February 2023 Grocery Challenge

Caroby

Our first big shop today. £13.49 in Morrisons, then to Aldi £51.70, and lastly to Tesco £23.73 inc £2.44 on 8 items for the food bank. Got an old favourite we've not been buying lately due to cost ... 500g Alpro blueberry yoghurt for £1.25 (70p off). The whole shop came to £88.92 but will last two weeks. £81.18 left.
£98.82 / £180.00

atrixa

I'm up to £121.56/£150. I've got very good at rooting out YS bread. Last loaf was 29p down from £1.20.

Caroby

@atrixa That's a good saving, I love a YS loaf, it goes straight in the freezer. Sadly didn't see one yesterday.

CRANKY40

First shop of the month done and £64.10 spent. The freezer is still full but I'm planning to make jam this weekend so I will be removing all of the (from my garden) raspberries that are in there. Hopefully that will make room for some portions of the lasagne that I'm making today. 

zafiro1984

Second shop of the month now spent 96.22/199.36. I'm on target at the moment.

I do find an online shop is cheaper than going to the supermarkets, no YS but after I've done my meal plan around what's in the fridge and freezers I do spend time looking at special offers.

This weeks find was 'Flora plant based butter' half price at S..... Basic butter here at the moment is £2 per pk and this was £1. It doesn't have quite the same taste but is acceptable and used in baking it performs well. If it's still on offer next week I'll stock up and freeze it. According to the reviews it freezes well - good find, has anyone else used it?

sarahj1986

sarahj1986 said:

£142 spent 

this includes a big Tesco shop today online and a shop in Lidl on Tuesday, which I’m counting as February as everything will be used in February. I got diced beef for 90p a pack, chicken fillets for 90p and third off chicken goujons and sausages. The above will pretty much do 2 weeks of meals. I shouldn’t need a lot next week at all. I’m going to try and only do 3 big shops this month. Next week I’m gonna try and do a bigger shop to make it stretch 10ish days and take it from there. I’m going to utilise Lidl more for reductions too 

£22 in Lidl on Monday. It was £21 something but I’ve lost the receipt 

£164 spent which means £86 left. My next big shop is on Sunday. I’m undecided on if I do one big shop or make it a smaller shop and then do another. I’ve still got a lot of freezer stuff to use. 

Suffolk_lass

zafiro1984 said:

Second shop of the month now spent 96.22/199.36. I'm on target at the moment.

I do find an online shop is cheaper than going to the supermarkets, no YS but after I've done my meal plan around what's in the fridge and freezers I do spend time looking at special offers.

This weeks find was 'Flora plant based butter' half price at S..... Basic butter here at the moment is £2 per pk and this was £1. It doesn't have quite the same taste but is acceptable and used in baking it performs well. If it's still on offer next week I'll stock up and freeze it. According to the reviews it freezes well - good find, has anyone else used it?

I haven't - I'm still using Morries savers at £1.89 a pack. I have started to use Stork baking for, err, baking, instead of butter. With a pinch of salt and potentially a dash of vanilla if it is a sweet bake. That is working well @£3.85/kilo

Soontobeoap

I buy flora pro active in bulk when it is on offer. Sell by date is always 3 month away so I just keep it in fridge. 

PipneyJane

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

£142 spent 

this includes a big Tesco shop today online and a shop in Lidl on Tuesday, which I’m counting as February as everything will be used in February. I got diced beef for 90p a pack, chicken fillets for 90p and third off chicken goujons and sausages. The above will pretty much do 2 weeks of meals. I shouldn’t need a lot next week at all. I’m going to try and only do 3 big shops this month. Next week I’m gonna try and do a bigger shop to make it stretch 10ish days and take it from there. I’m going to utilise Lidl more for reductions too 

£22 in Lidl on Monday. It was £21 something but I’ve lost the receipt 

£164 spent which means £86 left. My next big shop is on Sunday. I’m undecided on if I do one big shop or make it a smaller shop and then do another. I’ve still got a lot of freezer stuff to use. 

@sarahj1986 - if you use the L!dl+ app on your phone, it will save a copy of the receipt.  (Look under "more" on the right hand side at the bottom.) 

HTH.  I only wish MrT's and Nectar offered this option.  Theirs are the receipts we seem to lose.

- Pip

Soontobeoap

When we retired early we took on a big renovation project with our house. We found jobs along the way to afford any extras and life was fulfilling. At 62 however I was suffering with such severe sciatica that all that stopped. We joined clubs, I did the crafting i love but could only do anything in short bursts. I feel that everyone needs a purpose and without it things get hard. Anyway one op and 3 yrs later, I am fit and healthy again. What I am trying to say is that I have found my purpose again through this thread. I thought that the problem was that I wasnt working and bringing in money but its not all about that. Saving money for the important things is just as vital. I have saved on average £100 a month on grocery shoppingvin the last year
and I think that I can reduce that further. 

I cant believe how many meals that you can make with stuff that is already in kitchen! Today I have picked the bones of our chicken and with 2 rashers of bacon, 2 small onions a stock cube and some homemade pastry I have made 4 pies. Thats 4 meals for almost nothing. Although they arent entirely, I always call them free meals as I would have thrown that little bit of chicken away in the past.

Women of the past knew how important home making was and I am now embracing it too. 
Hope everyone else is doing ok. 

Sorry if I have strayed a bit off topic.