January 2023 Grocery Challenge

SausageDogSandwich

Morning all, my middles child being poorly scuppered plans of no spending. He didn’t feel like curry so I got som mash from the shop £1, was going to do the defrosted chicken with mash and pea instead but when I opened the packet it smelt disgusting and didn’t look right. So the other two had a very inventive mash beans and fried egg  He fell asleep before tea so didn’t have any, when he woke up he wanted jam sandwich on white bread. So back to the shop I went, £1.70 on a loaf  haven’t had to buy any bread for around a year because of using olio so I wasn’t pleased but needs must. Usually there would be some on olio on a Monday tea time but there wasn’t this week. 

£84.20/250

Caroby

Did a main shop yesterday to see us through the next fortnight. We started in Aldi where we got most of what we need £51.03. Then £16.51 spent at Tesco, we bought tea we didn't need yet but it was half price, also got a nice multigrain loaf on 'skid row' for 34p (in the freezer now), and 6 things for the food bank £1.78. Last stop Lidl, £13.93 which unfortunately took us over budget for the month. The whole shop came to £81.47 so an overspend of £13.85. At the start of the month I did think we'd keep in budget but so many things keep creeping up in price, I'm really resenting these 5p or 10p increases now because it all adds up. Hope you're all doing well, see you in the February thread.

thriftwizard

Well... shoulda bumped my target up! I've just added £120 spent over the last weekend, which I'm ashamed to say is an estimate & quite possibly a slight under-estimate at that! So I've been feeding 6+ for 6 days and never quite got the planning straight as things (mostly numbers) kept changing at the last minute. Anyway, that leaves me about £20 to last until the end of January, which if there were just the three of us, would be entirely do-able, as there's plenty in the freezer. But DD1 & BF are here too for most of that time, and will be for the next month too. So - let's see how far over the £400 I go, and lay my plans for February accordingly.

gm2917

£31.05 for Serious tissue toilet paper subscription plus a few items from Lidl (£7.48) and Iceland (£5.75) and a week's shop from Aldi (£41.26), bring me to £372.97/£400.

I do still have a few items I need to pick up, but confident I can keep to budget before Fri which is when I get paid. This will be the first time I've kept to my budget in forever.

FoxFace

Oh whoops! I forgot I had popped some recipes in my G0usto basket for “inspiration” but forgot to cancel the delivery slot, so they just took payment. £50.34p. I’ll account for it by taking less for next week’s budget… it isn’t really that big a problem but I am a bit annoyed at myself, particularly as it included two pasta dishes and a gnocchi dish… I don’t suppose anyone is going to complain, other than me. I might look at the ingredients and see if I can make something else with them for one of the meals. Silly mistake, live and learn.

atrixa

£202.35/£205

Last planned shop of the month done, won't declare yet just in case. Mr S was yellow-sticker galore at lunchtime, got reduced hot cross buns, loaf of bread, bag of salad, and mushrooms. Paid full price for a few other bits and used a £2.50 voucher so came under budget! Very please with that shop.

sarahj1986

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

Hello all

kicking off my first spend of the year so far!

went into town today and popped into Lidl. I got some skinny crunch, energy drinks and finally managed to get a £1.50 fruit n veg box. It had a mango, 7/8 apples, a pear, 5/6 oranges, 2 bunches of spring onions”, orange pepper, lettuce, loads of baby potatoes, 3 red potatoes, aubergine, a lemon, a lime and a grape fruit. 4 bananas although I think only 1 of those can be saved. Apart from 3 of the bananas the rest of it is absolutely fine, 1 apple has a bruise but I can cut that off. I won’t need much fruit n veg this week now. Tesco is delivering on Thursday. I’m trying to keep that under £70

£246.67 left 

£84.33 spent today 

my shopping is due this afternoon and I’ve just got my receipt from Tesco. It would have been a bit higher but there’s 3 subs I don’t want. 

It is slightly bigger than I was planning on but I’ve done a mini stock up on things we use like crisps, cereal bars, biscuits and I’ve also got my husband a selection of tinned soup for his lunch when he wants it. I’ve only got chicken and a big pack of mince on it for dinners. I’ve taken out leftover lamb for dinner tonight, I’ll do a tikka curry, got naans coming for that. The mince I’m batch making a chilli adding in lentils and kidney beans, that will easily do 3 dinners. I’ll freeze 2 lots. Chicken, which I’m going tomorrow will do is 2 meals so freeze the rest for a curry or sweet and sour. I’ve still got 2 joints of pork, 2 joints of beef plus bacon and other bits in my freezer. Next week won’t need to be as high as I continue to use what I’ve got. 

£162.34 left 

£4.60 spent today

£1.60 in Poundland. We visited my sisters and her children. My daughter wanted a drink plus I got some skinny crunch bars as I’ve not tried the rocky road yet

£3 was a Too good to go bag from Costa. I’ve done them in the past when I’ve been up my sisters way. They are lucky to have a few Costas nearby. The one today I’ve never been lucky enough to get. I ended up with a croissant, chocolate twist, 1 chocolate muffin, 1 lemon muffin and a ham n cheese toastie. Maybe not massively money saving but a nice treat. 

£157.64 left 

£59.34 spent today 

it was over £60 but something on that was for my daughters birthday and I don’t include that 

£98.30 left 

2 shops left so needs to be under £50 each to keep myself under my budget. We shall see how it goes 

£30.30 spent today 

I went into town and headed up to Lidl as I forgot to get my daughter yogurts and she had ran out. Also needed some biscuits as I struggle to get the single packets on Tesco line. 

Anyways I got what I needed plus some reductions 

2 x chicken goujons 90p each 
1 x southern fried chicken £2
1x lemon and pepper pork chops £2
1 x breaded chicken steaks 90p
10 sausages 30% off
2 fish cakes 30% off

plus the £1,50 fruit n veg box. I had potatoes, apples, carrots, tomatoes, plums, oranges, kiwi, leek, grapefruit and red onions. There is so much for £1.50!

plus a few other bits that I needed so yeah, £30.30 spent. I’m very happy because the meat/fish alone I’ve saved probably £20 on full price, add in the fruit n veg box another £10-15. I’m extremely happy

£68 left. I think I might go over by a few pounds but I’m getting a shop this week I’ll see if I can stretch it to the end of the month, only needing milk and bread in the final week or January. With what I got reduced today and my freezer stash I definitely don’t need and meat or fish for a good few weeks 

Thanks 

£80.27 Tesco shop today 

it was a big shop too as I’m getting 2 weeks worth of shopping so that I don’t need to do much else between now and the end of the month

so I’m £12.27 over 

I’m ok with this. I got a lot of reductions from Lidl on Monday that will push us into February and help February’s budget. I shouldn’t in theory need much else. Maybe bread, milk and yogurts between now and the end of the month.

Another £20.18 spent today 

actually it should have been more like a tenner but I took my daughter, never a good idea and there was a few reductions I picked up. I’ll only need milk now which I’ll get on Saturday 

£32.45 over 

Soontobeoap

Still working through January budget. Have been shopping today for a gf loaf, ordinary loaf and DH fancied some sliced beef. Also forgot to add last small spend to signiture so total so far is now £154.71.still a few days to go and everything is getting very low so temptation is creeping in. We had scrambled eggs on toast tonight as DH didnt fancy omelette so still have ham and mushrooms in freezer for another day. I call that a win. £60 down on last January at the moment. I think I am beginning to get the hang of this!! 😂

MissRikkiC

Glad I didn’t declare the other day as we promptly needed a quick dinner on account of a slow cooker jambalaya completely disintegrating and I’d bulked it out with all the bendy veg etc from the fridge so in turn we had no meals or anything left after it! Not a happy bunny. So a further £13 to add to the spends of I think £146 taking me to £159/150. In fairness most things purchased in addition to dinner stuff will last this week and I just asked hub to get them because he was already there but I’ll add it to January spend since there was a bit of surplus in the pot above my target. 

If there is anymore left, and if there is it will be a few £s at best, It will go towards buying a ninja foodie type thing that I’ve been toying with for months! 

£156/150 for January. Vs £350/400 every month for the last 6 easily! Very pleased 😃 

mumtoomany

Out of milk yesterday, so did a bit of shopping. Iceland, Aldi, home bargains, cash and carry and veg shop. Total spent, £25.17. Total for the year now stands at £195.49/£2640. I don't think I need anything else this month. Famous last words? We'll see. Hugs mumtoomany.xxx