January 2025 Grocery Challenge

thriftwizard

Wishing everyone a happy money-saving New Year! Thank you for all your hard work on our behalf, @elsiepac.

We do have a fair amount of festive leftovers at the time of writing but they'll mostly be used up or frozen by the time we get into January's budget. Therefore I'll aim for

£500

for the month, please, catering for 4 adults with 2-3 different diets, plus family & friends at weekends & occasionally in between too. It's a 5-week month for us, too, so that should be a little bit of a challenge.

(Noticing that consumption has actually dropped a bit now that OH is officially retired! Even though he'd been mainly working from home for the last 4 years...) 

cuddlymarm

Hi 
Can I join please? I’m aiming for £500 per month for 3 adults. Any excess will go straight into my emergency fund and if I find I’m massively going over each month I will reduce it. 

Thanks
Cuddles

Matron_Midge

Hi everyone, here we go again with a brand new shiny budget.
I went over on last years budget so have decided to increase it by £500 My cupboards, fridge and freezer are well stocked for time being so I’m hoping this increase of around £10 per week will cover this years expense.
thank you for running the thread, it is really helpful and I love to see how everyone is doing.

Please put my annual budget down as £4500 - thank you

Tjh1412

Can I please join? Moving house January 9th and realising whilst packing just how overstocked we tend to be on everything! 

£80 for January 2025

This is a 5 week month for me, so will be a challenge but I'm trying not to buy anything until moving is finished besides the absolute essentials, so fingers crossed for 2 low spend weeks. 

This will cover all groceries, household products and toiletries for myself and one milk and fruit obsessed toddler.

Frugalwannabe

Hi @elsiepac,

Could you put me down for £650 for January please? This is for 2 adults, 2 teens and a tween, all meals and snacks. I also cook my FIL main meals as well. Food budget has been out of control so I’m going to work really hard to stop the top up shops! 

Thank you ☺️ 

missmarbuff

Please put me down for £80 per week for 2 adults - any excess will go into savings towards holidays booked in September 

carboot_karaoke

Afternoon Everyone,

Thank you @elsiepac for this fantastic thread.

Like many others l have a lot of excess food and a full freezer so I'm keen to have a frugal start to the year.

I joined the thread last July so this will be my first full year. I have a number of financial goals in 2025, so managing the food spend is essential. 

I would like to set a target of £500 for food, cleaning, toiletries  for four adults and two children and petrol for my car.

Having said all that we are now hosting two impromptu gatherings next week    so l will need to choose food options wisely. I find you spend loads of money on finger foods, so I'm thinking perhaps bbq pulled chicken (never made it before) with home made coleslaw and wedges using up the cheap veg in the garage.  Has anyone made this or has a recipe to share? 

joedenise

I use a Slimming World recipe:  https://www.slimmingworld.co.uk/recipes/barbecue-pulled-pork

It makes loads.  Great for feeding a crowd, my family love it.

Winchelsea

I’m a “returner” here, after a long break, so have to get back in the swing of things!
That doesn’t mean I haven’t been living a frugal life, but I no longer keep such a strict eye on my budget. I haven’t been throwing money around(!) - but it will be good for me to actually start budgeting properly again, and making it clear to myself exactly where my money is going.
So, I shall join in with the January challenge if I may, please, and see how it goes!
And if that’s OK, I’ll set my target at £60 a week for food for myself and two cats, plus cleaning materials.

ChihiroSen

Could I be put down for £300 for January please? Thank you.