May 2025 Grocery Challenge

JingsMyBucket

Welp. I spent a lot more than intended the past couple of days. I need to slow down and recalibrate so I don’t bust my budget. 

£1.79 at Savers for bulk Dove hand soap refill. 

£24.11 at Lidl for bananas, strawberries, limes, raspberries, fresh basil, crackers, sliced ham, scallions, bok choy, an avocado, yoghurt, olives, 15 eggs, frying steak, and a box of Nairn’s oat biscuits. We haven't had steak in forever and I used those as topping for our dinner salads on Friday night. 

£2.65 at M & S for clementines, and a reduced dip. 

£28.47 at Tesco for toilet paper, bananas, tomatoes, sausages, dried thyme, yoghurt, sauerkraut, Brazil nuts, lemons, eggplant, and some new Bird’s Eye lemon pepper breaded fish I wanted to try. The fish was meh to me and the lemon flavoring tasted a bit chemical. Thankfully I got on deep discount. 

£114.14 / £325 spent. £210.86 total remaining.  

We ran out of milk the same day I came home from Tesco this weekend. 🙄 Normally I would check but plum forgot before heading out. I’m going to the high street tomorrow and will swing by M & S for milk, bananas, olive oil, and some mozzarella. 

The first week of May isn’t even done yet and I’m way over budget. Based on this, I’m going to put myself on a budget of roughly £50/week starting from May 8th. Later this week is Lidl’s Alpinefest week and I’ll stock up on their sausages. I’m also going to pull out a big pork shoulder from the freezer so we can roast it tomorrow and have meat to gnaw on for the rest of the week. 

JingsMyBucket

@Soontobeoap hopefully that satisfies your husband's sweet tooth for a bit!

Soontobeoap

NSD today thankfully. Hopefully this will be the cheapest week ever. Forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer at the weekend so cooked it today. Labelled medium,it looked extremely small. However when pot roasted it plumped up and one leg plus a slice of breast was enough each. The chicken cost £2.82 and will do at least 3 meals, a few left over peas,  half a swede that was frozen when I bought 4 for 8p each and some of the 8p potatoes. You don't get much cheaper than 52p each for a meal for 3 days running!

Tuesday - will be cold chicken, jacket potatoes and bubble and squeak.

Wednesday chicken and bacon pasta

If there is any left I will make some chicken pies. 😊

goldfinches

Evening all, hope you're all well and not too cold now the weather has realised it's a Bank Holiday.

I spent £1.49 on a new battery for my kitchen scales this morning and then £3.25 on lens cleaner for my glasses which I'm including here as a household essential because if I can't see due to smears then I can't cook, clean, read etc. In brighter news dinner this evening was contrived from the store cupboard and fridge with some chives from my allotment to top it off so that saved a few pennies.

That makes my new GC total £31.75/£150 which is a bit ahead of where I should be but manageable I think.

sams247

I've been absent a couple of days as we had busy busy days and busy evenings working.  Planning big shop ready for holibob next week so will update when I've spent my hard earned cash

LotsOfTea

£7.13 spent today on 2 cucumbers, 2 packs of tomatoes, some apples, broccoli and a basil plant. 

I'm hoping not to need anything else this week as we still have plenty of things in the fridge to use up and I have grated mozzarella in the freezer so I can do pizzas at the weekend without needing to buy more stuff. 

£7.13/£200

t14cy_t

spent £15 yesterday in b and m, poundland and morrisons. all reduced items. so, £98/£200 so far. hoping for olio to come up in next few days. ive been very creative with our meals this week and weirdly ive been enjoying the challenge!!

Suffolk_lass

Speaking of storecupboard meals, we had the other six posh panko covered fish fingers with salad for supper last night. Not our usual FF, chips and peas, but good enough to recommend for anyone on a diet! I wasn't sure as we passed the local (EoE) Coop on our way back from hospital yesterday, so I picked up a pack of chicken mini-fillets (£4!). I went in for apples and peanuts! We will be having chicken curry tonight. I am just going to marinate them.

Soontobeoap

£26.26 spent in Aldi today mainly on veg but added chicken breasts, ham cereal and milk 

GSDMum

C_J said:

Thank you @PipneyJane, it’s horrible, and so hard to get used to my new job description of ‘widow’. However I’m so fortunate to have family, friends, neighbours and former work colleagues all there with love and support (and our big soppy dog is a great comfort too, it’s nice to have another heartbeat in the house, it makes me feel less alone). On the positive side though, I am learning how incredibly adept I am at fixing things without Mr CJ (thank goodness for YouTube videos, eh?!)

Hugs @C_J..... x

Managed not to have a shop for a week. This morning I took a trip to Lidl. I needed bacon for breakfast (on a low carb diet), topped up on milk, butter, cream, fruit and veg, a large whole chicken, hake filets, cling film, honey, cooking olive oil, cream cheese, eggs, and a doughnut for DH, the till rung up £70.26.

Bought a box of bin liners for £12.58 (10% increase since last order) from Amazon, and 1kg bag of Werther's for £8.75 for DH.

Totalling £91.59.

Totals so far £252.07 - £300 = £47.93 left (yikes). Fridge and freezer full so I'm up for the challenge.