September 2018 Grocery Challenge

katiegirl

Hello I would like to join please. I've been away from MSE for quite a while. I'm going to aim for £160 for September (1st-30th). That's for 1 adult and 1 teenager.

I hope I'm not being completely unrealistic as looking back at my last posts on the August 2012 GC my budget was £150, and food prices and my daughter's appetite have definitely increased since then!

The budget is to include all food except for a meal out for dd's birthday, and all cleaning products and toiletries also.

donnajt

ok I've been really brave and for first time ever I've written down income/outgoings, I am going to set budget for £400 or £100 on 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th, see if I can manage, starting from huge advantage as kitchen is bulging with food .... it will be a real challenge as I'm doing slimming world and spend a fortune on fruit/veg throughout the week, tesco basket here, lidl basket there, I'm going to physically remove cards from purse, withdraw £100 each Monday and pay cash only .... wish me luck

luckofthe_irish

Hello - my I join please?

I am a first time challenger but my grocery spend is getting out of control! I am single so am buying for one and last month my grocery spend was £205 - I am very active and compete in my sport, so I eat a lot but I think this is excessive!

I am aiming for £125 until the 25th of September - does this sound achievable do you think? I shop mainly in Aldi with Tesco/Asda to top up.

Hopeless_Case

Day 1 of this month for me today but I haven't done a food plan or shopping list yet (we had lovely family guests from Friday til last night so playing catch up now!) so I need to get to grips with this tonight and probably first spend tomorrow

Chickenlips

I would like to join, if that is okay?

I live alone and am aiming to spend under £140.00 in September.

It won't let me edit to add: this is my first time truly sticking to a budget. I estimate that I spend over £250.00 a month on cards, with a lot going to waste. I intend to do small frequent shops rather than a weekly shop with top ups.

I am also trying to mix in more fruit and vegetables.

I intend to retain all receipts for the month to see where I've spent. I will also mark anything wasted with a red star so I can see how much has been wasted... hopefully none.

My first thought is to stop buying fruit in bulk, as it goes off. It may be a little more expensive buying individual fruits, but that's surely better than throwing away maybe £5 a week?

I normally meal plan, just never stick to it. Will look to use up food in fridge and freezer first, before buying any more meat, vegetables, and misc food.

If anyone has tips for eating well on a budget, please let me know! I'm a little cautious about freezing portions and reheating (bad experience).

elsiepac

Budgets updated to here

sprozza

Wow bank balance has taken a hit in the past 2 days, but I have completed a meal plan for the next month and stocked up the store cupboard and freezers with a months worth of essentials, plus got all the toiletries and cleaning products. Spent £109.08 in Tesco, £4.89 at Co-op, £81.28 at the butchers and £12.58 at the greengrocers total of £207.83. That leaves me £92.17 for fresh fruit, veg, cheese, ham and yogurt for the rest of the month, a tad optimistic but achievable if I just get seasonal produce.

t1redmonkey

Chickenlips wrote: »

My first thought is to stop buying fruit in bulk, as it goes off. It may be a little more expensive buying individual fruits, but that's surely better than throwing away maybe £5 a week?

As crazy as it sounds, I used to be fruitarian. I kept costs of fruit down by only shopping at a local market, and independent greengrocers. I don't know if you do that already since you didn't say, but definitely buy from those places instead of supermarkets since they are so much cheaper! The only thing is they usually sell fruit which is riper than supermarkets, so you kind of need to only buy what you're going to use in the next couple of days.

luckofthe_irish

Chickenlips wrote: »

My first thought is to stop buying fruit in bulk, as it goes off. It may be a little more expensive buying individual fruits, but that's surely better than throwing away maybe £5 a week?

I live alone and eat LOADS of fruit & veg and I find the best option is to choose items which don't go off as easy i.e. apples, grapefruit, pears etc. and those that do go off easier (berries, grapes, pineapple, melon etc.) I buy frozen instead! Big bags of frozen berries are really cheap and they are so nice mixed into yogurt or porridge either heated up or just left cold. Plus frozen grapes are such a good snack (and good for keeping wine cold without making it all watery :rotfl:).

I also buy a lot of frozen veg as I find that so handy for bulking up meals. I am currently loving frozen butternut squash which I throw in the oven to roast with some potatoes in the evening!

Hope this helps, I try to eat as well as possible on a small budget for one so happy to help if you have any questions!

YorksLass

Thanks elsiepac for the new September thread.

Oooh, such a lot of new names on here! The more the merrier, so welcome and :hello: to the [STRIKE]chaos [/STRIKE] fun

I'm in again please for £140 - a 4-week month for 2 adults, groceries only as household, toiletries etc have their own budgets.