January 2023 Grocery Challenge

weenancyinAmerica

snowbird20 - you may need to start growing your own. Coriander will grow from the seeds in the spice section and you can plant part of the knob of ginger and start growing your own. Don't need a yard, just a couple of pots or large cans.

OnABudget2023

Spent £10.07 today.

3 bottles of pop. 3 pots of “living” herbs, rolls and paninis.

Got a carrier bag of pastries from Olio app so have frozen half. We had some today for breakfast that couldn’t be frozen and rest for tomorrow. I’ve new to Olio and can’t believe the amount of pastries we’ve had 😱 It’s a lovely luxury to have for free!! 

snowbird20

weenancyinAmerica said:

snowbird20 - you may need to start growing your own. Coriander will grow from the seeds in the spice section and you can plant part of the knob of ginger and start growing your own. Don't need a yard, just a couple of pots or large cans.

that's a great thought.  We will be out of town for the month of February but I could do in Mar/April.

Doom_and_Gloom

Thank you elsiepac for doing this thread.
It is dizzying to think we are already in 2023. The last year was an odd one with time; sometimes going fast and other times very slowly.
As I keep saying this thread really does help keep us accountable, even if some of us blow the budget it would be worse if we weren't on here I'm sure.

Our January budget is going to be £248

The month goes 1st to the 31st.

This is for two adults, my OH and I, and a chinchilla. Includes all food and drink (except alcohol, that has a different budget), cleaning products, toiletries etc and all chinchilla items (food, hay, sand, treats etc.). 

My parents, after spending Christmas with them not only sent us home with the usual food haul of fruit, vegetables and over bought Christmas foods, but also a designed food bag to help us in the coming months (we can't express how thankful we are for their help and appreciate we are fortunate for it). So although I have kept our budget as it was, I'm hoping that we will spend less by a nice amount.

We have spent £55.64 already between A&C and Mr S.

£55.64/£248.

£192.36 left.

europe2014

Hi All 

My target is 

£400

 which I will find difficult,  we are a family of 5, 2 adults and 3 children 9, 7 and 5 (budget is for all food and household items).   Lunch is for 4 of us as 5 year old gets lunch at school, I also provide tea once a week for 2 other children. 

Freezer has stuff in it including some meat but probably only enough for a week of meals, got quite a few things in cupboards and plenty of treats as lots left from xmas so will use in the boys lunchboxes which will save some money. 

Ive already spent 47 and will need to pop the shops today as we are nearly out of milk and need brown bread for 9 year olds lunch box tomorrow when they are back to school - he doesnt eat white bread which I've got in freezer but will be used by rest of family so doesnt matter as such just a spend today rather than next week.

I want to try and control our spending on food to save some money as we've holiday plans and these savings will go for treats on holiday (holidays are a separate budget just want extra money for extra treats)

Hoping I can keep to budget, will be meal planning and using the first few posts to get some meal ideas.

applepad

We are a family of 4 adults, 2 who take lunches to work, 1 who is home all day.
we have a budget of £425 a month. Already switched from Tesco home delivery to Aldi weekly shop.
 

Toilet rolls, we seem to go through so many, can anyone recommend long lasting packs, I have seen ‘What’s the crap ‘ and good reviews and they are 400 sheets, but they are expensive 

elsiepac

Budgets updated to here

@pennywiseheeb good shout re veganuary, I hadn't thought of that.  The whole store had huge blank sections though, which I found odd, but there were a lot of staff looking busy so I wonder if they are doing yet another reorganise to stop me finding everything I want...lol

@Doom_and_Gloom I feel like 2022 flew by for the most part! Lucky you with the food bag and goodies from parents.  How old is your chinny now?

Soontobeoap

Tesco delivery booked for Friday so I grabbed a lift to Aldi with DH who was on his way to a bowls match and walked home. (money saving and excercise every day resolutions all covered in one go!!) Managed to get cling film and kitchen foil for £1.46 cheaper. Kitchen foil is not such good quality but is ok for my needs. Also bought aldi non bio washing powder for £3.69 for 40 washes when tescos is £2.75 for 25 washes so have saved there as well.

Ist spend of 2023 £13.97  today at Aldi

Our freezer is absolutely bursting. Couldnt get another thing in if i tried. We have lots of crisps left by DD who didnt want to take them back with her, so after shop arrives on friday we should only need veg, bread and milk for the rest of the month hopefully

@applepad I find that Tescos luxury soft toilet tissue 12 double rolls at £8.60 is the best value for money. They last 2 of us at least 6 months and I sometimes use to remove makeup too. They look expensive but each roll seems to go on for ever. I was sceptical to start with but wouldnt change. I put a new pack on order for this week, 2 weeks ago as we were down to 4 left. With guests forv4 dsys including 2 more adults and 3 boys who use it like the andrex puppy we have used under three quarters of a roll. It is well worth the initial outlay. 
 

thriftwizard

£62 to add today; £6 at the greengrocers for fresh salad-type veg to see us through until the market re-opens on Friday. Most of the greenery I bought at the supermarket yesterday - at full price, most of it - was fit only for the chickens this morning, sadly. Harvested during wet weather, I suspect, and probably cold-stored over Christmas too, but I suppose that's inevitable. But the greengrocers's stuff looked much better & is genuinely locally-grown too. And acting on a FB tip, I hurtled down to L!dls to see whether they had any of their £2 leftover gammons left, as I do have some space in the freezer now & I needed to go down anyway for halloumi, butter, loo roll and coffee for the month. Sadly no gammon left - I must have missed it by moments, the lady behind me in the queue had one in her trolley - but they did have several trays of 25 x chicken drumsticks left at £2 each, so my freezer has not gone hungry (3 x bags of 12 drumsticks) and we'll be having slow-cooked chicken chasseur tomorrow. With HG Pink Fir Apple spuds too; I found a bag hiding in the further recesses of the kitchen & they look fine. 

joedenise

First spend of the month in Tesco's this morning of £13.15/£200 leaving £186.85.