January 2022 Grocery Challenge

Suffolk_lass

I have quite a few subscription deliveries in January and so technically I bust my budget but as I average it out over the year, I am reasonably relaxed about it. We have consciously cut down on treats (strictly when on offer only now) and the scales are looking better with four pounds off for me and DH has not weighed in but his clothes suggest similar

OldWomanWhoLivesInAShoe

Would love to join if possible although late to the game I know I have spent £68 this month to date.

There are 7 of us, 2 adults 5 children. I am less interested in cost as much as quality and quantity. I plan around 2 month cycles, so January meals were planned in December and based around items already bought. The only real cost that comes in through Jan is from the milkman.

diminua

I’ve been in JS and Ldl since my last post and have bought all the usual things - milk, margarine, eggs, bread, tinned fish, tinned tomatoes, dried pasta (which I have more than enough of now and need to stop picking up for a bit) pesto, crumpets, veg sausages. I’ve had and spent another £5 voucher and also got some treats like a wispa bar and a bottle of wine.

Friday I was too lazy to make lunch for work so ended up spending over £7 on a cup of tea and mozzarella panini. It was quite nice to sit in a café window watching the world go by for a change, but (I'm going to keep telling myself this until it sticks) I don't want it to become a regular thing every time I go in. I have better uses for £7. 

I've got £49.25 left, with another £22.59 to come out on the 28th for the veg box. 

Soontobeoap

leftatthetrafficlights said:

£193.13/ £300 is my final figure for January 🙌 that includes some stuff for the house (£38) which would not normally come out of the GC budget but was just easier this time around!! Pretty happy with that - hopefully I can do similar in February 😉

That’s brilliant. You must be really chuffed with yourself

Soontobeoap

nannygladys said:

Soontobeoap - I've been budgeting on a state pension for a few years now, I have no debt or mortgage and determined to get this new canopy over the front door and bay window done this year, before it collapses!

My grocery budget includes everything including toiletries and household cleaning stuff, but I do have a good stock of those as I have bought too much in the past, I also have a good stock of tinned and dried stuff and at the moment use a food hub and a community pantry when needed to try to keep the costs down, oh and Im a veggie, and theres only me, so sometimes I have some strange meals to use stuff up I must admit I'm getting worried about all the rising costs but I will deal with them as they come along. I'll manage somehow though, because there isn't any other option.

We all find our own way on the grocery challange, it's not just about living on as little as possible it's about living within our 'own' means whatever they are, we all have different available budgets, needs and requirements, mine are just very low this year to enable me to get that canopy done!!!

But thanks for the kind comments, it helps me keep on the straight and narrow

Sorry it's a bit long winded
Nannyg

Well I have not managed to quite hit my target this month but have managed to save money overall and hope to do better in February. Hope you get your canopy soon.

Soontobeoap

I have already spent £175.88 /£160 this month with one shop to go. I am not too concerned as I have just done a freezer stock check and it is absolutely full of meat. I think I have been a bit over zealous buying bargains and now need to work through what I have. I have however learnt a lot in my first month on here. We have had 5 meals that I wouldn’t normally have made just by using less meat in pasta dishes . DH hasn’t even noticed. I am loving finding and trying new recipes. If anyone has any fantastic recipes that they could recommend using leftover ham or chicken I would love to hear them.😊

joedenise

I make a chicken and chorizo rice dish which is really tasty and you don't need much chicken or chorizo.  I use between 30 and 50g of chorizo and some leftover chicken, varies depending on how much I want to use!  Flavour is added with lots of paprika to enhance the flavour of the chorizo.

I start off by heating the chorizo on a low heat to get the oil flowing and then add some onion and cook to soften and then some garlic (although that's optional), stir in some risotto rice add stock until the risotto is nearly cooked and stir through the chicken until the rice is completely cooked and the chicken heated through.  Serve and add some parmasan if you wanted.

Wraithlady

Leftover ham can be used in carbonara sauce with pasta ( you don't even need cream, milk or water works fine!), or risotto, or egg-fried rice (also handy at using up bit's n bobs of veg).

nannygladys

I seem to eat lots of risottos and stir fries, to use the veggies up as well

No shopping done since last Thursday but the could do with some milk. I'm on grandma duties tomorrow at dds, so at least I won't need any milk tomorrow but I will on Wednesday, I seem to get through quite a bit of milk at the moment.
Nannyg

NeverendingDMP

So I've not hit my target .....  At all! payday is 26th so I'm pretty close to a final declaration of 586 out of 483 spent. Hmmm. Usual budget is 100 a week. I upped this as this month's total included xmas food shop but it has been a bit of a disaster. Tbf this shows why it was a good idea to sign back up to the challenge 😆