January 2021 Grocery Challenge

cw18

Creeping back in.

Need to save money from some areas of my spends this year, as I'm trying to convert my heating system into a fully Smart system.   Payback for doing so is too long to contemplate, but I'm also looking at it as an environmentally good thing to do as I reckon it will make it easier to reduce my gas useage without feeling the impact (can turn on as I leave work instead of heating a cold house for hours if I end up working late, can heat rooms I don't use regularly to a much lower temp for a much reduced period of time each day just to stop them getting damp, and can heat my bedroom for bedtime whilst the rest of the house cools down rather than having the whole house and bedroom running from early evening until I'm about to head up).

So I want to make a serious dent into my personal food, cleaning products and toiletry mountains.    I find it hard to pass a bargain up, even if I don't know when I'll use it.   So using food from stocks will still show as a spend for my grocery budget, either as a spend in the shops for something that does need replacing (I don't keep stocks of items such as oils and vinegar, and don't have enough of some items for a whole year) or as a tranfer into my heating fund - and I'm hoping this will be the incentive I need to finally stop buying because something's "a bargain" and actually start using stuff up.

I'd like to keep my grocery spends (shops plus from stock) to no more than £35/week (or £5/day as an average), but this could be tough as I'm supposed to eat low-fat (high cholesterol), low refined sugar (family history of type 2 diabetes and GP has me pegged as high risk, but I don't accept why he says this so I'm not so good at cutting back), and should be avoiding dairy (mildly lactose intolerant, but so mildly that there are only a few things trigger it badly enough that I've swapped them out on a permanent basis).   Plus I have an active job and am also pretty active in my free time, so I actually need a high calorie intake!    That also has to include feeding OH when he's over (normally 2 cooked meals every weekend, and often a pack-up on a Sunday if we go out for a decent walk).    If we're going away for a week (always self-catering) my share of the bill could be more than this as we generally push the boat out a bit - but I'll cross that bridge when I reach it, as I'll hopefully have more of a feel for what I'm spending by then.

So January is 31 days, which means £155 as my budget.

I've already spent £27.83 this month
Just over £25 was spent in the dying days of December, specifically for use in 2021.
The remaining £2.68 was spent today - all on things I didn't really need, but on things which will mostly be used in the coming week whilst I'm off work trying to catch up on some jobs around the house (and some overdue paperwork sifting).

I've picked up the following which were all 'post Christmas' reductions rather than date reductions

2 stollens (one standard, one luxury to try as a special treat)

4 boxes of normal mince pies

1 box of special mince pies

a herbed pork joint (used on 1st)

1 undecorated rich fruit cake (will be decorated either Easter, a November birthday or next Christmas)

1 large cheesecake

2 jars of alcohol infused mincemeat

and the following which were all date reductions

4 packs of sausage meat (one used yesterday, the others in the freezer for later in the year)

2 cheese and onion pasties

a tub of pasta salad

a 2kg pack of chicken breast fillets (all immediately put in freezer, then two defrosted for today)

a tub of ready made cake batter (at the price it wasn't worth the time, mess and washing up to make my own - will see the back of some ready made buttercream topping I need to use up)

2 small cherry loaf cakes (one to use this week, one to chop up and freeze in individual portion chunks)

1 long tiger stick (solves the problem of planning to use part-baked baguettes for 5 lunches this week when a pack does 2 days!)

also picked up some baby potatoes and broccoli I needed for today, and a pack of J@ffa cakes in a flavour I've never tried before (only because they were in Her0n at a price I could justify paying)

My cleaning products and toiletries come from their own 'purses', but I don't actually have any idea what I need to spend in these areas.   So I've no budgets as such for those (this year), but everytime I take something from stocks I'll put the replacement cost into my heating pot - and only buy something when I start using / running low of the last I have in the house of whatever it is.   I know for a fact that means no shower gel this year - and probably not for a good number of years by the time I use up bubble bath that way (I've done it before, and it works well).   And no soap needed either.   Likely to have enough deodorant as well, as I've not long since stocked up on that (I've only found the one I like in one chain of shops, and I'm not often near a branch).   I'll need washing powder very shortly, think I'll need toothpaste by the summer, and know I'll need washing up liquid and toilet rolls at some point this year.  I probably have enough shampoo and conditioner, but need to pull it all together into one place to keep an eye on levels.

Bluegreen143

Florenceem said:

Suffolk_lass  thanks for the welcome. Wasn't sure if anyone I remembered would still be on here. I didn't give up my money saving ways while awol. Been very busy in my Church - meetings galore. 2 new Grandchildren have arrived - Mabel and Nora. Really got into my crafting - for fund raising.

I remember you from when I did the GC years ago before I had the kids 🙂 lovely to see you again on here. Congrats on your two new grandchildren and sounds like you’ve been very busy!

grassgirl

Hello, may I join please?
3nsds so far, aiming for £200/month max.

My issue is quick fix deliveries so will be stamping those out. Not groceries as such but counting them for food budget for sure! 

lynneee

Hi, first spend today of £39.58 in @ldi so 2 NSD and won't need to spend any more for a while longer. We have cold meat in the fridge (left over roast) for sandwiches and I batched cooked spaghetti bolognese so have that for later in the week too. Lunches are sorted for the week so no spending needed there.
😊

Pixiehouse55

Still no spends on food for us, but will have to buy veg etc to make soup for John. Had extra spends on raw meat for one of our dogs as he picked up something when out for a walk and it disagreed with his tummy. So a trip to the vets £73  foor meds and was on chicken or fish with rice for 4 days, then on chicken for a few days. Extra £9. 

Frugaliza

Please put me down for £300 for January.  Grocery budget went out of control last year so new start to reign this back in.  £300 covers me and DD (17) and DS (19) who are with me just half the time - so like two full time people I guess.  It seems a lot compared to your budgets so long term aim to trim this down.  What is a good average figure for monthly groceries for two adults?  It includes all groceries, cleaning products, essential toiletries and the occasional bottle of wine.  I’m secretly hoping to come in well under the £300 budget and siphon those savings to a new bulk purchase fund for ad hoc bargains of regularly used items.  Hope this is realistic. 

BelleBaluu

Morning, I would like to join too please, I do track my spends as it is, so would like to start with my usual budget and then see how much I can trim back from there.  So £360 for me please, for myself and DS1 and DS2.  This is for all food, toiletries and cleaning products.  I will be going from 8th Jan (to 7th Feb), as this is the day my credit card which I use for food shopping renews each month.

Suffolk_lass

Right, today is the first proper day of post Christmas because there is no cake, no mince pies, no chocolate and a minimum of rescue treats left. We both know there are 18 things in the secret study drawer, and two slabs of Galaxy in the naughty drawer, but as they are unopened they are taboo until after St Patrick's Day in March (17th) so now is the perfect time to hit the 8-week low blood sugar diet and get this body back where it should be - putting it way beyond and pathway back to obese and hopefully out of overweight.

Still masses of food from our pre-Christmas stock up to use, and plenty of frozen stuff we grew so going for an ultra low spend month. So far the fruit bowl looks sparse and there is cornflour on the list on the fridge, but that is all. Let us see if we can eke it out until market day on Friday, before anything needs buying. With a dozen eggs delivered to the doorstep this morning and milk coming tomorrow, we should be able to adapt what we have in.

Katie_j

I have put my pet's on supermarket own brand food. As I posted on the frugal living thread, I'm not sure what they're going to make of of it but we all have to cut down

mumtoomany

First spend of the year on Saturday, £20.57. Most of this was reduced to clear items, sausage, ham, pies. Only went for milk and squash but can't resist a bargain. Will all be used. Total so far £20.57£2750. Mumtoomany.