December 2022 Grocery Challenge

Doom_and_Gloom

£51.91 spent at Mr S and that was after a £3 off coupon we had.
An organic red Leicester that my OH likes to eat was on clearance for £1.63 a block so he got 3.
I also picked up 3 of my vegan cheeses also as they were also on clearance for £1.25 a pack.
Very good find there. Probably only in clearance to make way for the Xmas cheeses.

£94.33/248.
£153.67 left.

AnotherNewDay

Hi, I'm joining for the first time 

 £75 for the month of December - 1 adult & 2 cats

Currently at £ 21.09/ £75

gill5blue

hi can I put £300 for dec please

gill5blue

leftatthetrafficlights

Ducking out of this months challenge as I've completely lost track already! 🤦‍♀️ I'll be back for the new year! 

taka

Well £34.25 out of £157.17 spent so far. (Not spent any bulk £ yet)

Really need to do a bulk shop soon. Made a list and it is coming in at ~£100 and includes way more than I can carry / wheel (I use my hand luggage trolley suitcase when I do a big shop ) so need to prune it a whole lot... or at least split it up into several shops) Most of it is Aldi so can't do a delivery. Off to loosely meal plan...

Its_time

First weeks food.shopping came in at £56.
58 so I am quite pleased with that 😀 only £6.58 over budget.   

£56.58/£50.00

Hopefully next week's shopping spends will come in under budget but at least they will be close if not, much better than getting completely out of control which is what happens when I do a monthly budget.
Christmas is looking OK as well so far we have spent £22.53 out of our Christmas budget and only have Beef, white chocolate, potatoes, eggs, margarine, bacon and sausages hopefully this will come in at £27.47 or less.

VickyV

Weekly shop done this morning. Probably bought more treat type things than was strictly necessary but got plenty of fruit and veg, a few tins and loads of cat food - which has almost doubled in price over the last few months (from 39p to 69p per tin! 😱) so at:

£151.96/£400

Hoping to have a cheap week in the run up to Christmas and then a week of living in soups and leftovers between Christmas and New Year! 🤞🏻

Vicky V x

FreedomBringsPeace

Hi can i ask what budgets singles have and how they keep budget down. Any advice would be useful ty

LadyWithAPlan

FreedomBringsPeace said:

Hi can i ask what budgets singles have and how they keep budget down. Any advice would be useful ty

Hi - I have a normal £145 per month for just me for Grocery plus I also put £30 away each month in a bulk fund so when I buy in bulk it does not kill my budget.
I started doing this challenge at £170 a month and have lowered it by £10 a month and £140/£145 seems to be a good level. I also live and shop in Central London though the German superstores are my normal shops.

I am Gluten free so this makes some stuff more expensive, plus often YS - reduced food -  items have wheat in so I can't save there. 

Being GF also  limits the TooGoodToGo buys - but its worth checking the app regularly and also Olio to pick up food.
I also limit my dairy so I buy DF milk etc - always looking for a bargain, the Lid* almond is my staple one.

Bulk buying includes very nice quality ground coffee or coffee beans (I cant/wont drink instant), protein shake and stocks for the next month eg excess YS meats, store cupboard, bulk lentils and mung beans from the local Indian shop etc. I often don't spend from my bulk  - maybe only once every 2 months but the money is there if I need or see some very good buys eg reduced meat etc when I see it in Marks etc. This was a tip I picked up on here  and it helps smooth out the budget when you see great bargains. Also with things like coffee buying 2 kg a time is it stops me having to run to the shops because I wont allow myself to run out of coffee so less trips to the supermarket means less spending.

If you can get to a once a week or less grocery trips and avoid the little  mid week shop top-ups that can really help.

I also have all the apps on my phone to pick up points eg Nectar on Sainsburys  and the Coop weekly discount vouchers etc.

With COL going up I stopped buying whole chickens etc as I like Free Range but I am back now in the habit of buying FR often corn fed from Mr Lid* for £10+ - I buy  the biggest one they have and I roast it in the halogen so cheaper to cook and then I can easily make 5+ meals for myself including stir fry, curry, roast etc  plus I then always make stock in my pressure cooker and then make a chicken soup from the remaining bits of chicken with loads of veg in or a veggie soup - this one I tried last week (I am not a Weightwatchers person but this recipe was recommended and it was very tasty.
https://www.weightwatchers.com/uk/recipe/chunky-squash-chickpea-and-lime-soup/57fdbeae35461dbc16bd31a5
My freezer is currently full of Homemade soups, stock and meals so its easy to grab something healthy.  

I batch cook so I always make double or triple and freeze portions for one meal - I find I get bored with food I cook so its nice to be able to apportion some HM ready meals. Supermarket quantities are often for 2 or 3 people eg 500g meat packaging etc so it's better to cook it all and then have home takeout ready to go. If I buy say large packs of pork loin, bacon or chicken etc I apportion the food up so I freeze in pairs so 2 chops or 4 rashers of bacon so I dont have to defrost more than I need and waste it. I got some reduced salmon sides so thats now apportioned into useful sizes and frozen.
I do have 2 fridge freezers for the batch freezing but currently one is off what with electric prices.

Since I have had a pressure cooker (part of a Clever Chef 6 in one) I have only used my oven once as I can roast in the halogen quicker and cheaper and the pressure cooker makes stock, soup and stews much quicker.

Any restaurant /TO spends comes out my treats pot rather than my grocery. I rarely have takeout - only if I have a discount voucher - so I did buy this weekend a Thai Green chicken curry and a Phad Thai - I boiled my own rice whilst ordering - and then added extra chicken and mangetout later so it actually lasted me 3 meals for £10.19 after the discounts and its healthier.

I also put my food budget for the month into a separate bank pot and as I buy my groceries I draw down the money OR take it out in £50 cash so I can see how much month is left vs how much money I have left - as I am solo I like to put checks and balances in as I am only responsible to myself

Lots of people meal plan for the month or the week and I gather it saves them loads of cash. I only roughly meal plan in terms of buying a chicken or certain meal staples and freeze the rest I know I always can take at least 3  frozen HM meals and one or two meat/fish portions out each week plus what I buy new.

Dec Grocery  £38.95/£205 (£145+ xmas food extra £60 for family) + £0/£67 bulk
£9.42 spent in Lid as they had no DF milk so I had to go back the next day.
I bought a sprout tree 99p which is fun as I rarely eat sprouts but they are very good for you so looking for some new recipes.
I need to go shopping tomorrow probably as I running out of DF milk. That is something I do need to bulk buy but its heavy to carry.

I made a fabulous chicken and leek  soup yesterday from my stock, plus chicken is so good for you vs me keep buying YS GF sausages - so much fat in them when I look..
I may try to make a chicken potpie with GF flour - not tried ever  but be good to try a new GF dish.

I have some turkey mince in so I will do a curry type of dish with that or a chilli today and batch freeze most of it.

Gettingmyshiztogether

LadyWithAPlan said:

FreedomBringsPeace said:

Hi can i ask what budgets singles have and how they keep budget down. Any advice would be useful ty

Hi - I have a normal £145 per month for just me for Grocery plus I also put £30 away each month in a bulk fund so when I buy in bulk it does not kill my budget.
I started doing this challenge at £170 a month and have lowered it by £10 a month and £140/£145 seems to be a good level. I also live and shop in Central London though the German superstores are my normal shops.

I am Gluten free so this makes some stuff more expensive, plus often YS - reduced food -  items have wheat in so I can't save there. 

Being GF also  limits the TooGoodToGo buys - but its worth checking the app regularly and also Olio to pick up food.
I also limit my dairy so I buy DF milk etc - always looking for a bargain, the Lid* almond is my staple one.

Bulk buying includes very nice quality ground coffee or coffee beans (I cant/wont drink instant), protein shake and stocks for the next month eg excess YS meats, store cupboard, bulk lentils and mung beans from the local Indian shop etc. I often don't spend from my bulk  - maybe only once every 2 months but the money is there if I need or see some very good buys eg reduced meat etc when I see it in Marks etc. This was a tip I picked up on here  and it helps smooth out the budget when you see great bargains. Also with things like coffee buying 2 kg a time is it stops me having to run to the shops because I wont allow myself to run out of coffee so less trips to the supermarket means less spending.

If you can get to a once a week or less grocery trips and avoid the little  mid week shop top-ups that can really help.

I also have all the apps on my phone to pick up points eg Nectar on Sainsburys  and the Coop weekly discount vouchers etc.

With COL going up I stopped buying whole chickens etc as I like Free Range but I am back now in the habit of buying FR often corn fed from Mr Lid* for £10+ - I buy  the biggest one they have and I roast it in the halogen so cheaper to cook and then I can easily make 5+ meals for myself including stir fry, curry, roast etc  plus I then always make stock in my pressure cooker and then make a chicken soup from the remaining bits of chicken with loads of veg in or a veggie soup - this one I tried last week (I am not a Weightwatchers person but this recipe was recommended and it was very tasty.
https://www.weightwatchers.com/uk/recipe/chunky-squash-chickpea-and-lime-soup/57fdbeae35461dbc16bd31a5
My freezer is currently full of Homemade soups, stock and meals so its easy to grab something healthy.  

I batch cook so I always make double or triple and freeze portions for one meal - I find I get bored with food I cook so its nice to be able to apportion some HM ready meals. Supermarket quantities are often for 2 or 3 people eg 500g meat packaging etc so it's better to cook it all and then have home takeout ready to go. If I buy say large packs of pork loin, bacon or chicken etc I apportion the food up so I freeze in pairs so 2 chops or 4 rashers of bacon so I dont have to defrost more than I need and waste it. I got some reduced salmon sides so thats now apportioned into useful sizes and frozen.
I do have 2 fridge freezers for the batch freezing but currently one is off what with electric prices.

Since I have had a pressure cooker (part of a Clever Chef 6 in one) I have only used my oven once as I can roast in the halogen quicker and cheaper and the pressure cooker makes stock, soup and stews much quicker.

Any restaurant /TO spends comes out my treats pot rather than my grocery. I rarely have takeout - only if I have a discount voucher - so I did buy this weekend a Thai Green chicken curry and a Phad Thai - I boiled my own rice whilst ordering - and then added extra chicken and mangetout later so it actually lasted me 3 meals for £10.19 after the discounts and its healthier.

I also put my food budget for the month into a separate bank pot and as I buy my groceries I draw down the money OR take it out in £50 cash so I can see how much month is left vs how much money I have left - as I am solo I like to put checks and balances in as I am only responsible to myself

Lots of people meal plan for the month or the week and I gather it saves them loads of cash. I only roughly meal plan in terms of buying a chicken or certain meal staples and freeze the rest I know I always can take at least 3  frozen HM meals and one or two meat/fish portions out each week plus what I buy new.

Dec Grocery  £38.95/£205 (£145+ xmas food extra £60 for family) + £0/£67 bulk
£9.42 spent in Lid as they had no DF milk so I had to go back the next day.
I bought a sprout tree 99p which is fun as I rarely eat sprouts but they are very good for you so looking for some new recipes.
I need to go shopping tomorrow probably as I running out of DF milk. That is something I do need to bulk buy but its heavy to carry.

I made a fabulous chicken and leek  soup yesterday from my stock, plus chicken is so good for you vs me keep buying YS GF sausages - so much fat in them when I look..
I may try to make a chicken potpie with GF flour - not tried ever  but be good to try a new GF dish.

I have some turkey mince in so I will do a curry type of dish with that or a chilli today and batch freeze most of it.

 This is brilliant, thank you for sharing this.

Just checking in to report another £9.53 spend. In that I got some reduced to clear mushrooms (2 × 54p), reduced to clear chocolate Oat milk (65p!👍) and two pizzas and a 4 pk of bud for £6 (on offer).

Total for the month so far...

£105.19/ £460