September 2026 Grocery Challenge

ancientmum

Popping in to update my signature. Halfway through September and I've spent £79, bringing the total for the year so far to £971. Most purchases have been from Lidl and Sainsbury, and included a couple of bottles of cider which is my weekend treat (only one glass on Friday, Saturday and Sunday - I don't go mad!) as the price was reduced in Lidl. Stocked up on some fish that was 3 for 2 in Sains, and used the personal offers on the app to get more bleach and washing up liquid to get me through to the end of the year

K9sandFelines

£21.51 spent between Ald!, L!dl, S@insbury's and HomeB@rgains.

£2.98 Bulk buys

Edited to add : £3.98 for strawberries and apples I got for DD, but she forgot to take them home 🙄

PipneyJane

Good afternoon All and Happy Sunday

We got back yesterday from our week away but couldn’t face hitting the shops until today. Fortunately, we brought back some leftovers, so had those for Tea last night. I have two shops to declare:

• £25.48 spent in L!dl on 800g extra-mature cheddar £4.75, 213g tinned pink salmon 2x£1.79, pine nuts 2x£1.69, 200g cashews 2x£1.69, 200g mixed nuts 2x£1.45, 1kg frozen 4-berry medley £2.99, Brunswick ham 2x£1.15, 1kg muesli £1.99, 900g hash browns £1.75, salted anchovies 2x79p, salad seed mix 99p, 500g bran flakes 89p, £5 off voucher used.
• £17.58 in Sainsbugs on 3-pack sweet peppers £1.99, 600g mushrooms £1.85, 1.132kg carrots 78p, 366g broccoli 72p, 250g pak choi £1.20, spring onions 69p, 4 lemons 89p, 450g Yeo Valley strawberry yoghurt 3x£1.74, 450g Yeo Valley Greek Yoghurt with Honey £2
• 4p shrapnel added to the moneybox.

All of London was in L!dl this morning, taking advantage of their £5-off when you spend £30 voucher. It was virtually impossible to get a basket or a trolley when we arrived and the queuing for the tills was chaotic. Still no lip-balm or dental floss in stock. It’s been months since I’ve seen either.

This brings our total spend to £133.30/£180 leaving £46.70 for the rest of the month.

Meal plans:

All breakfasts are cereal and all lunches are leftovers, unless otherwise stated.

Tonight Hot & Sour Soup made with chicken breast from the freezer, pak choi and noodles
Monday Carrot & Cashew Nut Roast accompanied by baked onions and roast potatoes
Tuesday Broccoli & Chorizo Pasta
Wednesday meat ball pasta bake
Thursday Chole Paneer
Friday Baked stuffed squid
Saturday Ham & Cheese Crown

• Pip

Soontobeoap

Feeling rather proud of myself. Away in camper van having bought lots of food with us. No rush to shops and managing on a gas cooker with 2 rings I will be interested to see how long we can manage with the thins that I bought with me

Friday night -dinner with son and DIL

Saturday ,- chicken curry and rice

Sunday - fry up

Monday * bacon carbonara

Lunches each day have been left overs in a sandwich. 😇 🤣

RedRose61

Popping on to add on a spend from last week. Hubby is in the throes of Man Flu and so I forgot to add it on. I had a £4 off £40 for T*sco. I bought some of the items which were club card prices. Mini potatoes at 65p, Philadelphia light 750g £2.25 and some other bits and bobs. I picked up some Y/S broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and a Quiche. All of the prices seem to have increased and so I had to really stick to my list.
£50.29 spent. £161.19 remaining.

TravelCrystal

Morning Folks

I am going to declare for September as the Ocado delivery that is coming tomorrow is for October food.

Did a total up of both my annual GC and my general household budget for the year and unless there is a disaster I don’t yet know about I am on track. Any extra money over my budget goes into savings.

Can even afford to use a bit of GC money for our holiday this weekend.

Not going to put a budget down for the next few months as it’s my annual I’m concerned with.

Soup for lunch from Sunday roast, gravy, a few scraps of bacon I didn’t use on last night’s homemade pizza, neighbours tomatoes ( giving him some soup) and garden herbs. Hopefully will be tasty.

Total September £217.43

T.C

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon GC'rs

I went shopping today, as whilst intitally I thought I was going to be at an appointment all morning, it ended up I wasn't, and we're a bit low on milk/I had my £5 off a £30 Leedle shop to use by tomorrow. I think I did end up spending a bit more than I anticipated, however, I was buying milk from Leedle today, and I've been getting it from the (blue) c0op for the last few weeks. Plus I got a couple of items for the school harvest festival contribution to the local foodbank. I did get a punnet of grapes from the PoTW too, so actually those 4 items more or less account for the £4.67 "overspend". I was annoyed to get home and discover damaged packaging on a product I bought, which makes it unsafe to eat. Returning it to store would cost more in petrol that the product cost. But it was clearly damaged prior to purchase (wish I'd noticed, but the shelf area was quite busy with shoppers and browsers), so I've contacted Leedle and we'll see what they say.

£29.67 spent in-store. £1.49 of which is 'in the balance' as to whether I get a replacement/refund or a raincheck etc. I won't be using/eating the product anyway.

I'm away to update my siggie.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning GC'rs

Just an update on my complaint to Leedle yesterday about the split yoghurt pot that I failed to spot instore yesterday - and only saw when I'd bought it, and was putting it away at home. I sent pictures and a note about it to the customer service team, via the Leedle app. I did that around about lunchtime. By 8.45am today, I had a response, and I have been refunded a voucher to the app. This is good - I will need to buy a pot of yoghurt, as we like it/use it - but I haven't had to waste petrol/time going back to the store. I mean, I can't use a split pot of yoghurt (who knows what bacteria has crept in), and the store doesn't actually need it back - as they'd only have to chuck it.

Returning stuff to the discounters has always been a pita, but credit where credit is due - this system works, and I'm not out of pocket. And I can get a replacement pot of yoghurt when I'm next in/near the store, which is saving/time resources.

Good customer service from the supermercado - I'm not trying to pull a fast one, I just need my money back for an useable product.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Sorry - me again!

Have been to h0mebargins to do some 'non' food stocking up, but I did purchase; apples, sweet potatoes and 2 x vac-pac beetroot. Total food spend £2.77. Total non-food spend - don't ask 😱but I was stocking up…….

As an aside, I've noticed that Leedle have not yet applied my refund voucher to my app. This I am less impressed about. Especially as I left a good review of the app-based CS because my query was dealt with relatively quickly and without me having to go back to the store.

Away to update my grocery spends etc.

Greying X

navelorange1

Hi, I’d like to introduce myself. I did the challenge this month in the notes app in my phone. I’m thinking of setting a £300/month target for one person, gluten free including eating out and alcohol in London. This sounds like a huge amount of money but ChatGPT told me it’s average. Do you think it’s a lot or is it just realistic? I always failed at food challenges in the past because I think I wasn’t willing to be realistic about how much I actually spend. I’m someone who spends a lot of money on food and alcohol and I basically buy whatever I want despite being on low income so I’d like to reign it in a bit, while still being a foodie. I didn’t plan much this month but I’ve come up to £292.62 today and having to budget heavily for the last week so atm £300 sounds about right. Today I spent 69p on Pride skimmed milk as I’ve run out of budget but have lots of food in the cupboard to last me. Already looking at offers and planning what I’m going to buy early October! Lemon beans and sundried tomato grains for dinner.