May 2026 Grocery Challenge

thriftwizard

Well I seem to have fallen out of the loop - or off the wagon! I've had a few blisteringly busy weeks between family, business, the allotment and Wonderwool Wales - don't ask! It was brilliant… May is actually a 5-week month for us but I'll have a go at sticking to £450; I've been to the market this morning & spent £50.10 (no idea where the 10p went, actually, but am going by what's left my purse) on fish, greengrocery & olives, kobez & hummous from the Greek stall. I still need to add whatever I spent at L1dls earlier in the week (£58.23) then hurtle to W8rose & the butchers tomorrow morning. We have DD1 & fiancé this weekend but I don't need to buy too much as I still had one of the big Pembrokeshire chickens in the freezer.

Nelliegrace

DH has mastered the latest of several Panasonic bread-makers we have had over the years, @Sallyp2. He makes a 400g loaf as we need it. We have almost finished the sack of strong white flour which was a present from our Son in Law, the wholemeal flour was 99p from Aldi, DH uses a mix of both, in various amounts. It is more substantial and filling than UPF stuff, it goes stale after a couple of days when we use it up as toast. (I had just made grated cheese on toast with the grill tray before taking the photograph.)

Sallyp2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81991993#Comment_81991993

love the tin shape. Mine is taller & narrower - yours is wider & shorter

what is your dh bread mix recipe - you obvs don't buy ready made bread mixes

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81991761#Comment_81991761

Ours definitely wasn’t a leftover from last month @TravelCrystal. Brand new. We’ll spend it on mushrooms, later this morning.

• Pip

Elizabeth49

I went to Markie's food hall yesterday and spent £21.40, lower than the previous week, but then we stocked up with meat for the freezer. Looking at the receipt some of the prices were a bit ouch though (never shop when you're tired and hungry) so I'm going to try and rein it in a bit going forward.

Anyway, it was greek yogurt 4 pack x 2 £3.60, corned beef £1.95, pork pies £4.00, Bananas £1.00, ham £3.65, TV magazine 0.85p, multipack crisps £2.25, bread £1.90, bakery custard tarts x 2 £2.20

I also got my Sainsbugs delivery this morning £59.87. I managed it this week due to stocking up on some nector priced items, but I can see that the new £50.00 minimum for free delivery may be hard to reach every week, especially as I prefer to buy fresh stuff where I can pick it out, check use by dates etc. So I'm thinking that I may start dropping a delivery every month and just having one three weeks out of four, but I'll see how it goes.

£201.46 spent out of £375.00

ArgyllLady

£50.88 today so bringing up to £98.09/£200. Feels about right as about half way through my month counting from the 26th.
Needed to stock up on flour, veg stock, yeast, and sesame seeds as well as picking up the usual eggs/dairy/veg for the week but what really bumped up the total unnecessarily were the truffle crisps and freshly squeezed orange juice I couldn’t resist (my weaknesses!).

Sallyp2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81992483#Comment_81992483

Don't fret over treats - the truffle crisps and fresh OJ will be delicious. you are allowed to treat yourself

PipneyJane

Afternoon All

I have three spends to declare, two from today and one from earlier in the week. On Monday, coming home from Football, DH stopped at L!dl and picked up two YS pizzas (£1.49 each), some YS “hot honey” pork belly (£2.49) and a YS tub of coleslaw (£1.11). £7.58 spent.

Today at L!dl, we spent £43.48 on our free 600g family pack mushrooms (was £1.69), YS Delux pork sausages 2x£1.24, 120g smoked salmon £2.54, 1kg frozen berry medley £2.54, puff pastry 98p, 1L lactose free milk 3x99p, 1kg granola £1.99, 500g penne 2x41p, bran flakes 85p, 800g extra mature cheddar £4.75, 200g feta 2x£1.69, Salmon en croute £4.99, fishcakes 2x£2.39, cream cheese 2x89p, honey 74p, nasal decongestant £1.29, anchovies 5x79p,and a 200g jar of Gold instant coffee £2.65.

We then went to Sainsbug’s and bought 5 bananas 78p, 1.25kg sweet potatoes £1.49, peppers £1.44, baby plum tomatoes £1, 582g carrots 40p, 362g broccoli 79p, 1L skimmed milk 90p, 45g Yeo Valley yoghurt 4x£1.75, wholemeal wraps 2x80p, bagels £1.90, 900g frozen spinach £1.60, potato croquettes £2.10, Mint Options £4, dried skimmed milk £3.20. That came to £28.20.

This brings our total spend to £79.20/£184.40 leaving £105.20 for the rest of the month.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that the maths doesn’t add up. That’s because I’m not paying the 8p housekeeping still owes DH for Monday’s shop. He paid via Chase, not from the GC purse. (It’d go into the coin box anyway, because we save 1p, 2p and 5p pieces, as well as £2 coins.)

Draft meal plan for the week:

(All breakfasts are cereal, while all lunches are leftovers, unless otherwise stated.)

Today: lunch was the fish cakes accompanied by baked beans. Dinner will be baked “Hot Honey Pork Belly” accompanied by sweet potatoes.
Sunday lunch: smoked salmon & cream cheese bagels. Dinner: baked feta and tomato pasta
Monday Chickpea & Chorizo Stew
Tuesday Kipper Kedgerie (must remember to cook too much rice, so I can make my banana bread with the leftovers)
Wednesday homemade pesto with pasta
Thursday Stir-fried chicken with peanut rice
Friday to be decided

• Pip

Sallyp2

pondering new techniques to keep spends down

1. basket not trolley
2. cash not card
3. buying for only a few days rather than week+
4. why am am i spending £ on filling pantry / freezer unless its needed for short term

i've think the small 2nd standalone freezer will go - it's just hoarding forgotten reduced food which didn't need buying. It seems a false economy.

are we overcomplicating food shopping and buying volume we don't need

cowboymum

Few odd spends to declare - Sainsburys £12.60 (wine and crisps!); £3.89 health food shop (pate to take on holiday with us for sandwiches); Sainsburys 99p for tomatoes as I fancied them for lunch; lidl £3.56 for packaged lentils again for holiday, poppodoms as a snack £1.09 and sun cream £2.89.

Total £25.02 taking grand total to £277.93 / £550.