February 2025 Grocery Challenge

Soontobeoap

DH has just returned home from bowls. He picked up some staples on way home. ( He is in charge of cereal, milk, bread and juice. £10.44 because he didn't have a bag and paid 65 p for a new one. We have a cupboard overflowing with bags for life already! It happens nearly every time!!! 

Mortgagefreetobe

Hi @elsiepac,

please can I be put down for £750 this month. Target last month was £650 and I came in at £800! Determined to get it down. We’re a family of 5 and home educate our 3 children who are all teens with hollow legs! I also cook my FIL dinners and host students so some weeks I am feeding 10 people. Let’s see shall we!

spend so far this month £190/£750

thank you ☺️

patentgirl

Hello everyone reporting first main shop hopefully only large one split shop between Lidls and Tescos of £122.41 out of £250 budget just worked out got ingredients for 26 meals so should be fine got 2 of my grandchildren stopping for nearly a week in February so may have to buy couple more bits but going to try and not panda to them they know I am a soft touch but hoping they try few new things included in that total was few packs of the baguettes you heat up I don’t have biggest freezer at moment so use these when bread goes brought ingredients to make some bread too not done that for years.

carboot_karaoke

Evening everyone, 

Another two spends to declare £12.03 from Home Bargains for toiletries, and chinese curry powder for a fake-away later in the month. 

A further £5.67 was spent at the local shop on spices, and seasonings. 

New totals £95.66 / £500 

On the frugal side I have,  de-boned & de-skined, 4 kg of chicken thighs, weighed and separated into 4 portions.  I also used the leftover bones to make a chicken,  carrot, and lentil soup enough for 4 lunches.

Instead of 2 x 500g I brought 750g pack of mince and split into two, no one seemed to notice the difference in todays dinner, Keema and rice, once I added toms, chickpeas and spinach 😋

Mrs_Cheshire

Current spend is £163.04/£500 - have meal planned until sunday so shouldn't need anything else. 

AnotherNewDay

Fornightly shop done today, updated totals as follows - me = £40.21 and cats at £32.95

MissRikkiC

carboot_karaoke said:

Evening everyone, 

Another two spends to declare £12.03 from Home Bargains for toiletries, and chinese curry powder for a fake-away later in the month. 

A further £5.67 was spent at the local shop on spices, and seasonings. 

New totals £95.66 / £500 

On the frugal side I have,  de-boned & de-skined, 4 kg of chicken thighs, weighed and separated into 4 portions.  I also used the leftover bones to make a chicken,  carrot, and lentil soup enough for 4 lunches.

Instead of 2 x 500g I brought 750g pack of mince and split into two, no one seemed to notice the difference in todays dinner, Keema and rice, once I added toms, chickpeas and spinach 😋

Love the mince trick. I rarely use more than 125g per meal now and that will make 4 portions. I won’t have the same protein content as otherwise but other items and food throughout the day help with that. 

determined_new_ms

Suffolk_lass said:

determined_new_ms said:

alarmingly have spent £101.58 of Feb budget already  have done exactly what was advised against earlier in the thread and front loaded. I need to refocus on getting small top ups. Have 2 freezers and a fridge full. Made dinners for the week, so hopefully won't need anything else but fresh bits at the end of the week.

I always front load because I typically only SM shop once, or twice at most in the month. Don't worry, it can still work. Maybe join us over on the Reverse Meal Planning thread or Old-Style What are you making for Dinner as good places for adapting and making do with what you have in to keep you from spending more

Thanks Suffolk_lass! After eating from stores, using Olio and doing small targeted grocery spends in Jan it was a bit discombobulating how easy it is for the bill to rack up on a "big shop" (small by lots of people's perspective!) Just goes to show how easy it is for it to mount up quickly. I have been having a look on some of the Old Style boards but we have an unusual (to most) strategy. We make a meal then eat that for 3/4/5 days and then make something else. It's not for everyone, but we like not having to cook throughout the week when life is busy with working demanding jobs.

K9sandFelines

£150  for me please starting from the 13th 

Quite a while still to go in January

Thanks @elsiepac

remmie

First spend of the month £33.81 in As*a. Was £35.81 but I used a £2 reward voucher. The £2 goes into my Christmas pot towards the bargain meat.

£35.81/£300