September 2026 Grocery Challenge

mandco

@navelorange1 welcome there’s no right budget just what is right for you and your circumstances/budget. Aims vary widely and different members include different things within their budget - some are purely for groceries and exclude alcohol or eating out while others like me include pets & household toiletries ect too. Gf or other food requirements can add significant amount to the budget too.
You’ve made a great start by keeping track of this months spend as it will give you a starting point for your personal budget - working out what is an average spend for you means you can chose a realistic budget for your needs then reduce as you go as you get the hang of it and are less likely to give up. I rarely come in on budget but it definitely makes me much more aware if what I’m spending and think twice about those I fancy but don’t actually need or oh it’s on offer so I’ll buy it even though it don’t need it purchases.

Totally lost track of where I am this month but I know I’m definitely over budget though this is due to stocking up on some bulk bulks - took advantage of the sains half price deal on things like ds dairy free butter & cathedral city cheese plus my Asda had whole selection on heavily discounted/clearance free from so stocked up as it’s so expensive normally. Don’t actually need anything else till the weekend and my month starts on the 28th so any shopping then goes onto oct budget so will start fresh then.

LotsOfTea

£24.46 spent yesterday on fruit, veg, a few baking bits and not a right lot else. I still managed to forget to buy gravy granules although we don't use them that often so it can wait.

£155.11/£300

Soontobeoap

Welcome @ navelorange1 . As mandco says, this challenge is for you to try and get your own budget where you want it to be. Some people only count grocery's and not meat. I don't include eating out and we never drink alcohol at home but I do include household items like toiletries and washing powder, fairy liquid etc I have also this year started to include DHs sweet treats which annoy me when he adds them to the trolley. I cannot deny that they come out of the budget though, and even with growing prices my budget has staid within normal realms this year. So I am managing to asjust accordingly. I have been doing it for 4 years now and am still finding new ways to save. This is a very non judgemental forum with lots of great ideas.

Greying_Pilgrim

This is simply to acknowledge credit where it is due and Leedle have put a refund on my app for the damaged/unuseable yoghurt. Going through the app saved petrol, but has taken up more time due to the refund not been made after my initial enquiry. But if you've an issue with a lowish value product, that would cost you more to return than you paid for the product, the app seems like a possible route to CS help - in my (limited) experience.

Greying X

thriftwizard

Hello & welcome, @navelorange1! Don't worry if you think your budget's (currently) unambitious, it's about keeping track & being accountable to yourself at the end of the day. I've been doing this for many years now & it's been an invaluable tool; I know I could spend far less than I do but the overall quality of the food (without going overboard!) and supporting our own local traders & growers are important to me too. When I started, I was feeding 7-8 (including several teenage boys with hollow legs) on one-and-a-bit salaries & was always broke; things are perhaps a little easier for us now, but the challenges are different, with medical needs to cater for.

Close to declaring for September and I'm well under budget ATM; allotment produce has saved us a small fortune this summer despite the challenges posed by the drought! Easily cancelling out the rent, & money spent on seeds etc. though I've also been flogging off the terracotta flowerpots I inherited under the greenhouse trays, which have covered the costs on their own. I do love the look of them, but they really aren't very practical for what I want to grow. I'm very lucky to have the time, and to have a plot just a couple of hundred yards from my home, but it does take up a chunk of my time.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning GC'rs

Grocery spends to declare. I talked myself out of going to our local t3sc0s as I would spend more in getting to/from there than the £2 off a £20 shop would save me. I went instead to our nearest Leedle. I got replacement yoghurt, and one or two other bits and pieces that were needed. Plus I bought decaf teabags, onions and panini rolls (4 for £1 instore bakery), as they were on offer. I bought potatoes and a cucumber because I had money off vouchers, and I bought apples because they were British cox - 99p for 6. In total I spent £11.02 on food. I did buy some wine, but that's a different budget.

I'm away to update my budget.

Greying X

PipneyJane

Hi @navelorange1 and welcome to MSE!

£300 should be do-able but take your time when cutting down, and pay attention to how, where and on what you are spending the money. That’s probably the real secret of the Grocery Challenge: tracking where the money is going and learning from it our own triggers and weak points.

In your shoes, I’d be inclined to split my Social Life Money from my Grocery Challenge budget, say £150 into each pot and keep them quarantined, because it is too easy for a night out to eat up a lot of money and then to discover that I’ve only got £20 left for groceries, when the fridge is empty and there’s two weeks left in the month! (BTDT).

HTH

• Pip

JingsMyBucket

Happy Friday everyone! I’m crawling to the end of this week. On Saturday and Sunday I visited Morrisons, Lidl, and Savers. Savers ended up being nearly £20 when I thought it was going to run me about £8. 

£21.54 at Morrisons for bananas, milk, ham trimmings, 2 for £5 sausages, pork loin steaks, red Leicester cheese, butter, eggs, and a tub of Ben & Jerry’s for Mr. Jings. 

£23.59 at Lidl for avocados, seeded sourdough bakery loaf, 2 cheese twists, fizzy vitamin C tablets, fresh basil, eggs, 4 bags of frozen gyoza (2.99 each), and ramen paste. 

£19.74 at Savers for loads of household restocking of toothpastes, dishwasher salt, shower gel, allergy meds, all purpose spray cleaner, drain cleaner and other items. 

Total £295.42 / £325 spent. £29.58 remaining. 

Well that’s getting awfully close and I know we’ll go over to probably £360 for this month. We need to get some more expensive items like coffee this weekend. 

Let me go start the October thread as well. See you over there in a bit! 

JingsMyBucket

Okay folks, the October Grocery Challenge thread is up 🎃 👻

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6684551/october-2026-grocery-challenge

JingsMyBucket

Welcome @navelorange1, we're glad to have you! Don't worry about your budget seeming large. Sometimes, that's really what it just is, especially with rising costs right now. I echo others' advice especially Pipney Jane's regarding keeping your grocery and eating out money separate. I've been in that situation too where I ran out of money before month due to spending more outside the home.

Budgeting by the week helps me immensely so perhaps try it that way to see if it helps you? So for October you do £200 for groceries (£44/wk X 4.5 weeks) and £100 for going out (£22/wk X 4.5 weeks). Does that make sense? 🙂