January 2026 Grocery Challenge

PipneyJane

JingsMyBucket said:

Morning! On Saturday I went shopping at the usual places. 

£6.49 at Savers for 2200g box of my detergent. This usually lasts 9 months or so. Mr. Jings is going to Savers today to get his Fairy non-bio detergent. 

£39.78 spent at Lidl for loose red bell peppers, blueberries, 3 microwave rice/mixed grains packets, blood oranges, 2 clementines, parsley, arugula, mushrooms, 2 packs of smoked salmon/lox, butter, 30 eggs, granola, Activia 8 pack of yoghurt, drinkable kefir, and various Greek Week items (capers, jarred artichokes, chili halloumi, frozen chicken gyro meat, frozen cheese pita).

£5.45 at M & S for bananas, clementines, and 3 cans of baked beans. 

Total £338.67 / £300 spent. £38.67 overspent. 

@PipneyJane how's your lurgy doing? Hopefully it's left you by now. 

I'm a lot better now, thanks @JingsMyBucket .  My throat is back to normal.  I had a chat with my hairdresser on Saturday and she'd had the same bug the week before: extremely sore throat; lots of coughing fits in the middle of the night; not much nose involvement.

- Pip

Nelliegrace

Is it still January? One wet, grey day after another.

Thirty days has September, April, June and November.

Unless a leap year is its fate, February has twenty-eight.

All the rest have three days more, excepting January, 

which has six thousand, one hundred and eighty-four.

oceandreamer

It is Nelliegrace, but there are lots of snowdrops out and I have even seen a solitary daffodil - so spring is definitely on it's way.
£14.30 spent at Lidl mostly veg, eggs and milk. I did put the sprouting broccoli back and pick up sprouts instead as they were half the price. Red peppers were on offer and were huge so I got three, one for the ramon tonight and another couple to make butternut squash (I have three left that I grew last summer) and red pepper soup.

£115/£200

wishus

Got to add a £17.94 spend at A*di on cleaning essentials and £5.06 at Mozza.

Just been to my slimming group and been told about avoiding carbs except for small amounts of wholewheat things and potatoes. Boo, I love carbs. So, Mozza was on the way home and I had a £5 voucher to spend, so bought healthy mackerel, salad, and veggies.

When I got home, OH had made soup and I gave him the rest of the bread to eat with it. 

Feeling virtuous. And sad.

Total spend so far £77.44 out of £150.

weenancyinAmerica

@Suffolk_lass - If there is no glaze on your cups any more, have you had them tested to be sure they aren't leaching lead into your tea or coffee? Just concerned.

Suffolk_lass

weenancyinAmerica said:

 - If there is no glaze on your cups any more, have you had them tested to be sure they aren't leaching lead into your tea or coffee? Just concerned.

It's OK - they are not antique porcelain. They are fired at much higher temperatures these days and lead is no longer used in the glaze. Thanks for your concern.

While I am here, just to confirm our year to date spend is at £130.64/£3000. I shall need to hammer the stores a bit next month, though, but will stick with the current approach to fresh food.

carboot_karaoke

"December the 19th l brought cheap veg ;  sprouts 2kg, potato 10kg, carrots 8kg, broccoli x 6 and two red cabbage  for a  total of £2.85. I wanted to write it down somewhere for reference next year." 

Yesterday, l used the last of the cheap veg not a sprout was wasted 😇. I did get worried with the cold snap we had but the veg survived brilliantly in the garage, in fact l wished id brought more. 

I have another spend of £10.53 to declare for a large block of cheese 2 x carrots, 2 x kale, red onions, noodles, humous and squash.

Grocery Budget £213.07 / £279 

Bulk Fund £50.19 / £50

Grocery Challenge £ 263.26 / £329

Also l wanted to ask if anyone knows when Lidl have sun cream in stock? We're going away in Feb.

cuddlymarm

Hi guys
Another couple of bits needed so I’m now on £92.66/£150