December 2018 Grocery Challenge

I've now spent £173.23 out of our £450 budget which is more than I was hoping to spend by this point. I think the aim for next month is to nip top up shops in the bud! Hopefully I'll still come in on budget. We've already got the alcohol and treat items for Christmas we just need to stuff for the main meal.

We arrived back from New Zealand on Saturday morning and, although I've pushed myself to function like a normal human being, the jetlag only left me today. Fortunately, I could work from home for Monday and today.

Please can you revise my GC budget, Elsie? In the end, there sas £35 to bring forward from last month, so our December GC budget is £155 not whatever I thought it was going to be. (Edited to add: I've just checked and it was £158. No idea what happened to the £3 but there was only £35 in the grocery purse when we got back on Saturday.)


I have three GC shops to declare from Sunday. We made use of Lidl's £5-off-when-you-spend-£40 voucher that someone mentioned in November's GC thread and bought a ham (£24.99), plus two frozen lobster (approx £5 each), as well as some more usual groceries, spending £42.75 after the voucher was taken into account.

We also popped to MrT's, where we spent £29.25, and the local farm shop (for some much needed veg). I can't remember the exact figure for the farm shop - I was a zombie - so I'll put it down as £5, which brings my total spend so far to £77/£155, leaving £78 remaining for the rest of the month.

What's grocery shopping like in New Zealand? We stayed in a series of holiday flats, so I got the chance to wander around a few convenience stores and supermarket. The main supermarket chains are Countdown and New World (both subsidiaries of Australian supermarkets). There's also a smaller chain, which I think is a series of independents carrying the one branding, called "Four Square". Once you take account of the exchange rate, I reckon groceries are slightly more expensive than here. Fresh food items seem to be about the same price, while processed foods are 1.5 to 2.5 times more costly. And I think they have a sugar tax.

The hardest thing to find was squash. Even though I grew up on the "West Island" (aka Australia) where "cordial" is common, the Kiwis don't appear to have much of a taste for it. After scouring every convenience store in Auckland during our first 5 days, I managed to find a bottle of blackcurrant "Mr Thriftee" in Rotorua, which turned out to be highly concentrated and sugar free. You use 1 teaspoon per glass.

You'll have heard the news about the poor girl who was murdered in Auckland? Every shop window, lamp-post and traffic light had "missing" posters for her, when we were there last week. Her picture was everywhere even though, at that point, she'd only been missing for a day or two. The whole city seemed to be looking for her.

MadamMim2013 wrote: »

Eeeek.. Need to sit down and go through receipts.. No idea where I am, that said I don't think I've spent too much?!
The big 40 tomorrow.. Really excited about it, have a week ol nice things planned
Will update everything on weds :A
Have a good week everyone

Happy Birthday MadamMim! I hope you have a wonderful day and that life only gets better from here on.

- Pip

We've spent £13.76 since last post.

£67.76/£200.
£132.24 left.

Thank you everyone for your kind birthday wishes:smileyhea
Have totted up and added to my sig, £99.12 spent so far.. Not bad considering I had no idea how much I'd spent n where! :T
Need very little this week and freezer is full, Xmas meats are in there so minimal bits needed for the rest..

Just been totalling up our spends so far this month, £138.63/£400 which includes a family meal out. I've got an Ice!and delivery coming tomorrow ( my first one) and I'm planning on doing a tesc* shop tomorrow for fresh stuff. I'm going to sit and plan tonight, so I only get a top up early next week and then the main Christmas shop on thurs 20th or fri 21st.
Feeling optimistic this month!