January 2025 Grocery Challenge

determined_new_ms

Soontobeoap said:

Just a quick post.I am so excited that I needed to tell people who would understand. Decided on a new strategy to start this year so before Christmas I bought up as much quality meat on half price offers that I could afford in my yearly budget. 

Then the family descended and I lost all track of what I had used, grabbing what I could to cobble a meal together and freezing large amounts of food because plans were constantly changing.

Just done a freezer inventory and nothing has been thrown away or wasted.  4 whole shelves are full of meat, fish etc that will see us through into March I think with just a few supplements.Everything can be broken down into smaller amounts for meals for 2. Some of the beefburgers may need to be made into meatballs or even used as mince for lasagna or shepherds pie as we do have rather a lot. I am now excited to see how inventive I can be with using it all.

This is such a brilliant idea! I am totally going to adopt! I’ll start having a surplus of GC budget if things continue as they are and can buy up meat when they are on offer 

Money_Choices

Hi

Today I spent £20 on groceries at Morrisons after a fasting blood test at doctors.
My spending is £20/£50.

Money Choices

K9sandFelines

t14cy_t said:

K9sandFelines said:

First spend so far, was two packs of wholewheat spaghetti from Amazon on the 13th. £1.30 total

i'm hoping this will be a month where I don't need to buy very much, and I will try my best to get what I can from Olio.

well done on your budget, i too use olio, brilliant app!!

Thanks so much.

Whilst I'm here, just a little update of spends 
£15.60 in Ald*. I veered off the list a bit as they had a few more Veganuary bits in. I'll break even now though, as think I've bought everything I want to try now; and some purchases will last into next month also.
 I got plant based Nordpak ( don't rate it so far, but maybe it's because it was on brown toast. So will try again 🥴), the Aldi Crackd dupe, Pak choi ( super 6 never seen it on there before), bananas, olives, tonic water, coconut water, soya milk, two buttermilk bars ( iykyk) and yeast extract.Think that's it.

I also spent £7.00 in Waitros€ on vegan cheese, and two packs of moving mountains burgers on 2 for £5.

Nothing on Olio today, so will keep an eye out Sunday. I can't always walk too far at the moment though, so don't always benefit.

Off to add to signature.

Spendywendywoo

Good morning all

Long time lurker but first time poster as I’ve started a new budget for 2025 and I feel that this time I need to stay accountable, the only way to do that is log goals and interact with likeminded people, like yourselves. 

Our household month runs 15th to 14th due to payday so I’ll log for half a month now, and a full month in February, I’ll be able to do that with the spreadsheet I’m maintaining. So for the rest of Jan please could I record the following;

£250 please 

I’m going to update my budget later so can give an update on progress so far this afternoon 

Have a great day all, 
Wendy x

PipneyJane

Spendywendywoo said:

Good morning all

Long time lurker but first time poster as I’ve started a new budget for 2025 and I feel that this time I need to stay accountable, the only way to do that is log goals and interact with likeminded people, like yourselves. 

Our household month runs 15th to 14th due to payday so I’ll log for half a month now, and a full month in February, I’ll be able to do that with the spreadsheet I’m maintaining. So for the rest of Jan please could I record the following;

£250 please 

I’m going to update my budget later so can give an update on progress so far this afternoon 

Have a great day all, 
Wendy x

Welcome, @Spendywendywoo.  Please tell us how many people are in your household and whether your budget includes toiletries and cleaning products.  It might help us to help you.

I have a spend to declare from this morning and one my DH did on Thursday.  Thursday’s was £2.50 in MrT’s for a stick deodorant for his travel kit (the cream ones keep forever, while traditional roll-ons eventually evaporate.)

Today’s shop was in L!dl.  Thanks to DH taking his mum shopping -  her money not ours - we had two L!dl Plus vouchers to use.  £18.81 spent on free mushrooms (was £1.79), free shampoo (was £2.85) YS Ham (£3.11), YS sliced beef (£1.56), Truffle oil gift set £4.99 (£3.99 off), 50 sheet colour catchers £2.99, prosciutto £1.89, cream cheese 2x85p, wraps 99p.  The truffle oil was a complete indulgence, since I don’t think I have ever tried truffles but I like mushrooms, so fingers crossed.

One surprise, once I tallied everything up and removed the shrapnel (2p and 5p pieces), I found an extra £1.80 in the GC purse.  I’m not complaining.    (NB:  It doesn’t tally with the leftovers from last month.)

The above brings our total spend to £136.40/£160, leaving £23.60 for the rest of the month.

Should be do-able.  There are no big spends on the horizon.  Meals are planned up to/including Wednesday.

- Pip

Spendywendywoo

Thank you for a warm welcome @PipneyJane. The budget includes all food, including school (DS) and work lunches (DH and I) and drinks but not alcohol, it includes toilet roll and washing up liquid but not washing tablets/powder, dishwasher tablets or any sprays or cleaning products (separate budget for them). There are 3 in our household plus a dog, but I have a separate budget for dog food, treats etc. 

I can already see where I can make some changes as I am writing down everything I buy that is allocated into the 'Grocery' budget category. DS likes satay sticks, which I can make cheaper, and we buy chicken and other sandwich fillings which I can certainly make cheaper than the packets available in store. I tend to shop at @ldi but I am finding that the quality isn't as good as Mr S or Mr T so may look to split shopping going forward.  

I've always run life at 100 miles an hour and I've never had time to think about where I can save money, or put time into organising myself better. I'm thinking of starting my own DF diary so that I can give more of an insight into what I'm doing, and why, and to keep me accountable.... in fact, I'm off to ponder that now

Thanks again,
Wendy x

LotsOfTea

@pipneyjane if you've never had truffle oil before I'd advise being very cautious when adding it to things. It's a strong flavour and often only needs a few drops to a drizzle kind of amount. The strength can vary between brands and too much can make the dish inedible. I speak from experience! That said, it works well with things that have mushroom in them already.

Mrs_Cheshire

Hubby went shopping on Thursday for BBQ sauce - I usually buy own brand but apparently the shelf was half empty so he had to buy a large branded one £3.90. I couldn't believe the price! 
Today he popped to the shops to get milk, apple juice and some cereal. Bought himself a pack of latte sachets despite me buying him a milk frother for christmas and having flavoured syrups in the house. Need to persuade him to give the frother a try! Today's spend £8.84
£359.76/£400

otb666

700/650 overshot this month due to travelling and leaving hubby on his own to look after family for last 7 weeks.Not read past pages sorry
Back home now.
Still dont know how they managed it as in theory one less in our house but apparently iceland twice the price of aldi according to hubby.(he does not drive so had to use a shop which did home delivery)
Not going to beat him up over it as we were all fire fighting for a while and I have now used up my 500 rainy day money. 
I am calling it this month as go from 23rd to 23rd Just declaring overspend and will stand in the corner and face the wall.
Looking forward to February.
Hubby is on new drug for weight loss his diabetic nurse put him on it as has kidney chronic disease as well so they hopefully will make a difference to his appetite going forward.  Strange really as not that fat 18 stone 5ft 10 He said he was the slimmest person in chemist when he went to pick up injection pen and that included the chemist. 
I have lost 1.5 stone over last 7 weeks but this happens when i am stressed was looking after baby 24/7 and looking forward to putting some weight back on

time2change_2

This week has not been as good but I'm hoping some will last into the following week. So £36 of £40 spent but noting from the bulk buy budget

Totals are £80 of £120 (main grocery) and £9 of £30 (bulk buy)