November 2024 Grocery Challenge

Florence5281

£120 a week throughout November - total £480 for the month

Hi Everyone. I'm new to MSE Forum and am excited to join the November groceries challenge.  I'm a terrible spender on takeaways, drive-thrus, popping to the expensive convenience shop for a bottle of wine and snacks, and shoving whatever I want in my supermarket trolley several times a week without a meal plan or list. I've been spending £250-ish a week on all of the above.

I want to stick to a sensible £120 a week supermarket shopping only, with takeaways, alcohol, etc cut out completely in November to save on calories as well as money. This is for me, my teenage daughter, and two young boys who eat a lot of fruit!

I prefer frequent small Aldi shops rather than a 'big' shop, as I'm impulsive when it comes to meals and am terrible at batch cooking or getting something out of the freezer on a morning for that night's dinner, so I'll be going to Aldi three times a week with a list to get us through a few days and a budget of £40 each time. 

Paula

TravelCrystal

Welcome @Florence5281.
lots of folks on here to help you out 
Definitely a list helps
Good luck

T.C

LotsOfTea

Hi
I'd like to join again for this month please. 

£300 for the month for 2 adults & a child and 2 freezers that need to be emptied for defrosting!

ej22

Spent 58/250 on food  192 left

Doom_and_Gloom

Thank you elsiepac for doing this thread.

Hope everyone is doing well. Nice to see old names still around. Welcome to all the new names. Hopefully you will come to be well known in these parts over time.

I think it was for the April challenge that I tried to get back to budgeting on here but with the pressure of being evicted and packing up everything, while not knowing where we would live, mentally I just wasn't able to do more than read posts on here. I'm sorry that I basically went AWOL.

We were on the council list for a home and I really was worried we would end up homeless. However we were fortunate enough to be offered a social housing place that is wheelchair accessible due to my disability. I was assessed by an occupational therapist as needing a wheelchair accessible place as although I use crutches most of the time at home, my need for the wheelchair has increased as my condition continues to deteriorate and being able to get around the home in the wheelchair helps me stay independent. We were able to move just before the eviction date and have been settling in to our new place.

Our November starts today.

Our November budget is going to be £240.
The month goes 1st to the 30th.

This is for two adults, my OH and I. Includes all food and drink (except alcohol, that has a different budget), cleaning products, toiletries etc. 

This budget is higher than I would like but due to moving we need to do stock up (we basically emptied the tall freezer before we moved!) and on top of that we no longer live near to a supermarket that does good reductions regularly so that had to be taken into account also. Hoping we stay in budget.

£0/£240.

£240 left.

weenancyinAmerica

@Doom_and_Gloom - so glad you were able to get an accessible place before being evicted. Wonderful that you have been able to settle in. We may have to rearrange my place to make it wheelchair accessible, but it does have a ramp to get in already. Just such a mess at the moment with boxes. Good luck on your grocery challenge. 

Suffolk_lass

It's good to see you @Doom_and_Gloom - welcome back! Gosh, you have been through the wringer. It is only watching things like the coverage of the Spanish floods and reflecting how we might feel in similar circumstances that comes anywhere near the sphere of losing our home. How terribly worrying and all consuming that must have been. I do hope your new place is home now to you, and you are surrounded by lovely neighbours. 

Over here I need to just stop shopping. With just under £650 for the rest of the year and (I am sure) over £100 of that due to go to the butcher over the festive season, there won't be anything left for other things at this rate. With substantial credit card balances to clear this month ('tis the season for annual stuff, like car servicing and boiler servicing, and beekeeper sales(!), we seem to be rather short this month.

At least I know... gone are the days when it would all get piled on to the credit card and promised to be paid off on the never-neverland starlight express! Let's do this everyone, we can all take a bit off by being savvy, frugal and making do!

LadyWithAPlan

PipneyJane said:

zafiro1984 said:

£225  for November please

That's for 2 adults 4 days a week and 5 adults for 3 days.

Just a query:- Do people have a separate budget for laundry, toiletries and cleaning items or do people include it with the 'grocery challenge' items?
I've included everything bought from the supermarkets and the weekly town market. It would be interesting to see what others do.

We don’t have a separate budget for laundry, toiletries and cleaning items, @zafiro1984.  However, we do have a separate Bulk Fund which I can spend instead if, say, L!dl re-introduce their excellent recycled toilet paper and I go mad and buy a year’s supply of it in one go.  (L!dl, if you’re watching… Hint. Hint!). Normally the Bulk Fund is spent when we purchase 10kg sacks of basmati rice and chapatti flour.

We also have a separate Meat Fund of £40/month, which we use when we buy meat from our excellent local butcher.  We don’t shop there every month, normally just to restock the freezer.

HTH

- Pip

I exclude my household essentials such as cleaning/toilet paper as that is in a separate budget and toiletries have their own as that expense can really rachet up. My grocery is food only and I also have a bulk pot for multipack and bargains for next month and beyond, as it stops me blowing this month budget eg on new GF DF protein shake that costs £30+ and last for months.

I also track vitamins separately as well but I am v granular and like the detail, plus using YNAB its easier.

LadyWithAPlan

£200 PLEASE FOR NOVEMBER please @elsiepac + £30 bulk + £20 junk (sweets/crisps)

I had got my grocery spend down to £150 (just me and food only no essentials) but what with COL and also switching to eating slow carb most the time - basically meat, beans and veg - my ability to buy YS foods (which are often pre made with added sugar or even sausages add bulk via flour etc) is reduced. I cant even eat much YS GF bread so I am requiring more good quality food to feel well fed

So I can see in YNAB that I was averaging £150  but last few months since eating slow carb 6 days a week I am now at £200 plus each month. However I feel amazing, having a lot less reactions to food and have lost weight just by switching to slow carb but it is more expensive which is fine. Feeling amazing is worth the extra £50pm and I do have a separate junk budget .. although if there is a competition on them I will buy that brand instead

Nelliegrace

Free members’ hot drinks for two at the garden centre, then shopping at Asda on the way home.



Budget £150. £16.08 spent, £133.93 left.