January 2024 Grocery Challenge

kayannie

London_1 said:

Well done CMD79 That's brilliant news, good luck with February's challenge.I think it really does help if you use every single thing to your advantage. I have a birthday coming next month, and already I have had two vouchers for a free meal one from the Beefeater chain, and one from another pub chain as I have loyalty cards for both of them so at some point.  I will go and have a main meal for free between now and 6th March. I'm not one to turn down a nice bit of pub grub for free

I have one more small shop to do on Friday after I've picked up my car from the garage to finish off this month and I am hoping I too shall come in under budget for January  


I had a great hot chocolate and squashy cream cake for the two of us, with my friend today as a very kind lady on this site sent me a Dobbies voucher which had to be used up by the end of the month so thank you Kayannie we really enjoyed it and my friend said thank you as well.

Onwards and upwards chums 

JackieO xx

 

Pleased to hear that you & your friend enjoyed my birthday treat! KA

CRANKY40

I haven't been posting as real life got in the way for a bit but I have been recording my spends. So far, out of £80 per week I have spent 

Wk 1 £61.99
Wk 2 £68.57
Wk3  £72.48
Wk 4 £65.75

Total £268.79 out of £405.28. I have moved my underspends to a new saving account otherwise I start thinking "oh, I can spend an extra £20 this week because I spent less last week" and this was not the purpose of having a grocery budget at all.

There's still a lot in the freezer. I'm using things up but when I take something out the food still in there seems to expand to fit the space 😄

London_1

Definitely won't need very much this week my eldest DGD came at lunchtime with DGGD Ida, aged 4 and she had popped into Asdas on her way and got a great haul of reduced stuff  plus some special offer, which she has unloaded in my fridge /freezer.
 All below on special offers

2 garlic kievs
6  thick unsmoked bacon rashers
1 bag of  carrots.
1 pulled chicken hot pot  (will have for dinner tonight)
1 pack of Wiltshire ham
1 bag of baby salad leaves
1 pint of milk
1 swiss roll 
4 soft rolls
 the above are tucked into my fridge

all  below were reduced.
3 big chunks of best blue cheese
2 breaded haddock fillets
1 tray of Maris Piper potatoes part cooked
 the above stuff has gone into the freezer 

3 nectarines.

She's a very kind lass and if shopping and visiting likes to get extra bits for me bless her

So tomorrows last shop of the month will be very small

  JackieO xx

LotsOfTea

I had a big shopping delivery today with pretty much everything we'll need for having visitors staying for the next few days plus restocking everything else that needed it. The shop came to £160.98 but I also bought a lovely sourdough loaf while out today for £4.60 and that's what's tipped me slightly over budget. Oh well, can't be helped now but I'll be aiming not to spend any more until the end of the month now. 

Currently at £252.16/£250

lianne1984

£60 shop online at Asd@ today

That takes me to £293 / £250.
Hmm maybe I need to rethink my budget for Feb.

sarahj1986

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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

£68.88 spent 

tesco shop which should hopefully last me the rest of January with a small top up. I’ve still got lots in especially my freezer. I need to find out when my husband is having his days off next week because it’s easier to get the shop in when he’s here so it may be calendar wise January but for February (if that makes sense) 

£19.20 left which I’ll use for bread, milk, fruit etc 

£11.48 spent

 bread, milk, fruit, baked beans 

£7.72 left will need more milk and fruit before 1sr, possibly bread too. 

NeverendingDMP

I went over again last week 158/150. I bought two more drinks bottles though after the others got fried in the dishwasher so you could argue it wasn't all the fault of food.

So this week 150 food, 20 school dinners and 12 dog food. (182 total)
And I've reworked my budget so I now have a ten pound slush fund each week for the random things that cropped up and ended up being paid for out of the food budget.

London_1

Picked my car up this morning and popped in to get the last bits for this month, total for food only came to for the month was £40.83 as this mornings was only £8.54. Very pleased with that as I have had 23/26 NDS this month only shopped for food three times. No more needed until next month ate a lot of stuff from the freezer and cupboards which helped no end and still have more than enough to keep me going 

  JackieO xx

PipneyJane

Good evening All

Apologies for being MIA for much of the month, I have been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and have been in hospital for the last two weeks.  Gradually having my first round of chemotherapy drugs, this week, and already feel much more human.  I was a zombie from the start of the year.

@elsiepac, better continue to treat me as more of a bystander than a participant, for the next few months.

I do have some shopping to declare.  Managed to persuade DH to fill out my spreadsheet.  

We are currently at £116.94/£142.30 leaving £25.36 for the rest of the month.

Good luck everyone. Apologies that I won’t be keeping up with the chat.

- Pip

London_1

PipneyJane Sorry to hear this honey, I'm sending you lots of good wishes and gentle hugs. Chemo is horrible ,but the good bit is its helping to kill the nasties off
Take care and one day at a time 

Much love JackieO xx