April 2025 Grocery Challenge

PipneyJane

Good afternoon All

One small shop to declare.  We made a quick trip to Sainsbugs to buy the Sunday paper, since they give Points despite us paying for it with a subscription voucher. (Unlike MrT’s.)  While there we took advantage of lower prices if we used one of their self-service widgets, buying 2 packets of onion bagels for £1.62 each and some smoked salmon.  £5.73 spent.

The above brings our total spend to £76.15/£172, leaving £95.85 for the rest of the month.

Meal plans for the week:

All breakfasts are cereal and all lunches are leftovers, unless otherwise stated.

Tonight:  Carrot & Cashewnut Roast, with roast potatoes and broccoli
Monday:  Quinoa and Tuna Crustless Quiche, based on this recipe 
Tuesday:  Broccoli & Chorizo Pasta
Wednesday: Keema Curry
Thursday:  Toad in the Hole with sweetcorn
Friday:  Haggis with roast potatoes, roast sweet potatoes and peas

- Pip

sams247

Went to Sainsbs and spent £18.83.  Eggs, fish, veg, pots and a few reduced items.  Managed to avoid temptation of puddings and the like by repeatedly telling myself I had enough at home (like some child haha)

JingsMyBucket

Afternoon folks. We visited the monthly market today and did a bit of shopping at Lidl and M & S so have some spending to log. 

£13.00 at the market for cheese and salad greens for us. £3.50 for local apple juice for our visiting friends. It’s pasteurized but a good press so it’ll last until next Sunday when they arrive. 

£31.96 spent at Lidl for red peppers, canned beans, Brazil nuts, prunes, 2 bags of salad, sliced ham, fresh beef meatballs, eggplant, crackers, oatcakes, 30 eggs, milk, oat cakes, dishwasher tabs, and 4 boxes of Nairn’s toffee oat biscuits. The oat biscuits were only 99p each and I stocked up. Mr. Jings also put a couple plants in the cart but I’m counting those separately. While we were in the store the Lidl pinged a notification saying if I spend £30, I’ll get £5 off our next shop. I was happy about that and so we naturally fell above £30. Annoyingly, after checking the message just now, it seems the promo doesn’t start until tomorrow! Maybe I’ll have enough to buy from Lidl in a few days but I doubt it. Harrumph. 

£11.43 then spent at M & S for 2 bunches of banana, clementines, yoghurt, a YS eggplant, 3 cans of baked beans, and a giant block of cheddar. 

Our budget: £120.31 / £400 spent. £279.69 total remaining.  

Visiting Friends budget: £56.95 / £100 spent. £43.05 total remaining.  

I’m going to do a Tesco order for this coming Saturday which will have some basics such as toilet paper, dairy, etc. but also take advantage of the half priced lamb shoulder that Tesco is selling just now. So far it’s the only place near me that has any lamb offers going. 

Soontobeoap

@ jingsmybucket Sainsbury's have them as well if you have one near you. We have just had the yummiest beef roast. Topside was bought when it was on offer and then cut in half to make 2 roasting joints for the 2 of us. We will have beef sarnis tonight or tomorrow and I will make some pastry for a few pasties and use the last bit in a beef borgiognon. Seems expensive at the start but actually can work out cheaper. It's the meat that just keeps giving! 🤣

JingsMyBucket

@Soontobeoap we don't have Sainsbury's in our area, though Mr. Jings told me a couple weeks ago that they're finally opening one up this year. That'll give Tesco a run for its money in this area. We have Tesco, M & S, Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons, Farm Foods, and Iceland for groceries. Ah, I haven't checked Morrisons for lamb deals. Off to poke around their website... 

ETA: Alas, nada on Morrisons' site either. Iceland does have half priced leg of lamb though. This is so odd. There would normally be lots of offers by now for Easter. I wonder what's going on retail-wise for the supermarkets. 

AnotherNewDay

JingsMyBucket said:

@Soontobeoap we don't have Sainsbury's in our area, though Mr. Jings told me a couple weeks ago that they're finally opening one up this year. That'll give Tesco a run for its money in this area. We have Tesco, M & S, Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons, Farm Foods, and Iceland for groceries. Ah, I haven't checked Morrisons for lamb deals. Off to poke around their website... 

ETA: Alas, nada on Morrisons' site either. Iceland does have half priced leg of lamb though. This is so odd. There would normally be lots of offers by now for Easter. I wonder what's going on retail-wise for the supermarkets. 

Could it be because Easter is relatively late this year as it falls on 20th April?

JingsMyBucket

@AnotherNewDay true but there would normally be sales the two weeks prior. 

LiveSimply

I am determined to get the best out of this website (this time). 

So, is Sainsbury’s a good place to shop? I shop there mainly because the two nearest supermarkets are Sainsbury’s, they are on main roads, both got petrol, I collect points, and I’m familiar with the layout and labels, so it’s quicker for me to find stuff there than a Tesco (for example). I collect points but never use them for anything, I just swap them for money off the bill. Does that sound okay? Am I missing a trick, or not?

wannalot

Hello all, my last shopping day was last Monday, when I spent 52.22 on Uber Eats. I know it’s an expensive site to shop from, but they are doing 50% off a large selection of fruit and veg on Mondays, which makes it good value for me, as long as I am very careful about what else I buy from them. Some of their stuff is really, really expensive,but there can be very good random price cuts too.

The only really, really irritating thing about last week’s shopping was that Uber offered me a £10 off voucher, but then some of the items I ordered were out of stock, which took me under the spending limit for the voucher, so I ended up buying a little more than I needed, but not getting the discount! And their customer service is non-existent. It’s very much a case of Buyer Beware!

Anyway, I had an interesting battle with myself this weekend, as my tendency to treat food shopping as a hobby almost got the better of me. I noticed that the Too Good To Go app was offering a grocery bag from my local Aldi. I’d never done that before, but felt really keen to try it. However, after reserving it, I began to have an attack of common sense: I did an inventory of the fridge and saw that I really didn’t need any more food, and I would have had to pay for a cab back from the shop (no public transport in the evening), so it wouldn’t have been a moneysaving trip at all!. So in the end I cancelled the reservation, which means I went 6 days without buying anything. I’m so pleased with that! It seems like the first signs of self-control, which I definitely need!

Anyway, I’ll do an Uber order tomorrow again, and I am determined not to fall for any sales tricks this time! I need milk (which looks like being reduced in price on the site), eggs, bread and some fresh fruit and veg, with the aim of spending no more than £25 at the most.

t14cy_t

spends of £8 in aldi on cheese!!