February 2023 Grocery Challenge

2Scratters

With the balance of £124 and 4 weeks to pay day it is my intention to be so committed in staying within the budget. (£31 pw) I had hung on and on with not withdrawing and so many NSD's to slow the need for the December funds that would have been due. I am now using the December payment so actually am currently a month behind on the spends. Working towards being a full month to be able to stash at the end of February. 
I have just purchased an Aldi TGTG and will see what is in that prior to doing a shop after purchase. 
Today so far is £3.30

2 Scratters xx

Soontobeoap

@ladywithaplan what a horrible experience. I hope they catch the cyclist. About 20 years ago I saw a little old lady put a small bag of mushrooms into her coat before she got to the checkout. I didnt tell anyone as I felt so sorry for her so I know exactly what you mean. 

thriftwizard

Hunger isn't the only motivation to steal food, sadly; there are mental health conditions that drive people to do it, too. So many hurts in the world, and holes in our societal systems... 

I've spent £54.12 today, out & about; there's the usual pre-weekend trip to the supermarket (yogurt, cream, sliced bread, noodles) & the butcher (sausages, a small joint of pork & a tenderloin which will mostly be frozen for later reference - unexpected BF to feed tonight!) but also a raid on the brilliant farm shop down west, for organic cabbages to make sauerkraut from, small green chillis needed for a recipe etc. I've promised the BF's German grandmother, well into her 90s, a little jar of sauerkraut - no "live" kraut available where they live - so it'd better be a good one! Can I get away with under £40 at the market tomorrow? I can try...

Soontobeoap

Scrambled egg on toast last night for dinner and beans on toast tonight. February is off to a good start. This challenge is amazing. It has helped me find a bright side to us both being ill.😂 Cant go out for treats when we both feel like this either. I did just manage to make a cake today as DH is 2 days ahead of me and is beginning to feel hungry again. I dont really want to have to cook proper meals until my tummy feels a little bit better and I know he will be off to buy some form of chocolate if there is nothing in the house. 

joedenise

Couple of small spends and have now spent a total of £16.39/£200 leaving me with £183.61.

otb666

324/600 a quarter of the way through( my month runs from 24th-24th) So not very good need to have a good week this week fingers crossed. We are stocked up now but a bit annoyed as other half just been ordering same stuff more or less and i currently have 8 bottles of bleach and a lot more duplicates I have informed him I will take over shopping if he does not start checking cupboards first He is so lazy 

Saver-upper

Who would like to talk to me about what you include in your grocery shop?

This is my second consecutive month doing this challenge (I have dipped in and out previously, but this year need to get serious.)

For our family of usually-5-at-home, 20yo visiting some weekends and holidays. I set my budget for £300/month. Last month I spent £367.18.

The reason I ask: 
for this challenge, I include anything grocery-ish. So, if I bought school uniforms, or a t-shirt in the supermarket, I wouldn't include that, but I do include all food, toiletries, washing powder. Last month I included wrapping paper and a birthday card.

I know some people say they have a separate budget for things like alcohol, or pet food, or something. I would love to know how you decide you need a separate category that is not "grocery"

Tonight, after a lovely afternoon catching up with friends, I popped into ASDA to buy ready meals for tea. I ended up spending a total of £20.70,and ready meals was £17.50 of it. I don't mind paying it, and I can afford it as an occasional treat, but crikey, that's a big dent out of my monthly  grocery budget , with only a tiny amount of it being traditional groceries! Last month, one of my shops was £12 on pizzas for tea!
I'm starting to wonder if I should have a different  "category" for ready meals, just to help the grocery purse a little. I know, sensibly, it is a bit of a moot point-it all comes out of the same paypacket. And we don't have ready meals often (once a month this year, it seems  ). It just hurt a little bit when a top-up grocery shop cost £3.20, but £20.70 is totted up for this challenge.  

I would love to hear what others do please.

 

Suffolk_lass

@Saver-upper I have several pots.

Within the GC I have three -

• Grocery shopping covers everything fresh I buy in shops (SM, Butcher, market),
• Stores is all my cleaning products (me and the house), store-cupboard things like flour, sugar, spices and all the spare things like a packet of biscuits, 4 tins of baked beans, etc
• DD and subscription items - eg we get coffee in packs of six as a subscription and we get milk and eggs delivered and paid on a DD

I don't include (but I do count) Treats and Entertainment. This includes naughty things like ice-cream, bought in the SM, going out and T/aways, drinks in the pub, coffee shop visits and so on. I track it and control it, but not in this challenge.

I separately track and count but don't include the dog and cat things (mostly these are subscription things), but the exception is SM bought cat litter (she is an indoor girl) and that gets lumped in with GC.

I am old-school and use a spreadsheet, with a monthly column and rows for each category. I also track credit cards (sometimes these are duplicates (eg, pub visit, paid by CC) so not included as a separate category

I also track and record all the little bits we still manage to save; Tilly tidying the bank accounts by rounding down to the next £5 (or £10 if feeling flush), PB wins, any eBay or marketplace sales and taking part in the "Save £12k in 2023" challenge (my target is a lot less than £12k though!

I hope this helps - we all do it a bit differently and the important thing is what works for you. If you are buying lots of ready-meals, maybe a batch cooking session so you have homemade (cheaper, and knowing what is in there) alternatives. My fail is buying too much and I control this (a bit) by not shopping often - 2-3 a month is normal now for me, or sending DH who is more likely to stick to the list (he can't drive currently, due to eye op aftermath)

Soontobeoap

@Saver-upper. It is your challenge and we all use this,forum for support, encouragement and accountability.. Everyone has a different way of doing it. It is hard estimating without a base line. Rembember you are feeding 5 people so need to be realistic. Some people on here have been doing it for years. I am just into my 2nd year and i am still finding ways to get costs down. I am happy if i can shop for cheaper than i did each month last year.

Take your time. If it was me i would try to get my grocerys for slightly less in Feb than I  did  in Jan. but it is entirely up to you. 

You will soon get excited when you find ys items, get donated apples, forage for blackberry's or have beans on toast for dinner. It makes saving money more fun. 

Dont stress too much. Enjoy the experience and make new friends along the way. 

joedenise

@Saver-upper  I think I've said previously to someone else that I only include groceries in the GC.  I have separate pots (budgets) for bulk buys (similar to @Suffolk_lass Stores budget) but this also includes the butcher as I bulk buy my meat about every 6 weeks; an eating out budget which would include any ready meals bought in the SM although don't tend to buy these but DH occasionally picks up ready made pies for himself so that would come from this budget.  Alcohol is another separate budget.

In your case I think you probably need to have a separate budget for the ready meals as you have them regularly or alternatively if you want to track in the GC then up your budget to include them.