January 2023 Grocery Challenge

Matron_Midge

Declaring January at £339.19/£400
£60 under budget paid into my savings.
I’m pantry and freezer diving again this month and only buying what we need.
most of you know that I work from an annual budget of £5200 but I am really hoping that I come well under this year.
I’ll see you over on the Feb thread.

CRANKY40

I've made brownies and cheese scones today. The cheese scones are dairy free and are to share with my nest friend (he has a dairy allergy). The brownies will be taken care of by the House Troll and friends. The HT has a friend round to watch some horrible zombie series on tv and they've said they'll get their own dinner from M@ccies tonight as a treat. It's a treat for me too as I don't have to cook. I'll probably have a cheese scone with butter and then some fruit to make it seem just a little bit healthier. 

Ginmonster

Two spends to declare for today £11.09 on stuff I needed in Sains on the way between work and picking child up from school and then an extra £9.94 in M&S as I had to take said child to the dentist and it's next to M&S and I was very tired and wanted some easy stuff for tea. 

If I had any cheese scones @CRANKY40 I'd definitely be having one for my tea too - sounds delicious!

Up to £141.26/£200 but I have one more shopping delivery booked for Tuesday which is still this month and with everything that's included I will go over. There are a few things that I decided to stock up on as they're a better price than usual so I think it's a better idea to get them now rather than pay more for them later. I've also realised that while I used to be able to keep my budget within £200 if I was sensible, prices have gone up so much recently that I'm going to change to £250 from next month. I think it's more realistic now. 

Thevalueofless

Ainsty said:

I've had a busy couple of at work so I haven't had a chance to post. My shopping for the last 2 weeks has been

Milk 2x 4pts - £3.30

Mushrooms - 99p

White bread 800g - 39p

Wonky Carrots 1.5kg - 60p

Onions 1kg - 79p

Tinned toms x 4 - £1.68

7 Bananas x 2 - £1.76

Chicken Thighs 1kg - £2.69

Red Lentils 2 x 500g -£2.70

Green Lentils 500g - £1.35

160 Tea Bags - £1.39

Frozen Mixed Veg - 89p

Toothpaste - 59p

6 Medium Eggs - £1.19

Cauliflower - £1.00

Custard Cream Biscuits  400g - 49p

Natural yoghurt 2 x 500g -90p

= £22.70

Carried forward from previous weeks = £11.70
2 weeks @ £10/w =£20
£11.70 + £20 + £31.70
Spend over 2 weeks = £22.70

£31.70 - £22.70 =£9.00

Carry Forward to next week = £9.00

The squash are really starting to rot now so I am eating a squash based diet with other things thrown in. At the weekend I'll probably prepare and freeze the remaining few. I've changed my week to start on Saturday so January is a 5 week month and there is still one more week, starting Saturday 29th. At that last shop of the month, I'll spend as close as possible to the whole £19.00 to put me in a good place for the beginning of February. 

Ainsty, may I ask how you prepare squash for the freezer. Ours are starting  to turn too and can't eat them quickly enough. Wondering whether to try blanching and then freezing or turn into meals then freeze. We've had them every which way these past two weeks!

FoxFace

Tiny little spend of £1.19p for some butter, as I didn’t realise we were running low. £63.07p in the kitty, with budget pick-up in 2 days.

Also picked up an Olio collection yesterday, some bagged salad, some mixed croissants, a finest range sourdough loaf and a pack of vegan sausages. We had the sausages for brunch today, the kids are polishing off the croissants, and I’ll use the bread to make a rarebit for lunch (with the salad). Free food is pretty cool.

CRANKY40

I forgot to say that my freezer is full again. I wanted a pizza for the HT so I was going to buy a frozen one instead of his usual £3.25 "fresh" version. That's when I spotted that Asd@ had a "4 things for £5" offer on some freezer items. I ordered a bag of hash browns, a bag of mini roasties for quick roast dinners, the HT's pizza and 12 chicken dippers. All deemed suitable for eating by teenagers and I thought £5 wasn't a bad price for that lot. 

atrixa

Declaring for the month at £202.38/£205. Success! See you all over in the Feb thread.

Soontobeoap

Declaring at £176.31/£230 so pleased with that. Over to February now. 

patentgirl

Just under budget for January coming in at £247.53 out of yearly budget of £3000 which is roughly £250 per month meal planned till 1st so should have no more spends not sure if jinxing myself. Used cash this month instead of card definitely helped me stick to budget.

zafiro1984

Looks like I'll be under budget for Jan, but I'm not declaring until the end of the month - just in case!!

I've used up all the biscuits, treats from Christmas and cakes so I need to start baking as I've still got dried fruit. flour etc in the cupboard but I think I'll be short of butter/marg so I'll do a bit of forward planning this weekend ready for Feb. Hens have started to lay again this week so that will help.

Freezers still look healthy. Last Oct/Nov I was making loads of jams and chutneys as presents for Christmas but DH had an accident and broke his neck so everything that was 'part prepared' for the preserves quickly got frozen. (medlars, rosehips, rhubarb, crabapples, oranges). I think I'll spend some time in Feb finishing off the said preserves. It will also make space in the freezers which will be a bonus..