January 2020 Grocery Challenge

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

Just popping back in after rushing my last post somewhat. It's not been a great day today and a few things on my mind but I should acknowledge I've only been doing this challenge a short while but I was under budget for the first time this month :T Spends declared in previous post.

To those struggling with their budgets - i actually don't know what we used to spend - but a few years ago i was spending way more than we should and I know the main shop could easily be £70+ and then top up shops of £20 or £30 each a few times a week as well. We are just 2 adults

One thing I've done to help me focus on food spends is remove alcohol from the budget. It's cheaper than going out and Mr Socks won't budge on it. Set at £15 per week maximum but i'd only be beating myself up trying to reduce this when i can't.

I've also removed from the food budget cat food spends but i do monitor this because it is important to know. The reason being - i'd never cut back on their food ever - we have 2 cats but feed between 2 and 4 altogether so what we need varies. I always like to have enough in for them, some prefer a more expensive brand of food and of course they have treats on occasion.

This allows me to just focus on the food budget which includes toiletries, cleaning products all food and non-alcoholic drinks for 2 adults.

Suffolk Lass has posted some great tips :T I do struggle to meal plan but i am hoping when i've finally run all the excess food down that we have it'll be easier. It's so hard now to see what we have in.

This thread has been brilliant for me and i'm so grateful to elsiepac for running it and to everyone for their posts and support.

Herbyme

StripeyTightsSpottySocks wrote: »

I've also removed from the food budget cat food spends but i do monitor this because it is important to know. The reason being - i'd never cut back on their food ever - we have 2 cats but feed between 2 and 4 altogether so what we need varies. I always like to have enough in for them, some prefer a more expensive brand of food and of course they have treats on occasion.

Economising on cat food is obviously a total no no. Completely out of the question. As if!!
Signed on his behalf,
Toffee the cat (I have my standards you know)

Doom_and_Gloom

Since last shop we have spent £26.03

I will be having vegan nabe for dinner.
OH will be having pizza for dinner.

£248.23/£240.
£8.23 over.

We'll be taking whatever we are over by out of next months budget. I don't think we've done too badly so far even though we are a little over.

Edit : January goes to the end of the month so I won't declare until Friday.

zafiro1984

Declaring 10.40 over, I was hoping to be under but I'm not too disappointed. I have a fair amount in to start the next month. See you all in February.

candygirl

Declaring at £100/120 cos all I'll probably need this week is maybe another loaf
Can I have £120 as my Feb target please?

supersaver1000

carolinerunner wrote: »

Economising on cat food is obviously a total no no. Completely out of the question. As if!!
Signed on his behalf,
Toffee the cat (I have my standards you know)

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

pamsdish

£7.96 on chewing gum, I do like to have a chew afternoons when dog walking, these are 4 large tubs so will last quite a while.

Barbeduk

Declaring £173.73 for January. That's for me and two teenagers that never stop eating.

Baggins - I keep it that low by buying lots of yellow sticker foods and freezing them til I need them. For example, last week's roast included yellow sticker slices of pork from the deli counter and yellow sticker parsnips. We also have a 'past its best before' food warehouse near us so I do a big stock up there every month. I also buy the budget version of everything. I cook from scratch and really can't tell the difference between a lidl basics tin of tomatoes and a more expensive tin once it's been simmering away with herbs and garlic!

This month's massive money saving success has been going back to making homemade pizzas - ds says they are better than the expensive ones I used to buy for a treat. I use the Jamie Oliver pizza base recipe which makes enough for six large pizzas if you like a thin crust, so we tend to have half on Saturday with the leftovers on Sunday! I use plain rather than bread flour to keep the price down even more and genuinely can't tell the difference.

I am chuffed to bits at coming under budget as it means I have been able to pay the leftover into the holiday pot and treat myself to a bottle of the cheapy Lidl pink gin (which tastes exactly like Gordons).

Toonie

Well, as I had no idea what we were spending I guessed at £150 at the beginning of the month, we've actually spent £200.56. More than I had hoped for, but possibly not too difficult to bring down. Things went a little out the window mid-Jan as I came down with a rotten tummy bug and DP was doing the shopping, so just went to the local shop or small tesco which both cost a bit.


The shop we did yesterday pushed us over but we did stock up on a few things which were on offer and bought large packs of things which will last us well into next month if not the whole of Feb (giant toilet roll pack, coffee beans, laundry detergent, extra toothpaste, and extra deodorant). The only non list item we bought was a tub of ice cream (we've just finished the one we bought in October).



We shouldn't need anything else this month, and have fresh food to last us into next week as well as store cupboard and freezer options for beyond. Today I'm making bolognese which will do a couple of suppers and later in the week I'm making lamb stew.


Thanks to everyone on this thread, the journey starts here

Islandmaid

Still more holes than house, so ordered some ‘ping’ meals from land of ice, £41 takes me over my target, but will last into early next week, ie Feb, so not too worried

See you in Feb all x