January 2026 Grocery Challenge

otb666

150 left of 600 and one shop left, i am upping my veg and pulses intake again and saw a programme on telly that said if you chop veg leave them a while afterwards then cook in microwave to get most nutrician out of them It was on channel 4 what not to eat avoiding PDFs which i enjoyed and puts you off gravy granuals biscuits but i will still eat my nightly packet of crisps Also going to try kombucha and kefir.

dollypeeps

Week 3 of Januarys GC for me 

stuck to my list and didn’t seem to need so much but I was still surprised at how much 

£58.81 in lidl
£. 7.67 in tesco
£66.48 total so far 
£ 66.48 / £80.00 smaller budget this week 

JingsMyBucket

Evening folks. I spent £5.40 at Waitrose yesterday on 3 packs of rye crisp bread. 

Total £286.95 / £300 spent. £13.05 remaining. 

Tomorrow I’m hitting the usual stores for some shopping: Savers, M & S and Lidl. We’ve run out of some basics including my box of laundry detergent. I’ll get Mr. Jings’ non-bio Fairy later next week because I can only carry so much. As I mentioned before, I’m now just trying to minimize the spending overage for the rest of the month. 

Suffolk_lass

I plan to do a proper shop today. My list is under £60 but that includes cat litter which is a different budget. It also includes some "twice a year" store-cupboard things like Milton tablets that I use with fresh flowers (in the water) and to bleach stained things (a quarter tablet) like tea in white mugs. If I can stay on list, I might just squeak in under £150 for the month, with our month ending on 30th this month. I am at £90.65 for the year to date. I have one more Milk bill to pay (£7.75) too. Bowl fruit might just mess me up though

thriftwizard

More spent than I'd have liked, also a £35 "hit" to the Family Contingency Fund, but I'm not too far from my target, having spent £70.95 for the weekend's shopping between the butcher, supermarket and market. This does include some buys that will be dehydrated (a tray of splendidly fresh chestnut mushrooms, of known local provenance, for £4) or frozen (3 packs of delicious sausages from free-range pigs in the adjacent forest) so reducing costs further down the line. 

I've decided to set up a proper account for the Family Contingency Fund (henceforth FCF). I have a clear idea now of how much is generally spent when the assorted Offspring randomly decide they need to come for the weekend & check up on us (& each other) and I do find it helpful to separate it out from the everyday groceries. So what I'm keeping track of here is the baseline grocery spend, for those of us who still live here - though that does vary with academic terms dates! Anyway, two weekly shops to go, plus any top-ups, so £58.50 p.w. if I'm to stay on target. Eeek...

Finstickle

Not much to declare this week, main shop, greengrocers and just one top up.
Asda at £88.97, Greengrocers at £4.69 and Coop at £3.75
This week's shop included some of the less frequent items so ok with it being a bit higher.

Currently £240.55/£400

£159.45 remaining with only 1 more big shop, unless I pull forward the 29th delivery so it drops into current month's budget (I get paid on the 28th so work 28-28), although I do need washing tabs etc next week so might be another big week as well, or I may use budget to get a musclefood order.
I shall ponder over the week but happy with level of spending so far for Jan.

Changeyourlife25

£340.28 /£500

Will this month ever end? 🤣

cuddlymarm

Hi guys
£3 spent on 3 cartons of long life milk brings me to £87.56/£150
I have loads of food in so am aiming not to shop for another week. My bread making has been a dismal failure recently, I think I need a new can of dried yeast. Nothing wasted though as it tasted ok just really heavy 😂

diminua

£202.94 - a bit of a jump as it was someone's leaving drinks this week. Not a late one, but nice glasses of wine in central London do not come particularly cheap. Other than that: milk, bread, coffee, fruit and veg, orange juice and some biscuits to keep at work. 

carboot_karaoke

Evening all, 

I have yet another spend to declare 😬.  Eldest CK called from Aldi to say there was YS meat. I had a medium chicken, a pack of bacon and  500g 3% fat mince beef (although its squashed into tiny plastic packaging so tight l cant discern individual pieces of meat) Total spent £5.90 

Grocery Budget £202.54 / £279 

Bulk Fund £50.19  / £50

Grocery Challenge £ 252.73 / £329

Meal plan for this week 

Chicken tray bake with roasted peppers, onions and courgette 
Muffin top stew with lentils, broccoli and carrots 
Sausage pasta
Chilli Con Carne Rice and Guacamole 
Chicken Curry and Naan bread 
Special fried rice 
Leftovers