November 2025 Grocery Challenge

leftatthetrafficlights

First spends of my November budget yesterday: £3.30 on calpol and £11.67 on organic basmati rice from the zero waste shop.

£14.97/£350

Suffolk_lass

I am running at £146.11 so far this month. I did buy the Christmas fruits, cane sugar and undyed Provencal glace cherries in Waitflower, but I used vouchers and ended up spending £2.46, plus my weekly milkman bill is £7.75, by DD. That is it for us. No shopping needed this week at all.

TravelCrystal

First cook from the haul, a bacon joint covered in apple juice and onions all of which are in the slow cooker. The sauce will be thickened tomorrow when we eat it with some cheesy mash and veg 😋

T.C

Nelliegrace

I asked DH to get four things at Asda on his way home because they were cheaper than at Aldi. He found the broccoli, bought expensive grapes and yoghurt, added extra clementines, and bought orange squash.

£6.39 spent.

We shopped today.
£18. 34 spent.

£38.33  spent out of £150.

We have had turkey mince, a chicken portion, salmon and kippers, cheese and butter from the freezer.
I have a small Sunday joint, cut from a half price leg of lamb, defrosting in the fridge for tomorrow.
11 eggs from the hens.

JingsMyBucket

ancientmum said:

Happy Friday everyone,

Thank you Jings for running the thread, and to elsiepac for her years of supporting us in our challenges.  

I'm late checking in as my month runs from 7th when I do the money shuffle. I run an annual budget which allows me to get larger items as needed, without worrying about busting a monthly limit.  It helps that I am retired so have a stable income, but I well remember having too much month left at the end of the money which is why I joined this forum many years ago.  

I' ve got £207  in the kitty.

@ancientmum I've put you down for £207 for the month although I know you're usually a yearly budget. What's your usual annual number again, please? 

carboot_karaoke

Evening all,  

I popped to Lidl today to get my free bakery item and to trigger the free veg coupon at the same time. 

In all £11.41 spent on mushrooms,  beansprout, carrots,  peppers, coleslaw,  sliced ham, bacon lardons, a curry sauce jar and some wholemeal seeded bread. 

I immediately redeemed the veg voucher for a 7.5kg bag of potatoes.  I was really pleased with the last bag l had.  

Food plan for this week 

Chinese curry with beansprouts
Cajun Chicken  with roasted peppers, courgettes,  carrots, onions and seasoned rice
Lasagne with salad, coleslaw and garlic bread (I'll make two and put one in the freezer)
Steak pie with mash, carrots and kale 
Pulled chicken and black beans with tiger bread baps
Sausage  Mash and beans
Chicken and chickpea curry with Naan bread and salad 
Special fried rice 

 I'm also going to make a batch of bacon and lentil soup and divide into individual portions for the freezer to cover lunches if there is no dinner leftover. 

New Totals 

Grocery Budget £107.59 / £360
Bulk Fund £17.22 / £50
Grocery Challenge £ 124.81/ £410

mandco

Various spends totalling £203.23 and still need a few more bits tomorrow 

haven’t had time to do a proper break down yet but it does include £61.67 at the pet shop on bulk buy hay, bedding and forage stuff for the rabbits
a 1/2 price lamb shoulder for dinner tomorrow as I rarely buy it due to normal costs. 
plus £10.25 worth of bits & a basically free joint of Pork (had a £7 off spend voucher) to put away for Xmas - not sure if I should include these or not as they won’t be used till December.

mandco

TravelCrystal said:

Morning all
Although this meat was bought from the bulk fund, thought you might like to see it. I have calculated it will make at least 80 meals, which works out at £2 per person per meal. It also includes the Christmas Turkey which bumps up the price 

T.C

That’s an impressive meat haul 
I’m Looking for a decent butcher with reasonable prices as my local one got really expensive since Covid so stopped buying from them 

DiscountDuck

I spent another £22 at Aldi yesterday. Got a chicken, parsnips (50% off), carrots, a cauliflower, chickpeas and cannellini beans, curry sauce, sausages, fruit juices, an aubergine, bananas, celery, milk and some batteries to put in Christmas presents. I had a big bagful for not much money and was pleased how many meals I’ll hopefully be able to make from it. A chicken will do us Sunday dinner today, a risotto and soup. 

oceandreamer

Have spent another £30.83 over the weekend on bits really as I'm trying to eat out of the freezer and stores as much as possible.  I did get some baking ingredients but went with no list which is definitely an area I need to improve on.  Thanks @carboot_karaoke for the tip about My Replies - I'd never looked at that before and it makes it so easy to keep track on here rather than doubling up! 

£45.11/£300