May 2020 Grocery Challenge

Pixiehouse55

I've been keeping all my receipts this month (pay day is 6th May to June 2nd). We were doing well but because hubby is decorating kitchen we had a naughty pizza delivery one week and chippy this week. So far food shopping has come to £278.67p but 2 takeaways has taken us over my £300 budget this month. 2 takeaways come just over £50!!. Weve got 8 days till next pay day.
We have 2 Adults with Learning difficulties who don't really eat much but very fussy about what they will eat. Can make it hard at times, I'm determined to not overspend on food!!!
4 adults £300 a month is that good or bad? That does include toiletries and cleaning products. Dog food is separate, that's another £ 80 a month

joedenise

I think £300 is amazing for 4 adults to be honest.   If you can afford it and it's not causing you any problems financially then I certainly wouldn't be worried.  There is only DH and I and I budget £250; and in addition I also have a budget for bulk buys, mainly meat but sometimes other things too, eg last month with the flour shortages DH bought a 16Kg bread flour as he makes all his own bread.

PipneyJane

Good morning everyone

 I have one spend to declare from yesterday:  £3.32 in MrT’s Express.  We walked down to get the Sunday paper (we get vouchers).  I bought a hand of bananas and a half-price tub of Carte D’Or.  I am not impressed with their prices.  If L!dl would accept the newspaper voucher - they don’t (BTDT) -  I would have walked the extra 2 blocks and shopped there instead!

The above brings our total GC spend to £136.56/£123.60, meaning we’re £12.96 over budget. 

Pixiehouse55 said:

I've been keeping all my receipts this month (pay day is 6th May to June 2nd). We were doing well but because hubby is decorating kitchen we had a naughty pizza delivery one week and chippy this week. So far food shopping has come to £278.67p but 2 takeaways has taken us over my £300 budget this month. 2 takeaways come just over £50!!. Weve got 8 days till next pay day.
We have 2 Adults with Learning difficulties who don't really eat much but very fussy about what they will eat. Can make it hard at times, I'm determined to not overspend on food!!!
4 adults £300 a month is that good or bad? That does include toiletries and cleaning products. Dog food is separate, that's another £ 80 a month

@Pixiehouse55 - the Grocery Challenge is a learning curve. You start with a couple of months of  “What am I doing now?”, work your way through several months of “What can I change?” and “Did that work?” until you reach “Is this the best I can do?”.  You are budgeting £75 per person per month for everything, which is really good. 

Sure, my monthly Grocery Challenge  budget is £120 but it excludes meat (£40, separate budget) and I have a Bulk Fund (again £40) for those times tinned tomatoes are on sale at 4-for-£1 (when I’ll buy 24 for £6).    We rarely buy supermarket meat which, I think, is massively overpriced for what you get; ours comes from a local butcher.  Prior to Lockdown, virtually all my veg came from a farm shop.

Would things be better for you, if you thought of your month as a whole instead of shopping weekly?   Perhaps doing one big shop in the month plus 3 fresh-milk-and-veg runs? Are you throwing out a lot of fresh food that has gone off?  (Ignore best-before dates.). Can you squirrel away some money next month to start a Bulk Fund? Are you utilising your freezer to its full capacity?  Have you read all the money saving links at the start of the Challenge, to see if there are any tips you can learn?  What about the Sneaky Ways thread?  These are all things for you to consider for June.  

HTH

-Pip

Pixiehouse55

PipneyJane said:

Good morning everyone

 I have one spend to declare from yesterday:  £3.32 in MrT’s Express.  We walked down to get the Sunday paper (we get vouchers).  I bought a hand of bananas and a half-price tub of Carte D’Or.  I am not impressed with their prices.  If L!dl would accept the newspaper voucher - they don’t (BTDT) -  I would have walked the extra 2 blocks and shopped there instead!

The above brings our total GC spend to £136.56/£123.60, meaning we’re £12.96 over budget. 

Pixiehouse55 said:

I've been keeping all my receipts this month (pay day is 6th May to June 2nd). We were doing well but because hubby is decorating kitchen we had a naughty pizza delivery one week and chippy this week. So far food shopping has come to £278.67p but 2 takeaways has taken us over my £300 budget this month. 2 takeaways come just over £50!!. Weve got 8 days till next pay day.
We have 2 Adults with Learning difficulties who don't really eat much but very fussy about what they will eat. Can make it hard at times, I'm determined to not overspend on food!!!
4 adults £300 a month is that good or bad? That does include toiletries and cleaning products. Dog food is separate, that's another £ 80 a month

@Pixiehouse55 - the Grocery Challenge is a learning curve. You start with a couple of months of  “What am I doing now?”, work your way through several months of “What can I change?” and “Did that work?” until you reach “Is this the best I can do?”.  You are budgeting £75 per person per month for everything, which is really good. 

Sure, my monthly Grocery Challenge  budget is £120 but it excludes meat (£40, separate budget) and I have a Bulk Fund (again £40) for those times tinned tomatoes are on sale at 4-for-£1 (when I’ll buy 24 for £6).    We rarely buy supermarket meat which, I think, is massively overpriced for what you get; ours comes from a local butcher.  Prior to Lockdown, virtually all my veg came from a farm shop.

Would things be better for you, if you thought of your month as a whole instead of shopping weekly?   Perhaps doing one big shop in the month plus 3 fresh-milk-and-veg runs? Are you throwing out a lot of fresh food that has gone off?  (Ignore best-before dates.). Can you squirrel away some money next month to start a Bulk Fund? Are you utilising your freezer to its full capacity?  Have you read all the money saving links at the start of the Challenge, to see if there are any tips you can learn?  What about the Sneaky Ways thread?  These are all things for you to consider for June.  

HTH

-Pip

Hi Pip.
We normally do go 4 weekly when we get paid but at the moment it's about every 10 to 14 days. We buy salad fruit and veg stuff each time or go and get it fresh, this all comes in my monthly budget. Milk and bread is brought fortnightly as we do use a lot, both my service users drink lots of coffee and have a lot of milk on their cereal. 
I used to go to the butchers and buy half a pig and half a lamb but both service users don't eat much meat so it's a waste now.
Occasionally I have a bit of lettuce wasted or the odd leek, I do my menu plan according to what's in both of my freezers fridge and cupboard. We don't take any notice of use by or best before dates. If it looks and smells ok we use it.
I will have a check on other pages to help
I am finding it difficult at times when they don't both eat the same food!!
I do not like spending money on food🤣
I will try again for June and see how we get on. We get 2 pays in June but then not paid till the end of July.
Thank you for your advice/help, very much appreciated.

jam2019

A spend of £14.76 to log this week - spent mostly on fresh veg but also on ingredients to make enchiladas. (Had the first today - accidentally made the filling be v. v. spicy so I guess I'll be spending the rest of the week with a scorched mouth!) I've also got ingredients to make a few hearty salads this week, and managed to spy a few bags of plain flour on the shelf so snatched some up immediately - no baking powder though, so may need to wait before I can do any baking

Aliliva

Good weather over last week meant we ended up having some impromptu picnics in the nearby park - and now we're over budget by £40 another big shop to go, with a top up in between, and I fear we might get closer to £400 than I'd like to

joedenise

Another fairly big shop today coming in at £47.16 over a shop in The Food Warehouse including large bag of potatoes and large bag on onions which should last most of next month too.  This now leaves £47.92/£250 for my final shop of the month at the end of the week.  Hoping it won't come in as high then as it should mainly be milk, fruit and veg.  

newlywed

Well I planned for £400 to 25th.  

I have spent £475.03. However... I have all I need until he beginning of June and it was our wedding anniversary so there were some treats food wise and some wine too. 

So all in all...  I am ok with that but will try harder for June! 

Mrs_Cheshire

Hi all, slightly over this month I think, but I lost my spreadsheet data part way through the month and as I've been shopping for a friend too it's been more difficult to double check the spends. I'm going to be under £50 over so I'm not worried. 
We've still got a fair bit in the freezer and store cupboard to move into June, I really want to clear out the small freezer, so will be planning around what is in both freezer and avoiding buying anything but essentials in June. 
I've got 1 last shop to collect on Thursday then I'll be done for the mont. Off to find the June Thread and make a plan. 

Greenglockenspiel

Declaring belatedly for May at £261.61. Would have been slightly under were it not for £66 of stocking up, so still happy with that and considering a bulk fund for the future.