January 2021 Grocery Challenge

zafiro1984

I'm on a yearly budget but I've set myself a target this January of not spending anything on groceries. First week completed and so far so good

ancientmum

First week of January and I've spent £24.69. The main things that bumped it up were a big pack of teabags, toothbrushes, greaseproof paper and 4 small bottles of wine.  Asd@ are doing them 4 for 3 at the moment  so the same price as a regular bottle.  

Merlin's_Beard

Suffolk_lass said:

Merlin's_Beard said:

£2.70 from the local shop last night sets me off for this month.
I'm struggling to balance myself with my new area - for the last eight years I've lived within 5 minutes of a large superstore of some description, and now I'm in a village with a medium (expensive) Coop and the nearest superstore ~30 minutes away.

How do people in similar situations organise themselves? I'm used to doing essentially fairly equal weekly shops in which I can pick everything up that I need, and not really doing much in the middle, but it seems to be not working out great for the set up I'm in now?

@Merlin's_Beard we also live in a Village, more than several miles from the biggest supermarkets and with several small Co-op within 3 miles.

I manage by having a stores heading and I keep a list for this on the side of the fridge, with a spare of most things in stock - all of this is dry food or tinned, without the immediate pressure of sell-by dates (have just noticed some on toothpaste so re-stacked my spares accordingly) - and I only top up stores if things are on offer or I have run out, taking my "no spares left" list when I go to the SM (I buy multiples if they are on offer, like toothpaste!). I have done this over time - and by trying to do an extra day of leftovers and make do before I shop again.

We have reduced this to once a fortnight or less now, and have milk and eggs delivered (more expensive but compensated for by no temptation). We have not been since 21st December. There is a market in the nearest town (5 miles away) and on Friday DH will go to replenish our fresh fruit and veg, buy fish and maybe bread, but we also have a sourdough starter and make our own. I grow quite a lot and have a separate freezer for our own produce and we use that through winter. A small extra freezer so you could keep some frozen veg and fruit and take advantage of yellow sticker meat would maybe be a good start for you, and I run a small mini-challenge with myself of "how long can I go?" - I should add that we now also do a click and collect so that DH minimises the amount of time in-store around others and just goes in to check on loose oranges, artisan breads and yellow sticker and other meat offers. I am preferring the quality and longevity of the veg from the market in winter.

Bit of an essay but I hope it helps you - it took me ages to get the hang of things (16 years ago!) and I wish I had been on here then

Thanks - I think some of those will be a bit impractical for me (work FT and no OH to send to market!) and my kitchen barely fits one fridge freezer (joys of renting), but the stores list is definitely something that I'm going to have to start doing. And perhaps I'm going to have to dive into the world of click and collect/delivery as well.

joedenise

Merlin's_Beard said:

£2.70 from the local shop last night sets me off for this month.
I'm struggling to balance myself with my new area - for the last eight years I've lived within 5 minutes of a large superstore of some description, and now I'm in a village with a medium (expensive) Coop and the nearest superstore ~30 minutes away.

How do people in similar situations organise themselves? I'm used to doing essentially fairly equal weekly shops in which I can pick everything up that I need, and not really doing much in the middle, but it seems to be not working out great for the set up I'm in now?

Forgot to answer this before.  I'm in a similar situation.  Small, very expensive "corner" shop but even that is a 5 minute drive away so I tend to go to the nearest town which is a 15 mile round trip once a fortnight.  The other fortnight I go to the town in the opposite direction but that is a 30 mile round trip but there is a Lidl there so I stock up on all my basics plus fruit and veg, things like rice, beans, tomatoes etc plus household stuff I need that week such as washing liquid, dishwasher tabs etc.

So what I'm doing is a weekly shop but going to different shops on alternate weeks - Week 1 Mr Ts; Week 2 Lidl.  This works for me most of the time!  If I need fruit & veg in the meantime we have a farm shop about 10-15 minute drive away where we can stock up - they also have a range of other things like jams, spices etc.  There is also a butcher and baker in store (both independents) but I don't tend to use these.

cw18

My first Olio pickup (planned for yesterday) got delayed a day.   I was just on my way out of the door when the lady messaged to say she'd overslept and forgotten to leave it out for me.    As I was about to leave today a new listing came up for some surplus homemade coconut macaroons within very easy distance of home - so I shot off a message asking for those as well as I love them and shop bought never come close to home made.

Almost 8 hours later (and after walking 20.57 miles - I only picked up because I was already planning a 20 mile walk one day this week) I arrived home with a celeriac (I've never had before, but keep trying to talk myself into buying one to try it), a full and unopened 'tube' of ready-rolled puff pastry, an 'opened to try' jar of flavoured coffee (one of my favourite flavours, but a special treat at the normal cost), and a package with 5 macaroons.   (I did pick up 7 macaroons, but I was feeling a tad pekish by the time I picked them up on the last leg of the walk ).     Now I need to figure out how I'm going to cost 'freebies' to my grocery budget, as I'd really like to figure out what a reasonable annual budget is by logging everything this year - and if I hadn't picked up the celeriac and pastry I'd have had to pay for something else to make a meal (the lady also pointed me in the direction of the celeriac and leek wellington recipe she'd originally planned to use them for, so I still need to pick a few things up as it looks and sounds yummy).

I did the first pick up at about 9.5 miles, and then had to find the nearest large supermarket as I needed facilities!   2 miles later I hit a Tesc0 Extra, so I also picked up a couple of items on offer on Check0utSmart that I didn't desperately need but do like and will use.   Those I'm costing against budget as what they'll cost once I get the money back, but I also want to try and keep track of a figure with them at full price.   So another £1.30 to be added to my spends.

And two more Christmas presents picked up for grand-daughters.   The three I've picked up so far will actually be given at the start of December as they're things to be done/used whilst preparing for the holidays.    Just need to find something along the same lines for the eldest now - she'll be 18 by then, so this could be tricky (although I do have an idea if I can find it cheap in the next 10.5 months).

joedenise

I think the best way for you to price the things you pick up from Olio is to check out the price it would be in your usual supermarket online.

Great that you've already started your Christmas shopping!  I used to do that but we don't do presents any more as it really seems a bit pointless giving someone something and then getting something back from them and half the time not being things you actually want or need!  

pamsdish

@cw18 I love celeriac dauphinoise, could you share the celeriac and leek site please. Sounds like something I would enjoy too.

killielila

hi, folks, I've moved n living on my own now   so put me down for 100  while I try to get used to buying and cooking for 1 i spent 18 in M    on Weds  

VickyV

Nipped into the local Sp*r this morning for some milk and succumbed to reduced (although not vastly so) Danish pastries and Demi baguettes. £3.45 spent taking the total to £36.80. I was hoping to be in a better position this early in the month but my DD has just taken herself off back to uni so at least the milk bill will come down! 

Vicky x

cw18

pamsdish said:

@cw18 I love celeriac dauphinoise, could you share the celeriac and leek site please. Sounds like something I would enjoy too.

Not sure I'm allowed to share the link on here.    It's on the Hello Fresh website - just do a google for their name and celeriac and it should pop up for you