January 2020 Grocery Challenge

Purplebonnie

Hi, can I join in please? My food budget is £200 per month for two of us and a dog. That also includes, toiletries, cleaning stuff etc. Hoping to knock it down further, but I will start with that figure. Thank you.

glass_half_full

Hi,
I would like to join this challenge for 2020. In 2019 we averaged £578 per month. This is for two adults and an occasional third when our son comes home from University. We both work full time and I know that sometimes (often) convenience trumps money saving. We have got better in that we meal plan and shop to a list and have reduced food waste. We don't buy any meat or alcohol but we shop at a more expensive SM - S*bury which is a convenience issue. I think we can make savings by getting reducing food waste, using up leftovers, getting better at meal planning. I also think there are savings to be had by moving from brands to own brand on toiletries and home products etc. My target is to keep the weekly shop below £100 and avoid as far as possible top up shopping which is very expensive. Overall, to keep the budget below £500 per month and then reduce again once this has been achieved.

nannygladys

Hi everyone
My £32.50 is in my purse and Im ready to go! but I do have to go out today and get some toothpaste and cleaning stuff and as long as I can get it for under £3 I wont be dipping into my 32.50!!
I have created a very loose meal plan for the next 7 days and I have the majority or stuff in so Im hoping to have a very low week spend wise, and a high nsd one.
Nannyg

Mrs_Cheshire

Afternoon all, lovely to see some familiar faces as well as lots of enthusiastic newcomers.

Had a grocery delivery today ready for the start of 2020 tomorrow. Spent £42.93. I've done a loose meal plan for the rest of the week and next week and I won't need to buy much at all, so I'm off to amend my upcoming deliveries.

I've also decided that I'm going to put £20 on my Tesc* C!ubc*rd each month for 10 months as I save my vouchers for Christmas, I use some for days out the following year and I'll use the extra for my shops in the run up to Christmas to reduce the spends in December. Going to set a reminder on my phone as I don't often shop instore and you can't do it online.

lantanna

Decided against the takeaway tonight and went to M nd S and got the Indian Meal Deal, this will do me for 2/3 meals and no waste. £10 spent. Spent an additional £12.75 which includes the £1 for parking. Got bread, feta, cucumber, mint sauce and few other bits and bobs.

Went to Lidl after spent £12.02 on peanut butter, tissues, rice, peas and stocked up on a couple of bottles of red wine. Stops me buying dearer bottles elsewhere for convenience.

Going strong, looking forward to seeing what I can save out of that budget this month.

newlywed

Can I join and do a part month?
I have £150 left until Jan 25 for two adults.

But have some stocks so should be ok.

ancientmum

Hello again, thank you elsiepac for running the thread. Please can I join in for 2020 with an annual budget of £1500 This is £25 per week, with a contingency for when DS3 is home from uni.
My month goes from 8th -7th, so a week before I start. It should cover food, cat food and cat litter, and household cleaners. I am not going to buy any toiletries at all as I still have some left over from last Christmas, and this year was given vouchers for whatever I might need. I have moved £10 a month from the household budget into my pocket money to cover
cosmetics and hairdressing. I've not budgeted separately for these before, but want to smarten up a bit this year.

Happy new Year everyone!:beer:

H2020

Shop done today, another £43.50 so that's £101.69 total now

Had a little sort through of the chest freezer before and made an inventory of what else I had in the house, planned meals out based on all that. Coffee, milk, coconut milk, soy sauce and a bag of dried ginger (cheaper than a tiny jar) all on offer and some yellow sticker tofu down from £2.20 to 88p so I bought 2! I have that quite regularly so will find a use for the second. Also got some toiletries and cleaning stuff in with that.
We still have wine in the house for tonight

Yellow_mango

Two small shops today £16.44 in Tesco and £43.21 in Aldi. My plan going forward is to avoid these small shops and have a weekly delivery.

Small win - I did a little gardening today and managed to dig up enough potatoes to feed us for dinner tonight :-)

I’ve also made a rudimentary meal plan which should help avoid aimless shopping. Let’s see how it goes!

Anyway. I’ll count today towards January (even though most of it will be gone by tonight - the joys of teenage boys!).

So £59.65. Not a great start :-/

Bake-a-Cake

A good start to January. Meal plan made for the week and using vouchers, shopping came to £8.18. I might need to top up during the week, but hopefully just milk, bread F&V.