November 2025 Grocery Challenge

JingsMyBucket

@K9sandFelines I added you to the list. 

I’ve got 3 spends to declare since Thursday. £31.64 Thursday evening at a farm shop for eggs, a large ham and chicken pie, and some other bits. We also got a chunk of cheese but it was very off by the time we opened it. I’m not counting that in there because I’m going to return it to the shop. 

£25.14 at Lidl on Saturday for a watermelon, arugula, bok choy, microwave rice packets, sliced roast beef, sliced ham, sliced corned beef, 30 eggs, oatcakes, 2 boxes of crackers, nice yoghurts, and 3 for 2 frozen holiday party foods (duck spring rolls and chicken gyoza). 

£10.25 then spent at M & S for clementines, bananas, a lemon, parsley, canned sardines, a sourdough baguette, and 4 pints of whole milk to make yoghurt.  

£164.91 / £280 general budget spent so far

£115.09 general budget and £70 bulk budget remaining. 

We have a large Tesco order coming tomorrow totaling around £110. About £30 of that will go toward the bulk budget. I’ll obviously go over the Week 3 budget but I’ve underspent the previous 2 weeks. After the Tesco order, I’ll reallocate to see what’s left for the last 2 weeks of the month. 

Suffolk_lass

Nothing today but I must get some light bulbs!!

K9sandFelines

PipneyJane said:

K9sandFelines said:

PipneyJane said:

K9sandFelines said:

First spends were £6.21 (I had a gift card aswell) at Am@zon on Aksoy Bulgur wheat. - 10kg. So, should keep me going a while 😄. Got two x 5kg bags; as no doubt next time, it will have gone up in price.

That’s a really good price on bulgar wheat @K9sandFelines, especially as supermarkets charge £2 for 500g.  I think I’ll have to go and investigate.  Did you buy coarse or fine?  

- Pip

Hi Pip I think it's course, but I'm not entirely sure as I've only ever bought it once before, and that was the Bodrum brand. I had some tonight and the grains seem quite large. Very nice indeed.
Definitely, go and stock up whilst you can. I'm going to use it instead of brown rice  

The price was for each 5kg bag, but the way I've worded it looks ambiguous reading it back now.

Done @K9sandFelines.  10kg ordered.  I'm just waiting for the delivery to arrive this afternoon... < taps foot impatiently >  I went with the fine, since it looks the same as the bulgur wheat I buy from MrT's and is the grade I grew up with in Australia.  £13.94 spent from the Bulk Fund.  (2 x 5kg sacks at £6.97 each, normally £11.99.  Almost half price during the Black Friday promotion.)

Definitely use it instead of brown rice.  Bulgur wheat has 4 times the fibre and 8 times the protein and takes far less time to cook.

- Pip

Good stuff. Yes thanks, it's  definitely more nutritious. I just wish it wasn't so pricey. The Bodrum one was nice, but it was Turkish Bulgar with added vermicelli and I just wanted plain bulgar 
Anyways I'm happy with it, and I'm liking the change. I eat farro, buckwheat groats, and freekeh occasionally too; however, can't get along with quinoa or teff grain which i bought because it's also more nutrient dense.

I was meant to update my spends, and actually started a post and got distracted. So, going to have to sift through the pile of stuff waiting to be shredded, to look again at the receipts 🙃!

K9sandFelines

K9sandFelines said:

@JingsMyBucket please can you add me in for £180 for the month. Thanks. 

( I thought I'd already posted)

First spends were £6.21 (I had a gift card aswell) at Am@zon on Aksoy Bulgur wheat. - 10kg. So, should keep me going a while 😄. Got two x 5kg bags; as no doubt next time, it will have gone up in price.

I also spent at the international food shops and Waitrose.
I got soya chunks, soya mince, rock sugar (to make liege waffles), potato starch and cornmeal in the first shop. Then 100% jam and a vanilla extract in the second one.
In Waitrose, I got 3 x YS 540g Jason's sourdough. I'd have got more, but I don't have room in the freezer and it also needs defrosting  
I will find my receipts and update tomorrow.

I should be good until next week now and need minimal items.

Finally back to update spends.
Couldn't come on over the weekend, as had a bad side effects off my medication and was out of action.
Then yesterday I wrote a post and lost it.

So £6.21, for Bulgur wheat.

£5.99 for ACV made the mistake of thinking it was for 5 litres, but it's just off a litre. I obviously selected the wrong picture when ordering! I can buy that much in Aldi or HB, so not a bargain at all. Anyways, it's my own fault for not double checking, and it's too heavy to send back; as postage would already be £3.50. So, lesson learned.

First international shop call it £11.50. As I remember giving the cashier £10.50 odd in cash and then put 99p on my card.
Second international shop, I spent £3.38

Then £10.93 in Aldi! and £4.75 in Tesc@, and £5.01 in W@itrose

So, total so far = £47.87!!

mandco

Spends totalling £332.76 since my last post  . That does include a Costco shop with some bulk buys that will last till new year & some more bits to put away for Xmas so probably not quite as bad as it feels but does mean I’m much closer to budget than id like already @ £694.31/£800 with 10 days still to go.

That said realistically I don’t actually need anything till the weekend - yes there are some bits I could do with/would like but nothing that I can’t make do without - this is something I’ve realised I need to work on as normally I’d just pop to the shop to get whatever it is and inevitably buy extras which aren’t essential while I’m there which is bumping up the costs 

JingsMyBucket

Mr. Jings stopped at M & S on his way home this evening. He spent £24.20 on 2 bags of coffee beans (4.75 each), 6 cans of baked beans, and 3 for £12 breaded fish.

Our Tesco order came to much less than anticipated because the big whole chicken I ordered was out of stock and they only gave me a 1.3kg shoulder of lamb when I originally requested a 2.1– 2.6kg size. 🙄 £97.76 was the total but I’m going to break it down.

£76.97 of the order covered salad, bananas and oranges, veg, avocados, herbs and chillies, 2 halloumi blocks, butter, spreadable cheese, 1kg pork shoulder steaks, bacon, meatballs, 750g chicken breast pieces, canned fruit and tomatoes, peanut butter, frozen waffles and hash browns, 2 boxes of shortcrust pastry, toilet paper, paper towels,  shower spray, and many other bits. 

£20.79 of the order will go to bulk — lamb shoulder for the freezer, an extra package of toilet paper, and allergy pills. 

£266.08 / £280 general budget spent so far. £13.92 remaining 

£20.79 / £70 bulk budget spent so far. £49.21 bulk remaining 

I think I’ll just combine the two sets together for the rest of the month. That gives me £63.13 to last until November 30th. Thankfully we’re not doing any entertaining for Thanksgiving this year so hopefully we should be fine on that budget. I’ll head to Lidl on Saturday to get some items they were out of stock of last weekend. We need particular tea bags and a few other things from there. Afterward I’ll hit M & S for more baked beans, fresh garlic and fruit too. 

TravelCrystal

I have been keeping out of the shops this week and just spent £1.80 on sausages at our local Mr T. They are quite good value and will do a couple of lunches.

However, we suddenly find ourselves visiting DS2 on Friday for his 40th. He lives 4 hours away and I have to be back early pm for a Choir event on the Saturday. D in law asked if we could come as she hadn’t organised anything. DS1 is due to visit also from the other end of the country. Will be nice for a catch up. We are going to a steakhouse I believe. All a surprise for DS2 Luckily that will come out of another budget. 

However we will stop for a snack at what I call the ‘Waitrose of services’ on the M5 and that will come out of GC budget. 

More on that next week.

Total so far £86.39/£200

Have a good rest of the week all

T.C

LotsOfTea

A quick top up yesterday for tomatoes, peppers, cucumber and soap came to £7.37 so I'm at £102.16/£300 so far.

JingsMyBucket

@TravelCrystal is the ‘Waitrose of services’ Tebay Services, perhaps?   

JingsMyBucket

A couple spends today: 

£7.37 at Savers for cough drops and oven cleaner. 

£14.35 at M & S for clementines, limes, garlic, 2 fresh soups (smoked haddock and a ham/pea soup), block butter, and a loaf of cranberry & pecan bread. 

The soups, butter and bread are dinner tonight along with some leftovers cheese and sliced meats we need to use up. I bought clementines to take with me to Glasgow overnight tomorrow. I’ll cobble together a sandwich / snacks from more bread, butter, and cheese as well. 

£308.59 / £350 spent so far. £41.41 remaining 

I’ll be away all day Thursday and Friday so likely no shopping unless I visit an East Asian store in Glasgow for specific items or Lidl for the tea we want.