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May 2025 Grocery Challenge

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  • diminua
    diminua Posts: 444 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    £165.68 already spent out of my £220 which isn't ideal. This week mostly due to fancy cheese and bread and salads and a bottle of wine (because the sun's out). Amazing how fast it stacks up. 

    Fashion on the Ration 2025 - 1.5 coupons remaining 
    July Grocery Challenge £115.57 of £250 spent
    Declutter 7 things (net) in 2025. Done, now trying to keep it even (5 over at present). 
  • JingsMyBucket
    JingsMyBucket Posts: 991 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 18 May at 6:57PM

    Morning all. Yesterday I did the round of grocery shopping and got some good bargains in the beginning. 

    £15.25 initially spent at M & S for some heavily discounted YS deals. I originally went in there at 8:30am to have a cursory glance to check if they had a few items before going to Lidl. Lo and behold, what a YS meat bonanza I found. I picked up 3 packs of chicken leg quarters for 75p each, YS diced chicken breast, YS duck crown (they’re finally back in stock!), YS egg mayo cup for Mr. Jings, and 2 YS high end hummus dips. The hummus was for the guests we had over for drinks in the garden yesterday evening. The checkout lady said it was a good thing I bought those items then because they’d all be gone if I had waited after returning later. I resisted buying a couple of their YS whole chickens though because I wasn’t sure about carting them around the next couple hours. It may have made my bags even heavier. 

    Off next to Lidl where I spent £28.46 and got 2 bags of asparagus, tomatoes, string green beans, eggs, oatcakes, crisp bread, sandwich thins, fruit yoghurts, sliced ham, butter, various cocktails in cans, Brazil nuts, YS watermelon chunks, pretzel thins, and vegetable crisps. One of the asparagus tips was free as it was my free vegetable from Lidl’s perks. 

    Then back to M & S where I spent £39.96 on bananas, clementines, grapes, strawberries, arugula, chili peppers, canned tuna, baked beans, plain Greek yoghurt, oat bars, grissini breadsticks, coffee beans, spaghetti, big glass bottles of ginger beer and mango juice, ice cubes, and the 3 for £8 deal (olives, sliced meats, and a quiche). 

    £314.48 / £325 spent. £10.52 total remaining.  

    As you can see, a lot of what I bought was for entertaining our friends yesterday. Tallied up, that was about £27 but I’ll still count it towards the GC instead of firewalling it off. That said, I can’t believe I only have about £10 left in my budget with half the month to go. What the fudge. The main focus now is mitigation instead of letting it become a free for all. 

    Another lesson going forward: definitely head to M & S early on Saturday and Sunday mornings for deep YS meat discounts! 

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