January 2023 Grocery Challenge

Soontobeoap

Just spent half an hour working out tea bag offers. Wanted a 420 bag of Tetley tea. Found it for £5.00 in Morrisons but we went there 3 days ago whilst in town! 😕. Then I discovered 240 boxes at 2 for £6.00 in iceland. We have one in our loval Range store just up the road. If I have done my calculations right that is even cheaper. So i am going to look in today. Wish me luck. 😅

Update :- DH has just  checked my calculations for me and I am wrong. 😕. Back to the drawing board!!!!! We dont need them yet. 🤔

ancientmum

So far I've spent £7.37 on eggs, milk, toothpaste, steradent, deodorant and paracetamol.   The egg man in the market has put up the price by quite a bit since he was here before Christmas, but I know they are fresh and local.  
Still using up leftovers from Christmas and New Year.  I made a pie with some chicken, mushrooms and odd bits from the gammon and a sausage pasta bake with mushrooms and  cooked chipolatas.  Slowly working my way through cheese and crackers (and Baileys).

try_harder

I overspent last week by about £3 so i will take that off this weeks £55  so i now have £52 for this week .I found it very hard i have to say but i kept a very strict track of every penny we spent and luckily we did have several bits in the fridge and freezer ,today the fridge is empty so this week will be even harder ,luckily i do have a few bits for the food bank so i wont need to  buy much for that this week 

FoxFace

Back from my big shop of the week, £51.28p spent. A little over budget again (just a tiny bit though!) but honestly I am so happy… We were spending £100+ and £50 Gousto per week before Xmas, so the reduction is still pretty amazing. 

I’m going to soak some dried broth mix and make a lot of soup for the week, with one of those £1 “stew” veg packs… I found a leftover Finest range bake at home sourdough baguette in the back of the cupboard too, still in date, so with have that too… looking forward to lunch tomorrow already

Also, I am loving those tiny little gala apples they sell, usually really cheap and marketed at children’s packed lunches… Super handy little afternoon snack. 

£24.71p left in the kitty, to last until next Saturday, but I don’t think we will need anything.

Have a lovely Sunday, everyone x

sarahj1986

FoxFace said:

Back from my big shop of the week, £51.28p spent. A little over budget again (just a tiny bit though!) but honestly I am so happy… We were spending £100+ and £50 Gousto per week before Xmas, so the reduction is still pretty amazing. 

I’m going to soak some dried broth mix and make a lot of soup for the week, with one of those £1 “stew” veg packs… I found a leftover Finest range bake at home sourdough baguette in the back of the cupboard too, still in date, so with have that too… looking forward to lunch tomorrow already

Also, I am loving those tiny little gala apples they sell, usually really cheap and marketed at children’s packed lunches… Super handy little afternoon snack. 

£24.71p left in the kitty, to last until next Saturday, but I don’t think we will need anything.

Have a lovely Sunday, everyone x

I always buy the little kids apples. I find apples really fill me up so I can never eat a whole one. I hate waste so the little ones are ideal and usually cheaper 

JingsMyBucket

Morning everyone from rainy SW Scotland. I have a few spends from last week to declare. 

£60.72 for a Tesco delivery this past Wednesday. We restocked basics like olive oil, vegetable oil, butter, toilet paper, a large box of laundry powder, and paper towels. In the order were usuals like bananas, arugula, zucchini, limes, scallions, oat bars, etc along with a couple small tubs of ice cream as a treat. They were completely out of the strawberries and cilantro I ordered along with a few other items. Was slightly quizzical about how little our £60 got us though. Oh well. 

£3.10 spent at M & S on Friday for strawberries and cilantro that Tesco didn't deliver. It was a quick swipe around the store and I'm *so* proud of myself for ignoring all the lovely yellow sticker food I could see on the shelves while hightailing it to the check out area. 

£63.82 / £300.00 spent so far. £236.18 remaining. 

I wanted to head to Tesco today to pick up some fruit and veg as we're running low finally after the holidays, but it really depends on the weather. If it clears up in the next 90 min, I may head out. OTOH, the cooking plan I've worked out for the week doesn't need stuff until maybe tomorrow or Tuesday. 

COOKING PLAN (in no particular order)

Oatmeal / porridge. Just made a batch in the Instant Pot using the Bob's Red Mill recipe. It turned out really well and I had subbed out 1 cup of water for 2% milk. Topping options we have on hand: HM cinnamon apples, HM cranberry sauce, frozen pomegranate seeds, almond butter, peanut butter, flaxseed, chia seeds, seed mix, maple syrup

Basmati rice

Roasted tomatoes - These are some elderly baby tomatoes that will be fine with some EVOO and garlic roasted in a pan. 

Thai beef soup — Based on this recipe for Easy Thai Shrimp Soup. I'm just subbing out leftover roast beef for the shrimp. I highly recommend it; it's so easy to put together and I've made it several times. It'll use up carrots, bell pepper, zucchini, roast beef & basmati rice. 

Vegetable pasta salad — Heavy on the vegetables, light on the pasta. Made with broccoli, zucchini, bell pepper, the elderly roasted tomatoes, caponata, arugula, and parmesan 

Caramelized red onion and ham tart - Leftover Ham and Cheese Caramelised Onion Tart

Vegetable crumble — That will use up some old age pensioner leeks, parsnips, carrots, and some frozen peas. 

barole

 £8.75 spent on Saturday, leaving £191.25

I have decided not to even go looking for YS today as I Have enough in stock including bread in the freezer and UHT milk. Also have YS stewing steak, diced pork and chicken breasts in the freezer.

I am going to make fruit salad and minestrone soup to take to work.

Gettingmyshiztogether

Hello everyone, happy Sunday!

Today we nipped to L!dl to stock up on our non dairy milk. I had a 15% off voucher to use and so got enough for the rest of this month. Worked out to be 85p a carton. 

Then we headed into Tesc0 to get their club cars offers. I was hopeful to grab some of their Fl0r@ plant based butter usually £2 but £1 for club card holders at the moment, alas they had none. I did manage to grab some of their Veggie burgers and sausages though for £1.50 instead of £2.50 a pack. They also have golden syrup 680ml for £1.35 so I got two.

£18.92 spent in L!dls and £24.57 at Tesc0, a total of £49.99.

I am trying to get out of the "week to week" mind set of shopping and instead do it "month to month" so that I don't miss any chances to save with offers. Today's purchases "saved" me £17 in total. Although we won't eat all of the sausages and burgers this month alone, they will last us well in to March. 

My thoughts for this year are to buy a TGTG box and a l!dl £1.50 box each week (if possible) use C0$t C0 (I am yet to go but hear good things about buying in bulk) and then source the supermarket offers. My average food shop per month last year was £467, family of four, two adults, one male one female, a female teenager, a female preteen. The kids eat more than me! So worth mentioning. 

This year I would very much like to reduce this down to £400 a month, however starting January at £250 to reduce the stocks we have available. I will also take £100 to C0$t C0 when I go this month or next. 

Currently sat at...

£165.77/£250

Still fairly pleased with that effort. Will share my meal plan if it helps someone later on, I always like to see meal plans as they inspire me to try something different. 

Anyways apologies for war and peace in one post! Happy Sundays xxx

joedenise

There is a Meal Plan thread running on here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6356309/could-we-start-a-meal-plan-thread-again-so-its-not-lost-in-the-gc#latest

You can post your meal plans on that thread and also read others ideas.

Saver-upper

So, with the shock of having spent $4600.95 on groceries last year , and knowing how many impulse buys, and sweet treats/biscuits/chocolate etc were in that, this year I have vowed to be more mindful of my shopping. 

Today, when dropping daughter at work, I popped into the local Tesco for milk, bread, and ham. I decided I would take a few minutes to see if I could "downshift" on the bread. I like seeded bread, and normally buy Hovis Original 7 seeds bread, which has leapt up to £2/ loaf. I scoured the shelves. Here is the thing: Tesco FINEST Super-seeded loaf ,same weight, is only £1,30/loaf    . SO, buying that, which I did, is sort of like doing the MSE downshift challenge, but different     
Today's spend was £7.45.

Realised when I go back home that I should have got cheese, so will get that when I collect daughter.

Think I will start keeping a note of how much I save this year by downshifting, and either put the savings in my sealed pot, or toward the 1p challenge.

£85.73/£300
YTD downshift savings £1.68

Edit: went back to Tesco for the forgotten cheese, bacon, and eggs. Now shouldnt need to go shopping for quite a few days. I have the ingredients for in fridge, freezer, and cupboards, for lots of meals yet.