January 2026 Grocery Challenge

patentgirl

Can I please rejoin notice I was last in thread Feb 2025🫣
GC budget will be £180 please

need to work out a budget for monthly challenge going forward but stocked fridge and freezer so hopefully will manage on above
thank you @JingsMyBucket  for thread

Finstickle

Hi,

Please put me down for my standard £400pm

This is for me & DD (6) and covers all household but not petfood.  I tend to get Asda delivery and my veg locally and my focus for this year is to cut down on the little top up trips to Coop and increase yellow sticker purchases if I can.

I'm not sure I'll need the full £400 this month but if I have a lighter month this year I am planning to stock up on some of the more expensive items to help offset other months.  I'm also planning not to buy alcohol for at home until I return from my Feb holiday - the wine over Christmas (and before) has been lovely but is doing neither my budget nor my waistline any good!

Elizabeth49

£425.00 for the month

Delurking to post here as December's household spend went way over budget. I could blame Christmas, but it was the same for November and October, and I'm retiring in a few weeks so I could really do with getting the budget back under control.

The £425.00 is for all food and household shopping for myself, my adult step-daughter and one elderly fussy cat.

Due to health issues and not driving we usually have deliveries for the main shop, but get smaller shops locally. I'm going to try not to overbuy this month and use up all the stuff we have left from Christmas. 

otb666

450 left out of 600.  I went to Aldi hoping to pick up reduced xmas pudding. Unfortunately they did not have any reduced xmas pudding. They did have LOADES of reduced xmas cheeses. I got a blue stlton and brie which will last me weeks as big packs at about half price.  I cant really justify buying more as just me eating it would mean i would put on weight which i would rather not. I will be able to add the cheeses to my frozen left overs. I was surprised there were not more reductions. I remember back in the day going in after xmas before and picking up loads of reduced xmas cake for pennies. Buying food at half price is tempting but not as good as previous years and mainly chocolate based stuff.

Soontobeoap

I took a half price beef joint out of the freezer , we have a chicken pate that came in a hamper gift to use and the veg that I bought at Aldi today so tomorrow I will see how many meals I can get from that. Most of them will be put into freezer. I also bought 2 packs of non bio washing powder ( not always easy to find), 2 bottles of bleach, 8 cans of soup, mince pies and crisps that DH put in, toothpaste, deodorant and eggs.

No yellow sticker items today sadly.

JingsMyBucket

Evening folks. Welcome to all the newcomers and the old hands returning to the thread. Everyone has a space here and the more the merrier.  

Budgets updated to here. 

diminua

Hi Jingsmybucket,

Could I join in with £250 for the month please.

I don't have a lot of leftovers from Christmas - the remains of the chocolate gateau I bought stayed at my cousin's where her teenage son would scoff it, and the last of the mince pies and choc orange Bailey's was left at my brother's in Sheffield as it made no sense to cart whatever was left back to London on the train this evening (we're agreed we prefer normal B's anyway, but it was nice to try it). 

I do have a potted stilton and quite a lot of quality st - the latter will be taken into work on the 2nd as I won't eat them after the holidays, and the stilton will be a treat for New Years Eve with crackers and crisps and a quiet drink in, and then perhaps finished up in a pasta sauce later in January. 

Nelliegrace

Thank you @JingsMyBucket, this thread helps me to think more about my grocery shopping and what we are eating. 

We are starting the year with the freezer well filled with portions of meat, poultry, fish, cheese, and butter, and store cupboard full of good basic ingredients. The meat ration is £3 each per week, plus 4 oz of ham or bacon. Cheese is 2 oz each a week.

We can manage for a week or more if it is too cold or icy to go out. DH makes the bread and kefir, I cook and bake. We are getting a few eggs from the old hens in spite of the short days.
I hope to make the marmalade this month.

The January food budget for 2 pensioners is still £5 a day, £155.

£1,825 a year.

JingsMyBucket

For our household budget for two adults, no kids and no pets: 

£250 + £50 party / bulk fund = £300 total for the month.  

The £250 works out to roughly £55/week for 4.5 weeks. 

Today I visited Tesco after a doctor’s appointment this morning and spent £22.39. That covered bananas (75p), kiwi (1.15), YS strawberries (1.21), blueberries (1.30), 2 avocados (1.18), multipack of peppers (1.69), a red bell pepper (65p),  YS salmon/cream cheese canapés (1.65), 2 packs YS 650g chicken breast fillets (2.33 each), YS turkey meatballs, shredded mozzarella, and a macaroni and cheese tv dinner to have for my lunch. 

I really hit the YS jackpot today! @carboot_karaoke, I’m going to copy your style of displaying your numbers. Let me know if that’s okay with you.  

Shopping budget £22.39 / £250 spent. £227.61 remaining. 

Bulk / party Fund £0.00  / £50

Total £22.39 / £300 spent. £277.61 remaining. 

We actually moved our holiday party from December to next Saturday instead. I’ll submit a Tesco order next week to account for the heavy items like drinks. Thankfully, I have a bit of voucher credit on there especially from the Tesco Challenges lately. 

JingsMyBucket

@diminua and @Nelliegrace I've got you both noted down.