May 2025 Grocery Challenge

cheerfulness4

Can you put me down for £250 for May, everything included for 3 adults.

Soontobeoap

Ok. So here we go. I have started the May budget already as we were away for the weekend and had run things down. £65.71 spent in Sainsburys. That includes a big gammon for half term when 3x GDs, DS and DIL come for the week. We did some bulk buying of sugar, coffee and baked beans as well as other branded items that we prefer. Hopefully we can shop for the rest of the month in Aldi. ( No allergy's with our next visitors.) 

karenccs67

MAY BUDGET £200

Hello 🙂,

id like to join the May grocery challenge please.  We are family of 3 adults, my son works shifts and doesn’t always eat at home & we are all away at the end of May for a few days.  I have quite a lot in the freezer for for May my budget will be £200.

C_J

Hello from me too 😄

I’d like to join the May grocery challenge please, I’ve been reading along for years but this will be my first attempt as I try and get to grips with an altered budget. My husband passed away at the end of January, so I’m adjusting to just cooking for me and it all feels very strange still.

I have a well stocked larder, fridge and freezer; I also visit two different (and quite smashing) Community Fridges each week. I don’t work (I took early retirement last year to look after Mr CJ) so have time to shop carefully, and have always loved cooking so almost everything is made from scratch.  May’s budget will be experimental, but for everything including food/household/health&beauty and food for a large womble of a dog I’d like to start with £160 for the month and see how far I can trim it down in the future. Love reading everyone else’s journey, and all the helpful hints.

AnotherNewDay

Today is the official start of the May budget for me, running low on  a few things but going to wait and see long I can go before I have to do a shop  
Good luck everyone!

TravelCrystal

Good morning all
Another sunny day that looks to be pretty warm.
Keeping within my £200 budget this month may be a challenge as I have a confession to make🤭
After 3 days of continuous painting in a confined space and D.H getting to grips with the garden decided we needed a treat. Couldn’t face the cooker so we had a Chinese takeaway.
Managed to have enough leftover for lunch the next day.

We are off to the beach tomorrow and will not be spending any further budget as taking homemade rolls and cakes.
D.H bought himself a pork pie to take, not this budget 🤣
Have a great day everyone 

£34/£200

T.C

JingsMyBucket

Thanks @elsiepac for running the grocery challenge. Last month was a bit expensive due to having friends visit from the US. For this month I’d like to rein it back in and aim toward shopping mostly in person. I’ve noticed that when I/we go in person, our expenses are less because we only buy what’s necessary vs. a grocery delivery. Our goal for this month is: 

£325 for May 1 — 31 for us (2 adults). 

I’ve just put in a Morrisons order for delivery this evening and I’ll count that toward the May GC. It’ll come to about £58.00 and I’ll post again with the final price. After that delivery, I’m planning to walk to Tesco this weekend to pick up our regular items (toilet paper, etc) vs ordering a delivery. 

Suffolk_lass

Welcome to both of you; @karenccs67 and @C_J. We are a friendly lot here. We wish you the best of luck in May - and C_J I know when DS left home, I continued to buy the things he liked and over-catered for at least a year afterwards. I think I would be tempted to stop if it was just me. My sympathies to you. A big adjustment for you x

Over here, our two different diets continue. We try to eat a meal we can both have but DH gets hungry and snacks. And I eat more than my diet permits (8WLBSD for me, low/no fat and must lose weight for op, for him). We are both losing, but it's complicated and I need to shop more frequently because we are consuming more veg. Upshot? April ends on £276.82, a running total of £954.44, just £45.56 under the 1/3 of the year stage, or 31.81%

Remember, you don't need to pay the supermarket to store their food for them. Plan your meals, buy only what your plan needs (subs work too!)

Working_Mum

A big THANK YOU! @elsiepac for running this thread.

I'd like to set a budget of £250 for food + £60 for dog food, cleaning and my toiletries, please for May.

I’m coming in slightly under budget for April at £247.83 for food and £61.20 for other stuff. This total doesn't include food I bought for a couple of suppers I hosted in April - this adds another £72 to this total but I am ok with it. One of them was a charity night and we raised over £350 from 8 of us so that was a fab result!

I've been inspired by all you lovely folk and feel sure my totals would be MUCH higher had I not been reading along and staying focussed. I have found it hard a couple of times during the month as I hate to see an empty fridge and cupboards and buy food when I am stressed.......but I breathed through it and stayed the course! Thank you all.

Good luck everyone.

Soontobeoap

Well I am absolutely determined to stay in budget this month
 With that in mind this weeks meals are as follows.

Tonight was sweet and sour chicken with egg fried rice using one chicken breast between the 2 of us fried in corn flour batter and sauce that I have been adding to in the freezer with leftover bits from the last 2 or 3 times we have had it.

Wednesday. DH is out until 8.0.xlock so we will have egg and chips as it is quick and easy.

Thursday we are both out until 9 o clock so beans on toast for a quick fix.

Friday Fish and chips ( I swear that the battered fish gets smaller every time I buy it despite rising prices) 

Saturday Lasagna ( from a batch that I cooked and froze last month). , sweet corn and salad.

Sunday Roast Chicken ( bought last month in half price offer and frozen)

After that the chicken should last us a couple of days.

DH will have sandwiches for lunch and I will have salads in this lovely weather for lunch.

My breakfast is porridge and DH has cereal.

So hopefully won't need to buy too much other than bread , fruit and veg and maybe milk