April 2023 Grocery Challenge

thriftwizard

£63.01 spent today at L!dls on loo roll, coffee, butter and a few more necessities. I did score a £1.50 box but it wasn't quite as generous as last week's; celery, spuds, Chantenay carrots, apples & pears, along with two small wilted cabbages, one rather brown cauliflower & one perfect one still fully wrapped in its leaves. Still very good value for £1.50. The chickens enjoyed the cabbages and the brown cauli, we ate the spuds & carrots with tonight's tea, and the rest will vanish steadily as we go through the week.

K9sandFelines

K9sandFelines said:

 £120 for me please @elsiepac .

I've forgotten whether I'm running 13th to 12th or 1st to end of month; so I need to  check that ✅

I've checked, and its calendar month! 

Cocobeans

Spent £1.90 yesterday on Soya milk and batter mix bringing my total spends to £10.50 so far. I have 2 vouchers from Morres to use before we go away for Easter so plan to use them today or tomorrow to buy some loo roll, dishwasher tabs and dog food ready for when we return as we are nearly out. I have lots of random veg in the fridge to use before we go so may get a 19p suede and make some vegetable stew to go in the freezer. 

£10.50 / £250 spent 

number_23

Hello, I'm new to MSE and the forum board *waves*

I'd like to join this challenge please. I'm not sure what is reasonable but I know for sure that we are spending way too much on groceries at the moment.  To account for half term and Easter I'd like to set a budget of £500 for the month for me, DH and DS (8).

Am I correct in my understanding that it is groceries and any food bought i.e. takeaways, eating out? If I buy a lottery ticket then this isn't counted? I've got receipts from the weekend so will start a tracker.  

We spend way too much on multiple things but starting with groceries is a good starting point

Hope you're all having a great week,
CA23

Soontobeoap

@number_23 welcome. We are all enjoying this forum and the way it helps us to be accountable for our spending. We also get lots of ideas and tips from others. The general idea is to get/keep our own budgets down to what is confortable for us. We all have different ways of budgeting so it is entirely up to you how you catagorise things. Personally meals out  and takeaway (very rare) come from entertainments budget. All other food, toiletrys and cleaning items come from our gc budget. In the first 6 months I gained a real understanding of my average spend and where I could make cuts. After that it has been a jolly discovery of finding new recipes and items that I am happy to down brand on. Discovering different ways to do things, using up every last shred of food and not throwing away etc. My budget changes each month depending on guests etc. I have been on here 15 months now and still have a lot to learn. People on here are absolutely lovely. There is never any judgement just helpful advice. Enjoy the journey. 

Gettingmyshiztogether

Hello all, and welcome to the newbies! 👋

Another two spends to report.

£3.09 on a TGTG box I am collecting this evening 🤞 

And £4.66 in S@inos on two bags of Nappy sacks (aka dog poo bags) a roll of puff pastry (arguably I could have made my own pastry to keep my shopping bill lower but neither myself or DH fancied the risk it would be as bad as my mother's 🙈🤣 so felt the 93p investment in shop bought was worth it!) And £1.75 on spreadable DF butter. I forgot coffee but as I have seventy billion bulked bought tea bags we will manage! 

Total of £40.80 / £400

number_23

Thanks @Soontobeoap and @Gettingmyshiztogether

I realise that I didn't put my budget in heading 2, sorry @elsiepac, and I don't yet know how to edit

Budget of £500 for April please, I'm hoping for less but newbie and getting to grips

Thank you
CA23

AnnabelSaves

Nothing spent today so far. Had porridge for breakfast, some veggie fingers I found in the freezer for sandwiches for lunch. I've taken out some chicken for dinner, going to make risotto. I didn't break the packet down so we'll have way too much, so I'll cook it all and we can use it for lunches. 

We've run out of bread so that will need picking up later. 

thriftwizard

Eeek, we've fallen off the top! Or come un-pinned or something... no spends to report, I just wandered in whilst sinking a well-earned cuppa - two beds weeded & mulched, a water tank "camouflaged" & some rotten wood added to the bonfire pile, down at the 'lottie - and found I had to go & look for the thread!

Gettingmyshiztogether

TGTG box cancelled... after we arrived at the store 🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️

However, they did have 19p 1kg bags of carrots so I grabbed three of those to replenish my freezer with soups and a jar of coffee too.

Total stands at £44.28 / £400