November 2025 Grocery Challenge

Soontobeoap

£32.00 already spent in Aldi. Desperate to try and keep it as low as possible this month. Have just received a £5.00 Sainsbury's e-card from the post code lottery and remembered that DH has been given twice for birthdays , vouchers to spend almost anywhere. If Sainsbury's are one of the shops that we can use I might get a free shop next week! 🤷. Have been sat here thinking about how to make a bit more money without going back to work at 69. 

Pennypincin

I'm £1 over for the past week.
I'm still trying to get out of the habit of just picking up odds and sods.
I will start again on Monday.

JingsMyBucket

Howdy folks. I've updated the budgets up to here. Welcome to the newcomers and to the returners!

otb666

424 left of my 600 budget. Its been hard to keep Aldi shop in budget. I bought a load of Kale at veg shop and made a lovely dish from walnuts red onion garlic wholewheat spaghetti Kale and a tin of mackerel in tomato sauce,  I had bought an extra large frying pan 26cm and was trying it out. I also had breakfast wholewheat pancakes banana and honey. Winning at life at the moment and gave me a welcome lift today.  I rarely eat meat for purse and health reasons.  I like to keep  protein up with cheaper alternatives. Even though I just ccok for me it was nice to cook with a big pan with loads of room

oceandreamer

Hi JingsMyBucket could I join in please?
We are three adults, two of whom are usually out for meals 3 days a week.  Tbh I'm not even sure what I usually spend on food which is partly why I want to do this challenge - so I know!  I am also trying to eat our of the freezer to save money and make some room for Christmas things.  

Please put me down for £300 thanks.

chirpycheap

Please could I join in and be put down for £500 this month.

This is for two adults. We don't generally eat out so that's all meals plus household and cleaning stuff.
I have relatives stopping for a week and a regular Friday night dinner for son and daughter in law.
This month I am getting a chest freezer so will also be starting with an empty freezer that I'll need to fill up. 

Suffolk_lass

Welcome @BogStandardBob, @oceandreamer and @chirpycheap - if this is your first month I think the best thing is to write a list of what you need before you shop and then be conscious of what your bad habits are - for example, the woman who could not resist a bogof (buy one, get one free) and had insulated her loft with toilet roll packs, under the boarding - is legendary with those of us who have been here for years and years! - Me? I can't stick to my list so I avoid shopping more than once a month in the big SM - I get milk delivered to help avoid it and although massively more expensive, it keeps me away, and saves me money. I was spending over £750 for the two months before I joined. I am at £240 a month this year, so far.

We have completely run out of bowl fruit but I picked a few apples, and I have jars of stewed fruit from the summer glut. I'm about to ask DH what he wants for pudding today as we are having a freezer dived shoulder of slow-roasted lamb (and it's his birthday tomorrow but I have a committee meeting!) - hopefully a crumble using rhubarb or gooseberries from my summer glut and the topping from stores. I will need to shop, maybe Tuesday, as we need cat litter for our indoor girl. I was spending over £750 for each of the two months before I started on here. So far in £2025 I am at an average of £240/month or 4p over £2400 for 10 months of the year. It took me a very long time to get here.

PurpleJay

Hi there

It’s been a while and I really need to get back on track. My son is now at uni and living away, maybe home once a month (sometimes with the gf) but mostly there is just me and the dog and I budget separately for most of her food. I just need to include 1/2 a meal a day (she has a mix of wet and dry and I get the dry food and half the wet food online) and her treats. I do have a store cupboard and find it hard to resist buying things when they are on offer.

i am trying to cut down my alcohol consumption so that should reduce my grocery spend. i am vegan and use a milk man for oat milk (4 pts a week) and have recently started getting a veg box. I am not sure how cost effective this is yet, the trouble is, I spend the same in the supermarket but then buy these extras so am trying to count everything and don’t get me started on amazon subscriptions!

My November budget is £250.

i have already started spending as I have decided to start my month on pay day which is 25th. I find it easier to budget that way. I will update those numbers later when I am looking at my spreadsheet - I spent ages setting up a new one and intend to track everything! I have been overspending but hoping to downsize next year to a smaller more manageable house. In the meantime I intend to get a hold of myself. I just find it so easy to buy things and not keep track. 

Happy Sunday. I have a friend coming over for lunch today which will be lovely.

Finstickle

Hi,

Can I be put down for £360 for November please?

This covers me, DD and any toiletries\cleaning\house products bought as part of the food shop process.

Thanks,

Finstickle

First few spend of the month to declare:

£8.54 - Co-op, wine and bread
£5.50 - Co-op, Lucozade and Perinaise
£67.22 - weekly Asda shop.  This also included a couple of bottles of wine, with the weather turning I have really felt like a glass of red in the evening, probably need to back off a little bit now as I've spent (but not drunk - I have 1.5 bottles left) £25 on wine this week.

I also had £9.03 of refunds on giftcards which I put through on this shop, but I had accounted for these in Sep so no benefit this month just reconciling the cash.

Currently £81.26 / £360