December 2025 Grocery Challenge

Soontobeoap

DH has done a couple of very small shops at Aldi and not kept receipt. I am guestimating them to be £20.00 which should be a bit more than he spent.

Just as a matter of interest has anybody ever won any extra points on the nectar Christmas bauble challenge? 

JingsMyBucket

@TravelCrystal, you’re definitely right about meat cutting more easily when it’s cold or half frozen. Before I read your post, I had already divvied up the top side roast into a 1kg and 460g split. I prefer more red and pink meat and didn’t think of being easier to keep pinkness when it’s a larger block. Oh well, next time. 

Monday’s Tesco order came to £112.92. It included 2 pork roasts, a beef roast, and a whole chicken; canned peaches and pears; loads of Kleenex tissues to replenish the ones we’ve used during our illness; 2 16-packs of toilet paper; veg, bananas, oranges, and a pineapple;  3 jars of peanut butter; frozen breakfast waffles frozen spinach, tater tots; lots of yoghurt, cottage cheese, and milk; cleaning products, and some other items. 

£230.36 / £500 spent. £269.64 remaining. 

We are definitely good for food until this weekend. I’ll swing by Aldi to check out their Christmas stuff. We’ll also need dishwasher tablets so I’ll see what they have to offer. 

LotsOfTea

I had a delivery today which came to £183.39. It did include a huge bag of dishwasher tabs and some festive treats like mince pies and chocolate orange Bailey's which DH requested once he'd discovered it existed. Annoyingly DS told me he'd run out of vitamins this morning so I'll need to pop and get some more when I get the chance. 

£183.39/£400

thriftwizard

Flying past to add a rough £80 to my total although the receipts have vanished! But I know it was just under £50 at the butchers & just over £30 at the supermarket. Hopefully I'll correct it to the penny at some point but I'm in the right ballpark. Market & fishmonger tomorrow... DS3 will be back shortly so expenses will rise a bit, but next week's spend should wrap December up as the rest will come from the Festive Fund.

carboot_karaoke

Evening All,

I had to pop to the shops yesterday to pick up some missing dinner ingredients, chicken thighs, garlic bread, cream cheese, teabags, coleslaw, and fabric conditioner from the bulk fund. Total spent £18.31.

New Totals 

Grocery Budget £174.52 / £450 

Bulk Fund £34.44 / £50

Grocery Challenge £ 208.96 / £500

In a separate matter i'm trying to decide whether to take advantage of the buy 6 bottles of wine save 25% offer most supermarkets are running. In the past l wouldn't have thought twice as my trolly clinked around the supermarket. There is no doubt that in the long-term it would save money over £24 across the 6 bottles. Although in reality l only buy them when there is some sort of reduction.

However, this year we have reduced the amount of alcohol we drink. We currently have 6 bottles of wine (some gifts) , plus spirts and beer in stock. So i'm asking is it £24.76 saved or £33.68 spent??. I did think i'll just buy two bottles because there reduced from the RRP anyway but two bottles for £14.97 just didn't seem so good.  

joedenise

If you'll drink it within a reasonable amount of time then it's worthwhile but if it's just going to sit in a cupboard not drunk then probably best to leave it in the shop and just buy when you need it.

Suffolk_lass

Still resisting the urge to shop, I have run out of eggs, carrots and oranges. I might buy local eggs (several people sell at their gate) and carrots from the coop. The rest can wait for veg wars, a week to go.

otb666

I must admit I am getting a bit lost on my budgets this month so far I have only done 3 aldi shops at 400 total.So leaves 200 for final shop of month As i go from 23rd til 23rd There has been a lot of extra spending with family visiting gifts etc.  I would normally include petrol takeaways etc but have splurged a bit Also new slow cooker and sandwich toaster. which i am enjoying using.  Its so hard not to keep buying food I must remember we have got to eat it all as my kitchen is stuffed at the moment. Need to renew our passports in new year and eye tests for both.

mandco

£22.40 at Tesco express ran out of milk & lactofree milk(rip off at £2.25 a 50p mark up on main store price)and bread also picked up some lucozade,fruit & 12 white chocolate covered twirls reduced to 20p each = £399.08/£650

thriftwizard

I hear you, @otb666, we're also reeling a bit on the budgetary front with family visiting etc.! We did have 4 visiting tomorrow but we're now up to 6; a quick supermarket & bakery dive will have to happen in the morning to boost supplies (definitely from the Family Contingency Fund) but it will be lovely to see them & share a bit of festive fun! In other news I managed to stick to £25 at the market this morning, but that was only because we had a plumber first thing - we've been trying to get hold of one for months! - so it was a last-minute dash as they were packing down & didn't have much left. This may cause extra expenditure later in the week as DS3 returns for the holidays, but I'll see how far I can eke the current supplies out before panicking...