October 2025 Grocery Challenge

thriftwizard

Staggering in to report that this weekend's spend (butcher, supermarket, fishmonger & market) totalled £69.85; this included £20 spent at the fishmongers, which will "cover" fish supplies for the rest of the month, and my freezer is also now officially full although nowhere near as organised as @PipneyJane's! There will be some serious cooking this week in anticipation of next weekend's invasion, but most of the supplies are already on hand. 

t14cy_t

£55/£100 in budget now after morrisons shop. happy with that so far......

itsthelittlethings

Did an online shop for next Friday, came to £57 with delivery I think. Got the ingredients for squash curry and lots of breakfasts and lunches. Should take me beyond the end of the month with a couple of bread and milk shops.

itsthelittlethings

Am definitely over budget. Might sit down and add it up if I have time.

Soontobeoap

There has been so much going on around here that I have got out of the weekly meal planning and checking on what is left in fridge each day before moving on with next days meals. I am kicking myself at the food I have wasted. Can't remember the last time I threw so much away and it really hurts. I should be being much more careful as I am approaching the yearly budget already. I am so cross. Time to get back into a solid routine.

This week I have thrown out, 3 half tins of fruit. DH has a habit of opening one to have with ice cream and not always finishing them next day. In his defence we did have COVID so what we fancied one day wasn't necessarily what we wanted the next! I have also thrown 3 x soft potatoes and 2 packs of puff pastry that had gone slightly mouldy before it's use by date! I went to use it up to make Eccles cakes for the freezer. Stupidly I had already mixed the filling so DH had to go out and buy 2 more packs to make them up. Plenty in freezer now in case anyone turns up unexpectedly or we want a little treat. £3.15 spent.

I also found 2 nearly finished margarine tubs and used them up. DH doesn't seem to like using the dregs!🤦 I also found that we had 2 packs of loo rolls on the go. Some people never seem to check whether there is an old one before ripping into a new one. Anyway it was a nice surprise as we won't need any more for quite a while.

I guess we can't all be at the top of our game all of the time and it has taught me that I am normally very good with scraps and bits and bobs left over. We are much better now so hoping to get back on schedule big time. 

Suffolk_lass

otb666 said:

sorry been missing in action for 6 weeks I have been tracking my food spend and i am still managing on £600 pm. I have been on the bereavement forum and the lovely peeps there have been helping me sort out the aftermath which i am now at the end of apart from the in laws house so feel i can rejoin again here now as my time is my own again.

Gosh @otb666 you have had a tough time, and I am sorry for your loss. It's good you feel able to turn your attention back to this after what is a fairly short time. Well done, but don't beat yourself up if you are not 100% focused this month.

otb666

@Suffolk_lass Thank you its been a steep learning curve for sure but so glad took the diy approach as been a lot quicker than i thought it would be.  The only hold up now is everyone agreeing a price for the house As we are the nearest and therefore the ones that get lumbered we want shot of it asap but as its not just up to us will have to be patient.  We have spent many years with caring responsibilities and can now see a faint light at the end of the tunnel. I will never lean of my children the way the previous generation took for granted as its nearly like stealing someones life.  This is most probably a bit deep for this thread but good to rant 

TheBees

Week 2 and I spent £41 at Aldi and £68 at Tesco totalling £109. We bought 4 large x40 cat food pouches at Tesco as its on offer (4 for the price of 3) so we saved £12 and have 160 pouches to last just under 2 months. Have meal planned for us up to next weekend then it's almost half term so I can do some more cooking from scratch and batch cooking. Saturday night I made a cracking bolognese using a Jamie Oliver recipe with added red lentils and extra veg so extra portions have been frozen. 
Monday is chicken stir fry
Tuesday Tortellini and sauce and garlic bread
Wednesday Slow cooker beef curry
Thursday home made fish & chips
Friday Brazilian coconut chicken curry
Saturday snack tea after football (maybe beans on toast)
Sunday Chicken pie home made from freezer
Good luck everyone. 

K9sandFelines

£27.21 spent. 
Six bags of 2kg jasmine rice, as they didn't have a massive bag. This is easier actually, because I can store it in different places.
Agave nectar, three tins of jackfruit, soap and cotton buds.

@elsiepac or whoever is running the thread. As I spent near to £170 last month, could I please up this month from £160 to £180.

Thanks 

Soontobeoap

£15.12 spent yesterday on cereal corned beef, beef and milk.

I Was going to do chicken  noodles tonight but discovered that I had no spring onions, carrots or fresh ginger.. Most of the ingredients!!! Anyway decided to go ahead anyway used ground ginger , an ordinary onion and left out the carrots. It was just as yummy and got the thumbs up from DH. Money saved by not dashing to the shops.