May 2021 Grocery Challenge

GSDMum

Pleeeeese can I join 

Just bought a car, so the next 4 months it's going to be frugal living for Hubs and me! 

Please can you put me down for £250? (hope to do even better than that)

My budget's normally £550 with drink and dog food included 

Rusty now needs vet prescribed Hypoallergic food (@ £55.85 per bag, it lasts 5/6 weeks) and has thankfully stopped his IBS - so dog food's now separate from our food budget.

We've decided to have spritzers, or even sparkling water at dinner instead of the (approx) 10+ bottles of wine a month - it's good for our health too. 

Been making my own sourdough bread for a while now, and have got it down to 3 x 750g (ish) loaves for £2 - I find we don't eat so much as we would from say crusty bloomers.

A few months ago I bought 4 packs of 3 Tesco foodsavers @£1.25 each - they're turning out to be the best £5 I've spent for a while. Instead of piling up food on our plates (cos I don't want it to go to waste, or can't be bothered to clingfilm it), the excess can be saved or another meal. Simple, but surprisingly effective. It stretches food further, and it's another health benefit (why didn't I do this years ago!) 

K9sandFelines

Please count me in for £340 for May, thanks @elsiepac

Hugely underestimated how much i would spend last month, plus had to stock up from scratch after moving house. Also, had some bulk orders. Really want to be stricter this time round so fingers crossed

Will try my best to check in; but i either forget or dont have time; and then before i know it, another month has gone by.

Good luck everybody

elsiepac

Budgets updated to here

Thanks for all the budgets so far guys - my month doesn't start till the last day now so hanging on before declaring!

Tightpants24

Thank you @elsiepac I have managed to keep within my budget for 2 months now and have reduced my bill by at least £125 so far.  Can you please put me down for £380 this month🤞 

ancientmum

Thank you elsiepac, please put me down for 
£100 for May, starting on Saturday.

GSDMum

Thank you Elsiepac for organising these monthly challenges, you're a STAR! I'm really looking forward to the month, and I'm trying to treat the challenge like a 'fun game'! 

This week we've bought a car for cash which has stretched our cashflow to the breaking point. There's only so much juggling we can do with money, so it's now down to stretching our imagination.

I've created May's menus. We tend to live on 2 meals a day, with the odd sandwich between meals should we get peckish. The menu's not 'cast in stone' so there may be changes along the way. Where appropriate I aim to double up the meal I'm cooking, and 'bank' the extra dish in the freezer for a 'free' meal laters.

My budget is under £300 (budgeting 2x 15 day '£150 challenges'). Today I'll be visiting the shops (after having my 2nd AZ vaccine  ) with my shopping list to hand for next 14 day's menus. I did enter my shopping list through Tesco's website; the shopping basket came to £72.80; let's see how Lidl and the CoOp fair today!

Good luck everyone for May....... my challenge has begun 

Date Breakfast Dinner 28/Apr 2 Scrambled Eggs On 2 Slices Toast Chicken Casserole + Dumplings 29/Apr Porridge Beef Lasagna (made 2, one for the freezer) 30/Apr 2 Scrambled Eggs On 2 Slices Toast Belly Pork And Bubble 'n' Squeak 01/May 2 Boiled Eggs And Fresh Sour-Dough Bread Steak, Salad And Chips 02/May Eggs, Bacon, Sausage Chicken Goujons And Potatoes 03/May Beans on Toast Salmon Steak, Salad, Potato Salad 04/May 2 Boiled Eggs And Fresh Sour-Dough Bread Chicken Tikka Masala And Rice 05/May Porridge Spaghetti Bolog 06/May Eggs, Bacon, Sausage Chicken Breast Curry Bake, Chips 07/May 2 Boiled Eggs And Fresh Sour-Dough Bread Breaded Fish, Chips, Peas 08/May 2 Scrambled Eggs On 2 Slices Toast Pizza 09/May Eggs, Bacon, Sausage Roast Beef, Yorks Puds Etc. 10/May Porridge Chilli Con Carne And Rice 11/May Cheese Omelette Captain's Pie 12/May 2 Boiled Eggs And Fresh Sour-Dough Bread Salmon Steak, Salad, Potato Salad 13/May Porridge Lamb Hotpot 14/May 2 Scrambled Eggs On 2 Slices Toast Quiche And Salad 15/May Cheese Omelette Spaghetti Bolog 16/May Eggs, Bacon, Sausage Roast Chicken, Etc. 17/May Porridge Shepherd's Pie 18/May 2 Boiled Eggs And Fresh Sour-Dough Bread Coronation Chicken and Salad 19/May Bacon And Tomato Sandwich Chicken And Lentil Soup with croutons 20/May 2 Scrambled Eggs On 2 Slices Toast Pork Stir Fry 21/May Porridge Beef Lasagna (from the freezer) 22/May Cheese Omelette Pizza 23/May Eggs, Bacon, Sausage Roast Lamb 24/May 2 Boiled Eggs And Fresh Sour-Dough Bread Chicken Schnitzels, Veg And Chips 25/May Sausage Sandwich Liver And Bacon, Mash And Peas 26/May Cheese Omelette Breaded Fish, Chips, Peas 27/May 2 Scrambled Eggs On 2 Slices Toast Sweet + Sour Pork Stir Fry 28/May Cheese Omelette Steak, Salad And Chips 29/May Porridge Chilli Con Carne And Rice 30/May Eggs, Bacon, Sausage Roast Beef 31/May 2 Boiled Eggs And Fresh Sour-Dough Bread Chinese Style Spicy Crispy Beef Stir Fry

Hettyhound

Hello, payday today so start of my grocery month.  I’m going to try for £190 this month which includes pet stuff (1 dog and 2 cats) and bits of household stuff.  First shop will be tonight so need to get my meal plan for the week firmed up today 🙂

flossyblog

grocery budget €250 per month for 2 adults. year budget €3k.  going into May and inventory listed 

freezer

4 chilli con carne 

8 steaks 

8 bolognaise

3 chicken fillets

1 butter 

1 petit pois 

6 burgers

1 haricot verts 

2 tubs roasted onion 

2 pkt bread rolls

1 teacakes

3 portions chillies

8 portions ginger

5 portions garlic

0 portion tomato puree

8 chicken sate

store cupboard

8 pkts tea bags

2 tins baked beans 

2 tin hotdogs

1 tin kidney beans

3 tins black beans

4 tins melange de haricots

2 tins haricots geants

2 tins chickpeas

1 jar garlic

1 jar ginger

4 pkts spaghetti

1  wok oil 500ml

2 thai fish sauce 200ml

3 jars thai green curry paste

7 pkts basmasti rice

12 pkts coffee capsules

1 pkt all bran cereal

red lentils

1  olive oil

1 Ltr sunflower oil

rice wine vinegar

soy sauce

Tamarind paste

limes leaves

2 sachets coconut powder

2 pkts fried onions

50g pinhead oatmeal

shushi rice

rice flour

Hendricks gin & tonic gift Box (2016) unopened

Herbs & spices

salt 

peppercorns

cayenne pepper

kashmiri chilli powder

cumin seed

cumin powder

turmeric powder

coriander seed

coriander powder

chilli flakes

ancho chillie flakes

chipotle chilli powder

fennel seeds

garam masala

cinnamon sticks

cloves

carom seeds

black cardamom

green cardamom

bay leaves

mustard powder

Cleaning supplies

6 ariel liquid 

3 dettol bath cleaner

4 glorix bleach

1 viakal 

31 toilet rolls

2 boxes tissues

5ltr cleaning vinegar

1 dreft washing up liquid

dishwasher tabs 

dishwasher rinse aid

dishwasher salts

6 scourers

liquid hand soap

20 bin liners

eco bin liners

16 ltr bin liners

freezer bags

Toiletries

4 toothpaste

5 shower mousse

1 shower gel

2 body mouse lotion

2 nivea creme

1 shampoo

1 conditioner

2 bottles lavender essential oil

1 bottle teatree essential oil

1 rexona deodrant

ear buds

Karb

Thanks @elsiepac for running the thread again.

My challenge runs for the calendar month 1st-31st. My target is £400 please. 

thriftwizard

Squeak! I'm £103 down already! This is a combination of £28 at the butcher's yesterday & £75 at the market this morning. I'm not going to panic - much - because there are a number of items in there that will stretch to 3 or 4 meals plus soup-bases for us carnivores; a big joint of beef and another of ham. Fish for those of us who do indulge (4 out of 5) and if there's any left over, fish cakes for my pescatarian daughters. It also included a whole tray (one of those blue spiky boxes) of lovely fresh little mushrooms for £2; half now in the dehydrator and half in a big cream-of-mushroom soup that will do the girls & I for light lunches/suppers for the next 3 days. A sack of onions - we'll go through that in a month-6 weeks - and a couple of alternatives for my non-fish-eater. I'll do the monthly non-perishable shop sometime early next week, and order some flour, then buckle down for some budget-stretching-without-compromising-on-quality for the rest of the month.