May 2024 Grocery Challenge

Pennypincin

I've £12.50 left from last week, which will go into the bulk fund.
Im pleasantly surprised though.

Daywon

Total for last week - £4.99 / £5.00 - phew! :-)

£5 target for this week again. 

SausageDogSandwich

 Morning all, definitely ended up spending more than planned with the hot weather, had big shop delivered last night aswell. I’m going to allow a small fruit allowance to top up at the end of the week and then stretch the shopping a few extra days to make up for the overspending. And I think I’ll do more veg meals next week as I got a joint of pork, 1.6kg chicken breast and burgers this week which took up a chunk of the budget. 

£219.02/385

Finstickle

A couple of weeks to report for me, 2 big shops and 2 tops ups so not too bad, although today's top-ups of decaf teabags (not available in Lidl) was £4.25!!!!

Looking at my Lidl receipts even for the last last couple of weeks (£73.80 & £64.33), the receipts are not that long!  Really seeing the cost increases come through as I am being strict on what I'm buying and it's still adding up.  I am however under half with half the month to go.  I also made some high protein ice-creams at the weekend (which DD didn't like so just me and DH on those, luckily it's raining again) and I also made some chocolate mousse cake with butternut squash which has been hit and gives a good chocolate hit.

We've a fairly chilled week this week so hoping for some good organisation and no more top ups.

Currently £147/£400

thriftwizard

@Soontobeoap, I think you should write that last shop off under Medical Expenses rather than Groceries; the words "nourishing" and "nursing" come from the same root. There are times when fretting after every last penny just adds stress you could do without... not advocating anyone should spend more than they have, just that no-one should beat themselves up for spending a little more when it's very clearly called-for for higher reasons.

Says she who's just spent £21 on extra food for an unanticipated family meal, plus general topping-up; a cancelled trip (again) over to DS3's for dinner, plus an unexpected overnight stay (and dinner, naturally) from DD1 have turned my meal plans for the week upside down again... I will count this in, as some of it was actually "bread" for OH, and some's gone into the freezer for another day (pie fish) plus we're going over to DS3's on Wednesday instead, so that's one meal less to cater for. Swings & roundabouts...

Pennypincin

£9 spent in Tesco on 2 boxes of own brand cereal, a bag of pears, bag of oranges, a bag of sweet potatoes,a courgette and 3 small bananas.
I still trying to run the freezer down, so will be trying to get minimal freezer stuff unless absolutely necessary.

wishus

Need to update my total. Currently up to £122.13/250.

Meal plan:
Yesterday chilli con carne - thought I'd have some cream to use up as sour cream, but it was past use. I did however have avocado for the guacamole!
Today: prawn and broccoli stir fry (will need to soak some chickpeas for tomorrow. Must also freeze the duck to stretch the date on it for Sunday). 
Wednesday: harissa chicken, houmous, slaw, flatbread 
Thursday: beetroot and goats cheese risotto ( but I have no risotto rice, so might be a bulgar thing)
Friday: chicken katsu and rice 
Saturday: fish, potatoes, peas
Sunday : roast duck, beetroot, blackberries, roast potatoes. 

goldfinches

I spent an eye popping £25.24 in Sainsby's on olive oil, spring onions, fine beans, instant coffee and loo rim block. I know I could do without the loo block but it took me half an hour to clean the accumulated limescale from the pan on Sunday morning which I did not enjoy so I decided to buy the rim block on offer to see if it would help. Then I had to go on to Mark's to get silken tofu and frozen petits pois which came to £3.85.
The Baking Budget spent £4.25 in Sainsby's on digestive biscuits, unsalted butter and unwaxed lemons and then spent £3.80 in Marks on eggs.

That makes my new total for the main budget £84.16/£150 which is an average daily spend of £6.01. 
The Baking Budget now stands at £19.30/£25 which is an average spend of £6.43 per Wednesday.

PS I meant to say that £16.10 of the Sainsby's spend was on the olive oil and I've decided that rather than swapping to a cheaper oil I'm not sure I'll like the taste of, I'll reduce the amount of oil I use in any recipe I make.

PipneyJane

Soontobeoap said:

I have been thrown again. Was expecting DH to be released from hospital on Monday or Tuesday but they discharged him late yesterday. Result was a mad dash to buy lots of tempting light food as he is not hungry and needs to eat. Wizzed round Asda just gravbing things off shelves. No list! Even got to the checkout and had to buy 3 bags! Life has got in the way again! £51.00 spent. 🙁

@Soontobeoap, hope your DH is recovering well.

I have a couple of spends to declare from yesterday:  £12 in MrT’s on 6x500g packets of bulgar wheat; followed by £5.89 in L!dl on some ice lollies (£1.39) and 2 tubs of their oxy-bleach (we had a 50p-off-per-tub voucher to exploit).  The bulgar wheat will see us through for at least a couple of months; we go through about 2 packs a month.  It’s risen considerably in price - up 60p on a year ago - but I’ve been unable to find anywhere locally that sells it cheaper or in bigger quantities. (We’re in West London.)

Once you take into account £6.11 of shrapnel, transferred to various money boxes, the above brings our total spend for May to £97.80/£160 leaving £62.20 for the rest of the month.

We will have some further shopping to do today in L!dl, mainly on fresh dairy products.  We were out and about yesterday so couldn’t buy anything that needed refrigerating.

- Pip

Suffolk_lass

Bought half a lamb, that was reared here in our village, and had a good life. Paid a little more than normal, but it is once a year