February 2023 Grocery Challenge

K9sandFelines

Budget of £120 still please. Thank you to @elsiepac and Good luck to everybody taking part. 

Need to catch up on the thread now. 

FoxFace

I don’t usually drop in through the week, as I usually only spend on a Sunday, but I just had an email to tell me Gousto have now refunded the rest of the cost of our last box. Only fitting seeing how awfully they dealt with the issue in the first place, but at least I got free food from it!

I’ll get the cash out of the bank and add it to the kitty next time I nip out

otb666

350/600 Half way through tomorrow, for me.so not looking too bad. I canned my odd box as they were putting price up and it was a real luxury to choose fruit and veg, overspent though 27 pounds instead of 16 pounds, also i think i am going to change from fortnightly to weekly, but this means we have more fruit and veg and hubby had a leek and potato soup i made 2 days in a row.  Also I am moving away from the batching chucking everything in to fewer ingredients and smaller amounts So we use them up straightaway and will do a carrot and suede soup later this week.  If I add a bit of cream hubby happy to eat it as well. Also he ate the avocado egg and tomato on toast I made as the avocados were huge as I got to pick them and enjoying fresh berries on my porridge in mornings. And fresh fruit later on in day as snacks. I am also pleased as read somewhere that if you exercise eat sleep and do not smoke you dont suffer from Covid as bad So overall think this is an improvement and if I can reduce hubbys meat bill hoping his health will improve and cheaper.  Thanks for reading 

EskarinaWeatherwax

Urgh, spending plans all awry. I spend on a credit card and pay it off in full every month. Due to some peculiar !!!!!! up, there’s been a transaction that *wasn’t* fraudulent but *looked* fraudulent so my card has been cancelled and I am
spending from my bank account until new card arrives, which feels scary!

I’m trying a new thing this month too, so am feeling very unsure how it will all work. I usually do one online shop with delivery a month and top up fresh stuff on foot each week. I’m trying two smaller online shops, including fresh stuff, and swing if it will last two weeks so I can minimise top up shops. But it’s much harder, in my head, to think in two week periods. Urgh.

Anyway, I’ve spent £59.14 in my first of two online shops. Time will tell!

cuddlymarm

Hi guys
First shop of February £43.47 spent which with what I already had in stores I’m aiming to make last the month. I’ll need bread and milk but apart from that I’m trying to keep as much of my wages left as possible for spends for our holiday next month.

Blackcats

I originally thought I might be able to reduce the grocery budget this month but I think that rising food prices will mean that I need to keep it the same.  We are away for one night and having a meal out on another day which initially made me simplistically think that I only needed 26 days of main meals but we need to replenish stocks of loo rolls, toiletries and some tinned items
And .... having done the first main shop of the month today and been shocked my bill I think I would be setting myself up to fail if I cut the budget.
we went to our lovely local butcher at the weekend and stocked up on meat for the month. 

February budget £280
balance remaining £177

Rikku

I spent £42.55/£200 on this weeks shopping. From the greengrocers I got red potatoes, 4 huge leeks, a bag of conference pears, a bag of apples, bananas, a huge bulb of garlic, some shallots, onions, baby gem lettuce, mushrooms, kale, double cream, crème fraiche and some eggs. From Asda I got blue cheese, hard Italian cheese, bin bags, kids toothpaste, washing tabs, some whole grain mustard, yogurts, almond milk, cows milk and a loaf of seeded bread. I also got 3 ready prepared stir fry packs from the butchers because they’re brilliant quality and so easy to just chuck into a pan on busy weeknights.

I’ve ended up with far more food than I need but I now have a car for the first time ever so I got a little over eager with the shopping. Hopefully I can save most of the ingredients and even carry them over to next week so that nothing goes to waste!

Saver-upper

Soontobeoap said:

This year I moved to buying non bio washing powder instead of tablets mainly because shops seem to be stopping their own brand tablets. I was reluctant initially, but a box of powder is cheaper and I have discovered that if I use less for just freshening up and more for a deeper clean, I can get 31 washes out of a 25 wash box. Does anyone else have a tally chart on the side of their washing powder box? 🤔. 

When my now-teens were little (I had 4 under 7yo), and I was doing 11billion-and-plenty loads of washing a day, a tally on the side of the box is exactly what I used to do! I did it for many years. I bought a brand new box of washing powder today, and I might do it again, just for an experiment. For many years I have measured out my washing powder using the lid of a Mr Sheen polish spray-one full lid per load. Over the last couple of years I have started chucking in a fraction more, especially for  our towels, dog towels, bedding, and sometimes just because!! Think I might have started using bigger doses than I used to! It might help me reign it in again.

Saver-upper

Did a big grocery shop today. I am trying to do a big shop a month, followed by top-ups. (Unfortunately, some of my top-ups last month were a bit big!!  )

I bought a couple of items at B and M, then the rest at a large ASDA. Then I stopped at another ASDA on way home to get a couple of items I couldn't get in bigger store.Still couldn't buy eggs, peppers or tomatoes..... Again, I kept meticulous notes, and when I got home, I did a bit of maths, and between YS chicken, downshifting brands, buying specials, and at the cheaper shop, I saved £14.32 today 

Total grocery spend today was £114.85. This included washing powder £10 (I did look in Morrisons for the 75 washes box of Daz they were advertising for £5, but alas....), chicken, mince, pork chops, 2 blocks of cheese.

£140.25/£300

wannalot

Hi all

I’m just using a bout of insomnia to catch up on the posts here and to post to my own progress.

My budget has taken a big hit so far this month. I had a big online shop planned from Morrisons, which came in at £61.10 (using a “£10 off £70” voucher).  This included most of the necessities for the next 10 days or so.

However, I then went into my local Tesco, and they had a lot of YS offers on roast beef and steak and I ended up spending another £51 there. I think I had it in mind that those type of bargains will probably disappear this month when Tesco closes all of its fresh food counters. I’m quite sad that those are closing, as I live alone and it is nice to be able to buy small amounts of something if I want. I doubt I’ll even visit Tesco much from now on - I’m more likely to give Lidl a go.

To be honest, when I got home and was sticking stuff in the freezer, I was actually a little bit embarrassed because I really didn’t need to buy any meat. The freezer is absolutely packed. I feel a bit bad about my hoarding tendencies. Money was always very short when I was growing up, and as an adult I’ve always been keen to make sure that I never go without. I think it gives me a feeling of security, but I really don’t need to buy much for a long while. For the next month or two at least, I’m going to leave the bargains for other people and concentrate on using stuff up. 

Anyway, in terms of my budget, I’m probably doing OK. I’ll not need anything at all until he end of next week, and even then it will just be a small top-up on milk and veg. 

Good luck everyone!