January 2024 Grocery Challenge

CMD79

oOOOOH @CoffeeSonata I've got a real hankering for some rice pudding now you've mentioned it!! Nobody else in the house likes it, so no point buying any 

I have to say, I'm feeling pretty proud of myself on this particular thread, and so many others are also doing brilliantly! Just checking in to add tomorrow's Click N Collect - My husband got a Sainsbury's voucher, he had a substitution voucher lurking in his account too, plus I cashed out a voucher from TopCashback (still £35 referrals on there BTW!) so did a £60 shop for... £19.42 which should keep us going until pay day (day I say it - though I might yet add rice pudding on!!)

£ 111.16 / £168.00 for January  Now, there is a little dilemma. Husband also has a £15 off voucher in his Sainsbury's account with an expiry of 18th January. My month goes up until 23rd. I'm thinking, it's a min spend of £100, so would take me over on this month, but averaged over the year which is my actual objective (Less than £2024 for groceries)  Also delighted that I have actually done really well with my Christmas Eve bargain veg and meat in the bargain bin. Meat wise I'm still going with probably February 50% meat in the freezer, but I've just about gotten to the end of the 15p veg, but the surprise to me was that we've eaten it rather than it perishing in the depths of the beg compartment. So do I utilise the voucher, going past my £168 for January, but getting February's food in...??? I would then just need 3 x £25 milk, fruit and veg shops throughout Feb

LotsOfTea

I did 2 shops today, one for a load of nuts and seeds and some kiwis which came to £8.34 and the other was a big shop of fruit, veg, & cleaning bits and came to £42.79. The annoying thing is that I had a few missing items that I could do with for some recipes I had planned. I don't have the energy to go to the shops again tomorrow to get them so I'll just have to rearrange my plans.

I've got some squash curry for tea tonight and tomorrow's meals sorted too - beetroot soup for lunch and parsnip dal for tea. I'll just have to plan the meals for the following few days.

Total £57.87/£250

London_1

Sorted out tomorrows meal from the freezer I have some chilli infused salmon in there that I got on offer before Christmas so I'll have that tomorrow, with some steamed broccoli and green beans and mash all from the freezer.

Another NSD today bringing it up to 10/11 NDS so far this month I have a very small list of bits to buy next week, but I have enough to last me until Tuesday at least, with more than enough fresh fruit and veg so nothing really needed that urgently. Plus the wind is a bit cutting at the moment so I'd rather stay in the warm.

Happy frugalling chums 

JackieO xx

Blackcats

@CMD79 - the money off voucher is a dilemma - £100 of groceries for £85 is a good deal but we know the supermarkets are not our friends and incentivise us to spend.  Could you add your Jan and Feb budget together at this stage and then stick tightly to the combined budget?

we did a Lidl shop today based on our meal plan for the next 7 days including for a visitor next week who will be with us for morning coffee, lunch and dinner and they eat like a horse!  I'll bake a cake and we have some lovely ground coffee.  Potato and leek soup and our Lidl free bakery loaf for lunch.  A big chilli and rice for dinner and garlic bread from the freezer, pudding will be rhubarb crumble and custard,

we stocked up on some tins and some soft drinks.

spent £85.00 balance remaining is £207.00

LadyWithAPlan

@CMD79
i would use the voucher and just be very aware to buy bulk stuff you will use not just spend for the sake of hitting your £100 (as I have beeen guilty of this..)

I also popped to a SM to get one thing cos I fancied it and £21.78 later ...note to self stay out of the shops til next week... I do have more than enough food in - though may need more greens and fruit at the rate I am eating them.. Keeping my Jan spends down especially as taxes to pay...

I have one more meal for 2 from my HellFresh to cook  - a veggie shepherds pie but I might add some YS beef mince in from the freezer.. or ... as recipe as is  just to see how it turns out. 

Grocery   £91.30 /£175   + £18.24/£50 + the £24.98 Hello Fresh
Tesco shopping £21.78
After college I did pop to the massive tESC* there as fancied making a dal .. and they have a big world foods section  so cheaper pulses.. So i bought mung beans dried 1 kg £2.60, frozen soya beans,   and other stuff I didnt really need - including a ys chicken curry with rice...

They also  did have my favorite herbal tea reduced from £3.50 a box (I wont pay this price) down to £1.95 so I bought 4 boxes .... Its lovely and will cut down my caffeine intake in the day. I also bought coconut milk and only used about 1/5th of the tin - the other 4 portions I have put in my muffin silicon bake case and freezing - when they all frozen I can put in one bag -- very useful to have small amounts of coconut milk to hand - adds taste, healthy etc  but an entire can of it is pretty fattening  so good to only use a bit and freeze the rest  to tasten up soups and dishes. I added some extra chicken to the YS curry.


FOOD TODAY
I had the rest of the HELLFRESH Korean beef for lunch with spinach and rice before college.
Then this eve I made a large amount of dal -  kind of made up a recipe, but had the spices all in. Added soya beans at the end as well.. I used my pressure cooker to quickly do the dried  beans whilst I cooked up the other bits. I will be freezing probably 3 portions as well as having some for tomorrow - I bought some freezer labels finally. I also used the Tesc YS chicken curry meal but my dal was much tastier.

I also stripped the chicken and made a stock - some went in the dal, I will freeze a bit maybe in smaller portions like I do the coconut milk as I don't always want to defrost a large pot of stock   - or I  maybe might make a soup... got some last few bits of chicken and some frozen veg inc a leek... the freezer os packed so

weenancyinAmerica

I would use the voucher if I could stick to a list of what I intended to buy in February anyway or for stocking up on items I know I will use during the year (toilet paper, etc). Just don't overdo the goodies you had no intention to buy.

NeverendingDMP

So I finished the week with a fiver to spare. Better than nothing I suppose but was secretly hoping for more. New week has begun 117/150 spent via my asda delivery this morning. Mid week top up required as well as sweets for a cinema trip but  school dinners paid for already. Will  declare spends on both when my credit runs out!

Finstickle

joedenise said:

@Finstickle - if you use the big river company then spirits are often cheaper on there then in the SMs.  Added bonus it's delivered to the door!  DH and I drink different spirits so usually buy a couple of each at a time when they're at a good price - either the same as Mr Ts or cheaper!

Thanks @joedenise i will give them a look :-)

Finstickle

Right, this week's main shop done for £61.45, which included £8.11 of savings.
Didn't buy a single thing which wasn't on the list, 16 different items.
This did include wine and beers, the beers were reduced by £5.25 as in a box which said Christmas

Current balance £196/£350
Feeling positive

sarahj1986

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

Good evening 

I’m starting this again. Things have been all over the place! Moved home in August, daughter started school in September and our son was born in October. I’ve let things slide and honestly when I look at my bank transactions I’m disgusted in our food shop spending. We have a holiday booked for August, we need to cut back in order to pay for that 

As I have a newborn, he is breastfed but his nappies, wipes plus all our toiletries, household cleaning are included on this budget. We start giving him solids in April. 

Factoring all that in I’m going for £360 a month, ideally less but I think around £80 a week is right, some weeks will be more, others less. I’m determined to do it 

so @elsiepac I’m down for £360 per month 

First spend today 

£13.52 spent 

made up of the following 

£2.25 in Poundland on Barney and Party rings, neither on CC so cheapest in there

£4,90 on toothpaste and a new toothbrush for my daughter. I always let her pick her toothbrush and the toothpaste for her is safe price as Tesco and the sensitive toothpaste is cheaper there than Tesco 

£6.37 M&S. I find their beans are the nicest, 50p a tin but still decent price, plus bread and milk (same price as Tesco) and some tea cakes I found reduced to 92p a pack 

£346.58 left big shop due tomorrow 

£73.43 spent

£12.69 in Morrisons. My daughter loves the weetabix melts, only place I can find them locally. They aren’t cheap either £3 for a small box. Plus I’d forgotten to order honey, soy and cornflour 

£60.74 Tesco delivery due shortly. My husband is doing dry January so about £15 of that is a few packs of 0% beer for him that will last a few weeks. Plus nappies, wipes, some household items, 

£273.15 left 

£11.70 spent 

£5 at a cafe that does a kinda “cake and savoury” sale every day. So we got 4 items for £5

£3 in Poundland on Skinny bars usually £1.25 everywhere else

£3.70 in Tesco on reduced sausages 

£261.45 left but we dont need a massive shop next week as we’ve got loads in - don’t need crisps, snacks, toiletries, cleaning stuff, toilet roll. We will need fresh things like fruit, veg, milk. We have a lot of frozen meat/fish so should be ok there. 

£49.35 spent

I went over to Lidl for a change. I picked up a few bits not on the list but reduced/on offer and will get used. We will only need milk and maybe bread till next week and potatoes as I couldn’t carry them home (although I only need to carry thrm
over the road) 

£212.10 left 

£5.36 spent 

unexpected of sorts. I pop into M&S often because they can have decent reductions. I got 2 nice pizzas and 2x6 potato skins for £5.36 which is good for M&S. I don’t even think Lidl would be that cheap for what I got. That’s an easy freezer meal one night 

£206.74 left 

£10.38 spent

Split over Aldi and Lidl. I needed milk yesterday so Lidl is closest plus a few of their energy drinks in case I need the pick up. I went into Aldi as there was a baby event on. I got my daughter and son a few things (taken off as it’s not food). I did however get some mayonnaise as I didn’t realise were out and 2 boxes of Weetabix melts as they were in the middle aisle for £1.99, they are £3 in Morrisons! My daughter likes them so grabbed 2 boxes.