January 2026 Grocery Challenge

Changeyourlife25

£14.34/£500 

Corner shops today - one shop ground black pepper, another shop two red bulls and a chocolate milkshake 🤦‍♀️
Really need to stop the redbull corner shop trips, it adds up to a lot and my nerves are suffering. 🤣

dollypeeps

Revs up the shopping trolley!!! And we’re off…….1st shop of the year and 1st shop of joining the Grocery Challenge!
For 2nd January to 9th January 2026

I looked through my fridge and freezer first and then meal planned for next week.
Then I did a list t for what was needed…more than I thought.
Quite delighted that we can eat from the freezer etc tho.
Got almost everything other than broccoli from MrT….dh unusually joined me there and fried my brain …dd will be please as she doesn’t like it
Came in under budget as I found I had a Tesco gift card with £25.00 on it through my cheddar app.

Total spent - £48.83 in lidl
                     £ 21.60 in Tesco 
total spent -  £ 70.43

Under budget (so far) this week £70.43 / £90 
still cash of £10 in purse for eggs delivery etc.

Always pay for my food shop on my cash back barclaycard and pay for Tesco shopping with cheddar gift card to get more cash back.
One thing I did differently today. I paid my Lidl food shop off my barclaycard when I got to my car so it updated my bank account and showed me exactly what I had left to spend.
Hopefully this will continue 

Suffolk_lass

Working_Mum said:

HAPPY NEW YEAR you lovely lot!! May it be filled with fun, frugality and excess funds!!

I have been tracking and comparing my annual grocery and fuel spends and I think it's fair to say, down to this challenge I have reduced my 2025 food spend by almost £1700 when compared to 2024's!  I was gobsmacked when I saw the results! 

My diesel bill has been reduced by almost £350 too which I am thrilled with!

I came in at £293.92 for December's food - am quite happy with this to be fair - I was super busy and my usual restraint went out of the window whilst "popping in" for bits and pieces at my local Tesco and Co-op.

I've done a fridge, freezer and larder audit and have a LOT of food so have decided to really challenge myself in January with a food budget of £50 - this is for fresh fruit, veg, eggs, bread and milk.
 
There is myself, my adult son (who lives here half of the time) and a little well feed pooch - I eat meat and strive to do a low carb and very low fat diet which means it doesn't always come cheap. 

January 2026 budget £50 and £60 for household items including pet food.

Thanks everyone for keeping me on the straight and narrow  - as I realised when I did my annual totals,  reading along has kept me focussed and motived!

((WM))

Awesome figures @Working_Mum - that is brilliant, and your budget for this month is beyond my wildest dreams. I am going to try to not shop this week but I know I need cat litter for Stealth Cat, and the fruit bowl will be devoid of citrus fruit shortly

cuddlymarm

Hi guys
I needed milk and cup a soups for work ( so bought a couple of yellow stickered packs of buns for the freezer while there) so I’m currently on £6.61 /£150. On the up side the cup a soups were 4 boxes for £3.50 so I won’t need any more for a few weeks.

carboot_karaoke

Evening all, 

Amazing work @Working_Mum that's a huge difference. Been part of this community makes such a difference. 

After going through my full to the brim, freezer and cupboards l have drawn up the months food plan. I was trying to spend as little as possible at the beginning of the month, but todays spends came to more than l had hoped plus,  l still need to go to Asda tomorrow for the things l couldn't get at Tesco today. 

We were running low on several cleaning products so l went to home bargains and brought,  bleach, peddle bin liners, toothpaste, toilet blocks and carpet freshener. Also ordered some vacuum bags from amazon. 

Then at Tesco the shop consisted mostly of fruit, veg and the needed ingredients for this weeks dinners somehow this still came to £47.43 despite no meat plus extra for toilet roll from the bulk fund. 

I also brought us new toothbrushes, 2 x robinsons squashed (ideal for holidays and days out) and a new pack of Uno cards from the holiday fund.

New Totals 

Grocery Budget £47.43 / £279 

Bulk Fund £20.41  / £50

Grocery Challenge £ 67.84 / £329

This weeks food plan

Turkey Ratatouille
Pork mushroom and butternut squash curry & rice
Pulled chicken and black bean chilli, served with protein flatbreads & guacamole 
Carrot, coriander and lentil soup with part baked baguette 
Chicken, rice and veg
Gammon, egg, chips and beans
Cottage Pie and veg. 

All the vegetables are from my stock of 5p/15p brought over xmas 

leftatthetrafficlights

First shop of the year done - some expensive coffee in the total as well as some household stuff so not bad really at £42.63! There's enough there to last a couple of weeks other than fruit so I'm happy with that 😁 Despite my target of £350, I'm actually trying to do £100 this month as we have plenty of things in the storecupboard and freezer 😉

£42.63/£350

ancientmum

New Year Greetings Jings and all GCers.

I'm still n my December budget until 7th, so will just confirm that I am again aiming for £1500 annual budget in 2026.

ShelivesintheShire

Holding off from shopping for as long as possible.  Tonight was homemade pizza using up some manky mushrooms, the Brie and Red Fox and leftovers from a  pack of mixed salami. It was very tasty. We have enough veggies for the weekend for main meals and a big mixed veg soup. I need to make stock from the turkey boxes that I popped in the freezer.

jivjules1

Had to get milk and eggs so went to Asda and got some yellow stickers chicken thighs and chicken strips and some bargain easy peelers total spent 14.80 online shop booked for Sunday of 56.61 so that’ll be 71.41/600 for this week 

carrotstick_2

Need a few basics so popped to Sainsburys and got milk, butter, cheese, soft cheese, and sausages. £16.63!! I did have a £5 nectar voucher so I only paid £11.63 I then went to Iceland to get some food for the freezer, (I aim to be as UPF free as possible), and I'd seen that their burgers are beef mince and black pepper only which is unfortunately very rare in burgers from the supermarket. I also got some breaded chicken, and fish. £34.65 spent.
I picked up a broccoli, and a loaf of sourdough from the community kitchen on the way home. 

I've now spent £46.28 / £100 for this week.