October 2019 Grocery Challenge

dan958

£60.54/£80 with 2 days to go. I'll probably be doing 1 more small shop this week, so well within budget.

PipneyJane

I'm declaring for October at £124.13/£125.10. That leaves us with 97p to add to the change jars.

DH popped into MrT's last night to buy mushrooms and yoghurts, spending £2.81 in the process, which will definitely be our last spend for the month. Payday is Thursday.

ditty1234 wrote: »

Checking out here:
In a 5 week month for 2 people
Cupboard stuff £44
Ready Meals £28
Dairy £42
Meat £48
Fish £7
Breakfast £6
Vegetables £54
Cleaning £11
Toiletries £13
Household staples £9
Dog food £6
Alcohol £44
Snacks £14
Sweets £27
School lunches £30
All in all I'm coming out with a spend of £395
This is including everything, a birthday party probably explains the alcohol and sweets, apart from that my main crime is cooking everything from scratch as we don't really eat any luxurious dishes. Mostly chilies and pasta dishes. I only really shop at Aldi and generally bring a list.
I do I feel I keep failing - but ds 17 does a lot of sport - so he probably eats for 1,5 and the 5 week thing probably explains most of the rest. Anyways I'm not proud, and I don't know how you guys does it.

You aren't failing. I'm impressed by your tracking/analysis skills.

I've highlighted a couple of things where you may be able to cut back. What were the "Cupboard stuff"?

What were the ready meals for? If they're for the nights when you can't face cooking, how about doubling up on some dishes and building your own store of "lazy dinners" in the freezer? If they're for your lunches at work, how about taking leftovers instead? Or making some creative lunches? (At one point, I used to bulk bake potatoes and then take one into work with a slice of cheddar and zap that for lunch. 2 minutes in the microwave for a piping hot lunch and no long queue behind me cursing me for monopolising it.)

What are the "snacks"? Could you bake your own, cheaper alternative, e.g. banana bread or carrot cake? If they're protein based snacks for your son, how about attempting Eat Well For Less's Quinoa Bites, which are a sort of savoury muffin.

Could you trade down brands for toiletries and cleaning products? Those categories seem a bit high. FWIW, I decant my shampoo, conditioner, body wash and body lotion/moisturiser into (recycled) pump action bottles, which has doubled the time it takes to use them up and you can discretely water them down a little to extend their lifespan further. (Don't water down moisturising lotion - it doesn't take.)

I've assumed the school lunches are a non-negotiable item with your son, but if they aren't then could he take in sandwiches or pasta salad? Does he have access to a microwave at school? (In which case, could he take in leftovers to zap?)

HTH,

Pip

Vanlady

Afternoon everyone.

With 2 days to go; which I fully intend to be NSDs I'm declaring October at £223.35/ £210 and 17/16 NSD.
A bit disappointed that I'm slightly over (cos i love a challenge:D) by £13.35, but I'll take that. Also very pleased about 17 nsds.
I did a shop today and ended up buying things that we definately won't need until November (thank you Mr Van!) but also needed some things before our next planned shop on Sunday for a few bits.
I think this challenge is great cos it really makes me put extra thought into our shopping and meal planning.
I'll stick with £210 again in November.

See you all in November:)

MandM90

£1.27 left this month, rolling it into next month! Woohoo! What a difference a little accountability makes.

I actually ended up cheating a little bit, because I charged the halloween sweets to 'family fun' instead of groceries. We're giving it all away so I don't think it's that outrageous!

Enough food to see us to the weekend, by which point I'll have my meal plan. Woohoo!

tessie_bear

£190 spent in october

quite pleased with that so thankyou everyone for your ideas and support

see you in nov xx

Cherry_Burton

Hi all,

Spent £126 against my target of £120. Not too bad but I could do a lot better. Will try harder in November

On to next month

CB

ditty1234

Hi Pip,
Thank you so much for your long reply, and yes it was a bit of an unusual month! But all the same, I almost only shop at Aldee so all products are already own brand or cheap brands. But in the cleaning and toiletries are things like toothbrushes and paste, which I struggle to cut the cost on, and laundry and dishwasher detergent. We run laundry every other day, mostly down to sport activities.
The cupboard category includes everything from pasta, peanut butter to coffee.
Ds often takes leftovers to school for his 2 lunch, he's out from 7 to 7 most days between school and training, and he keeps loosing weight!
The £20 covers one school lunch a week, and then he still brings his 'other lunch'.
I never buy lunch at school, I go out for a coffee once or twice a month at the most, I prefer that instead.
Yes I am maybe at a point where I am spending too much time on tracking my spending and should just spend more time on cooking - and making money.

Thanks, next month I'll be aiming for £280, as no parties and my birthday will have to stay in budget.

jenni_fer

Final Total for Oct here: £263.69/£300.
Not a bad first month, going to be a challenge to stick to £300 for November and include any work lunch spend but fairly determined to eat better/from the freezer a bit in the run up to Christmas anyway so we'll see how we get on.

MadamMim2013

:eek::eek::o
Did a tally up... OVER £430 SPENT!!! :mad:

What on earth.. I’m sure its because I’ve been picking up odd bits after work most days.. Well, it’ll have to stop!!

Must must get back on track..:o

K9sandFelines

I'm finally getting on top of things this month. Came in just under budget by £4.14p.
Going for the same amount for November.

Good luck everyone.