May 2026 Grocery Challenge

Nelliegrace

May Grocery Budget at £5 a day for 2 pensioners, £155.

We shopped at Aldi yesterday. I added some salad things for the hot weather which is forecast.

Milk 2x £1.65, cream £1.39, the largest medium chicken available at 1.796kg for £4.25, (£2.36 a kilo), red stickered avocados 99p, offer price items; yoghurt £1.45, evap 52p, and dates £2.79, super 6 offer blueberries 150g £1.19, wonky grapes £1.37, bananas 88p, wonky sweet peppers £1.69, small potatoes £1.05, lettuce 77p, almonds £1.69, cream crackers 49p, tinned pink salmon x 2 £1.45. The centre aisle coffee beans started at £7.99 and have been reduced gradually to £1.99, so I stocked up.

£36.69 spent.

I made cream cheese by straining some homemade kefir through sterilised, thin cotton fabric in a sieve. I added the whey to the sourdough starter for a loaf.

22/5 DH stopped at Asda and bought 2 x 5 oranges on offer for 2 for £2, yellow stickered cherries 400g £1.77, and milk £1.65. £5.42 spent.

Total £126.78

Nelliegrace

@Greying_Pilgrim I think two working adults and a growing child would need a larger budget each than two oldies.

WW2 rationing made a huge difference to the nation’s health because for the first time it stressed that children needed at least the same amount of protein as adults. Children were allocated a larger ration of eggs and milk. Traditionally the working man had the meat, and women and children had the broth or fat it was cooked in with a diet of bread and potatoes.

https://the1940sexperiment.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/mof-10-your-childrens-food-in-wartime.pdf

Suffolk_lass

Thank goodness for sprinkling seeds where the potatoes are planted - we have spicy salad leaves, French radishes and pak choi to pick already. I need to get out in the garden and pot on things, plant up containers and water. Hopefully these will keep next month's shopping costs down a bit.

I complained to Milk Delivery company that we had had sour milk twice in the last fortnight and after a bit of messaging back and forth, (yes, I already use a cold box and the milk went straight from there to the fridge, pausing only to wipe the bottles) my complaint has gone to the Quality Control people as the milk was either too short dated or the bottles not properly clean. Anyway, despite that complaint not being within the three days they stipulate, they have refunded me for two bottles and I have also cancelled next week's milk, buying some at the local Coop (not really in protest - I needed to use whole milk for my honey fudge I am entering in the Honey Show next week.

Although Mr Sl's state pension arrived today, I shall hang in with May until the end as I might need carrots (again!) and more milk. I am at £218.67 for May so far.

I am also not too bad at this MSE lark after all these years but £200 is harder and harder for me too @Greying_Pilgrim and we are two big strong adults, no little ones at home now - pets and livestock separate.

Greying_Pilgrim

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82008416#Comment_82008416

Love, thank you for that. I'll certainly use it as a starting point for June, and see how I get on. We're not on an absolutely fixed household income, but income is similar each month, and costs are rising, so budgeting is as relevant and important to our household, as it's ever been.

Please keep on inspiring us, and posting your alldee trolley-view-cam pics. I am, of course, insanely envious of your red-stickered avocado net 😋

Greying X

JingsMyBucket

Back from that round of shopping. £11.73 spent at Savers for dishwasher salt (1.99), Febreze fabric freshener (2.75), and 3L of Dettol laundry sanitizer (6.99).

£1.75 at Iceland for a box of Mr. Freeze popsicles 

£6.71 at M & S for bananas (1.00), YS dinosaur kale (1.01), strawberries (2.40), and crackers (2.30)

Total £337.56 / £350 spent. £12.44 remaining. 

We’ll likely go over this month but I’ll try to contain it. The Tesco delivery a couple weeks ago was a major restock for our totally bare canned goods pantry. The good thing is that I ran it down to nothing. The bad thing is that I had build it back up again with beans, pasta, canned tomatoes, etc. 

MrsFrugalLiving

Hello All 😊

Here is my third weeks shopping. I also picked up more salad bits for the heatwave.  I will make some yogurt frozen lolly’s - really easy just whizz frozen fruit & Greek yogurt and honey in a blender and freeze in moulds.  It’s so yummy. I also picked up a pot of basil and the seeds I sowed were no shows.  So I’ll split the plant up into about 5 and repot.  

Second week spend £45.57

Total spend £135.78/175 remaining £39.22

Lidl - £34.62 (blueberries, bananas, cucumber, apples, tomatoes, sweet potato, carrots, baking and new potatoes, feta, cottage cheese, frozen mango and Greek yogurt (for ice lollies) chorizo, brocslli & beans, mushrooms, avocado, oats, mixed nuts, tin butter beans, 2 mackerel tins, romaine lettuce, basil pot)

Waitrose £10.95 (bleach, toilet paper, bag pasta, bread malted flour)

Hoping to manage on the remaining budget.  Must say this challenge is helping me to think twice before buying and I have even put things back after putting them in the trolley.  But with costs going up I’ll have to think about June’s budget.  So let’s see how next week goes 🤞

Also thinking of trying Aldi as there’s one not that far from me.

Anyway hope you all enjoy the sunny bank holiday 😎

Blackcats

I always seem to have an excuse for an overspend or a reason for an underspend on my grocery budget 😉

this month I have a big underspend but £100 of the remaining budget needs to be diverted to pay for some spends when we were away on holiday last week (fish and chips, bacon & scallop baguettes and ice creams have to be paid for as well as enjoyed).

We stocked up at MrL's on Wednesday but I think we will need some fresh things before the end of the month.

£163.00 remaining minus £100 holiday food treats

£63.00 remaining

Sallyp2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82008468#Comment_82008468

what milk company are you? I'm milk&more

i've requested a refund a few times recent months - each time its been harder to get a refund. I even sent door cam footage of the milkman at 12.30am … milk sat out for 6hrs

Suffolk_lass

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82009090#Comment_82009090

@Sallyp2 Yes, Milk & More (or Moreco, as per the billing name). I use a small cold-box as the milkman has always delivered between midnight and 03.00. It just feels as though something has changed. Things like the bottles dribbling from the top and the top not replaced on the cold box properly. I only order two pints Thursday and three on Saturday but it is much more expensive (£1.55/pint) for organic, so I do expect it to be fit to use. I wipe the bottles and they go straight in the fridge. I bought this box which comfortably holds five pints (and was £15.99 vs the one they sell for £24.99).

C_J

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82008205#Comment_82008205

@Greying_Pilgrim Have you thought about visiting a community fridge? I have found the best way to track your nearest ones down is to search on FB with your county name and then ‘community fridge’, ‘community larder’, ‘community hub’ or ‘community pantry’ as they all seem to go by different names - but many of them have Facebook pages. Searching google can also help, but that will often bring up the fridges which are more expensive direct debit subscription-based ones run through SOFEA via your local council. These SOFEA ones are okay (I did join one for a while) but I found they offered a limited range of goods many of which were UPFs that I would not want.

I am in Oxfordshire and we are very fortunate to have many, many excellent community fridges (though you really need a car to get to them) which only ask for a £1 per visit donation. I barely spend anything in supermarkets any more, and get all I need in terms of fresh fruit, veg, bread, eggs, dairy and salad stuff from the fridge I visit. Everything is technically yellow sticker stuff, but honestly the quality of the veg is so great as they collect from supermarkets every day.

If you can track a good one down, it might help your budget enormously.