December 2024 Grocery Challenge

MissRikkiC

I’m never sure when I do the Christmas week shops how much relates to Christmas/the week before/the week after so I essentially emptied the December pot, used the Christmas food pot for the Turkey (Locally sourced Brisbourne Bronze) and will add anything we now spend to January’s total. 

For the last couple of years, we have stocked up during Christmas week (yellow stickers, cheap veg) and only spent £150 in January (vs the usual budget of £500/£600). I plan on doing that this year as well. 

I spent in Decembers total, close to £18 the other day in the local coop but it was all YS and managed to get a hold of
2k chicken breast 
1kg pork mince 
2 large beef joints 
2 250g packs of prawns 
20 sausages 
4 pork loin steaks 
all of which have gone into the freezer. 

I also got a number of swedes and broccolis, carrots and sprouts to prep and save. Here’s hoping I can stretch it all out into January 2025! 

Declaring at having spent by budget in total which was £600 including Christmas (and probably a bit more from 1 other pot but I might class that as entertaining) 

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone 

Suffolk_lass

carboot_karaoke said:

Afternoon Everyone,  

Just returned from the final big shop of the month.  When l had to wonder the length of the car park just to get a trolley l knew it was going to be one of "those days 🙄". 

But pleased to have got most of my list and the things they didn't have l can live without.   

New totals £516.59 / £550  £33.41 remaining  for the inevitable bits and pieces.  Really chuffed with that 😊 must be -£200 vs last year.  

Freezer and fridge are at capacity and following other MSE advice I've removed all the packaging and made my own £1.80 lidl box and put it in the garage.  

That box looks great too @carboot_karaoke. All lovely and fresh and not too much of it.

otb666

Sorry I was called away to help with childcare after mother had 2 operations I will still be away for another 2 weeks but December 780/550  went over by 230 will hope for better in January. Petrol costs have caused the increase as spending 50pw extra but unavoidable at the moment

thriftwizard

Oh gosh, @otb666, the budget's the last thing you need to worry about just now! Hope the mother will recover swiftly & be able to pull in all the help she needs from other sources too, reducing the strain on you & your budget. 

£13.10 spent today; I just needed a bit of fresh fruit but yielded to temptation & picked up a few reduced festive goodies too! It's still Christmas until Twelfth Night... but things like the half-price crackers were still considerably more than I'd spent on our home-made ones, even if I thought they'd stay dry enough for next year up in our loft. (I may have to scout round the town for half-price cards tomorrow...) so basically that was just nuts, which I eat year-round & will keep well, and shortbread, which is about the only traditional treat I hadn't made. More will be spent tomorrow - but not a lot!

Mrs_Cheshire

Happy Christmas to all those who celebrate. Hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating with your nearest and dearest. 
We've gone majorly over budget, too many tempting offers on snacks and treats. Fortunately we have loads left so will be able to keep the spends low in January. Need to spend some time over the next few days sorting it all out and putting it in the correct places. 
I'm declaring £823.18/£500

Matron_Midge

Declaring my annual spend
Total was £4283.46/£4000 - as you can see, I’ve gone over budget so this will have to be looked at for 2025
Average monthly spend £356.95
Average weekly spend £83.37
reasonably happy with that and my cupboards, fridge and freezer are full.

Thank you for running the challenge all year. I love to see how everyone is doing.
Ill see you over on the January thread.

Blackcats

My grocery spends pot indicates that I've got £37 left this month with absolutely nothing else needed.  Whilst this looks like a good underspend it really has been a bit higgledy piggledy in the run up to Christmas.  We have shared costs with my dad but this is not an exact science. 

Anyway, I'm pleased that there is some money left, freezer is full, fridge is stocked up, cupboards fully loaded and the fruit bowl has got lots in it and as if it could get any better it's ham, egg and chips for tea 😋

it's been great spending the year on the 2024 grocery challenge with other MSE'rs sharing, learning and improving.

three cheers for @elsiepac 🥳.  Thank you for enabling so many people to manage their grocery budgets in such a friendly place.

Soontobeoap

Hip hip hooray! I agree @elsiepac you are a legend.without this thread I would not be accountable and therefore I would spend much more. I have a huge grocery shop coming tomorrow when whole family are coming. As most of it is for January I am going to put £70 on Dec2024 budget and the rest will go on Jan 2025 when I get final bill tomorrow. I am declaring.final figures for this year.They are all in signature.good luck for 2025 all.

LadyWithAPlan

carboot_karaoke said:

Does anyone have any tips for making vegetables last longer? I did think l could make soup and freeze. Just wondered what others do. 

You could make a stock with the veg as less room than the soup

Thanks @elsiepac for running the thread!!

My freezer is packed again so hoping to not buy any more food.


Hope everyone had a good week.

Dec food/entertaining ... ouch £407.2
Grocery spend  £222.69 
London entertaining spend (had 2 xmas dinner parties) plus food etc for family inc the £59  FR turkey  I bought for xmas day  £184.51

Total spent on food in 2024 £2,662.57
This includes abroad food (when stayed in flats and cooked), xmas entertaining food,  weekly grocery and bulk. May be more to come but great to have these exact figures for next year, 

PipneyJane

LadyWithAPlan said:

carboot_karaoke said:

Does anyone have any tips for making vegetables last longer? I did think l could make soup and freeze. Just wondered what others do. 

You could make a stock with the veg as less room than the soup

Thanks @elsiepac for running the thread!!

My freezer is packed again so hoping to not buy any more food.


Hope everyone had a good week.

Dec food/entertaining ... ouch £407.2
Grocery spend  £222.69 
London entertaining spend (had 2 xmas dinner parties) plus food etc for family inc the £59  FR turkey  I bought for xmas day  £184.51

Total spent on food in 2024 £2,662.57
This includes abroad food (when stayed in flats and cooked), xmas entertaining food,  weekly grocery and bulk. May be more to come but great to have these exact figures for next year, 

@LadyWithAPlan - I’ve often wondered, can’t you claim back the money spent on food when you’re working abroad?  Or are you given an allowance and told to fend for yourself from that?  I’ve travelled a lot for work and was always reimbursed.  However, if you get an allowance instead, you might want to try a trick one of my (very frugal) colleagues used, which was to transfer that money to a separate bank account, live off it but attempt to spend as little as possible, and once a year put the money left towards paying off his mortgage.

HTH

- Pip