January 2019 Grocery Challenge

elsiepac

February GC now live HERE

K9sandFelines

£1.80 spent at work on Tuesday night, and yesterday i spent £49.31 on an online shop at Sainsbury's ( as i wanted to try some Gardein products which i have been waiting three weeks to be released online. Also stocked up on Naturli bits and Frys, so we should be good til into next month for most stuff).

Off to tot up, but i fear i may have gone over. If not, i am teetering close to the edge. New releases and not being bale to go Aldi at all for about a month with my Dad, has not helped to stay to budget.

tighteningthebelt

Hi all
Aldi shop this morning £36.85, should be the last spend this month... Another job done. Ahhh!
Signature updated.

Need2bthrifty

Glad to read that I’m not the only one who has gone over, but like some others I’ll be able to balance out in the annual budget. Overspend is due to my bad planning and having emptied/defrosted the freezer sooner than anticipated so I’ve had a larger butchery spend than usual.

I had £23.52 left to spend and over the past 7-10 days I’ve had three spends
Fishmonger - £5.15 (1 white fillet, 1 smoked fillet)
Butcher - £12.56 (stewing steak, liver, haggis, white pudding)
@ldi = £8.77 (bread, dairy, veg & tinned goods)

An overspend of £2.96

In my defence Gov, the majority of what I bought has been cooked/frozen in individual portions. So happy to say they will last me
Liver = 3 meals
Stewing steak = 5 meals (3 x stew, 2 x beef & mushroom stroganoff)
Haggis = 3 meals
Fish = 2-3 meals

[Deleted User]

Hi, I would like to put my budget back up to £80 per month. It feels too restrictive @ £70- more like scrimping, than being creative. Normally I carry over my bulk fund from the previous year, which gives me lots of 'wiggle room', but decided to start with a clean slate this year - I have a plan ....... I'm going to declare now, even though its a week early, n bank whats left, leaving me with monies in my bulk fund - yayyy and have a longer February. I have loads in, so not a problem, just needs a bit of meal planning. Sorry, was that a mouthful - declaring at £54.27 (plus £7.49 to come out of bulk), leaving bulk with £18.24 ...... and breathe. #YesSomeoneTakesThisChallengeAbitTooSerious #ChillPillLil - See you in February.

Lifeisforliving19

Needed couple of bits on the way home....£9.61 spent in Asda and £1.45 in Greengrocer.
Leaves me on £159.65/£200
Will definitely manage this except for the toilet rolls that I have to get...Was hoping they might not have to be bought until beginning of Feb and then they will come out of next months budget, which is a shorter month, plus we will be away for a few days so no food to buy as the holiday is already paid for. but TBH, I am not sure I will eek them out that far. Will have to see how it goes.

sinkorswim2018

I've just been having a read of the prepping thread. I feel a bit odd between running down my freezer and stocking it up! I've decided to stock it with lower cost foods than previously and batch cooking. I'm going to get in extras of very low cost stuff like 20p dry spaghetti for the cupboards and get some dried lentils iand chickpeas instead of tins. They are more economical and take up less space so perhaps that's a move I should make anyway? Perhaps if I have amounts of cheaper goods I'll use then more. I love oat cakes at around 90p a packbut have started keeping them for occasional use, having cream crackers instead for 40p a pack. I probably get more portions from the cream crackers too. It all adds up!
I'm really pleased with how little I have thrown away this month. Lunches at work are generally leftovers now rather than stuff I've made specifically for work. I think I am becoming more mindful of portion sizes which can't be a bad thing. I have £25 from £200 to see me through until next Thursday ( to stick to my budget, I am fortunate in that I can go over if I need to). I think I can do it. I may by the 'prepping' extra's before that...if I do I will take it out of next month's budget.

lantanna

£ 24.00 spent today in M & S. cudnt resist the meal deal but got loads of yellow sticker items

VickyV

Calling it for the week. Spent £1.27 on ys fancy eggs and English muffins at the local Tesc0 taking my total to £53.32 for the week and £11.68 in the pot!
Can you put me down for next week at £65 for the last week of Jan GC please?

Crowdpleaser

An essentials spend in Mr s today added 13 quid on. Next week is to be tough. Some creative meals I feel! Lol. Heyho we won't starve and hubs out at work 3 nights next week and there are lots of home made ready meals for him to take with him in the freezer.

335/350