January 2020 Grocery Challenge

pamsdish

£16.85 in Aldi stuck mainly to my list, which meal planned up to next Thursday, who was it said to take a photo of fridge before shopping, cream cheese caught my eye, couldn`t recall any in the fridge so bought 2, now have 4, no waste though as always long dated and often use just melted in microwave for a cheats cheese sauce.

SummerDays

Just caught up on the thread, it's been over a week since I posted - life just so busy!

A further £164.28 spent since 14th Jan bringing total to £284.19/£500 and a week left of the month. This was across a variety of shops, A5da, L1dl, Superdrug.....

I've noted down roughly whether spends have been actual groceries, alcohol, toiletries or cleaning products, so I can fine tune my budget a bit more. It's quite eye opening really as we obviously don't spend as much on actual food as I thought! Also £10 of the spends was a birthday gift for one of the kids going to a party. £4.45 on birthday cards. £4.50 on photo printing. Again, other things to note, and create a separate budget for.

Will need to buy meat, and some more fresh veg for Sunday lunch, then bits for packed lunches for next week. I am planning a stock up shop towards end of next week whilst there is money in the budget for toilet rolls, kitchen rolls etc - and I have an A5da evoucher which needs to be used. Delivery is £1, but for me, cheaper than petrol to store, and a bit less hassle for the bulkier items.

Esthermate

£4.25 Tesco. Milk, mushrooms and eggs.
£108.25/£120.

bett_rhy

Last shop of the month for me £59.84


£223.54/£240

:T I am very pleased staying under this month, there's first time for everything :rotfl:

H2020

£5.35 spent earlier in the week and £35.80 on the shop today.

That's it for us this month. New one starts on Tuesday and we've got everything we need until then.

Meals planned:
Friday - Sweet chilli tofu & veggie stir fry
Saturday - Homity Pie with salad
Sunday we're going out to eat with some money we received at Christmas and our own personal money, not the food budget.
Monday - Moroccan slow cooker veg tagine

Got some fantastic yellow sticker bargains today.. 3 packs of vegan sausages, loaf of bread, 2 naan breads, an avocado and a leek all for less than £1!

Grocery spend this month: £378.58
We had £7.63 go into savings from round ups, and £5 that we put into savings when we got a £5 more voucher. So total out of our account £391.21 / £390. We must've had a little in there to start with as left with a grand 37p, which will just carry over.

This challenge has been the best thing for our budget, never felt so organised! Feel confident that I can keep lowering it gradually until about £300 and then see how we feel after that

thriftwizard

Logging a £60 spend at the market this morning. In theory, that will do us all week, but we're 9 for lunch on Sunday & I wasn't able to get hold of a decent-sized joint & I'm not happy that what I hauled out of the freezer is big enough. At the end of the day, that'd keep until later in the week, so provided I get a chance, I'll need to pop down to the market again first thing on Sunday (when there is a butcher, though I'm not a fan) & invest in something a bit bigger! Busy all day tomorrow, so I'm not likely to have a chance to pick anything up, unless things go more quickly than I think they will.

I'm doing pretty well this month, because I'm using up a lot of stuff from the freezer plus overstocks from Christmas, but next month won't be so easy as we're running low on some things now. Maybe I should do a "carry-forward" of any underspends to act as a cushion when needed. That said, there's still a fair bit of meat & fish in there, which will help next month when my mother comes to stay for 2 weeks!

zafiro1984

A 67.24 spend today bringing the total to 210.47/200, a little over and I know I'll need more milk and possibly butter before next Friday. Even so I'm not too disappointed as I have plenty in for Feburary. I'll declare my total at the end of the month.

pamsdish

Islandmaid wrote: »

Morning all,

I spent 99p on this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eat-Shop-Save-mealplanners-healthier-ebook/dp/B07CLPWJ8S/ref=pd_rhf_ee_s_msx_wsixn_v1_0_3/259-3209195-4576300?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07CLPWJ8S&pd_rd_r=cacde8c2-2b0d-43af-ba95-1d687886b695&pd_rd_w=YAIgC&pd_rd_wg=jbsQw&pf_rd_p=911f26c3-a54b-43a9-911f-fad380f28632&pf_rd_r=BDQ2QPK1ZB3EPEHW9VAX&psc=1&refRID=BDQ2QPK1ZB3EPEHW9VAX

It’s not part of my grocery budget, but thought it might be useful to someone

NSD other than that, Christmas leftovers (again) tonight, simple supper, cheese and crackers, will have a glass or 2 of wine too

Just posting this as a thank you to @Islandmaid, done a few recipes, ear marked others, very nice book, no fancy 100 ingredient recipes and still 99p. Can really recommend the fish pie.

madwife28

It’s been Ages since I last updated due to life being very busy and still trying to get rid of this lurgy😲
I have collated my receipts and can update that my grocery spend stands at £151.09/£180[/
I am so pleased that we still have almost £30 for the following week:T

This has been to meal planning using food from the freezer to try and use up. I have been guilty in the past of buying lots of food on specials/yellow labels and end up throwing it away because it has got freezer burn and ruined, therefore wasting money and food.
Well, NO MORE!!

I am hoping I can keep this up until my freezer is almost empty and will update before the end of the month.

good luck everyone and thanks for all the tips on the thread (particularly the recipes:)

Madwife

2Scratters

Morning Peeps,
been lurking and keeping an eye on what is needed to be done here. Have had plenty NSD but always bust that when I go out. Is it just me?
We have had a planning meeting; and have set a budget for £200 pcm. I am not very good at keeping receipts so am going to use the cash in a separate purse. (I love purses). We only tend to buy our meat 3 monthly so Hubby has just paid for that. We will however start to build that in at £30 pcm. Using hard cash will make me think a little better.
A friend and I had been swimming and Morries is just down the road. We had cheaper brunchies than going to a little cafe:) Also had a look for the YS items. I Came out with an arm full for under a fiver.
Payday is Monday so my month will be 27 to 26th Feb. Off to find a purse.:rotfl: