January's No Food Shopping Challenge 2025

EitherWalnut

Hello everyone!

I have done this a few times now over the years, and once again I find myself with cupboards and a freezer full of food but somehow nothing to eat.  So to force myself to use what I've got, I'll be attempting to spend as little as possible on food in January.  I usually choose five "staples" that I'm allowed to buy to compliment what I have, but this year I think I'm just going to try and keep the spend as low as possible. See my threads from previous years for an idea of what I mean. (Removed by Forum Team).  As always, if anyone wants to join the challenge, let me know and I'll add you to the list!

Spend so far:

EitherWalnut - £19.14
abundant1972 - £25.50
lilian1977 - £0
AnotherNewDay - £5.40
Thriftymissus - £13

badmemory

I am sure someone can top chestnut stuffing sandwiches for lunch.

EitherWalnut

All the stuffing is already gone! Have thoroughly enjoyed this year's leftovers sandwiches though - I'm pretty sure I like them more than the actual dinner.

abundant1972

Hi - can you sign me up please 😊

I might stick to the 5 staples idea - I'll have a look in my cupboards and see what I have, and what I might need to make passable meals haha. I know for a fact I have 4 tins rice pudding and 4 tins fruit in there that I've been dodging for months lol.. rice and pasta... noodles galore... I've been wanting to defrost my fridge/freezer for months and keep restocking it - so this is a good opportunity

Thanks 🙂

lilian1977

I would like to join please, and am heading over to your Insta now. 

A caveat for me - I have a child with food issues so he will not be included in this challenge, it's just for me and DH. 

EitherWalnut

Welcome folks!

Always nice to have peeps doing it along with me. I find posting keeps me accountable and makes me think twice about spending because I know I'll have to declare it! Does anyone have any particular goals they'd like to achieve?  This year, I'm just aiming to keep the spend as close to zero as possible.

I moved my chest freezer out of the house and into the shed during the summer - took the opportunity to catalogue everything in it.  Made a decent effort at clearing it but looking in it this evening, I have absolutely added to it again. Oops. @abundant1972 - I also have at least four tins of rice pudding in the cupboard!  Went through a phase of eating it for breakfast - should perhaps go back to that.

@lilian1977 - totally fine, it's just meant to be a bit of fun and you have to do it in a way that suits you - obviously don't want anyone going hungry! I live alone so fortunately don't need to take anyone else into consideration when I'm coming up with some of my odd combinations! 

abundant1972

Happy New Year!!!

Thanks for the welcome. Rice pudding for breakfast huh? I have a tin chilling in the fridge so maybe... Start as I mean to go on (not forever thankfully!!!). I used up some frozen cod in parsley sauce with some egg fried rice last night. Was pretty tasty. Only another 3 meals of that then I can move on to the frozen hake haha!!! I may go through condiments and spices today to see if anything is out of date. 

Do any of you have any tips to stop you forgetting. I could delete my cards from ApplePay as I use them far too often on reflex. Having to physically reach for cards - or even cash I have drawn out - may be enough of a prompt to remind me not to spend!!! 

EitherWalnut

Happy New Year Everyone!

I am the absolute worst for using my phone to pay for things.  I very rarely carry cash or physical card now!  To be honest, I just avoid going anywhere near a shop so that I don't forget myself and spend unnescessarily.  One year I went and bought sweets without thinking about it and I was so annoyed with myself!  Deleting cards off phone seems like a pretty good way to remove temptation.

Re the herbs and spices - assuming they are dried, they'll have "Best Before" dates rather than "Use By" - meaning they'll be absolutely fine to use, just mightn't be as potent.  I'm sure I have some cardamom pods in mine that were my mother's originally and therefore likely went out of date sometime in the 90s!  I personally pay very little attention to dates on food and go with the sight and smell test.

abundant1972

Thanks nicmalauren for the tips 😊

Well I survived Day 01. Rice and peaches broken into. Frozen fish cooked and eaten with rice. Overnight Oats in fridge for tomorrow. Cupboard/Fridge/Freezer inventory noted. I have enough to keep me going for a good few weeks I reckon.

My 5 staples that I can buy are:

1) Bread
2) Milk / Milk alternatives
3) Fruit and veg (fresh or frozen)*
4) Tuna
5) Rice

* Do I have to choose one specific vegetable/fruit - or can it be this vague?

I have lots of spreads in stock (cheese spreads, honey, peanut butter, marmite, nutella) for sandwiches, and a truck load of oats for porridge... Also have protein powder that I can mix in or use as a drink, and a few bags of Huel left.

No Food Shopping Days = 01/31  

Keep up the good work!!! 

Dizzycap

abundant1972 said:

Happy New Year!!!

Thanks for the welcome. Rice pudding for breakfast huh? I have a tin chilling in the fridge so maybe... Start as I mean to go on (not forever thankfully!!!). I used up some frozen cod in parsley sauce with some egg fried rice last night. Was pretty tasty. Only another 3 meals of that then I can move on to the frozen hake haha!!! I may go through condiments and spices today to see if anything is out of date. 

Do any of you have any tips to stop you forgetting. I could delete my cards from ApplePay as I use them far too often on reflex. Having to physically reach for cards - or even cash I have drawn out - may be enough of a prompt to remind me not to spend!!! 

I won't put any of my cards on Apple Pay anymore, as I had a couple of issues,so it means I have to use a physical card. However, I have the banking apps for both of my cards on my phone and simply Freeze the card at all times and Unfreeze when I go weekly / monthly food shopping with my trusted well planned shopping list in hand. I also put petrol in the car on the way back from shopping, if needed, and then I Freeze my bank card again before I pull off from the perol station. It worked wonders for me during 2024

EitherWalnut

(Prefacing with a quick note - I had a warning from Forum team, as I didn't realise I wasn't allowed to share the IG link.  I have also at their request changed my username - just in case anyone it confuses anyone!)

I would never have thought of using the freeze function on my cards like that @Dizzycap - noted for future!

@abundant1972 - your staples can be as specific or as vague as you like - do what works for you! The first time I did it I left it quite vague and then challenged myself to be more specific the next time. I definitely think it's good to have staples that you can at least make one solid meal out of in case you have a day where you are completely devoid of inspiration! You mention Huel - what do you make of it? I've seen lots of adverts...

I started off pretty well yesterday - had made some banana bread the day before with my last two eggs and three sad bananas so a slice of that for breakfast with morning coffee went down a treat.  Then I used the remainder of the turkey that hadn't been frozen in a sandwich for lunch - giving myself bonus points for having sourced both the bread and accompanying coleslaw for free on the Olio app.  Dinner was an absolute triumph - made a cold rice bowl with seaweed, marinated cucumber, and Asian-inspired smoked salmon.  Used a variety of condiments - including sushi rice vinegar that had a best before date sometime in 2018.  Finished off with another slice of banana bread and some custard.

Today, I had some Special K cereal found in the cupboard in work for breakfast, followed by homemade leek and potato soup at lunch, and for dinner I'm going to have the remainder of the rice from yesterday with some pork gyoza from the freezer (using the last of those so that's another bag gone). Saved the last of the marinade from yesterday's cucumber as well so that can be tonight's dipping sauce.