February 2023 Grocery Challenge

Suffolk_lass

Running low on bowl fruit here, this might make me go to the shops this week. I still have basic veg (potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbage) so whatever happens, we will manage. Running total for Feb is £117.86 and aiming for less than £150 to offset £332.65 in January. I need my average to be well below £250 a month within my £3000 annual budget or there will be no extras for Christmas.

I used up the (frozen) cubed seasoned beef I bought for New Year (chopped up a reduced roasting joint that was half the price of casserole cuts) and some frozen curry sauce for last night's supper with rice. Some leftovers might have to be lunch for DH.

I also got a 500g pack of mince out of the freezer that didn't get portioned before freezing - normally I divide it into 200g or 250g bags for when I am making chilli. I made some very tomatoey soup that I may top up with more basic veg and add the mince to that, but I also know DH would like meatballs, so maybe some and some. That will see us through until Wednesday or Thursday so maybe frozen fruit instead of fruit bowl until then

ancientmum

Nearly half way through February and I've spent 105.26, mainly due to still having food in the freezer that I bought before Christmas.  I've topped up the groceries a little and bought the usual milk, fruit/veg, bread and eggs as I've needed them.  I'm glad I bought a couple of bottles of olive oil when it was on offer last year as I noticed that the price has risen by about £2 in the last month.   I'm also going to take advantage of Nationwide's cash back offer as even a small discount is worth having these days.

Chelleybee

Checking in after our 2nd food shop of the month. I did an online Mr T shop and bought enough for 2 weeks of meals. 

Spent £101.26 / £350 which included cat food, cleaning products and a couple toiletries.

Next weekend we should be away depending on what the fracture clinic says about my foot today. 

Hoping to only need to buy fresh stuff when we get back. We have £123 left for the rest of the month. Good job it's a short one.

PipneyJane

Saver-upper said:

A NSD today, but yesterday I had to go to 3 different supermarkets for just a few bits (HOW HARD IS IT TO BUY BABY POWDER THESE DAYS???!!!  It was a special request by 16yo daughter. Tried B and M, One Below, Aldi, Iceland (was not, for 1 second, expecting to find it here, but was going to check our YS stuff anyway, so checked). Finally bought in Morrisons. 

 

@Saver-upper, I feel your pain.  I usually buy baby powder when it’s on 3-for-2, or other offer, but before Christmas, I couldn’t find any for at least 2 months.  We were on our last container, with less than a month’s worth left, when I finally found some in MrT’s.  In our house, baby powder has to be J&J, because some perfumes set off DH’s asthma, while others give me migraines.

(Because I date them, I know a large baby powder will last us 3 months.). 

I have a four of shops to declare:  £6.75 in L!dl on 4th Feb; £2.55 in MrT’s on 5th Feb; followed by  £21.76 in L!dl on Saturday; and  £10.35 in MrT’s on Sunday.    DH went to MrT’s on his own yesterday and reported that there was no fresh veg available and very little fresh food in the fridges. 

The above brings our spend to £46.17/£142 leaving £95.83 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

Thevalueofless

Week 2 £65.35, running total for month £120.53/£270
Am feeling a bit "ouch" about week 2 but did include £10 on a meet up with work friends and £8.72 on oat milk from Ald! which has gone up in price yet again, but should last about ten days. So far this week only £3.40 on a meal deal, forgot to take my lunch but it is just day 1 😁. Main shop on a Thursday and I am going to try really hard to make sure I buy everything we need for the upcoming week as it's the extra trips for forgotten bits that are never just for the forgotten bits if you know what I mean. Am still making our own bread and trying to use up freezer stocks which are mostly veg from our allotment to keep costs down. 

Have a good week everyone, I'm off to plan next week's meals. Having a lot of fun doing this.

The Value of Less

sams247

joedenise said:

Another £6.18 for 2 TGTG bags from Morrisons which we'll collect this afternoon.  Hoping for plenty of fruit and veg again.  

I really must use TGTG, used it once ages ago, got some lovely sandwiches from a coffee shop.  

Spent a lot on a bulk purchase of toilet rolls, so thats seriously dented my amount, but I now have loads of loo roll that should last me for months.   Weirdly every time I bulk buy toilet rolls I think of all those awful images of people fighting each other in the shops during the lockdown.

Anyway, I also bought some grocery items and an iced bun from the bakery (which I cut in half to have over two days)

£175/£160.       

diminua

£134.63 of £190.00 spent so far. My night out was followed by coffee shop breakfast and another bought lunch on Monday. I did buy proper groceries as well though and shouldn't need much more this week than milk. 

Saver-upper

Went to Tesco today for a little top- up shop (£14.99), and a Chinese ready meal for the family for £24.75.
Total spend £39.74. 

Total spend £192.26/£300.00

Gettingmyshiztogether

Hello all,

Tgtg box collected last night from M and Sons (£3.09) whilst there they had some sausage rolls reduced to half price and I needed some cheese for the HM pizzas we were making. Another £4.14 spent. 

The pizzas were delicious and very filling. I could only eat half of mine! I used the recipe at the front of this thread, the one with no Yeast, using SR flour. So so good! Will be making again for sure. Pizza doesn't usually fill me up on its own.

Sitting at a total of £184.63 / £420 for this month. 

zafiro1984

Half way through the month, an online order came yesterday £60.20p which takes my monthly total to  156.42/199.36 I certainly have enough to last until next week but I need to be careful as I only have £42.94 left  I just hope I don't spot any super bargains.