January 2024 Grocery Challenge

CMD79

C'mere - How long would laundry detergent be good for?! If it's been knocking about for say, 16 years, is it still good enough to use?? I can't make myself throw it out! I've invested 16 years in it now. 

LotsOfTea

I popped to the supermarket today to pick up the bits that were missing from my delivery earlier this week. Two of those things were mint and coriander to make a veggie tagine-type dish for our lunch today. I also made some naan bread to serve with it which went down very well with DS. I found the recipe in an old student cookbook and it was pretty easy. Much nicer than the stuff you can buy from the supermarket.

I spent £13.71 in total so I'm up to £71.58/£250.

I'm hoping to get through the week without further spends as I've got lots of fresh stuff to use and a very full freezer. 

Soontobeoap

DH is having another op tomorrow so was limited in what he could eat yesterday and has been allowed to eat hardly anything today. Cooked a whole chicken yesterday and we had the legs with bread and butter. I had a chicken and sweetcorn wrap today. Same again tomorrow and we will still have chicken and chips together on Tuesday. Cheese burger pastries wednesday, shepherds pie or lasagna on Thursday after crib evening and then we go away on Friday. I have a little in the budget if DH fancies treats after his famine but also have cake and puds in freezer depending how he feels. Our freezer is still crammed full so we will have a good start for next month when we come back on 1st Feb.

@CMD79 i would give it a go on something that isnt too delicate. You cant get food poisoning from it! As lonh as you havnt got anyone with very delicate skin in your house, What have you got to lose? 

mrs_motivated

Back again after going AWOL in Yorkshire for a week, posting this while I remember and then going to read all the updates from you lovelies.

i had a lovely time with my DD and DGD, but back to reality and an empty fridge,  clearly MR M goes rogue when I’m not about to supervise him.

shopping total so far this month is  £259 / £400 with 2 shops left to go with this months budget, I will be delighted if I can stay in budget as I normally budget for £100 a week, but didn’t realise it was a 5 week month.

Angelica123

Had a big Lidl shop and I am up to 90.61/250. Also have an odd box arriving next week. 

sarahj1986

sarahj1986 said:

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. 

£100 spent 

this is an (over) guesstimate as it is my daughters birthday today and we had her party was yesterday. I did all the food and I ordered from Tesco yesterday. The order had party food on and food for the week and that’s my rough over estimate plus today I went into Lidl as the milk we had from a few days ago was off. I also got some meat 30% off for the freezer. 

£96.36 left eekkkk it’s gonna be tight 

Suffolk_lass

CMD79 said:

C'mere - How long would laundry detergent be good for?! If it's been knocking about for say, 16 years, is it still good enough to use?? I can't make myself throw it out! I've invested 16 years in it now. 

@CMD79 it depends what it is... ie :

• If it is a little pod thing with a dissolvable shell, I personally would be very cautious; sniff and degrade test, and be careful about using in the cooler washes we all do now. You don't want to find a slimy casing residue on something
• Powder, loose or pressed into cubes - I use mine that moved house with me 19 years ago. Half a cube in a 1L pyrex jug boiled in the microwave to clean the inside of said microwave after the unusual but not unknown mishap. Or for the occasional (monthly) boil wash of towels and tea-towels, dishcloths etc.
• Liquid? I shake the container and check it for separation or other signs it is degrading, but I'm currently using a 6 pack that I forgot I bought at the C&C in 2019 and a bit or Ariel Febrese they have not made for several years. I do use about 25% of the recommended amount as I don't want my clothes smelling of detergent, or synthetic "outdoorsy" fragrances

GolfR

keggie said:

GolfR said:

I found someone local giving away kefir grains so I popped down there this morning and called into Waitrose after. Got a sushi rolling mat, whole organic milk for the kefir,

Hope you enjoy making the kefir. Seem to remember that the first batch or two might not be the best… but that might just have been me adjusting to the taste.
When I started, I bought a new sieve and kilner jars that only get used for my kefir. 

Just been for more milk so need to get my next batch on the go.

The first batch was definitely awful! I think my error was using way too many grains for the amount of milk I had so I used a lot less grains this morning when I remade it. Do you find it tastes different to shop bought kefir? I’m trying to figure out how I know it’ll be done correctly 

Popped to Tesco this morning after the school run to get milk and three ristorante pizzas that are £1.75 down from £3. The offer ends today so I wanted to stock up on a few.

£221.85/£300

thriftwizard

Sigh - another £4.32 gone - sliced bread for OH, 2 x plain flour (DD2 used the last in a beautiful focaccia overnight; one for current use & one for the storecupboard) & one demerara sugar for my water kefir... 

Just as an aside, I have successfully "bred" milk kefir grains from a commercial batch that I'd lost at the back of the fridge; it was way out of date but smelt fine (and made great scones) and the thick dregs at the bottom have gone on, over a period of several weeks, to produce viable grains. I have no idea whether that's repeatable, or even whether anyone else would want to try, but there you go, it happened! Have also revived a kombucha mother from a neglected bottle left over from a batch made before the old mother died; there was a tiny "plug" of jelly at the neck, which has been fed fresh tea and has now made a healthy-looking white skin. I'm about to "feed" it again; will report back! 

mumtoomany

Hi all, few spends again. Milk picked up by DD, £2.90. Veg shop, £7.20 and aldi, £20.80. Mostly tea bags, coffee and reduced christmas stuff. Total spent £30.90.  Hugs, mumtoomany.xxx