January 2020 Grocery Challenge

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

£42.31/£100 spent Annual (27 Dec - 26 Dec) /£1,325 to be updated when declare for the month so as not to confuse myself cat food £58.53

A further £2.20 spent on our food and 63p on treats for cats. From my list the £2.20 got us some veg which was needed, crisps and bread. I was going to buy some more veg and some herbs that was on my list but i decided against it this week.

Maybe next week i'll get the extra. the reason is i'll be cooking meals that will then need freezing and of course that will need space which i don't really have.

Mr Socks tried to sabotage the meal plan and shopping by wanting (IMO overpriced) ready meals. I realise for years I've agreed to this for an easy life and the cost has been between £10-£20 a time - because invariably a few treats go in the basket as well. I stood my ground and offered the compromise of me making the food he wanted next week instead. Today he admitted the meals actually didn't look that nice when he spent time looking at them but it was all a bit fraught I think he was saying, without saying it in this way:

I work hard, i really fancy eating x food and i should be able to have it because i do work hard, pay towards the food shopping and it isn't that much money

and i was saying,

We both work hard and contribute to the food shopping equally, we work too hard to waste our money on this. I do all the planning and cooking and shopping, the shopping has been done, this is not on the plan, it won't be as enjoyable as you think and it'll blow the budget and waste the planned meal i have in.

At least i know what 1 of the meals will be next week :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Meals since last posting have been:

It was something on toast Thursday, last night was the pasta bake and tonight is casserole. Tomorrow i think i'll be making the chickpea curry mentioned on here

There won't be any more food spends this weekend as i'm not venturing out. I've started my shopping list for next week as well.

jam2019

£3.44 to declare today - finally getting to the ends of my quorn reserves so I might actually have to stop living out of my freezer soon

supersaver1000

Oh Stripey - Mr Socks is a bit like my DH so I do sympathise.

My DH's stock answer to what do you fancy for dinner used to be 'shall we have a takeaway'. Cue my heart sinking as I really don't like takeaway curries and I really really don't like spending half a weeks groceries on one. In fact I'd actually prefer to get a ready curry than a takeaway.

There is something in DH's head that says getting a takeaway is a treat, even though he prefers my home cooked curries. I've almost cured him of the habit, so it can be done. And I am going to make sure going forward that there is always a home made curry in the freezer for when he gets the takeaway urge.

Good luck with Mr Socks.

lantanna

No more shopping for me so my challenge ends tomorrow. Feeling really in control of my money- it’s a good feeling. Thinking of setting myself a challenge to do the bulk of my groceries in Lidl next month to see if I can bring it down further. My savings go into my holiday pot currentLy so that’s my motivation.

Ending the month with a mostly full freezer, drinks for work and kitchen roll in stocks so feeling optimistic for Feb.

bett_rhy

Another weekly shop for me today of £60.13 :eek:

163.70/£240

only one week left in this month so hopefully will come in under budget

xxx

Doom_and_Gloom

Shopping yesterday came to £11.30.

I will be having vegan ramen (buckwheat noodles) for dinner.
OH will be having oxtail soup and bread for dinner.

£197.93/£240.
£42.07 left.

We have an A&C delivery scheduled for Monday totalling £23.70 towards the budget. So from Monday that will leave us with £18.37 for the rest of this month .

PipneyJane

Evening All

Three shops to report for me. I was so knackered yesterday from data entry that I couldn’t face cooking dinner, so we went to Costco and bought one of their Chicken and mushroom lattices. Yummy. Plus, while we were there, we picked up a 1kg jar of flavoured couscous. £9.98 spent.

Today, we did our “big shop” for the month, spending £30.68 at MrT’s. It would have been larger, but we received the L!dl magazine with the post this week and it contained a spend-£25-get-£5-off voucher, valid from Monday, so several items were diverted to the L!dl section of the shopping list (e.g. oil).

Finally, we dropped into the local farm shop, buying carrots, half a dozen eggs and a head of broccoli for £2.90.

The above brings our total spend for the month to £87.85/£132.20, leaving £44.35 for the remainder of the month.

- Pip

purpleybat

small spend today for me of £4.68.
it would've been more but i decided that the food for tomorrow's dinner should really come out of 'fun' budget as i'm cooking for 5 friends. i'm quite pleased tho, that came to £15 and hopefully there will be leftovers.
the cheese i bought today for next month i have already written in feb's budget.

i did forget lemons tho to make marmalade, i might need blinkers on when i nip to the shops to buy them so no more food jumps into my basket

janiebaby29

just spent ages reading through this , Im late for the January challenge but just sorted my freezer and pantry and have enough for two people to eat meals for a good month or so . I really do want to cut down how much I spend on food . I will only need to buy bread , milk and fruit and veg . gonna do the Feb challenge

Herbyme

Esthermate wrote: »

Slight mistake. 83/£120

Joined anxiety.co.uk. That took 30 frustrating minutes. £40.

Esther you probably know this, but I'll mention it just in case, joining Anxiety UK gets you a subscription to Headspace for about half the usual cost