May 2023 Grocery Challenge

Saver-upper

A couple of spends to report since my big spend on 4th May:
Fri 5th: jar of Marmite: £3.10
today: milk and bread £4.45

Total spent so far this month: £155.15/£300.00

mumtoomany

Hi all, only spend since I was last here is milk. £1.70. Total now for the year is £812.90/£2640. Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xxx

Nelliegrace

May budget £150, £52.34 spent, £97.66 left.

Sixteen eggs from our three hens last week, their best so far. We have sold a few £1 for 6 to friends, covering the cost of the layers pellets. “Chicken feed,” means something cheap, but their feed is £14 for 20Kg now. 

DH got the milk from Asda on his way home last night, Y.S. blueberries 93p, grapes 34p, and caramel pecan buns 35p.
£4.72 spent. 

Painful indigestion from the buns for hours, and definitely feeling queasy this morning after reading the ingredients. 

greenrunner

New to this:
My budget runs 20th -19th
There is Me (vegetarian), my partner (meat eater) my 18 month old daughter (and a dog but i budget his food separately)

My april 20th -19th may is almost done
I budgeted 515 total- this is 5 weeks shop at 90pw - 15 for nappies and wipes and £50 top up shop. 
I go shopping fridays or sundays. 
this week will be friday to buy to get me through to pay day on 20th. 
so far this month i have spent 

Asda	£24.55	One stop	£5.00
One stop	£7.00	One stop	£7.75
Asda	£27.00
Asda	£59.00
Aldi	£29.00
Onestop	£4.00
Asda	£10.00
onestop	£7.00
Asda	£23.00
Aldi	£28.00
Asda	£19.00
Asda	£50.00
Onestop	£4.10
Aldi	£60.00
Asda	£38.00
		Budgeted	£515.00
		Spent	£402.40
		Remaining	£112.60

I am thinking i will have about 15 left over at the end of next week.  (onestop are top up shops for milk, bread etc.)

at the start of the year the budget was 70pw but its crept up with COL. 

My goal is to get it back to around 75pw.

my downfall is not meal planning. 
I sometimes also get an hello fresh box - this would be £45 of budget leaving £45 for the breakfast/lunches and snacks- but sometimes i get the boxes especially if the week is looking busy. 

We have a holiday next month-self catering so i will be ordering a hello fresh box to take away with us.

greenrunner

my next budget starts May 20th-19th June 

MissRikkiC

Another shop today leaves us with £50 but I know that I’ve got a bit of shifting to do from the bulk pot as I bought a few kgs of quinoa from H&B the other day to take advantage of their 3 for 2. We also need to place another order for pea milk but that’s also from the bulk fund. 

£50 with another 2 veg boxes to come out, although I might have a larger box next week and make it last given that the following week the budget ends mid week. 

We’ve for plenty of meat in, I’ve just got nappies and toilet roll so possibly £10 on washing powder if we run out will be the other big spend. 

I think I might transfer out £10/£15 from the pot and just push myself a bit harder. 

Suffolk_lass

Blimey, welcome back @Green_Fairy, it's been a while. I'm sure I remember you from over ten years ago as you and @greent were both on here and both really switched on. My budget has been going down over the years and I now average £250 but exclude pets and livestock, and no longer have a hollow son at home. 

Good to see you again

Nelliegrace

May budget £150, £57.34 spent, £92.66 left.

DH ordered another £5 M&S TGTG.
An interesting selection which would have cost £25.35. The manager said she had put in some extras. The prawn sandwiches were delicious, half each is plenty. I shall get several good meals with protein and vegetables from these. 

Yellow stickers and TGTG are a frugal way to try something new. Tortillas instead of pancakes or Staffordshire oatcakes? Calamari? Olives? How exotic! Nothing will be wasted.

chirpychick

I love that TGTG haul! 
We are into another week - weird that on 11th may I am actually heading now into week 3 because of how our payday works. From the past 2 weeks I have £37.85 put aside leftover, which seems incredible!
Thank you to those of you who wished us well, LO now on the mend, thank goodness, this hasn't been a good week for us though and i'm feeling it. Once he got better, I was struck with the most horrific vertigo! Im almost better but still don't feel right and not well enough to drive. 
We got DH's car back and repaired last night - now to work on paying that bill! 
And now the eldest of my 3 dogs is really poorly. She's 9 in July and up until now I don't really ever remember her being unwell, but she is not acting herself, not eating and there was red stuff in her toilet - to say im worried is an understatement. Vets is booked for 4.30pm hubby will be coming home early as i cant drive due to the vertigo and we will take her together. Im a wreck tbh. And the real kicker - she's not insured, this was due to me being so overwhelmed with the insuring of the dogs and not understanding their different policies and them saying they can't help you with making a decision i got one dog insured and decided i needed to seek help especially with the older one and haven't had chance to sort that out. So now she's very poorly and I know the limit on the cc is not high especially after the car bill, i feel sick to my stomach and very upset with myself for not putting it higher priority wise.Pet insurance i think is one of the most complicated and un transparent things out there. 

Anyway! We have been living off Olio this week, loads has gone into our freezer, Im hoping we can get away with minimum spend on food again this week to help with extra costs we're facing. Olio is new to us and we're getting so much! Lots of bread but also there's been ready meals and posh meatballs (i dont eat meat but hubby does) a small amount of veg. We can't believe it's all free! It's a huge help.

We have decided we can't do the whole separate shopping thing so we're going back to a communal budget but im still going to stick to what I said originally. so thats 3 people on £60. I have to confess, we don't often have take away (maybe 2/3 times a year) but im definitely craving, it's made me decide to make a feast for Eurovision Sat night, am keenly keeping eyes peeled on olio and will see what i have in to make it special. But might have to buy a few bits.

Cocobeans

@chirpychick aww I hope your dog is okay. I totally agree that pet insurance is so complicated - I think we pay too much for our insurance but struggle to know who to change to.

I spent £10.35 today on a small top up shop for Soya milk and packed lunch stuff. 

I feel like my thinking is changing thanks to this thread. I have sorted out our main food cupboard in the kitchen this week so I can see exactly what we have. I have had 2 scenarios this week where I would usually have gone to the shops but instead made do with what we had in. DD decided last minute to be packed lunch on extra days. I didn't have her usual packed lunch stuff in so instead of going to the shop I took some pitta bread out of the freezer which she really enjoyed.  OH ate the eggs I was planning to use to make a fritatta for dinner one day for his lunch. Again instead of rushing to the shop I used the veg and bacon in a pasta bake instead. 

£149.46/ £275 spent. 

Will need to get some stuff tomorrow to stop me having to go shopping on the weekend with DD and OH!