring for the month a bit over but since that's pretty much the food donation amount in happy with that.

£312.66/£300

leftatthetrafficlights

Recent shopping:

Fizzy orange £0.80
Kidney beans £1.25
Lemon stuffed olives £1.40
Oat milk £3
Tinned tomatoes £2.70
Laundry liquid £7.01
Washing up liquid £1.58
Body wash £3.28

Total: £21.02

Running total - £134.58

I will have a bit to add today as my kaffir lime tree has shed quite a bit over the past couple of days so I'm getting some lemongrass, galangal and coriander to make a thai curry paste at the weekend 🙄