January 2023 Grocery Challenge

FoxFace

Good evening everyone, I hope you are all well?

I’d like to join back in if I may? It has been a while, but with the cost of living I really want to save where I can in the new year.

budget of £50 per week please!

This is for 4 of us and a dog, but we also get a food box (it saves food waste and time and works out worth it for us).. so the budget is just for breakfast, lunch, snacks etc. Laundry is also on subscription, so not included. It should be doable for us, but if not, I’ll adjust next month. I also have £50 contingency just as a buffer, so that if we go over a little, I don’t feel like I have blown it.

I’m also going back to paying cash, as I actually enjoy checking my receipts and change, and it helps keep me on track.

Thanks Elsiepac for continuing to run these threads, and good luck everyone!

Its_time

I'm back for January if you'll have me.  Haven't finished up with December yet but am aiming for 

£250/month 

Last month I did £50/week which worked well but think I need some leeway some weeks and not so much on others.  Overall I am aiming for £50 a week but no more than £250/month.  Have a Tesco shop booked for tomorrow which will be used mainly in January.  If I have any left over December funds it will go forward to the delivery the rest will be paid for from January's budget.....I think 🤔 

OnABudget2023

£126 for the Month please 

2 adults and one teenager. 

Doing a stor cupboard challenge so low amount for the month. 

Thanks for the thread xx 

LLM2018

I'd like to join after a long time of absence but been re-lurking for the last few months.

It's just me so £100 a month please

LLM

oceandreamer

I'd like to join in please.  Haven't done one of these challenges before but am going to try and eat mostly out of the freezer and stores for January so putting down £100 for three adults.

leftatthetrafficlights

Popped to the shop yesterday to pick up a couple of bits for dd - got a few bits for us while there: 
Bread, cheese, toothpaste, vinegar, ketchup and butter. Added to the loo rolls bought last week that's £23 spent from our 2023 budget to date. 

oceandreamer

Just realised my target should be in bold - £100 for the month please

JingsMyBucket

Hello all and happy holidays! It's great to see so many people joining in to the thread.  @elsiepac thank you so much for running this thread every month and I hope your year is filled with ease and good health. 

@PipneyJane how much is your butcher fund again? I can't remember the exact amount. 

@Its_time I'm similar to you in that using weekly amounts keeps me focused but I still need to account for a Tesco order about once or twice a month. Based on that, I'm going to count January as a 5 week month so it gives us a bit of a buffer for any bulking up or a Tesco order. 

I'm going for £60/week for 5 weeks in January 1 - 31. That comes to £300 for the month. 

That's for 2 adults who both eat meat but OH is trying to cut back again and be more vegetarian once again this coming year. We'll be replacing some items like olive oil and detergent as well stocking up on coconut milk, etc. We should be fine though.

Weirdly enough, is it just me or are some folks open to spending *more* on food lately? It seems like quality and variety have taken a nose dive in the past few years so I've been looking for good sources of interesting and nutritious food. For instance, I can't seem to find any squashes or pumpkins other than standard butternut squash. And even that's been hard to find at times! I may have to venture to a farm stand or a different supermarket like Morrison's in hope of finding a larger variety. 

I'd also like to incorporate more fish back into my diet and a wider variety other than just (battered) cod or haddock. Salmon steaks seem to have completely vanished from all supermarkets in place of filets so I may just buy a whole salmon online and cut it down myself. How are others dealing with this? 

CRANKY40

Last month's underspend of £42.19 transferred to Christmas 2023 savings pot. The HT is on his last 6 pack of monster munch but he assured me that he had plenty of crisps when I was ordering the last shopping delivery. He has a few other packs of different flavours so he will have to make do. I have no intention of putting my face round the door of any supermarket at this time of year. 

I have some Christmas goodies left - a box of chocolate biscuits and a tub of chocolates. The locusts  HT's friends can have those for a treat but I'll make them stretch two visits. There's usually about 4 to 6 of them when they have a get together but they're fairly quiet and well behaved so I don't mind supplying teabags, milk and biscuits. 

So far I have liberated a tub of home made lasagne from the freezer for dinner yesterday and a pizza for the HT and his best friend tonight which they will have between them with chips. I'm having egg and bacon toast for my dinner tonight because I can. The remaining contents of the freezer seem to have expanded to fit the freezer as there doesn't seem to be any space still.  

joedenise

@JingsMyBucket - doesn't your Morrisons have a fresh fish counter?  Ours does and they often sell whole salmon and will prepare it however you want it including cutting into steaks.  Personally I prefer fillets and just get them to prepare it and give me to the 2 sides which I then portion myself at home.  Certainly worth asking if you do have a fish counter.