May 2021 Grocery Challenge

PipneyJane

Good morning Everyone 

Any plans for this (currently) sunny Sunday?  We’ll be walking to the C0-0p later to buy the paper (with a subscription voucher) and I’m trying to figure out how to take advantage of the members offer to Spend-£15-get-£1.50-off, which is currently sitting in the app on my phone.  I want to spend it on proper groceries, not wine.   It’s not a large C0-0p - just a petrol station store - so this may take some plotting.

One spend to declare from yesterday:  £22.62 in L!dl.  We were too late in the day to pick up some real bargains, e.g. 2kg onions for £1, but still managed to buy most of the shopping list:  onions, carrots, broccoli, a Salmon Wellington, two packets of sun dried tomatoes, instant coffee, fresh milk...  No YS items yesterday.  The milk is dated to 10th May and, hopefully, will last to then before going sour.

The above brings our spend for May to £26.62/£142, leaving £115.38 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

scandimore

Hi, managed to bring April in under budget and we still spent much more than we needed to, didn't really touch stores too much etc so clearly the budget is too high, please put me down for £300 this calendar month, for 2 adults, one child on a different diet, two cats. Also includes household stuff eg toiletries. I still really need to do a full freezer inventory as suggested last month which I didn't get around to. I know that the chest freezer is roughly half full of batch cooking my sister kindly did a while back. We need to start incorporating them into our weekly menu, so have added a "freezer dive" night into the plan. Will be useful on busy days anyway as well as saving money.5 out of 7 evening meals are also planned to be vegan or vegetarian. We will see how red meat loving husband gets along with this! 

JingsMyBucket

Evening all. I’ve had my first spend of month today at the IKEA food store while shopping. £36.35 spent on various pancakes, fish, cheeses, jams, etc to stock up. I haven’t been to Ikea in a couple years so I was trying to get what I could for now.  Annoyingly, they were out of a couple key items such as rye crisp bread but I guess that’s what happens on a Sunday afternoon after everyone has visited. 

They were also out of stock of the office chair I went there to buy even though the online indicator said it was there. The team member said they’ll be in stock this Tuesday and I could try doing a click and collect purchase early Tuesday morning. So, I’ll be heading back there this week and hopefully they’ll have some food items in stock. 

OH is about to visit M & S for Greek yoghurt and some free apples via an M & S loyalty voucher he got last week. I’ll update again after his purchases. There are some Waitrose YS chicken legs marinating in the fridge that I’ll roast tonight for dinner and lunch the next day. There’s also a big Waitrose YS lamb shoulder roast in the freezer I got last week for 60% off. I was quite proud of myself for snagging that! That may be a Wednesday night project for me that will supply meat for the remainder of the week via roast, leftovers for stir fries, etc. 

Later this week has a trip to Lidl in the cards. We’ve run out of liquid detergent, surface cleaner, and sponges. 

£36.35 spent
£363.65 / £400.00 remaining 

JingsMyBucket

OH spent £8.20 in M & S right now for free apples, strawberries, Greek yoghurt, skyr, bananas, and shortbread. 

£355.45 / £400.00 remaining 

Islandmaid

Hi all,

I've spent in advance this month 🙄

my budget is £300 for May, £100 on meat being delivered next week, then £50 a week for the next 4 weeks on essentials

that for 2 of us, with a massive blow out at the end of the month for a family BBQ, COVID rules allowing 👍

PipneyJane

PipneyJane said:

Good morning Everyone 

Any plans for this (currently) sunny Sunday?  We’ll be walking to the C0-0p later to buy the paper (with a subscription voucher) and I’m trying to figure out how to take advantage of the members offer to Spend-£15-get-£1.50-off, which is currently sitting in the app on my phone.  I want to spend it on proper groceries, not wine.   It’s not a large C0-0p - just a petrol station store - so this may take some plotting.

One spend to declare from yesterday:  £22.62 in L!dl.  We were too late in the day to pick up some real bargains, e.g. 2kg onions for £1, but still managed to buy most of the shopping list:  onions, carrots, broccoli, a Salmon Wellington, two packets of sun dried tomatoes, instant coffee, fresh milk...  No YS items yesterday.  The milk is dated to 10th May and, hopefully, will last to then before going sour.

The above brings our spend for May to £26.62/£142, leaving £115.38 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

My plotting went well.  We succeeded!  Two roasting chickens, a YS pack of chicken breasts, two Yeo Valley Yoghurts (£1 each), and a large steak pie later... We spent £14.44.  They have a regular offer on chicken:  £4.50 for one, £7 for two or £10 for three.  If I’d had the freezer space, I might have bought a third but, as it is, even with my freezer Tetris skills, I’m struggling to get all that meat into the freezer. 

The above brings our total GC spend for May to £41.06/£142, leaving £100.94 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

Suffolk_lass

A while ago I tried no longer buying dishwasher tabs and gels on offer and only getting the bargainous savers (Morries) box of 40 for £2 (5p each) after the repair man said the premium brands clog up the machine where we are.

Well, they are a keeper. We do add salt and occasionally rinse aid (although the repair man said it is not needed) and all is marvellous and so much cheaper.

Having seen someone spend close to £10 on dishwasher tabs I thought I would share this as £6 a month saving is pretty good in my book!

JingsMyBucket

@Suffolk_lass that would be me who spent £8 last week on dishwasher tabs. I’m guessing £2 tabs are these https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/morrisons-savers-lemon-dishwasher-tablets-341158011. We don’t have a Morrison’s super close to us but it is only 15 min away via bus so I may try going there this month. I’ve heard they also have one of the last supermarket butcher counters offering offal as well. Thanks for the heads up!

Suffolk_lass

JingsMyBucket said:

@Suffolk_lass that would be me who spent £8 last week on dishwasher tabs. I’m guessing £2 tabs are these https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/morrisons-savers-lemon-dishwasher-tablets-341158011. We don’t have a Morrison’s super close to us but it is only 15 min away via bus so I may try going there this month. I’ve heard they also have one of the last supermarket butcher counters offering offal as well. Thanks for the heads up!

@JingsMyBucket If you do go, I suggest you also check out all their wonky fresh fruit and vegetables. eg 45p for 1 kilo of onions. The only wonky I won't buy again is avocados, which I found rotted before they ripened, and in the frozen range their peas had a slight bullet factor (not for me with fish and chips but fine in soups when blended). I started with frozen wonky berries which were originally even better value than the 1 k for £2.75 now.

Just be aware that many wonky and savers products don't appear in their online offering.

If they have the proper butcher's counter it is worth looking at their fish offers too. Often cheaper than I see people attributing to Aldilily

taka

I'm still kicking about trying to keep to my yearly budget.  I've spent £648.63 so far this year out of a possible £2k so just on track.

This months ideal max spend comes to £165. I need to be quite careful as I really need to do a huge stock up as well as everyday fruit / veg / dairy etc stuff top ups.

Good luch everyone!