January 2025 Grocery Challenge

Pauper1

Got a few bits from Superdrug and Asda that were missing from my big shop, so now at £304.07/£400 

PipneyJane

@JingsMyBucket the only place I’ve ever found brown basmati rice is Wing-Yip Hopefully they have a store near you.  (Note:  I haven’t checked their website to see if they currently stock it.)

I have a small spend to declare from Sunday: £3.03 in Sainsbugs on 6 x 500g bags of budget pasta (41p each) and 830g loose carrots (57p).  7p has gone to the Shrapnel money boxes.

Note:  We are subscribers to a Sunday paper and Sainsbugs gives you Nectar points on that spend even if you are paying  by subscription voucher.  MrT does NOT give you Clubcard points on any portion of a shop paid by vouchers, even if they aren’t issued by them.

The above brings our total GC spend to £139.50/£160, leaving £20.50 for the rest of the month.

- Pip 

CRANKY40

Food shop this week was £71.52 but I also donated £5 to a local animal rescue towards an op for a sick kitten (our cat made me do it) so the total this week is £76.52. I didn't think that we needed much this week but I still managed to spend most of the £80 allocated.

There's plenty in the cupboards and freezer though - the only thing that we don't have a spare of is wholemeal bread but I still have most of the loaf left. Actually I think I'll take some bread out of both loaves and stash it in the freezer as there's just enough space left to fit a bit of bread into. I prefer wholemeal bread but the student likes white so bread lasts well here. In my sister's family a loaf can vanish in a day. 

Total spend so far is £220.60/£320.00 and my cooking imagination is running low. Going into the kitchen is like volunteering for an antarctic expedition and although we have plenty of food I'm lacking in inspiration. I'm going to flick through some recipe books today and see if there's anything I fancy that I already have the ingredients for. 

Take care all of you 😊

JingsMyBucket

Hey @determined_new_ms, @elsiepac usually puts up the new month's thread about 5 days before the start. Maybe she'll do it this Friday? 

t14cy_t

nipped into morrisons as i was going that way and bought 2 huge pieces of shoulder of pork and beautiful rib of beef and a large pack of sausages, all for £17 as reduced and i had a coupon too! so spends for the month are £65/£100. all meat in freezer.

Doom_and_Gloom

Doom_and_Gloom said:

£120.88/£248.
£127.12 left.

Spent £92.53 since last post. That was over 5 Waitr*se shops, a Mr S shop and a tgtg bag from the local coffee shop for OH.

£213.41/£248.
£34.59 left.

Really hoping we come in budget. Like most others I forget how long January is. Yes it is but 31 days like some other months but somehow January just keeps going on in a way the others don't.

thriftwizard

Hmm - I could pretend that today's spend comes under the heading of "family contingency" but that would be a bit naughty - some of it, maybe, but let's add it to the clock & see how we do. £34.19, between the butcher & the supermarket, as DS1, DDiL & the baby are on their way down & staying for the next 4 days; it looks as if the weather is going to keep the lid on everyone else descending on a daily basis, but on Saturday we'll be fitting all 12 of us plus the dog (luckily a dachshund) into our 12' square living room! And feeding them... it will be lovely! But somewhat  chaotic.  

I will be doing another shop tomorrow, when I've consulted with our guests, and also pop to the market on Friday for fresh fruit & veg. The budget's looking a little wobbly - but I should be able to cope.

EcoIntent

So far for the first week of my new month. I am at £96.34/£130 (week ends tomorrow) or £96.34/£520 for the month. I don't actually think we need anything else, so am going to try really hard to finish the week on this.

This included a 50% off hello fresh box for 5 meals for 4 people (£37  ish). As DD has not wanted the recipes so far, we are only 2 recipes in, as have had them 2 days each. It would have been really low this week but stocked up on cat food this time, and also a couple of expensive bits (1kg of panko breadcrumbs and 1kg of fine oatmeal) but all part of building a pantry for making 'from scratch' food.

I did use my ebay sales money separately for another Shipton Mill order. I wanted proper bannetons for proving my sourdough in now I am making it regularly. I then topped that up to £30 for free delivery with some different flour types, including Semolina for flouring the bannetons and some wheatgerm as my mum has been asking me to try and make the 'hovis' she had when a child as it just isn't like that any more. That order is coming today. The flour should strictly speaking be groceries but I am seeing the bread making beyond the basics almost like a hobby, and trying different flour and bread recipes is hardly essential stuff. 

cheerfulness4

Spent a further £29.86 on my weekly tescos shop this week.  Very pleased as got 23 items for that and included quite a bit of protein and good toothpaste. 

Only have one last shop to do this month and I've loads of budget left so I think I'll definitely be under budget and can transfer the surplus to my holiday food fund for end of May.

Still lots of protein in freezer and well stocked cupboards so I'm thinking of a pantry challenge for February for us as there are lots more meals available if I box clever with my stocks contents.

K9sandFelines

£14.53 spend; in Tesc© and  £ 2.53 at Aldi