February 2025 Grocery Challenge

K9sandFelines

Suffolk_lass said:

So, shopping collected. Only one additional item missing (in addition to the four things when I placed the order, days ago). I declined the substitution offered as it was 50% more expensive!

I added £28.23 to my GC total, and £51.06 to stores. My month to date is £136.24. I also had a treat thing £8.50 and some pet/livestock provisions, £8.76 - not included in GC but I track, to keep my life in perspective!

Aren't they meant to price match the substitution? Where is your shopping from?

JingsMyBucket

Hi all, today was a shopping day and I have 3 spends to declare. 

£5.24 in Savers for toothpaste and Listerine. 

£11.54 in M & S for bananas, loose clementines, Braeburn apples, garlic, a sack of potatoes, yoghurt, baked beans, and wheat bread. 

£18.46 at Lidl for 2 punnets of 69p chestnut mushrooms, loose carrots, loose zucchini, lemons, parsley, arugula, sliced ham, a wedge of Parmesan cheese, rice noodles, and 30 eggs. 

We may only need milk and yoghurt by the end of the week. 

£217.08 / £330.00 spent. £112.92 remaining. 

£9.61 to last me through February 14th. £13.63 of bulk funds left

carboot_karaoke

Evening All,

l have no spends to declare😇 although were fast running out of milk.

I just thought l would update on the "reduce meat, cut costs initiative". Last week l made pulled chicken with just 7 chicken drumsticks, half what l would normally use, I added lots of peppers, onions and, two tins of black beans into the sauce and no one said a word. 

Today l made a stew, usually made with about £10 worth of diced beef instead l used 375g minced beef (l halved a 750g pack), a tin of lentils and plenty of veg, again no one noticed. I made it with a muffin top, made with flour, cheese and milk, served with potatoes, carrots and kale. Went down a treat.

I cant believe l didn't do this sooner  😁

Total spent remains  £177.41 / £500.00.  £322.59 remaining

determined_new_ms

morning my spends are creeping up! Over the weekend I spent £21.73 Aldi, £4.50 on tub of hair conditioner and £9.14 in Sains (got a joint of pork ys which I intend to make pulled pork with. There's only 2 of us that eat meat so it should last a while). Total now £145.45/£250 nothing spent on the eating out budget £0/£35 (I'm imagining this is a breakfast or cafe for coffee and cake, or rolled over into the next month for a meal out.)

Been thinking about my strategy going forward and think I will do a big shop once a month, and then Olio and smaller top ups to fill in the gaps. Seems to be working.

Had a discussion with a friend about trying to reduce gc and it provoked an unexpectedly defensive response from her. I hadn't expected that from her but she seemed against the idea of trying to reduce GC spends! She totalled up her spends for Jan at £300, as a vegetarian family I was surprised it was so much (not that I expressed that to her) because we often talk about how being non meat eaters keeps their costs down.

Hoping this week will be NSDs mon-fri as it was last week! 

Suffolk_lass

K9sandFelines said:

Suffolk_lass said:

So, shopping collected. Only one additional item missing (in addition to the four things when I placed the order, days ago). I declined the substitution offered as it was 50% more expensive!

I added £28.23 to my GC total, and £51.06 to stores. My month to date is £136.24. I also had a treat thing £8.50 and some pet/livestock provisions, £8.76 - not included in GC but I track, to keep my life in perspective!

Aren't they meant to price match the substitution? Where is your shopping from?

I think they all try to sneak things through when you are not paying attention. It was Morries. I only C&C'd because there was a £12 off £60 for online or C&C. At least if it is C&C I can see what they picked as I load the car, and reject anything not as expected. I much prefer to pick myself

cuddlymarm

 Good morning guys
My online shop arrived yesterday so so far this month I am on £69.62/£300 and the fridge and freezer and lovely and full. I’ve done this weeks menu and there’s plenty for next week too so I may get away with just one more online shop before the end of the month.
I didn’t realise how much I spend on unnecessary puddings and extras. If we want a pud I’ve the makings of sponge and custard or rice pudding costing a fraction of the bought stuff, but we’re all still eating healthily (most of the time) 
Anyway time to get on 
Have a good day guys

Nelliegrace

I was teasing about the snacks, @Suffolk_lass, I buy a 59p bag of Aldi fruit and nut mix to share most weeks, and I take a few nuts in a pot to meetings where there might be UPF biscuits with tea. The sweet ration was 2oz a week which we have as a shared 100g bar of good dark chocolate. Supermarket own brand best chocolate was fine until recently, when it was adulterated with soya lecithin and the price increased.

t14cy_t

RandomOne said:

Good morning. 
I am already close to blowing my budget.

This time, instead of disappearing from the thread in shame, which i have done hundreds of times before, I'm going to continue posting and keeping myself accountable. 
I have £60 of my Feb budget left, and i now know 100% that it's the snacking which is a problem. 

I'm going to do my best to spend sensibly for the rest of the month. Especially on snacks. 

im a snacker too!! have you tried out approved food? lots of snacks at value pries.

Suffolk_lass

Nelliegrace said:

I was teasing about the snacks, @Suffolk_lass, I buy a 59p bag of Aldi fruit and nut mix to share most weeks, and I take a few nuts in a pot to meetings where there might be UPF biscuits with tea. The sweet ration was 2oz a week which we have as a shared 100g bar of good dark chocolate. Supermarket own brand best chocolate was fine until recently, when it was adulterated with soya lecithin and the price increased.

Yes, we just have to keep reading those labels. Hershey's changed Cadbury's when they bought them and we stopped buying it then. I am an avid label reader! 

Nelliegrace

The King has revoked the Royal Warrant, after 170 years, from the company that use to be Cadbury’s.