February 2021 Grocery Challenge

mumtoomany

Big shop done a couple of days ago, total of £162.65, across five shops, including £34.50 in the veg shop. Now have 50kg potatoes,10kg carrots, 20kg onions, 2 huge cauliflower, 6 heads broccoli, 3 lettuce, several kilos tomatoes,12 huge mushrooms, 2 leeks, a sweet potato, 4 punnets strawberries, 4 punnets grapes,14 bananas, 10 grapefruit, 8 peppers and randomly four swiss rolls. Ordered 500 dishwasher tablets for £24.99, should last about nine months. Also milk again last night, £1.70. Now at £385.59/£2750, for the year.  Possibly only milk needed now for February. Mumtoomany.

pamsdish

Took friend to @Sd@ I spent £15.77 on y.s. celeriac, 6 random b,day cards, 3 upcoming this month, courgettes and 16 bars of y.s. choc @ 50p a bar.

goldfinches

Have completely bust this month's budget by buying a gas cylinder for my sodastream, £13, and then a year's supply of interdental brushes on 3 for 2, £48, bringing my total to £75.74 and then there is the shop I did for staples at the big T*sco which came to £18.12 so I'm now up to £93.86 plus £8 in M*rks for milk, salad and fruit £101.86/£116.

Aargh, it'll just have to be a challenge to see if I can manage to get to the end of the month on £14.14; okay I'll have to start thinking of ways to stay out of the shops and manage without some things entirely and that's just it and all about it.

Why is there never a politician available when you want to kick somebody? I could just do with some stress busting exercise, oh well will have to go for a walk and not go near a shop. 

moneyonmymindsam

Been to Mr L. So a £19.30 spend to report. Adding up the bits I have spent so far leaves me £2.70 in credit for the week to Sunday for milk and bread. 

In my £1.50 veg box (which we couldn't see into and brought blind) was parsnips, red onion, onions, apples, easy peelers/oranges and beetroot. Have stewed apples for pudding and rest in freezer. Will probably just juice the orange to be honest. Chopped bags and bags of onions for freezer until my eyes couldn't take anymore.
Beet is on the hob, parsnips will be used Sunday. Was an odd bod selection, but there was a lot of everything.
Not sure of the actual value but I'd guess about £4. 50 if bagged up so not too bad.
Sam x 

D123456789

87 / 200 so far for feb what is going on with my budgeting? It’s a short month and I still think I will be off target

ancientmum

I have spent 18.59 since Monday, mostly topping up with fruit and veg, also mackerel and local sausages from the fishmonger.

thriftwizard

D123456789, could it be that, like me, you stock up on non-perishables at the front end of the month? I'm nearly half-way through our budget & it's only the 5th! But if I'm sensible when buying the fresh bits - fruit, veg, cheese, milk, cream, yogurt, fish, meat & bread - I can "coast" for the rest of the month, so I'm not panicking. Yet...

A neat £50 spent at the market this morning, on fish, cheese, fruit & veg, plus a bottle of Light Soy sauce & some salt; we should be all in for the week now.

I've decided, after much thought, to take pet & livestock food out of the reckoning. They are pretty much fixed costs; there's nothing much I can do about them, as they don't have expensive stuff, nor the cheapest as that's a false economy in the sense that I could save a few quid on food, but spend a lot more on vet bills! (One cat in particular has "delicate" digestion & does need to be kept on an even keel food-wise.) And if I try to save too much on poultry rations, we won't get as many eggs; swings & roundabouts. The entire menagerie (3 cats, 2 cockatiels and 12 assorted chickens) doesn't cost us that much; currently around £1.50 a day, so I'll keep an eye on that in case it creeps up, but stop trying to fit it into the grocery month, as it tends to be bought in bulk which hammers my budgets some months much more than others. And that confuses me - it doesn't take much!

pamsdish

I don't count my pet food, as you say  @thriftwizard      pretty much a fixed cost.

moneyonmymindsam

I was also thinking of separating out my grocery budget as the pet food cost is pretty much fixed. Although my dogs do have a small bag of carrots a week which I would keep in my grocery spends as it's minimal. 
Sam x

Doom_and_Gloom

£5.78 spent since last post. A few needed items.

We do include our chinchillas food, hay, treats, sand and other little items. We last got a delivery of his items in November. Overall he costs us soo little that we haven't minded putting him into our grocery budget. Sometimes hits as a shock to the budget on the month his stuff does come though as we buy enough to get it delivered. 

Will have OH go to L!dl tomorrow or Sunday so the £2 voucher doesn't go to waste. Don't need much though.
We will be skipping our A&C delivery Monday as it was under the needed amount for delivery and it seemed silly to add something just to get it. Should help with budget.

£97.78/£150.
£52.22 left.