May 2025 Grocery Challenge

Blackcats

I'm finishing the month with a £10 underspend.  I'm stocked up on some treats for a short break next week but I used May's budget so the £10 underspend could have been more.
we still have a very full freezer despite trying to use things from there!   

AnotherNewDay

Ending the month with a well stocked pantry, fridge and full freezer. End result for May is a mixed bag for the cats there is an underspend £20/£50 and for the human/household there was an overspend of £95/50. Altogether over budget by £15 - a lot of the overspend was on ice-cream and other junk, so will try to reduce that to stay in budget and for healthier eating in June.

t14cy_t

total for this month is £197/£200. very full cupbpards, fridge and freezer due to good olio collections, yippee!!

Soontobeoap

£38.33 spent in Aldi. That includes a large chicken and nescafe coffee. Not sure how the nescafe stacked up against other supermarkets but it stopped a trip to Sainsburys so definitely saved us money. I bought sultanas instead of raisins ( 40p cheaper ) all in all very pleased with that and hope that I don't have to shop until middle of first week in June but we will see. Calling it for May and for the first time in ages I am within budget £261.66 /£300.  However musnt get carried away as I am way over what I had spent at this time last year and need to keep a bit extra for Christmas so it's going to be tight. I am averaging £311.00 a month so far and would like to bring that right down. Good thing is that I have a full freezer.

JingsMyBucket

Alright, I’m declaring the end of this month with 3 last purchases today. 

£2.38 at Savers for cough drops and matches 

£20.25 at Lidl for 3 bags of gyoza, rice noodles, ramen noodles, 2 bags of bok choy, 2 packs of Tilda rice, strawberries, 3 red bell peppers, and 2 eggplants. The gyoza will last us the next month or so and they’re cheaper than buying the Itsu brand. 

£6.25 at M & S for bananas, 2 YS hummus pots, YS yoghurt, and a YS pasta microwave meal. The hummus and the pasta meal all went directly into the freezer for later. 

£478.06 / £325 spent. £153.06 over budget. 

I’ll go hang my head in shame over on the June thread… 

C_J

A trip to my favourite community fridge today, there was so much food there. They ask for just a £1 donation, and for that I got:

Bunch red tulips
Pot of flat leaf parsley
Pot of basil
Pret chicken and greens protein bowl salad
Chicken caesar salad
Olive oil hummus
Chicken tikka mini fillets
4 lamb kebabs
M&S sweet chilli cocktail beetroot
Large pot natural yogurt
M&S wafer thin ham
Pack M&S garlic and herb hasselback potatoes
6 free range eggs
M&S Tabbouleh salad
Pret chicken sandwich
M&S spinach falafel wrap
Small cheese and chive bloomer loaf
Jackson’s multigrain wholemeal sliced loaf
Feta and olive salad
Bag of vegetable stir fry
3 grapefruit
3 baking potatoes
3 aubergines
Red pepper
2 avocados
Mango
4 easy peeler satsumas
Blueberries
Pack folded flatbreads
Cherry tomatoes
2 Victoria sandwich sponge muffins
Little gem lettuce
1kg bag grated mature cheddar cheese
Leeks
Radishes
Mushrooms
Red onions
Carrots
Asparagus
Butternut squash

The grandchildren are here for the day tomorrow, so that will use up the sandwiches, wraps, salads and some fruit.  I have frozen the lamb kebabs, chicken tikka fillets, hasselback potatoes, flatbreads and stir fry mix to have later in the week. I am about to portion up the grated cheese into smaller bags and put all bar one into the freezer.

The grapefruit, yogurt and blueberries will all be incorporated into breakfasts, also the eggs and wholemeal bread for a couple of mornings' scrambled egg on toast. Or maybe poached eggs on smashed avocado on toast.

The asparagus will be turned into risotto as I have risotto rice and parmesan already. Might add a handful of peas from the freezer to this too. That should make enough for two evening meals.

Carrots and leeks will make two varieties of soup for this week's lunches. The butternut will keep okay for several days, I might curry it as I have some spinach in the freezer and a tin of chickpeas which both need using up.

Not sure about the cheese and chive bread (I only took it because they made me!!). It won't stay fresh past tomorrow so I'll try a bit with the soup I've made for tonight's dinner and if it is any good I will slice it and freeze it into portions for another time.

I'll re-pot the parsley and basil tomorrow (or give the grandchildren that job).

I may have already eaten one of the Victoria Sponge muffins

A lot of meals to be made out of this lot, and my May total now stands at £69.26/£160 which is amazing. I'll probably only need some milk before the weekend.

K9sandFelines

I've been in Aldi today to get wraps, soya milk, bananas, strawberries for DGD, gherkins and a few other bits. It came to about £9 something.
I'll add that in when I find my receipt. The Bread and Butter thing was an £8.50 spend.

Shouldn't need anything else this week.
So should be able to make it to 2 June with no spends.

Working_Mum

Hello everyone,
I've been reading and cheering you all on from the side-lines.

I'm declaring May - £209.13 / £250 budget!

I'm very happy with that indeed. I've had a few times where I've needed to breathe deeply and acknowledge to myself that the sky will not fall in because I have an almost empty fridge for 24 hours! 

((WM))

Pennypincin

£23.33 spent in Tesco last night.
Mainly on some salad as well as fresh bits, a pack of pitta breads, a 2kg bag of red split lentils, 2 bags of frozen peppers plus 2 types of frozen chopped onions.
I'm hoping to keep in the budget, I probably will need some salad bits in a few days.

carboot_karaoke

Afternoon all,

We've finally made it to the end of May !!.

I did incur another 3 spends totalling £34.23. Which brings my grand total to £426.52 saving £43.48 to budget .

After starting the month with a full fridge and freezer l was hoping for a saving this month. But when l looked back over my posts about £53.75 of the total was on non food items so I'm pretty happy with that.

See you on the June thread