September 2025 Grocery Challenge

GSDMum

£350 this month for me, thank you @elsiepac

Good luck everyone. 

Nelliegrace

Thank you @elsiepac

September Grocery Budget for Two, £150.

Autumn at last, porridge for breakfast, hearty soups and stews, and filling puddings.

t14cy_t

£13/£200 spent yesterday on community fridge and odds and ends in morrisons.  purse firmly shut for a bit!!

LotsOfTea

I missed August due to general holiday craziness but am keen to get back on the wagon for September. I had a huge shop delivered right at the end of August so I'm going to go for a low figure for September.

£200 for the month please

That's for 2 adults and a teen for everything you might buy at the supermarket.

C_J

My first September spend today, £1 at my favourite Community Fridge. Word has obviously spread and it is now everyone's favourite Community Fridge, there was a really really long queue today despite the rain!  The helpers were rationing things very fairly though, and I still got:

6 brown onions
2 large baking potatoes
Bag of carrots
1 bag of mixed pepper and bean sprout stir fry mix
1 pak choi
1 bag of fresh stir fry noodles
1 red pepper
1 aubergine
6 large tomatoes
1 bag lamb's lettuce salad leaves
Lots of chestnut mushrooms
6 free range eggs
2 lemons
1 punnet M&S raspberries
1 punnet mixed red and green seedless grapes
4 red plums
2 pears
2 red eating apples
2 cooking apples
1 large avocado
2 flat white peaches
4 vegetable samosas
1 pack M&S thin sliced ham
1 pack M&S ready to cook tandoori chicken kebabs
2 litres full fat goat's milk
1 pack fresh coriander
1 pack fresh chives
1 large sliced loaf (Hovis seed sensations)
1 black olive ciabatta
1 pack garlic naan breads
1 large box mini shredded wheats
1 Waitrose chicken caesar salad bowl
1 Pret roast chicken and salad sandwich
Several packs of flower seeds
1 bouquet yellow roses

Breakfasts this week will be mini shredded wheats, toast, roasted tomatoes on toast, and scrambled eggs on toast.

Lunches will be the chicken caesar salad, the Pret sandwich, soup from the carrots/potato/onions/red pepper/coriander, I'll probably do avocado on toast one day, and I have everything for a ham salad sandwich.

The pak choi, stir fry mix and noodles will be a stir fry for dinner tomorrow (I may add a few sliced mushrooms to this, and possibly even some of the chicken from the kebabs but they are in a tandoori marinade so not sure how well that will go with the chow mein sauce I have!). It will easily stretch over two evenings. There are lots of mushrooms so I'll use some with two of the eggs and some chives for an omelette, and cook some in a garlicky creamy sauce to have on a slice of the toasted ciabatta. I'll do a ham salad with a few chips one evening, and there are the chicken kebabs to have (maybe with a couple of samosas on the side). Lots of different fruit to have for desserts or just snacks. I'll also turn the goat's cheese + lemon juice into some goat's cheese to have on the ciabatta.

That's pretty much three meals a day for the next five days (at least). So pleased.

£1/£150

 

t14cy_t

C_J said:

My first September spend today, £1 at my favourite Community Fridge. Word has obviously spread and it is now everyone's favourite Community Fridge, there was a really really long queue today despite the rain!  The helpers were rationing things very fairly though, and I still got:

6 brown onions
2 large baking potatoes
Bag of carrots
1 bag of mixed pepper and bean sprout stir fry mix
1 pak choi
1 bag of fresh stir fry noodles
1 red pepper
1 aubergine
6 large tomatoes
1 bag lamb's lettuce salad leaves
Lots of chestnut mushrooms
6 free range eggs
2 lemons
1 punnet M&S raspberries
1 punnet mixed red and green seedless grapes
4 red plums
2 pears
2 red eating apples
2 cooking apples
1 large avocado
2 flat white peaches
4 vegetable samosas
1 pack M&S thin sliced ham
1 pack M&S ready to cook tandoori chicken kebabs
2 litres full fat goat's milk
1 pack fresh coriander
1 pack fresh chives
1 large sliced loaf (Hovis seed sensations)
1 black olive ciabatta
1 pack garlic naan breads
1 large box mini shredded wheats
1 Waitrose chicken caesar salad bowl
1 Pret roast chicken and salad sandwich
Several packs of flower seeds
1 bouquet yellow roses

Breakfasts this week will be mini shredded wheats, toast, roasted tomatoes on toast, and scrambled eggs on toast.

Lunches will be the chicken caesar salad, the Pret sandwich, soup from the carrots/potato/onions/red pepper/coriander, I'll probably do avocado on toast one day, and I have everything for a ham salad sandwich.

The pak choi, stir fry mix and noodles will be a stir fry for dinner tomorrow (I may add a few sliced mushrooms to this, and possibly even some of the chicken from the kebabs but they are in a tandoori marinade so not sure how well that will go with the chow mein sauce I have!). It will easily stretch over two evenings. There are lots of mushrooms so I'll use some with two of the eggs and some chives for an omelette, and cook some in a garlicky creamy sauce to have on a slice of the toasted ciabatta. I'll do a ham salad with a few chips one evening, and there are the chicken kebabs to have (maybe with a couple of samosas on the side). Lots of different fruit to have for desserts or just snacks. I'll also turn the goat's cheese + lemon juice into some goat's cheese to have on the ciabatta.

That's pretty much three meals a day for the next five days (at least). So pleased.

£1/£150

 

fantastic, well done!!!

Naturelover22

@C_J your collections are amazing from the community fridge.
Is the food supplied by the supermarkets, customer donations, is it's main aim for reducing food waste or for those who can't afford food?
Please note I am asking for curiosity and not judgement for those that use these services.

C_J

Naturelover22 said:

@C_J your collections are amazing from the community fridge.
Is the food supplied by the supermarkets, customer donations, is it's main aim for reducing food waste or for those who can't afford food?
Please note I am asking for curiosity and not judgement for those that use these services.

It’s all a waste-reduction initiative, not a food bank. Teams of amazingly hard-working volunteers visit (by appointment) a number of supermarkets late every evening - this particular Community Fridge is signed up with Waitrose, Pret, M&S and Tesco - and collect so much food. They have fridges and freezers at the village hall, and they will freeze anything (which can safely be frozen) with a short use by date on it to hand out at the next session but everything else is fresh, and often doesn’t go out of date for several days. The £1 per customer per visit voluntary donation goes towards the running cost of the fridges/freezers etc etc. The volunteers don’t claim any fuel costs, but they do get first pick of the items which is entirely fair. My particular favourite Fridge has regular sessions three times a week, although I tend only to go once as that provides more than enough for me.

I think supermarket stock ordering is a bit of a juggernaut which can’t be stopped easily, so they like to get shot of things which are going to be automatically restocked overnight as it’s just easier. It is a bit crazy, everything is perfectly fine, not everything is yellow stickered although some is. However I have never, ever had anything which has ‘gone off’, indeed often fresh fruit and veg such as avocados and mangoes need a few days to ripen!

I am very fortunate to have at least five Community Fridges (some better than others) within easy reach, my county is very well served by them. I particularly like the ones which have the most fresh fruit, veg, meat and dairy as I’m not too fond of supermarket ready meals (but saying that, I have in the past had a few of the Tom Kerridge ones which have been lush). The customer base is a varied demographic, from vulnerable folk through to those with a four wheel drive and a pony 🤣🤣. But it is unfailingly friendly and fun.

SausageDogSandwich

Thanks @elsiepac for the new thread, please put me down for 

£400 for September, thankyou

SausageDogSandwich

Should have added to previous post have done the main shop and some extra spending. Need to try to spend less but also finding it more difficult every month, thinking I have done okay and then realising how much I have spent. My £400 budget doesn’t feel very realistic right now but there’s no more money to add unfortunately  anyway,
£96.82/400 spent