May 2026 Grocery Challenge

diminua

£3.19 left. I will either just squeeze under or just go over again this month. My meal planning has also taken a bit of a hit as it is too hot to cook in this flat right now. I might make up a picnic and go sit in the park with it this evening.

Greying_Pilgrim

C_J - I have used the waste food outlets before now - ours tend to work more on the 'table' principle, rather than a fixed "shop" outlet. They seem to be going in the direction of a set charge, determined by the charity, and I'm pretty sure i'm right in saying that locally we don't have any of the systems where you pay a membership eg £5 per year, and then get to choose X items for £1, £2, £3 or whatever per week.

One of the schemes in a nearby market town has gone to the veg box ordering model - and charges accordingly 😱 It's more expensive that walking into a supermarket and purchasing what you want rather than what some volunteer chooses to put in the box for you 😱 It's not that I won't use these sort of schemes, but with travel, they rarely work out as a saving for me. Although in the past, being vegetarian has played in my favour, as veg isn't as popular are cakes and pastries. But where I am, it is cheaper (if you can get one, and use the contents) to get a waste veg box from the supermarket.

Thanks for thinking of me though - as if there was an 'open to anyone' community pantry locally, I wouldn't have a problem joining/using.

To update my grocery spends, I got a 'brown baggie' of bananas from m&$ 35p spent.

Greying X

ArgyllLady

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82008110#Comment_82008110

Thanks both - it’s been a really good exercise and I feel pretty confident in saying nothing has gone to waste which was not the case previously, and only had one or two nights where I got back too late to prepare what I was originally planning to make so picked something up on the way home (easy fix is to have a backup plan recipe for this in future). I didn’t make lunches before either and thought I’d get a bit bored but it’s been easier than expected to make them adequately varied which is good.

My local store is definitely more expensive than a supermarket but I think the convenience and quality is such that I’m happy to keep shopping there (though maybe aim for an after lunch shop at the weekend to avoid the temptations of some of their ready made salads etc which are lovely but probably not really worth the extra cost!). Cost differential to the supermarket isn’t as much as it used to be though with inflation over the past couple of years. I was given a gift card for M&S which isn’t somewhere I usually shop at so I’ll probably use at M&S food next month and I’m interested to see how that compares in terms of costs too - having had a quick look at the prices online, it actually looks like they’re pretty reasonable for staples like pasta, tins, and jars but we will see!

What I think I’ll continue to find a bit difficult to manage is where I tend to buy specialty ingredients in bulk for the freezer as it tends to be quite a large cost but last a few months, so like if I got the the cheesemongers or fishmongers it can easily be £60+. Definitely worth it and I think saves money in the long run compared to buying at these sorts of places little and often but bumps the whole monthly cost up! Going to try to stick with £200 again next month though and see how it goes.

Elizabeth49

This weekend's spends, £5.73 at Savers for cleaning spray £1.15, cotton wool pads £1.10, toilet duck 0.99p and Febreze £2.29. Then there was M&S £41.20 including some bank holiday treats, but that's something I really need to think about and I know I said that last week. ☺️

My Sainsbug delivery was £72.56 in total, but only £40.56 of that came out of my normal household budget.

The rest was bulk buy misc money: 3 for 2 frozen fruit £7.00, 2 boxes of coffee pods for £7.50, normally £5.10 each. And two bottles of Ecover laundry liquid (reduced from £10.00 to £6.66 on nector) and two of fabric softener (reduced from £6.00 to £4.20) plus you got one free if you bought four, so the total was £17.52 instead of £32.00, very happy with that. Bulk buy total £32.02.

I've got £11.64 left out of my £375.00 for May, but that should see me through to next weekend.

£363.36 spent out of £375.00

Sallyp2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82009288#Comment_82009288

yeah something has happened - they reduced the range significantly a while back. Funnily i always rinse the bottles before putting them in fridge as well.

i don't like having to argue for a £1.30 refund

Suffolk_lass

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82010013#Comment_82010013

Mine is £1.55 a pint (organic) but if I dump it for the local Coop (£2.25 for 2 pints as opposed to Morries now selling litres instead of 2 pints organic!) - there is that risk factor - as my Grandma used to state with pride, "I can resist anything, except temptation!" (original show-off party girl) - and my weaknesses; the pastries, yellow stickers and snickers ice cream bars all tend to find their way home when I go!

I maintain I save more than the extra I spend because it keeps me out of the shops. Not if I am pouring £4.65 of milk away it isn't!

otb666

Just popping in to quote my figure 1000 which is 400 over my budget.of 600 In defense I will be an empty nester next month and felt I had to spoil them before they went. So expecting from next month all bills to go down by at least 25%. It has been a busy time in household and expecting things to calm down in June and I can go back to reading threads etc.

JingsMyBucket

Morning folks. Happy bank holiday Monday. I've put up the June 2026 thread. Stay cool or whichever temperature you desire! 🙂

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6669709/june-2026-grocery-challenge

PipneyJane

Afternoon All

Hope you’re enjoying your Bank Holiday.

I have multiple shops to declare. I’ve been out of action for two weeks with cellulitis in my right hand, spending last week in hospital, when my DH lived on YS pizza! All of the following were from L!dl:

• £8.07 spent on free 600g family pack mushrooms (was £1.69), Ham & Mushroom Pizza £3.99, Mango chunks £2.19, grapes £1.89
• £1.59 sourdough bloomer (40p off)
• £1.74 on YS watermelon chunks £1, hand cream 75p (for me)
• £6.07 on YS pizza £1.99, mango chunks £2.19, cookie dough ice-cream £1.99
• £40.32 on the “big shop” to use up our £5-off voucher: YS fishcakes 2x£1.14, cashew nuts 3x£1.39 (offer), Camembert 2x£2.59, can chopped tomatoes 12x43p, Cheddar £4.75, 750ml extra virgin olive oil £4.59, smoked salmon £4.49, butter 2x£1.99, chorizo 2x£1.89, 1kg frozen berry medley £2.54 (offer), butter beans 2x45p, 500ml plain yoghurt 55p and baked beans 2x28p

There was a fruit stall at the entrance to the hospital, which I raided when I was discharged on Saturday, £7 spent on strawberries, apricots and a punnet of cherry tomatoes. Yum!

Yesterday, we spent £7.34 in Sainsbugs on 1kg baby potatoes £1.05, bagels £1.35, cookies £1.19 and a 6-pack of mini Magnum ice-creams £3.75.

The above brings our total spend to £151.40/£184.40 leaving £33 for the rest of the month.

• Pip

Sallyp2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82011173#Comment_82011173

Hope you feel better - its not nice being in hospital. At least your home and not stuck on a ward in this heat.

enjoy your fruit x