January 2022 Grocery Challenge 22 December 2021 at 4:11PM edited 22 December 2021 at 4:14PM in Old style MoneySaving 463 replies 31K views

mumtoomany

Good afternoon everyone. Having spent around £3000/£2750 this year, I'm aiming for £2640 please for 2022. Our income will probably fall again this year, so I need to cut back where i can. This is for most meals for 5 adults and 3 children, includes non food such as toilet rolls, soap powder, etc. We do grow a lot of vegetables, some fruit and some home reared meat. We have two chest and one upright freezer all full, enough meat for at least two months. So should be doable, good luck all, mumtoomany.

mrsnicewriting

Thanks Elsiepac for posting,  can I  join in again for 2022. £2600 for the year, for all food ( mostly at home but may include the odd takeaway), toiletries. I have slipped dreadfully the last few years and need to reign in foodspends 

Treasurequeen

Can I join In please. £2300 for the year for all food, pet food and toiletries and household items like cleaning products. 

DanielleNic87

Joining again for January.

I think I will go for £250 for this month. 

Realistically I think I need to increase my budget due to price increases, but should be ok for January due to the amount of food I have in my freezer/cupboards. 

patentgirl

Thank you @elsiepac for the new thread. 

Can I please be awkard and go from yearly to monthly please worked well first part of year by August was losing it a bit think will try monthly again please £320.

elbree

Hi @elsiepac, can I join please?  I'm going to try £150 for January. That's for me and 8yo, including cleaning stuff etc. It's my first go, so a bit of a guess. 

Hettyhound

Hi @elsiepac I’m in for January with my must try harder hat on after Decembers failure!  I’m going for a total of £200 which I plan to split £40 to a new bulk fund and £160 for my everyday groceries.  Thank you so much 😀

Hettyhound

Hi @elsiepac I’m in for January with my must try harder hat on after Decembers failure!  I’m going for a total of £200 which I plan to split £40 to a new bulk fund and £160 for my everyday groceries.  Thank you so much 😀

Suffolk_lass

CRANKY40 said:

Thanks for the thread elsiepac.

I'd like to join for January please. I already know what I spend and I'm not liking it at all. Food prices have increased so much and there is a variable foot fall through my house due to my son's partner staying some most weekends, my best friend coming for lunch at least once a week and the person that I look after having snacks and meals with us three days a week. 

I was ill at the beginning of the year and couldn't eat. My cooking mojo disappered and hasn't really recovered. Even when I was fixed, 6 months of not being able to eat properly left me exhausted and I still tire easily. I have been prescribed folic acid by the GP but told they would prefer if I could get it from food. If I wasn't too tired to cook that would be a great idea!

I need to try to make better use of my resources and cook from scratch more. I'm only working on Tuesday then I'm off until the following Tuesday so my holiday reading will be recipe books. The freezer is full so I'm hopeful of coming in under budget for January which is a 5 week month for me (I use Monday as the start of my week).  

£400 for January please.

@CRANKY40 sorry to hear you are still suffering from being ill at the beginning of the year. A couple of really easy options for increasing folate in your diet are a microwaved bag of spinach with a poached egg, or fortified cereals - both better than tablets and the iron in the spinach will help too. Lots of bread is fortified too.

We are now believers in taking bio acidophilus after illness. Despite my scepticism it seems to improve energy levels after infections treated with anti-viral or antibiotics. It is prescribed by many doctors on the European mainland but not in the UK. Here it is available in health food outlets rather than pharmacies. I know and believe all the arguments about how the acid in our digestive system breaks it down before it gets to the gut but it still works. DH was prescribed some medication over several months a few years ago now that made him very low mood and he admitted to having suicidal thoughts. I told him it was a vitamin supplement for about a fortnight before things suddenly improved, and continued to do so, restoring him to my husband!

Focus27

Hi @elsiepac

Can I join this challenge please?  Grocery shopping is my weakness.  Since this is my first month I’d like to keep my receipts and monitor what I spend then set a budget from February.  Hope that’s ok.