April 2026 Grocery Challenge

JingsMyBucket

Welcome to the 4th Grocery Challenge of 2026! 

As always this challenge is to reduce your own grocery budget to levels that you will be pleased with, not forgetting that we always recommend that you stay inside your own comfort levels and take things gently one step at a time. Remember that this is not a competition....it's designed to take you and your grocery spending to a level you are happy with.

******** Please post your budget in BOLD and HEADING 2 ********

If your new month starts early feel free to join this thread, or if you're still working on your March Budget then keep on posting in the March Challenge.

If you are new to the challenge I have quoted the advice from Galtizz below which will help you get started.

Please post into this thread for help and advice and support at any time. Good luck to everyone taking part!

I have said this before, but for all the newbies to the challenge;

For the first month I took a guess at the budget but I really had no idea how much I was spending.

I found the best thing is to have a guess the first month but SAVE ALL OF YOUR RECEIPTS (and yes, that does include the ones from the local shop when you run out of milk), then at the end of the month add them all up and have a look if you were on budget, if not, it doesn't matter because your budget was a guess. For the next month you can use the total of your receipts and take a bit off to get a realistic budget, just shave off as much as you think you can, it could be £1 a week or £20 a week.

If you are currently spending £200 a month don't suddenly drop it to £100 - you'll never do it but if you cut £20 a month off for a few months you'll get there eventually without feeling you're missing out on anything.

You might think you've done everything you can in the first month but someone always comes up with a new idea and, if you try it you often find you save a bit more (unless you are SarahSaver who is an expert at this and could only save more if she turned her back garden into a paddy field and lived on rice ) In the first month I thought, I'm planning meals, I couldn't possibly save any more, but then I started double cooking and freezing, and making soup instead of buying it in tins.

I've been doing this since Feb but only saved ALL of my receipts last month, it has given me a much better idea of where it is all going. Budget for next month is £80 for 2 of us, I'll start on 30/4. I could probably save more, by eating different foods but I can afford to live on £80, I have saved a lot of money since Feb. and I don't waste food or money any more. So I'm happy with my budget.
By request, here is Spiggles wonderful helpful post



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For guidelines on posting in this thread please read the second post in this thread.

For the Grocery challenge Recipe Index please see posts #4 to #10 this thread (the list is growing!!!!!)

For everyone's totals, see post #3 on this thread

I hope everyone has a great month!

Jings

NimbleFins Average UK Household Cost of Food - updated July 2022

Per Person: The average weekly food shop is £28.7 per person in the UK—but clearly caloric needs vary by age and gender. When you add £14.9 spent on food prepared out (e.g., restaurants and takeaways), the average weekly food bill for 1 person is £43.6.

Average Adult Man: The average adult male spends around £35 on groceries, £18 on food out and £53 altogether on food each week.

Young, active adult man: A young, active adult man around 18 years of age whose caloric needs are 50% higher than the average person would theoretically spend around £65 a week on food (£43 οn groceries and £22 out).

Average Adult Woman: The average adult female theoretically spends around £27 on groceries, £14 on food out and £40 altogether on food each week.

Young, active adult woman: A young, active adult woman around 18 years of age whose caloric needs are 25% higher than the average woman would theoretically spend around £50 a week on food (£33 οn groceries and £17 out).

2 Adults: The average weekly food bill for 2 adults would be around £93 in total—£62 spent on the weekly food shop and £32 spent on food out.

Family of 3: The average weekly food bill for a family of 3 (two adults and one younger child) is around £128—£85 spent on the weekly food shop and £44 spent on food out.

Family of 4: The typical family of 4 (two adults and 2 younger children) would spend around £163 each week on food—£108 on the weekly shop and £56 on restaurant and takeaway meals.

Family of 5: Larger families of 5 (two adults and 3 younger children) spend around £131 on the weekly shop and another £68 on food prepared out, bringing the total average food bill for a family of 5 to £198.

Family of 3 adults: Three adults (or two adults and one older teenager) would spend around £93 on groceries, £48 on food prepared out and £140 altogether on food each week, clearly with budget varying by the age and gender of the family members.

Useful additional info from @suffolk _lass:

ONS also have an interactive spend explorer on their website at this link and I do think it is worth people looking at this. You can click on a category and it splits it out a bit.  They also have figures on deb, expenditure, and income & wealth at this link and these are based on the 2021 census figures. And a personal inflation calculator here

Incredible post from our own @PipneyJane : SURVIVING ON A TIGHT BUDGET

JingsMyBucket

Guidelines for posting on the Grocery Challenge thread

What is the Grocery Challenge thread?

This is a thread where people who are taking part in the Grocery Challenge can post for help, encouragement and support and talk about anything related to grocery shopping. We ask that you try to keep on topic and post things that are relevant to the challenge.

Posting grocery budgets and spends for the month

Some people like to post their grocery budget and final spend for each month. If you wish to be included in the master list then please post these in red and in a large font as this makes it easier for the volunteers to keep a record of everyone's totals.

Number of posts

In order to make the thread easier to read it would be helpful if users would try not to post multiple posts in quick succession.

Chat

Chatty posts that are relevant to the Challenge are fine. Irrelevant chat or posts simply saying "Good morning/Goodnight", "just popping on to say hello", "I've sent you a pm" etc aren't, as they clutter up the thread and may be removed to make the thread easier for others to read. Unfortunately, the board guides simply don't have the time to pm users individually when posts are removed to keep the thread on topic. If your post has been removed and you are unhappy with the decision, please feel free to send us a pm.

If you want to say thanks to another user please use the thanks button and please post any chat not related to the Grocery Challenge into the Daily Thread or use the pm function.

No Spend days (NSDs)

A number of people like to record that they have had a no spend day. Again to reduce the number of posts we would ask that rather than post just that you had a no spend day you record it in your signature and/or add it to a post that is directly relevant to the Grocery Challenge.

Pictures

Please keep these relevant to the challenge. While photographs of produce or cooking are great, pictures of semi-naked men or large clip art aren't.

Bargains

Please don't forget to check out the Grabbit and Shop but Don't drop boards for any bargains and the Discount Codes 'n Vouchers (online & offline) board to see if there are any current vouchers around.

Posting Recipes

Recipes are always welcome on the Grocery Challenge thread but it can be hard to pick these out sometimes as this is a large and popular thread! Therefore, to ensure your recipe is seen so that it can be added to the Recipe Index, please add a Post Title starting with the word RECIPE in capitals, and make the title of the recipe bold and and a colour so that it really stands out. If you struggle with how to do this please pm a board guide for help or check the forum help pages.

Questions about recipes, freezing, techniques etc

These don't always fit into the Grocery Challenge. There are a number of threads where it may be more appropriate to ask questions. There is a wealth of information available on the Old Style board so please do a search to see if there is a better thread for your question. For more help with searching see here or feel free to send a private message to a Forum Ambassador who will be happy to help.

Useful Links to threads on the Old Style board

Quick Questions thread

Recipe thread

Cheap recipe threads

Don't throw food away challenge...

The Complete Cooking Collection

Old Style Daily thread General chat about Old Style (new thread started daily)

Flylady thread Cleaning thread (new thread weekly)

Enough is Enough (decluttering)

Lose weight the Old Style way

Finally if you are new to Old Style and want help to find your way around, this thread may help: Welcome to Old Style and there is some excellent practical help and advice on posting on MSE chat forums in this thread: Unofficial A-Z (Look here first)

JingsMyBucket

Grocery Challenge Budgets

Annual 2026

ancientmum - £1500

determined_new_ms - £2,700

Matron_Midge - £5000

mumtoomany - £

nannygladys - £

Nelliegrace - £1,825

remmie - £3,600

StickyTheStickInsect - £

Suffolk lass  - £3000

TravelCrystal - £3700

Weekly

carrotstick_2 - £100/week

dollypeeps - £90/week

gill5blue - £

loubudgets1 - £100/week

MissMoneyMishap - £60/week

Pennypincin - £

Monthly

ancientmum - £207

AnotherNewDay - £350 - split as £60 for cats and £290 for human groceries/household/toiletries

Betharooni - £400

Blackcats - £350

BogStandardBob- £560

C_J - £150

carboot_karaoke - £400 and £50 bulk (£450 total)

Changeyourlife25 - £500

cheerfulness4 - £150

chirpycheap - £500

CoffeeSonata - £350

Christa27 - £400

cookiemonsie - £600

cuddlymarm - £200

cowboymum - £620

diminua - £250

Doom_and_Gloom - £

Elizabeth49 - £425.00 for the month plus £40.00 bulk fund.

Finstickle - £350

Frugalistamama - £

Frugalwannabe - £600

goldfinches - £180 for the main GC, £30 Baking Fund and £48 Bulk Buy Fund

Greying_Pilgrim - £200

GSDMum - £

itsthelittlethings - £275

Jen_x - £400

JingsMyBucket - £350

Jojo77_2 - £600

jivjules1 - £400

K9sandFelines - £150

LadyWithAPlan - £ + £ bulk

LiveSimply - £300

leftatthetrafficlights - £350

lushlifesaver - £300

LotsofTea - £300

mandco - £600

maryb - £200

Matron_Midge - £400

MillQueen - £200

Miss_Behaving - £

Money_Choices - £

Mrs_Cheshire - £

Naturelover22 - £300

Nelliegrace - £150

oceandreamer - £200

otb666 - £600

patentgirl - £240

Pennypincin - £160 (£40/week)

PipneyJane - £180

PurpleJay - £250

Quantaqa - £150

RedLipstick - £200

Rowan9 - £250

Sallyp2 - £200

sarahj1986 - £

SausageDogSandwich - £400

ShelivesintheShire - £350

Sponge_pudding - £238.35

Soontobeoap - £350

Suffolk_lass - £200

TheBees - £400

TheCheerleader- £200

themsthebreaks - £400

thriftwizard - £450

tiredwithtwins - £150

TheBees - £350

VickyV - £600

wannalot - £

whitecatcreamsofaDOH - £420

wishus - £150

Working_Mum - £200 and £60 for household items including pet food

zafiro1984 - £250

JingsMyBucket

** Grocery Challenge Recipe List **

NOTE: @Suffolk_lass has graciously transferred the recipes to a spreadsheet online in order to save space on the thread.

Find all the recipes online here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NdeWRzLnYqJSs1VglL3ckpYuZdvfzTUSOkHegFxlLO8/edit?usp=sharing

Before using any of these GF or DF recipes please check labels as manufacturers often make changes to ingredients.

NB - for Vegetarian recipes check under 'V'

cookiemonsie

Hiya! Thank you for arranging a new month and I'd love to be included please? My spend is usually around £800 but I'm going to try and reduce that to get closer to £600 - might as well aim high in my first month!

My budget runs from the 25th March to 24th April; I've done a cupboard and freezer list and have planned a food shop to be delivered on Sunday (my car is in for repair just now so I can't get a full shop in myself - a big part of why I need to cut down the food spend!) That delivery should include the roasting joint for Easter while it's on offer at half price.

I cycled down to the supermarket today and spent £30.59 (which is pretty astonishing for 1 bag of groceries that fit in a bike basket!) so that's my first spend of the April budget.

Good luck to everyone 🍀

Soontobeoap

Hi @JingsMyBucket once again thank you for doing this thread please could you put me down for

£350 for April please

We have all 6 grandchildren staying over Easter school hodsys( 3 at a time) so I have upped the budget but would like to get some of the Easter offers on meat and veg too as I am desperate to stay within £3500 for the year.

Quantaqa

Thank you for the new thread Jingsmybucket.

Please put me down for £150 in April

Month starts on 25th of the month as that's payday. Nothing spent so far.

Two adults. Includes food, cleaning/laundry supplies, some toiletries.

otb666

As I went 53 pounds over my £600 budget last month for 3 adults you would think I would try and reign it in a bit but just done my first shop of 5

235/600 1 of 5

I seem to have fallen off the wagon as know we will be one adult less from July and guess I am trying to spoil them before they go. I will try and change my ways going forward. I had to also tempt hubby as been on monjo for a year and was just eating small snacks so felt the need to feed him up as did not want him to turn into a skeleton. And worried he was not getting enough nutrients in his diet.

JingsMyBucket

Budgets updated to here.

Welcome @cookiemonsie! We're a friendly bunch here. Try not to be too down on yourself and just record your spending for now then you can make further changes over the next months.

@Soontobeoap 6 grandkids all at once?? RIP your sanity! I'm sure you'll make a wonderful meal for them though.

Soontobeoap

🤣 @JingsMyBucket not all at once. We have an hour between change over. Only 3 at a time!

First shop for April this morning. Went to Sainsburys for free from bread, oat milk and fruit that was cheaper with nectar from the app. We bought Easter eggs too but after taking them off of the bill the total came to £105.02. we still have Alsi to do tomorrow so that's just the start.

TravelCrystal

many thanks @JingsMyBucket, both for the new thread and changing my G.C to annual.

I am going to try and divide the rest of the year up and so will aim to spending no more than £200 this month to allow for some money over later on.

I have got really used to having my food delivered and am going to stick to that for now.

Being female, I can always change my mind 🤭

Good luck all for the month

T.C