April 2025 Grocery Challenge

Soontobeoap

Hi @ Remmie. Don't consider it a fail.Thats why I have an annual target too which is in place to keep me on track over the year if I do some bulk buying or have lots of extra guests.

That said I did exactly that today. Had to go to return a top to Sainsburys which was fatal as I remembered I needed washing powder and dishwasher tabs also picked up some tins of sweetcorn and salad beans, we needed bread, milk and cereals and before we knew it had spent another £43.00! ( In my defence I was not completely mad, I did take a list! 🤣)We haven't even started May yet! I am definitely becoming more lax over it all. It is true that the busier you are the less time you have to shop around, bulk cook and search for bargains. I feel for all of you with families trying to work as well as keep costs down.

I have just realized that I am on April thread not May. Today's total will be added to May budget.🤦

mandco

@Remmie it’s not a fail it’s a learning curve a target is just that something to aim for. Keeping track even if you go over budget means you can work out what is or isn’t working within your budget and where you can make changes going forward 

various shops since last week give me another £159.23 add to my spends this month bringing it to a total of £554.08 so far  that said it includes quite a few unplanned spends like suncream & ice cream/lollies and lots of salad/picnic type foods as it’s baking hot and no one fancies the stuff on the meal plan.
was hoping for a nsd today but ds is out of lactose free milk - I loathe paying the premium £2.20 at the local express store but I’ll get it there as I really don’t need anything else and I know popping to the supermarket for a few needed items and coming out £££’s lighter with unplanned buys is really bumping up my shopping bill. 

goldfinches

@C_J - I hadn't realised there were the two little local Morries, thanks for the info.
@remmie - like others above I think it's worth tracking overspends because there's so much information you can glean to help you in the future. My downfall is new and unusual ingredients which invariably tempt me so I work hard to stay out of the supermarket and write lists before I do venture through their doors although I don't always manage to stick to them.

Anyway I made the lemon crinkle cookies and they went down very well, here they are cooling on the draining board.



I think the finished texture was more cake than biscuit and I only used about half the frosting so the rest is in the freezer for another day.

I'm claiming another NSD and declaring at £144.56/£150 for the main GC. Phew, made it!
The Bulk Buy fund has spent £33.98/£120 leaving me £86.02 to carry forward.
Last of all the Baking Fund has spent £34.80/£25 which is rather horrifying but hopefully I'll be able to get back on track in May.

Blackcats

I have £2 of my April budget leftover.  Doesn't sound much but we have stocked up on toiletries from Boots as well as covering food and drink spends.  OH has stocked up on razor blades which are v expensive.
thank you to everyone who posts here as I learn so much and am inspired by everyone.  Big thanks to Elsiepac for co-ordinating us.

C_J

Those lemon cookies look fantastic, goldfinches! You must be the most popular person in your walking group 😁

carboot_karaoke

Good morning all,

Its been a while since I posted. I have just sorted out a lot of receipts (some holiday budget, some regular shopping).

The main shop was on Saturday £129.24 but included a lot of items that will be used in May or non food items, toilet roll, micro fibre cloths, shower gel etc.

Originally l was going to try and work out which expense fell into which month, then l decided life was to short 🤣

So I'm going to swallow the overspend this month and hope for an underspend next month. 

I'm declaring £478.37 / £470.00 Overspent by £8.37

See you on the May thread

Chloris

Declaring with £616.56/650. 

I can’t actually believe I came in under budget, which is embarrassing considering how high mine is. I’m dropping it again next month and hopefully I will manage. 

Well done everyone under, over, and bang on the nail. It’s not an easy task. See you all on the other thread.

PipneyJane

LiveSimply said:

I spent £257 for two of us. This was the first month I’d kept track and my initial target was £350 which was a wild guess really, so does it sound reasonable to other people? 

Two adults, vegetarian, no alcohol, no takeaways, all meals included. 

I’ve put next month’s target as £250, but I feel I need three months to get a clearer idea of my average. 

For your first month doing the Grocery Challenge, @LiveSimply, a spend of £257 is quite an achievement! Well done! 👏 

- Pip

LiveSimply

PipneyJane said:

LiveSimply said:

I spent £257 for two of us. This was the first month I’d kept track and my initial target was £350 which was a wild guess really, so does it sound reasonable to other people? 

Two adults, vegetarian, no alcohol, no takeaways, all meals included. 

I’ve put next month’s target as £250, but I feel I need three months to get a clearer idea of my average. 

For your first month doing the Grocery Challenge, @LiveSimply, a spend of £257 is quite an achievement! Well done! 👏 

- Pip

Thank you! I just shopped normally I think, I wanted to find my true average, then I know what to beat. Neither of us feel our meals have been any different from normal. 

As from today I’m on a bit of a health kick, that’ll include minimal sugary stuff and I know that is a big expense for me. Tinned rice pudding, biscuits, chocolate, apple pies, so much sugar. And all bought ready made, not home made. I might look through my receipts later and add up all the nutritionally challenged junk food I bought and then have a little lie down at the amount I’ve wasted!

This month, I’m more ‘cook a proper main course and you won’t need to fill up on sweet stuff’. 

And my method of shopping has been to look for Sainsbury’s bargain prices or extra Nectar points, then add some milk and bread. But this month it’s going to be ‘what do I have an excess of, and what do I need to turn it into a meal’. I’ve got lots of things purchased once that I don’t really want again so I’ll be finishing those and having fewer things cluttering up the cupboard. 

And the freezer - the veg is fine, the leftovers are fine, but why do I have three boxes of filo pastry from 2021? Who knows 🤷‍♀️. But I’ll be making baklava at some point. 

t14cy_t

spends for aprilo £101/£100. so thats fine for me. see you all in may challenge. xx