March 2023 Grocery Challenge

Suffolk_lass

I went to collect my prescription yesterday, combining it with a SM small list. Spent £43.70 on groceries, £5.25 on store-cupboard and a few treats from the treats and entertainment budget (we we are not out too much this month, apart from next weekend). I have some more milk bills and a couple of subscription things due on the 20th. Apart from that, this month will be from stores, I hope.

SausageDogSandwich

Morning all, just having a quick catch up and noting down my spends. Did a shop at Tesco on Friday, including a bottle of wine came to £44.49, plenty of fruit and veg, milk, cheese, yogurt, frozen veg, mince and chicken drumsticks, crisps and some xero cola. Then went to farmfoods and spent £6.99 on a couple of freezer teas (kids have just discovered our childhood staple of crispy pancakes)  and a jar of coffee. I was going to sneak in the shop this morning for some biscuits but refrained, will have to get milk tomorrow again though. 

£51.48/250

PipneyJane

KajiKita said:

Question for the board …..

I see people posting on these threads periodically about having a separate ‘bulk purchases’ budget. Could those that do use this system share some more insights about it? I’m asking as we are nearly at the end of our 5kg sack of basmati rice. I was comparing prices per 100g and the cheapest seems to be Amazon for something that looks good but I have to buy 3 x 5kg which seems way too much for just us two. 

I noticed a 1kg bag in T3sco today at £5! 😳  I can get a 5kg bag online from them for £2.40 per kilo (so helpfully better price) but that means spending £12 all at once, which is a significant lump out of my monthly budget. There are also random things like table salt which I buy once every 3 months or so ….

Questions (but I’m sure I have missed something!):

- do you run the bulk budget as a separate line?

- how did you establish it? Something along the lines of my long lasting consumption, but non perishable items are # & # & # etc. and they typically cost £## per annum, so I hereby allocate £## / 12 to buying them each month?

- where do you store it all?

- where do you find the biggest savings - what should I prioritise to bulk buy first?

- where do you buy these bulk items? Online? From standard supermarkets? Cash and carrys? (If the latter, how do you qualify for a card?)

- AOA …… or ‘any other advice’ would be much appreciated 😊

KK

Hi @KajiKita

We have a Bulk Fund, so I thought I’d answer your questions.  Ours came about because I visited a Chinese wholesaler (Wing-Yip), spent a fortune on a car load of stuff and then had to figure out how to be reimbursed for it all, since the housekeeping couldn’t sustain it.  That was 20-ish years ago.

At the moment, we set aside £40 a month for the Bulk Fund, which is transferred to a separate savings account on payday.  It’s probably too much - we’ve got quite a surplus in that account - but it does for us.

We use our Bulk Fund for the following:

• C0stc0 membership and purchases.  (I can’t walk into C0stc0 without spending at least £50, even when I go in just to purchase a bag of ground coffee.)
• 10kg sacks of rice.
• 10kg sacks of Atta/chapatti flour.  (Strong, semi-wholemeal flour.  I don’t buy others.)
• Bulk purchases of tinned chopped tomatoes.  At the moment, L!dl’s are cheapest at 28p/can.  I’ll buy a tray or two at a time.  (There’s 12 in a tray.)
• Spices if I’m buying in bulk.  I buy mine in 500g or 1kg bags from the Indian section in the supermarket or from Wing-Yip (if it’s something more exotic).  My spices are stored in airtight jars in the pantry.  (Recycled Douwe Egbert coffee jars.)
• Storage containers.  The rice and the flour are stored in the largest sized Lock-n-Lock boxes, each of which takes 5kg.  They are airtight, water tight and vermin tight.
•  Dried pulses if buying in bulk.  Usually purchased in 2kg bags.  I like to have one bag in “storage” and one decanted into an airtight container in the pantry.
• Washing powder.  We buy ours in the big, 130 wash box.  It lasts over a year.
• Washing up liquid.  I buy this in the 4L bottle from WingYip.
• Distilled white vinegar.  The cheapest way to buy this is a box of five 4L bottles.  We have really hard water so I mix it with my washing up liquid.  I also use straight vinegar to descale my kettle and thermos jug every week, but will re-use that vinegar for a month or so before it loses its potency.
• Wine, coffee and olive oil, when purchased in bulk at the Carrefour in Calais.

HTH.

- Pip

joedenise

Small shop in Morrisons this morning as needed bread - completely run out and none in the freezer so bought 3 loaves; one for use and 2 for the freezer.  Spent a total of £8.65 bringing my total so far to £43.31 and now have £156.69 left.  

Have a dental appointment tomorrow morning so will pop into Tesco for the few bits I couldn't get in Morrisons this morning - including decent sized onions.  Morrisons only had really small ones and I find them hard work to peel and chop so hoping Tesco have some good sized ones tomorrow, otherwise I'll pop into the farm shop on the way home even though it means a bit of a detour!

sarahj1986

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

£52.83 spent 

I only did it today as the offers in Tesco ran out. Big pack of Pepsi 24 for £7 instead of £9.50 not on offer, plus a few other offers expiring today. Made sense to get it today instead of tomorrow. I won’t need anymore fizzy pop till probably end of March or early April but I’ll keep an eye out at the offers. A few things out of stock that I find bizarre - coffee and chicken noodles, no suitable substitute? Weird. I used my £3 points also.  

£197.17 left 

£6.92 spent

As Tesco didn’t deliver a few items I cycled into town to get them. Coffee and noodles. My husband asked for some more biscuits too and I picked up another bag of apples on Clubcard as I only put 1 bag on the shopping instead of 2

£190.25 left 

£4 spent 

I got a too good to go bag from the Spar. It was still a good bag but the “worst” so far from there. 

Edit -£186.25 left 

£8.56 spent

i went into the Tesco express this afternoon. I found some pies, sausage rolls and ham reduced. I also got a cheeky meal deal. I don’t get them often but I really fancied some sushi 

£177.69 left 

big shop coming Wednesday morning to last 2 weeks 

Ginmonster

I haven't done any proper shops yet this month but due to a hangover yesterday I did end up buying 4 packs of instant noodles and some biscuits. I had one of the packets of noodles with some added stir fried veg as an easy tea but although they were supposed to be "chippy curry" flavour (I know, I was hungover) they weren't especially flavoursome and I was disappointed.

 Anyway, I spent £2.37 in total so I'm up to ££8.62/£250 so far.

Thevalueofless

First week March £64.88, month target £270
This is what happens when you go to the shops x5 in one week and you skip making lunch for work for two days! Some things will carry over for next week's budget though, and I did buy three packs of vegan butter and two lots of vegan cheese which is mightily expensive even on offer. Only two more weeks before I finish work (through choice) and then planning to award myself a few months off before looking for something part-time so the belt will truly be tightened over the next couple of months. I have planned for it financially but things will be tight.  My aim is to save as much on groceries as I can as you never know what other things will crop up unexpectedly. Still have leeks in the lottie and one last squash on the shelf plus a freezer full of green beans and courgettes. There will be soups!

Have a good week all.

TVOL

KajiKita

@PipneyJane - love your devilish signature sign off - brilliant! 😂😊🤩

Thanks for all the comments. The £40 per month is a useful start point for me in terms of budgeting and the lock n lock boxes are a good tip. 

How do you qualify for C0stco? Just rock up and pay the membership fee you mentioned? 

I’ve heard of WingY1p but don’t know what it is - another wholesaler?

KK

KajiKita

Interesting…. There isn’t a c0stco for 30 miles but there is a b00kers fairly close by …. You have to be a business or a charity to sign up for the latter. Mr KK is self employed - would that count as a business?

KK

otb666

192/600 just updating my figure as run from 24th to 24th looks like I am on track. so thats good.  I also buy white vinegar and baking powder in bulk to clean with.