February 2025 Grocery Challenge

TravelCrystal

Totally agree @cheerfulness4. I have decided to now only go out and buy what I actually need for February and if I can find an alternative that I have already, am going to use it.

We have Turkey in the freezer left over from Christmas which I will reheat in some gravy for Sunday lunch, don’t tell D.H but I plan on keeping half a slice back to chop up and spice up for the homemade pizza we will be having for lunch on Monday with some pineapple which I keep in the freezer, chopped up ( left over from my free fruit)

But as has been said before don’t beat yourself up over keeping to the budget’s religiously.
Do what works for you.

T.C
 

Soontobeoap

2 spends for February already so first week covered hopefully. £8.00 spent at Aldi, where incidentally I paid well over £4.00 on 500g of 5% fat beef mince.Today we shopped in Sainsburys as we were in town and I bought 1kg of 5% fat beef minced for £6.75 so it was much cheaper in Sainsburys. I must remember that for next time. I am hoping that apart from a couple of chickens when the family descend and some chicken breasts, that will be all the meat that I need this month as I will continue using what's in the freezer. Hoping to make a batch of lasagnas and shepherd pies tomorrow to freeze.  
 £29.98 spent in Sainsburys. I did buy a lasagna sauce instead of tinned tomatoes today so I feel a little bit extravagant but will add frozen tomatoes to it to make it fo further. Was shocked by £2.50 for a small box of chicken oxo cubes!😱. I took advantage of some nectar prices on soya sauce, breaded ham and fresh tomatoes as well as a few other bits too.

On the subject of nectar points and Tesco club card points. I usually spend those in Feb on my grocery's to bring the bill down but this year I will use them in March as I will barely notice the difference this month and I might be able to get a really cheap month on March
 Hers hoping I can stay in budget.

thriftwizard

£32 on fresh fruit & veg, plus a last dozen eggs (the Girls being back in lay now) spent at the market this morning, which is perfectly reasonable, but sadly there were two items on my list that weren't there, so I'll probably have to dart up to W8rose at some point tomorrow. Otherwise we should be all in for the week.

PipneyJane

PipneyJane said:

Count me in, please, @elsiepac.  Thank you for running this thread.

Please put me down for £160.

That’s for all supermarket spends for two adults, including cleaning products and toiletries.  Our month runs from 1st February to 28th.

Thanks again, Elsiepac.

- Pip  

@elsiepac, apologies but we had £5.30 left from January which I’d like to include in February’s target.  Therefore

Please change my February budget to £165.30.

Many thanks.

- Pip

Pennypincin

I'd like to be put down for £160 for the month please, as I'm being paid almost monthly.
That's just for food for myself as a vegetarian.

Blackcats

£320 for me for February please (£80 a week)

diminua

Hi Elsiepac,

as ever thank you for the thread

Could you put me down for £220 as usual please?

carboot_karaoke

Evening all,  

I have two spends to declare before the month has even begun !! £17.76 at lidl, over £10 was on pork steaks and cheese. Another, £60.20 was spent in Tesco  about £25 of which was on larger 1-2kg packs of meat,  I'm going to divide into smaller portions.

In all this should cover the meat element of meals for the next 2 weeks. 

I'm not including fuel anymore to keep figures more accurate so have amended our official budget to £500. This is for food, toiletries and cleaning products for 4 adults and two hungry children.  

I'm really hoping to stay below budget but with half term you can never tell.  

New totals  £77.96 / £ 500 

Oh, l will also add that I'm aiming for minimal food waste. I was really chuffed with last month. Just,  half a lemon and bread crusts thrown out.  Today we had the gravy l froze back on Xmas day for dinner 😂

Cassingtonbear

RandomOne said:

Thank you to so many who answered my questions on Januarys GC challenge. 
Up till now I've been spending around £800+ a month on food for my family of 3. I've taken all of the suggestions on board, and therefore I'd like to set a target of

£400 for Feb please. 

I know this is a substancial drop, which is not advised for the first month of doing a grocery challenge, BUT I've meal planned at least 2 weeks of main meals for Feb, thanks to all the advice i got on here. So I'd like to try and give £400 a go. 
Please bear with me as I know I'll ask a lot of questions as this is all new to me. I'll try to find the answers to my questions, but if i cant find them, I hope its OK to ask lots here?

Finally I've found someone who was spending more than me!  genuinely wish you good luck this month in the challenge. You can do it.

I'd like to set a budget of £720 for February please. This is about £70 below what I found I spent in my first challenge in January. I hope to keep reducing this over time. The plan is to continue with reduced cafe spending but this month slightly increase home cooked meals.

AnotherNewDay

Hi I'm aiming for £100 again this month - but I'm going to split it as £50 for me for food, household and toiletries and £50 for food and other cat vitals for 2 hungry cats