October 2025 Grocery Challenge

moginstein

@dollypeeps, gentle hugs to you and your mum. Take care. 

Working_Mum

I am declaring for October - thrilled to say I am under budget at £209.70 on the food side of things and £58.95 on the household/ pooch expenditure!

All in all a fab result and probably the first time it's happened all year!!

I'm all set for November.

Good luck everyone and thank you for keeping me focussed!

((WM))

TravelCrystal

dollypeeps said:

Sorry will have to bow out of this thread for the moment.
mum has broken her (other) hip so we are currently the hospital visits etc.
glad that I have quite a few of my own ‘ready meals ‘ in the freezer.
still tracking my spends by keeping receipts, noting in diary etc 
hopefully I can be a fully functional contributor in the coming months.
i will keep it Bookmarked for a read between appts etc.

Sorry to hear about your mum @dollypeeps
Hope she makes a full recovery.
Come back to the thread in your own time 🤗

T.C

carboot_karaoke

Nelliegrace said:

I cooked the lamb chops over root vegetables, onion, celery and barley, in a pot roast so they didn't shrivel to nothing. We had them with small potatoes, steamed carrots, parsnip, broccoli, cauliflower, courgette, red cabbage and gravy.  The pot roast vegetables with make several hot dinners with some tinned mixed beans added for protein. 

I baked a large apple pie, an apple turnover with the pastry trimmings, an apple and sultana bara brith, and rock cakes while the oven was on. 

This sounds amazing 😋

Finstickle

Quite a few shops to declare as it seems to have been 10 days since my last post.

£25.39 - 7 small shops for things like bread/snacks/wine etc 
£71.04 - Asda shop for last week
              I've noticed that my last two refunds aren't showing in my account so have obviously been returned to the                giftcard I used, need to make sure that I apply those balances next time before getting a new one/topping                  up.
£34.96 - Mainly meat at Tesco.  I have the chance to do some batch cooking as well as a coupon for £6 off £40 so I                made sure to use it and have fairly filled the freezer

Looking at my averages for the last three months my second highest, after meat, fish & eggs, is drinks.  
Coffee, tea, squash, apple juice, Lucozade, wine.  In reality the wine is often for social occasions and I am very particular about my coffee, so one to keep an eye on but not currently worrying.

Declaring for Oct on £382/£400

carboot_karaoke

Afternoon everyone,

I have two more spends to declare from the weekend, £14.66 in Tesco for 2kg chicken thighs and two packs of 20% fat mince beef priced at a more reasonable £3.25 for 500g. The 5% fat packet is +£5 😱. Also picked up baking potatoes, jam and wholemeal spaghetti. 

Next l went to Asda for bread, milk, cheese, cream cheese, vegetables and a bunch of flowers @£5.97. Total spent £17.15.

Added together l spent £31.81.

 

New totals 

Grocery Budget £317.30 / £400
Bulk Fund £44.12/ £50
Grocery Challenge £361.42/ £450

Only likely to need bread or milk before the end of the week. Plenty left in the budget for that 😊

JingsMyBucket

moginstein said:

@JingsMyBucket,  
I've been avoiding some of these types of offers (spend x and get y later) as for me I was buying things I didn’t need, but feeling it was worth it, to get the offer. Then using them early, getting in some logic trap! For me, remembering that they are only really trying to get me to spend more and are not a generous friend helps!
Thanks for the info about the Lidl smoked salmon info (yum), and how lovely to know it’s so close for you.

I totally hear you @moginstein which is why I hesitated a bit. (Great name by the way!)

I made a list of items we could or would buy anyway in November / the rest of this week and I’d be able to hit the amount anyway. This includes a 1L bottle of extra virgin olive oil that’s normally £8.50, a particular wine we like at £9, ginger beer, restocking baked beans for Mr. Jings, yoghurt, etc. I’m heading there tomorrow for my lunch break and will pick up a few items. Then Mr. Jings and I will go on Sunday to get heavier stuff. 

The drinks will be stored for the holidays and we really won’t touch them. We normally just drink water, tea or coffee. Wine, ginger beer, fruit presses, tonics, etc are usually for when we have guests over. 

Thanks for helping me think it through! 

moginstein

That's great @JingsMyBucket, this forum makes you think. Thanks for taking on the thread, and thanks to @elsiepac for running it previously.
*warning to any of you looking at the selection boxes / tubs on offer early, be careful you don't accidentally scoff them all and have to rebuy again later!*

diminua

£1.20 over - bread, limes, milk, tinned tomatoes, aubergines and coffee bought this week. Planning to make veg chilli tomorrow or Thursday. 

leftatthetrafficlights

£18 spent yesterday on raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, pomegranate, orangeade, rinse aid and oatmilk. 

£320/£350