January 2024 Grocery Challenge

basketcase

leftatthetrafficlights said:

Merry christmas to all who celebrate 🥳

Likewise!!

RandomOne

Good morning, I'd like to join, please. I'm already 1 week into my January budget and am sitting down today to assess the damage so far. 

My budget is £400 for January.

Honestly, the food budget is something I struggle with. I've posted so many times on here about it, but always spend my full budget within the first 2 weeks. I'm feeding 3 adults and a cat, so it's not like I have an unrealistic budget. We are mainly dairy-free, but that doesn't affect the budget that much. 

I just need to stop spending so much money on food. It's the snacks that bump up the cost, as well as the alcohol. So those are what I'll focus on in January. 

Ambyth

I'd like to join 

Will take a guess on budget to start. To include food and drink grocery items only.

Budget £120 p/m

Very much need to restart bulk cooking and taking own food to work.

Thanks

TheScarletPixie

I'd like to join please.  I'm setting a budget of £400 for the month, for 2 adults, 2 cats, 3 dogs and cleaning products. The last year I've just purchased what I wanted but as I'm now the only earner I need to keep to a budget.  I've got my OH on board with the challenge and he's great at cooking something from nothing!  

CRANKY40

Thanks again for the thread elsiepac.

I'm in for January please. It's a five week month for me plus these few days at the tail end of December. I put my grocery money into a seperate account so at the moment there's £5.28 of last months underspend in there meaning my total budget will be £405.28. 

My downfall with grocery shopping seems to be that if I come in under budget one week I then go mad the week after  and use the surplus cash in addition to the next weeks budget. I have an open instant access account in my banking app that used to be my 2023 regular saver so I've rechristened it "Ebeneezer" and any underspends from anywhere will be moved straight there instead of being left in other pots to be spent. 

Mrs_Cheshire

Hi all, I used to participate but due to starting full time work I've not been around for a while. Need to get back to meal planning properly and budgeting for the groceries. Family of 5 - 2 adults, a hungry teen, a hungry pre-teen and an 8 year old (all boys)! Going to try for £400 a month in January and see how I get on. 

moneyowen

Hi, I’ve been here before but unfortunately I didn’t make a real go of it back then.  Since then my husband and I have both had our pensions so now more than ever I need to watch the penny’s.  Hoping I can join back If so I would like to set my budget for the month at £350.00 for 3 adults and a dog.  I’m gluten intolerant so some foods like bread are costly.  So this is very much a trial month for me and may have to adjust next month.

Suffolk_lass

I'm planning to use every bit of food purchased ahead of Christmas. After dropping DH off I will begin the processing! I am going to try not to spend anything before mid January as stores will top us up, and I have plenty of produce from the garden, chopped and stashed in my freezer. I work on an annual budget of £3000 and will remove my £500 contingency safety net for 2024. I managed to be about £77 under for 2023 and there is more I can do. My pet food is not included but cat litter is, as we get that in the SM. TooGoodtoGo is going to be my friend if there is a need for a top up. Sadly too rural for Olio here. And no community kitchens that don't cost a fair bit in fuel to get to.

Ambyth

As my budget is guess work and I've got a balance of points to spend on a store card, I will use that as part spend for January. I should then have the proper budget figures from February..  

CMD79

basketcase said:

I've been lurking all year but feel I've got to bite the bullet and join, if I may? 

I'm guessing at roughly £220 pm, but I like - and feel I need the flexibility of - LunaCatty's quarterly amount.  So could I say January to March I'm aiming for £660.

I may exceed that - DS is Type 1 diabetic and I'm wheat intolerant, which makes groceries a bit more expensive. That said, there's still a lot I can do to try and stick within it.  I've got a fair amount of stuff stored in the cupboards and freezer, so I'll try making meals with those.  And I must do a meal plan  I used to, but I've grown really lax.

Cooking from scratch is on the cards too - especially since I've just read about Ultra-Processed Foods.  Maybe I can save £s and lose lbs!

Merry Christmas all!

Yes, I've been looking quite a bit at the ultra processed foods info too. I do make a lot of meals from scratch, but I must say, I'm amazed at just how much !!!!!! I consume - definitely going to pay some attention to this for 2024.