January 2024 Grocery Challenge

K9sandFelines

I've started January as of the 13th and I've spent about £25-30 I think so far. Two little shops at Ald* and a few bits elsewhere.
I will add to total once I've totted up.

I'm subconsciously doing a low spend January. But have spent £15 or just under on two things. So need to sleep myself in check  ✅

sarahj1986

sarahj1986 said:

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 

£8.28 spent 

needed milk and fruit. We renewed our daughter’s passport and done our sons first. As they are separate departments they both come separately. Anyways my daughters was coming recorded between 9:06am-1106am. It was more like midday which is fine. It meant I didn’t have much time before collecting my daughter from school and I desperately needed and walk and my son needed a sleep (he only seems to sleep in his pram on a walk during the day). So whilst I was out M&S is closest, as I knew my sons passport was going to be despatched and arrive tomorrow I decided to take the hit and go into M&S. I only needed milk and some fruit. I paid a tad more for the berries but needs must. 

£88.08 left

London_1

17/19 NSDs but using up lots of bits from existing stocks .Tonight I have a free meal as Dd made extra and portioned me up some of her Moroccan chicken yesterday so I'll pick that up later this afternoon.

As its been really cold I'm quite glad to stay away from trailing around the shops and two shopping trips were more than enough for my bits I needed. Tomorrows dinner will be sausage and mash and veg all from the freezer and Sunday I go to DDs for dinner anyway. Next weeks menu I've temporarily sorted out as follows : 

Monday        Chicken curry                                      from freezer

Tuesday        Beef casserole                                           "  "  "  

Wednesday  Cottage pie                                                 "  "  "

Thursday      Lasagne                                                      "  "  "

Friday           Smoked Haddock with poached egg         "  "  "

Saturday      Lamb stew                                                   "  "  "

 All of next weeks main meals are sorted, all from freezer, accompanied with fresh/frozen  vegetables. I have some apples I will stew in the middle of next week to make a crumble, and Monday and Tuesday pudding with be trifle.
Fingers crossed more NSDs for next week. January seems to be going pretty well at the moment But then there is only me to feed

JackieO xx  

NeverendingDMP

Week two was a bust. I went 11 over. Youngest hasn't had her school dinners this week so some credit is still in there for future weeks. I did go to a local food pop up/community shop as well? Don't know what to call it. Got stocked up on lots of tins for 4.50 so saved a lot. Just happened to be open the day before my budget reset day!
Budget reset day today 150 budget , 110 already spent including a new drinks bottle for eldest but I've no special budget for things like that so it comes from food. 

Suffolk_lass

You see what happens when I go shopping? I needed several items of veg, some bowl fruit, yogurt, butter, crackers and sugar (having just made marmalade). I came back and filled the fridge, more in the freezer (albeit some treats ready for the weekend our close friends are coming to stay - one diabetic, two pescatarians, one no cooked cheese). Anyway, long story short, I am at £173.46 so far, with milk next week to add. I've allowed another few pounds to let me top up Bran Flakes and Cat Litter (an interesting mixture!), and the inevitable "Oh, I forgot to mention" item. If I am under £200 I am still £50 in hand as my average would be £250.

My indulgence with myself was limited mostly by the voice of Michael Mosley this week, talking about the UPF and the health issues the couple on his programme were having. In contrast, my basket was dominated by lots of lovely veg, salad and fruit. 2 bags of Granola (on offer) was probably the most processed foodstuff, and the treats in the freezer are all fish

BudgetingBelinda

Mamaofmanybudgets said:

Well, I've completely fallen off the challenge 🙈🙈 not bad, im still being mindful but I've definitely failed! 🤣 mostly lack of planning and a bit of a low week last week.  I'm still keeping an eye on things and will hopefully do better in February 

I haven’t added up yet but defo over my 400pm budget 😭 still, much more mindful and spent less than usual so it’s a win somewhere! February is up next.. I’ll do better 🤞🏼 good luck to you @Mamaofmanybudgets

BudgetingBelinda

464/400 🫣 eeek

thriftwizard

A little bit 🫣 eeek here too, but at least I managed to keep my market spend to £19.50 this morning. But sadly we're not quite all in for the week; I need to replace 3 store-cupboard staples tomorrow & that'll be at W8rose prices. 

I did get a tiny insight into one way I've been going astray today: I usually work out what I've spent by taking away what cash I have now from the sum I had before I went out. (It's dementing trying to keep track whilst exchanging gossip with various friends who also shop there!) I nearly cried when it looked like I'd spent just under £40... but then I realised there was no way it had been that much, thinking what I'd spent at the three stalls I visited.  So I went through my purse again - and there was a £20 note tucked between two "leaves" of the inside, away from the other notes, where a seam had come a bit undone. Several times lately I've been delighted to find extra money in my purse, and wondered how that had happened - perhaps OH tucking away cash he hadn't spent & forgetting to tell me? But it seems my purse/wallet has actually been hiding it from me, then revealing it again at a later date! So maybe I haven't been quite as hopeless at sticking to my budget as it seemed...

Amateurretiree

I’m beginning to feel like my £300 for the two of us is unrealistic.

Up to £200 already and I know my online delivery next weekend is £100 and still need fresh stuff on top of that. It’s mostly from Tesco as I do feel I can control the spending more if I actually stay out of the supermarket! Also get one big online shop from Ocado a month as we eat a lot of their chicken breasts.

Looking at my shopping the major expenses every month is fresh chicken and Douwe Egberts coffee which I just can’t compromise on ( tried the cheaper versions but ended up throwing them away!)
We are both retired so both in the house a lot, especially in this weather. We eat out maybe once a week , so everything else is from the grocery bill.

Also, I find myself ‘stocking up’ on 4 for 3 s etc ( currently frozen jacket potatoes which we eat a lot of) .

We don’t buy any alcohol or many biscuits etc. Everything just seems so much more expensive.

£200//£300

Ambyth

@thriftwizard - think you need to rent out your money hiding purse 
@Amateurretiree - agree with chicken being one of the main expenses.  I use thighs (I find more flavour than the breast meat).  On shopping this week the skin on/boned thighs were £3 cheaper than the filleted thighs (which have gone up by £2!).

Starting this Grocery Challenge has been such an eyeopener as I am trying to use cash for all my top-up shops, which is forcing me to check the price of items.