September 2025 Grocery Challenge

TheCheerleader

£47.05 spent on Mr T delivery, £1.84 spent at Filco and £0.51 at co-op on reduced bread rolls.

I’ve made a lasagne ( Mr.T website recipe, not tried before but had good reviews) with reduced mince for dinner, also a small one made for the freezer. 

£49.40/ £200

carboot_karaoke

Thank you @wishus 😊 

Finally found the receipts. A total of £60.23 across three shops. It would have been less but there was YS meat on offer so l couldn't say no. On the plus side this will help me out in later weeks.

New totals

Grocery Budget £58.43 / £300
Bulk fund £1.80 / £50
Total £60.23 / £350

Sponge_pudding

I was thinking of signing up to be an olio volunteer and listing the items for others but tbh I can't go out late at night and pick up all the items. It is a struggle to go out and collect what I can when it's listed. I can only manage a Saturday night a pick up for the fresh use by items is by 12am that day.
Didn't get any olio last night as too tired popping over at lunchtime to pick up some bread and chillies, a far cry from what was on offer last night. Nevertheless I am grateful, the bread is Finest sourdough priced at £3.85!  
Popped to the local Lidl yesterday dinner time, picked up a free apple turnover and 7.5kg potatoes for £4.09.

Spend so far: £238.35/£4.09

carboot_karaoke

I was driving past a Greggs outlet this morning so couldn't resist popping in.

It was £2 for 8 sausage rolls and 75p for 2 yum yums. Thought id get the kids a post school treat.

New totals

Grocery Budget £61.18 / £300
Bulk fund £1.80 / £50
Total £62.98 / £350

PipneyJane

@MSE_James /@elsiepac, is there any way we can merge this thread with the other one or at least pin it to the top of the Old Style Board?  (It was started to fill the void when there wasn't a September Grocery Challenge up.)

I have multiple spends to declare from earlier in the week:

• £7 in Sainsbugs on Sunday on picnic items.
• £57.16 at MrT’s on Monday, on a big stock up shop of staples for the pantry: 500g bulgar wheat 10x£2, 1.5L quadruple squash 8x£1.85, 850 sweeteners £1.15, 400g cans 3-bean salad in water 2x£1, 270g lighter hot chocolate 4x£1.79, Smoked kippers 2x£1.55, 385g onions 95p, 700g frozen potato croquettes 4x£2.
• £6.01 in Sainsbugs yesterday on fresh veg (Peppers £1.16, 1kg loose mushrooms £3.37, 872g loose carrots 60p, 886g loose onions 88p.)

The visit to MrT's was expensive, but we shouldn't need to buy any of the items again for at least a couple of months. Thanks to changes in traffic, it's become quite a trek to get to our local MrT's, even though it's only a mile further away than Sainsbugs.  Which is the main reason why I did such a stock-up on items that I can't buy elsewhere.  The only thing that wasn't MrT specific were the onions, which were purchased because we were completely out.

I always give the store a good walk through, to see their prices on items I purchase elsewhere. Is it just me, or is MrT's becoming far less well stocked than previously?   For example, the produce section seems to have shrunk in size.  (The only reason I went to Sainsbugs on Tuesday was to purchase fresh, loose vegetables.  Beyond some aubergines, MrT had no loose veggies.  I don't want produce that has been sweating in plastic for days.)

The above brings our total spend to £70.17/£184 leaving £113.83 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

Soontobeoap

So I have 2 spends already thisonth. We are shopping to fill the gaps from the gluten.of food left over last month through fussy eaters, change of plans etc. school hols are always so hard to cater for. £33.00 spent between Sainsburys and Aldi. I did pick up a chicken as it was only £4.25 with my nectar card. They are going up so rapidly that what used to provide 3 or 4 cheap meals needs to spread to least one extra  extra one. We will all be going vegetarian! Can't see DH or I doing that any time soon!

AnotherNewDay

AnotherNewDay said:

Hi @JingsMyBucket thanks so much for setting up the September thread

I'm going to keep same overall target of £115 split as £45 for 2 ravenous cats and £70 for human groceries, household and toiletries.

First spend for September as follows: £4.99/£45 for cats and £10.13/ £70 for human groceries, household + toiletries.

Second spend of the month with the cats still at £4.99/£45 and human now on £24.42

JingsMyBucket

Okay, I think I’ve finally figured out what my budget should be. We’re going on vacation September 18th through the first week of October. This budget is covering pre-trip stock ups to take advantage of sales and then our regular basics like milk, eggs, and fruit. After returning, I think I’ll make October a pantry month.

£300 for September 1 — 18 for us (2 adults). 

I’ll put our spends in another post. 

JingsMyBucket

The first two purchases were on the weekend of August 30th/31st so I just rolled them into September’s budget. So far we’ve spent:

£31.23 at Morrisons at Morrisons for a whole salmon (only £8.50/kg!), a 1kg tub of peanut butter and some other incidentals. I had them cut the salmon into steaks and those are all in our freezer along with the tail and head. That should be our fresh salmon supply for the next few months! 

£14.40 at Lidl for 5 boxes of Nairn’s oat biscuits, eggs, ginger cordial, bacon, frozen mac and cheese, and freezer bags to store the salmon. 

£93.23 on a Tesco online order full of birthday treats for me but also restocking on basics like toilet paper, butter, lentils, sausages, duck legs (on sale for only £2.40 for 2 legs!), pork chops, pasta, olive oil, fruit, and veg. 

£10.43 at M & S for baked beans, salad, cilantro, YS double cream, pasta sauce, canned corn, and a baguette. 

£149.29 / £300 spent. £150.71 remaining.  

Later today, Mr. Jings will head to M & S to replenish his coffee supply and I’ll stop by Savers for matches, mouthwash, and hand soap. It’s Italian week at Lidl so this weekend I may pick up a couple items there too. 

The freezer is absolutely full due to my recent stocking up! Maybe it’s because it’s autumn, but is anyone else getting the urge to squirrel away food for the season? 

Today’s my birthday and we’re going to spend the evening planning more of our France trip. I can’t wait. Have a good day everyone! 

JingsMyBucket

@Soontobeoap just saw your post on the August thread about having a discombobulated freezer. I’m in a similar spot and I think I’ll spend some time this weekend doing a freezer inventory too. Actually, a pantry inventory is needed as well.