September 2025 Grocery Challenge

TravelCrystal

Last of the September shopping at Lidl
Lovely box of goodies for £1.50 3 x garlic, spring onions, lettuce, cauliflower, carrots, lots of plums, kiwis and bananas 
Didn’t need much else, other f and v. 2 bananas to get my free bag of 30 x crisps. Milk, coffee, eggs, cheese and marmalade 
Total spend £27.57

Total Spend for September £303.58 
Pleased to come in under budget. 

The year is going well so far

See you in October 

T.C

mandco

Tesco £40.23 after £6 off voucher & approx £40 in sains paid cash & cant find the receipt declaring September at £805/£800
did spend more but including the rest in my October budget as it’s all bulk bulks and won’t be used yet 

Soontobeoap

Found a chicken in the freezer so did a pot roast today. DH is quite poorly. Temp of 38° and been in bed most of the day. Not sure what he has got.The smell of it cooking tempted him to eat a small meal so I am really pleased that I cooked it. We now have 3 or 4 easy meals to take us into October. Declaring September at £227.37. Over budget again!

Pennypincin

I'd £8.94 left from the budget, so have transferred it to the bulk fund.

carboot_karaoke

Afternoon all,
I have my final two spends to declare for September, £1.65 for some milk on Friday. The £7.09 yesterday for bananas, cheese and bread. Total spent £8.74.

This means l achieved my goal of, £10 a day for a family of 6 😁

Final Totals 

Grocery Budget £299.44 / £300 -   £0.56 remaining 
Bulk fund £29.49 / £50
Grocery Challenge £328.93 / £350 

See you on the October thread. 

TheCheerleader

Wow @carboot_karaoke that is a fantastic result, I don’t know how you did it with a bigger family and food costs rocketing!
You’re a marvel, well done 👏🏼

I’ve overspent £206.78/ £200 but I’m happy enough with that total, it keeps me focused. 

Thanks again to Jingsmybucket for setting it up ⭐️ 

Soontobeoap

@carboot_karaoke some tips would be gratefully.received. I am OK when it's 2 of us but when it's 5 I am spending double what you spend. 2 of them are gluten and dairy free one is also soya free but it can't make £300 a month difference. How do you do it?

Just had a bath and hair wash. Instead of taking the foil off under the lid of my shampoo and conditioner I have poked a hole in it. It is frustrating to get it out but reminds me not to over do it. A little bit goes a long long way.

When we are ill DH goes for unhealthy food and I can't stand.fatty things. Tonight he had fried bread, bacon and egg and I had a jacket potato with chicken and bacon in mayonnaise. ( DH wouldn't have eaten 4 day old bread normally) Not being able to get to the shops has definitely helped us to eat what we have in.

PipneyJane

How did it get to be October 3rd?  I don’t know where the last week has gone.

I’m declaring at £153/£184, leaving £31 to roll over to October.

That looks better than reality.  We were away for a week and all food spending for that week came out of our Running Away Fund aka the Holiday Money.  I did have a couple of small spends on Sunday (£8.32 in Sainsbury) and Monday (£2.83 in L!dl).

See you in October!  And thank you again, @JingsMyBucket for setting up and running this thread.

- Pip

PipneyJane

Soontobeoap said:

@carboot_karaoke some tips would be gratefully.received. I am OK when it's 2 of us but when it's 5 I am spending double what you spend. 2 of them are gluten and dairy free one is also soya free but it can't make £300 a month difference. How do you do it?

Just had a bath and hair wash. Instead of taking the foil off under the lid of my shampoo and conditioner I have poked a hole in it. It is frustrating to get it out but reminds me not to over do it. A little bit goes a long long way.

When we are ill DH goes for unhealthy food and I can't stand.fatty things. Tonight he had fried bread, bacon and egg and I had a jacket potato with chicken and bacon in mayonnaise. ( DH wouldn't have eaten 4 day old bread normally) Not being able to get to the shops has definitely helped us to eat what we have in.

@Soontobeoap - A tip for you:  I decant my shampoo, hair conditioner and body wash into (reused)  pump-action handwash bottles.  Now that my hair is short, I only need one pump of shampoo and one pump of conditioner so despite washing my hair every day, each bottle lasts well over 3 months.  (It’s a tip I learned on the Sneaky Ways to Save The Pennies thread.)

Hope your DH is feeling better.  (I had my flu and Covid jabs on Wednesday and spent yesterday feeling very flu-ey.  Ended up sleeping the afternoon away.  Feel human now.)

HTH

- Pip

Suffolk_lass

@ PipneyJane I sent Mr Suffolk for his Flu jab this week. I shall have mine on Tuesday next week so that I can react for the rest of the week without it stopping me from doing essential stuff and he can look after the dog! We both usually react to the Flu jab