May 2021 Grocery Challenge

Sallyp2

Final declaration for May:
Final grocery spends: £land £14 / JS £30.07 / Aldi £35.54 = £79.61. I have some nice things for BBQ's Sunday and Monday - first proper warm weather of the year and its a long weekend - yay!
Grand total May grocery shops = £524.83 vs. Budget £320. A shocking overspend of £204.83
Teacher comment: Could have done better and must spend less in June

Sallyp2

GSDMum said:

Thought I was going to win this month; I managed to get to the 26th with £52.24 left over.... then we heard we were going to be honoured with a 'royal visit', in other words, Sister-in-Law is going to pay us a visit on Sunday. It looks like Sunday is going to be a cracking day, both weather-wise and company-wise, so we thought we'd take SinL and her husband out of the marina on a 3 hour cruise (on our narrowboat), stopping to while away a couple of hours in a nice quiet spot for lunch.

It's the lunch that's blown the budget!  Two bottles of wine, a few beers, and a special meal for 4 wasn't in the budget. 

For lunch we'll be having fresh salmon (for 3 carnivores), I'll make a cheese and onion quiche for my vegetarian BinL, together with a Jersey royal potato salad, and a green salad, finishing off with meringues, strawberries and cream, and slices of ogden melon.

Today I've managed to spend £119.18 in Aldi, making me some £57.91 over budget. I'm not upset though, as I'm not thinking of going shopping again for at least 10 days. During April I spent £231.37, adding this with this month's total of £357.91 = £589.28 for 2 months..... coming in under £300 per month    

May has been a long month!

OH no on the overspend ... join the club
Sounds like you will have a lovely day on Sunday with your family on the boat. BTW the lunch sounds yummy, room for a gatecrasher. The money and your overspend will come and go but your memories and photos of Sunday will last a long time. Have a fab day out

Sallyp2

goldfinches said:

Two spends today. First at the Indian supermarket for 1kg crunchy peanut butter, 400g blanched peanuts and 375g fine polenta for £6.17. Then to M*rks for flowers, 400g carrots, a courgette, a cucumber, a pack of sweet gem lettuces, 500g frozen sweetcorn, 3 bags of radishes, 2 punnets of cherry toms, 2 bags of y/s physalis and some wilted y/s mint which has already perked up in a yoghurt carton, all for £17.77 of which the flowers were £10 so not too bad. 

Wow on the value at the Indian supermarket. Good spending in m&s if £10 of your spend was flowers. M&S flowers are good and last well after they say they will.

Mrs_Cheshire

Hi all declaring £242.54/£350 for May. That includes a bulk purchase of the only shampoo I can use (free postage when you spend £30). I had money left in the budget otherwise I would have take in from the bulk fund. See you all in June

Sallyp2

Mrs_Cheshire said:

Hi all declaring £242.54/£350 for May. 

If I give you all my cards & cash, will you do my June grocery spends/challenge?

becky170

I'm declaring at £502.14/£500 so not done too badly this month, especially since it's the first month in about a year I've kept track of my spending. Having a budget has helped me focus more on whether I need to buy things then and there so it's been a great thing to do. Will sign up for June

Tightpants24

Last click and collect of the month today is £64.73.  So I have just made my budget of £350 this month.  I know it probably looks high to some but it was over £500 not long ago.  

pamsdish

£4.08 In C00-P, 4 packs reduced nans, @75p, bottle of dry ginger 49p, and a carrier, are carrier bags 59p ?, usually have a bag but the nans were extras.

PipneyJane

Sallyp2 said:

Taken from NimleFins website. Very interesting read and suggests the UK average food shop spend per adult each week is £26.50. Well I'm spending over that and my aim for the next few months is for my weekly food spending to be average. Think our waistlines will end up more average as well lol

Average Food Costs per Week

• Per Person: The average weekly food shop is £26.5 per person in the UK—but clearly caloric needs vary by age and gender. When you add £13.8 spent on food prepared out (e.g., restaurants and takeaways), the average weekly food bill for 1 person is £40.3.
• Average Adult Man: The average adult male spends around £32 on groceries, £17 on food out and £49 altogether on food each week.
• Young, active adult man: A young, active adult man around 18 years of age whose caloric needs are 50% higher than the average person would theoretically spend around £60 a week on food (£40 οn groceries and £21 out).
• Average Adult Woman: The average adult female theoretically spends around £25 on groceries, £13 on food out and £37 altogether on food each week.
• Young, active adult woman: A young, active adult woman around 18 years of age whose caloric needs are 13% higher than the average person would theoretically spend around £46 a week on food (£30 οn groceries and £16 out).
• 2 Adults: The average weekly food bill for 2 adults would be around £86 in total—£57 spent on the weekly food shop and £29 spent on food out.
• Family of 3: The average weekly food bill for a family of 3 (two adults and one younger child) is around £119—£78 spent on the weekly food shop and £41 spent on food out.
• Family of 4: The typical family of 4 (two adults and 2 younger children) would spend around £151 each week on food—£99 on the weekly shop and £52 on restaurant and takeaway meals.
• Family of 5: Larger families of 5 (two adults and 3 younger children) spend around £121 on the weekly shop and another £63 on food prepared out, bringing the total average food bill for a family of 5 to £183.
• Family of 3 adults: Three adults (or two adults and one older teenager) would spend around £85 on groceries, £44 on food prepared out and £129 altogether on food each week, clearly with budget varying by the age and gender of the family members.

@elsiepac would it be possible, please, for you to link to @Sallyp2’s post in the opening posts of the Grocery Challenge?  It’s very informative and gives newbies a guideline for their budgets.

Many thanks.

- Pip 

PipneyJane

Afternoon All.

What a lovely, sunny afternoon!  Earlier, I walked the 2 miles into our local market town to collect an order of lactase tablets from H&B*, then dropped into the nearby L!dl for some onions and carrots. For the first time ever, I managed to score a £1.50 F&V box!  2 tomatoes, 1 very ripe avocado, a huge head of broccoli, 2 peaches, 5 satsumas, about 400g mushrooms and 2 lots of spring onion.  Oh! And 1 grape that I popped under my mask and ate between the tills and the door.    £2.90 spent and another £2 coin in change, which will go into the Running Away Fund.

I am so glad that I thought to bring a cold drink with me for the 2 mile walk home, virtually all uphill.    

The above spend brings our total for May to £130.50/£142.00 leaving £11.50 for the rest of the month.  < cough > 2 days < /cough >. I’m now debating that, instead of the usual, Sunday walk down to the C0-0p for the paper, I may drive to MrT’s.  We need yoghurts and some salad leaves, but really nothing else.  Except for those, we’ve got enough of everything now, to see us through to next weekend.

The only reason we need salad leaves is that I’m now planning on making a chicken, bacon and avocado salad for lunch tomorrow, also utilising some of the spring onion.  I’ve got cooking bacon in the fridge and am defrosting a chicken breast. 

- Pip

* I am lactose intolerant.  If I take a lactase tablet a couple of minutes before having, say. milk on my cereal, I can tolerate regular milk.  It means I don’t have to pay extra for specially treated milk or go down the plant “milk” route.