February 2025 Grocery Challenge

Doom_and_Gloom

Doom_and_Gloom said:

£209.11/£224.
£14.89 left.

£14.12 spent since last post.
£7.12 in Waitr*se over 4 small shops.
£3 on a TGTG at the local cafe my OH likes.
£4 on a TGTG bag from a mostly vegan bakery.

£223.23/£224.
£0.77 left.

We still have today and tomorrow so I'm not going to declare our total yet as OH needs a loaf of bread to make sandwiches for work. We have a 50p off a loaf making it 50p (edited, not £50  ) instead of £1 so should come in budget, just, as long as that is the only thing bought. It's going to be close.

RandomOne

Ouch. Finishing my month on £682.56. A massive £282.56 over budget. YIKES! But that is still £200 less that what I've been spending in previous months.

So...this was my first month and here are the lessons I've learned this month:

My issue is definitely with snacks
I need to meal plan breakfasts and lunches as well as dinners. And defrost food in time!
I've been spending more than i thought on McDonalds (this was quite a surprise to me, i thought i only had it once a month at most).

All in all, i found out a lot about my shopping habits and am glad that i have started. Now going over to the March GC to start another month  

thriftwizard

A catch-up from me: £115.15 added, £53.60 of which I've just spent between the supermarket & the butchers, and the rest by OH over the last week while DD2 & I were minding DS1 & DDiL's house in Wales. Considering I'd left plenty of food for them (DS3 was here for most of it) I was a little dismayed, but then I hadn't left the kind of thing he prefers to eat & feels confident to cook, like sausage rolls & fish fingers. I did spend some money in Wales, at the local farmers market (and got a beautiful 3.5kg free-range chicken for under £20, which fed us all as a roast, plus fajitas the next night, made a big stock & left enough meat to feed DS1 & DDiL for the rest of this week! Not to mention giblets for the dog & cats.) but I'm counting that as holiday money.

There'll be a bit more spent on fish, fresh fruit & veg at our local market tomorrow but should come in under budget, so will be ordering an 8kg sack of flour from our local mill as a "bulk buy".

Pennypincin

£26.48
Spent on several small shops.
Mainly on fresh bits and odds and sods.
Edit to add apologize for being absent so much.

Blackcats

@RandomOne - well done on gaining insights about your spending and for spending £200 less than previously.  That could accumulate to £2400 over 12 months!  I love that this grocery challenge can really help us take a bit more control over how much of our money we give to supermarkets.  We often eat better too when we are more resourceful and thoughtful with our meal planning.  See you in the March thread.

K9sandFelines

PipneyJane said:

Good evening All

Hope @elsiepac is OK.

I’ve got two shops to declare:  £8.76 in Sainsbugs on Sunday (spent on 100g Serrano ham £1.89, YS Pork belly slices £4.30, bananas 78p, Pack of 3 Sweet peppers £1.79), and £26.06 in L!dl today.  

I really should not shop when when I’m hungry.  The whole point of going to L!dl at lunchtime was to (hopefully) pick up free items won via their Bakery challenge.  Well, as well as a free almond croissant and a free packet of wine gums, I somehow managed to buy two packets of smoked sausages (£2.49 each) plus a large tub of olives stuffed with almonds, but totally forgot to get custard (15% off until COB today) and another bag of frozen mixed berries.  And yes, I did take a shopping list.  I just failed to read it properly.

To top it all off, we got two £2 coins in our change.  (We have a house rule:  never spend a £2 coin.  They go to the Running Away Fund instead.)

< Humph! >

Anyway, the above brings our total February shop to £149.90/£165.30, leaving £15.40 to roll into March.

- Pip (not sure if I’m declaring for February)

I save mine too. Unfortunately, I had to spend one the other day as I had no other coins on me. They don't seem to be in circulation as much as when they first come out.

Nelliegrace

February Budget £140.

£14.65 spent at Asda on milk, evap, mushrooms, basic salted peanuts, frozen broad beans, fruit, and seasonal vegetables. The leeks were good, 4 for £1.39, DH likes them chopped and steamed. 

He spent £4.56 on milk and a large pack of y.s. blueberries. I froze most of them.

£59.10 spent, £80.90 left

I check the DEFRA map every day for bird flu. We are clear so far, though the hens have to live under cover, where once they could have the run of the garden. We have had 61 eggs from the four hens in February. The fourth started laying again this week, double yolkers, after her winter rest.

https://defra.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8cb1883eda5547c6b91b5d5e6aeba90d

RandomOne

Blackcats said:

@RandomOne - well done on gaining insights about your spending and for spending £200 less than previously.  That could accumulate to £2400 over 12 months!  I love that this grocery challenge can really help us take a bit more control over how much of our money we give to supermarkets.  We often eat better too when we are more resourceful and thoughtful with our meal planning.  See you in the March thread.

Thank you, It's been a real eye opener! I know I'm still spending a lot compared to most, but I'm reminding myself that Rome wasnt built in a day, it's a process and I'll get there.

LotsOfTea

I'm declaring for the month after a spend of £13.42 on a variety of bits and bobs including lemons for upcoming pancake day (very important) and a couple of grapefruits for me as I had one recently and had forgotten how much I love them. 

£264.73/£300

thriftwizard

Declaring now at £487.90/£500 and pretty happy with that as we now have most of the first week of March's food! Although I need to add £20 into something, maybe the bulk fund, as I bought a whole side of salmon from the fishmonger for £30 & have divvied it up into £10-worth for tonight (added into Feb's  total) two more "batches" of steaks in the freezer, plus a bag of biggish chunks to add into something at some point! But I probably won't do that again; wasn't super impressed with the quality. See y'all in March!