September 2026 Grocery Challenge

navelorange1

Thanks guys :)
When you split it up (£44/wk X 4.5 weeks) and £100 for going out - £300 doesn’t seem a lot for GF + alcohol in London. I could spend more if I’m honest!
Not been feeling too well today. Had a no spend today. Had peas and plain rice for dinner on account of feeling unwell. Planning to spend my last £1.30 on x1 microwave white rice and 3 bananas tomorrow.

RedRose61

Three shops to declare over the past week. Earlier this week I popped into M@rrisons to get some fresh tomatoes. I ended up picking up some Y/S pork steaks, reduced to £4.40. I’ve separated them into portions and put them in the freezer. I also bought a tub of Quality Street for my Christmas Cupboard. A bit early I know but I like to spread out the spending. They were on a More Card saving and so they were £4.95. Spent £11.79 in total which just shows that I should try to stay out of the shops because I am easily tempted!

Yesterday I spent £18.92 in Aldo, just the usual grocery items and no bargains. Then across to M@rrisons for all of the other shopping for the meal plan. Managed to get some Y/S cooked chicken £0.96, broccoli and cauliflower £1.01, lettuce £0.35. They had a deal on Options Hot chocolate for £2.85 and so I picked some of that up too. Oh, and a Christmas pudding for my Christmas cupboard. Total £38.96.

A grand total for the week of £72.67.

£88.52 budget remaining.
I’ve still got my coffee delivery and I really need to stay away from the shops. I’m not impressed with this moth because we were away for a week. It just shows you how tempting it is just to sneak in a few extras when popping in for one item!

PipneyJane

@navelorange1 you need to learn the “Rice Trick”. In a lidded saucepan, combine 1/3 cup white rice with 2/3 cup boiling water. Bring back to the boil and boil for 1 minute. Put the lid on and switch it off. Leave for 15 minutes and it’ll be ready to eat, with all the water absorbed. Much cheaper than microwave rice AND it will have a much smaller risk of cross-contamination.

Are you able to eat other grains? Quinoa for example? This method works perfectly for quinoa too. (If you weren’t gluten free, I’d suggest trying Bulgar Wheat, which has 8 times the protein and 4 times the fibre of brown rice. The rice trick works for that too.)

• Pip

JingsMyBucket

Afternoon folks. @navelorange1 yeah, the £300 / month doesn’t actually look like much to me when you’re factoring in eating out in London every month. That said, I’m not sure what stores you have around you. Maybe if you list out supermarkets and greenmarkets / resources in your area or routine, then we can help you. 

For instance, when I lived in London, I was around the corner from a Lidl and I would also head down to the big super Tesco in my part of Brixton along with all the fruit and veg markets down there too. When leaving work in central London I would also stop into Waitrose at times to top up on fruit, yoghurt, and 3 for £10 meat. I used to also get an Abel and Cole delivery every couple of weeks. I have a different routine in my small town in Scotland now so that has affected my budget accordingly. 

Share as little or as much with us as you want. Again, we’re a friendly and helpful bunch. 🙂

I did a short round of shopping today earlier this afternoon. 

£13.97 at Savers for toilet paper (4.49), Listerine (2.99), YS vitamins (2.00), spray antiperspirant (2.00), and clothes washing machine sanitizer (2.49). 

£25.64 at M & S for bananas (1.20), clementines (2.80), YS continental meats (1.56), YS olive ciabatta rolls (1.53), 350g extra mature cheddar (2.60), 1kg Greek style yoghurt (2.00), sparkling apple drink (1.25), 3 cans of baked beans (1.20), coffee beans (4.75), tea bags (1.40), coconut milk (1.10), 1kg basmati rice (2.00), and a chicken tikka samosa for my lunch (2.25).

Total £335.03 / £325 spent. £10.03 overspent. 

Tomorrow will be the Morrisons and Lidl shopping trip then I should be done for the month. This month has been more expensive because I was relying on prepared foods especially on Friday evenings to just make it through. This contract has me shattered all the time and I’m not able to cook as much at the end of the day. I should be finishing it mid-next week so can take better stock for October and do some proper meal planning and batch cooking to stock the freezer. 

navelorange1

Thanks for all your help!
I typically prefer low effort cooking and I’m calorie counting atm so it’s easier to spend a bit more on single portions of rice, yoghurts, crisps rather than getting cheaper family bags. I decided to spend some of October’s budget today as I went into Sainsbury’s to get my rice and bananas and they had something I really wanted on offer! I’ve already spent £20 of next month’s budget! For today’s spend I spent 55p on white rice and 34p on 3 small bananas (surprised at how cheap they were).
I tend to shop at Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and M&S, and occasionally Aldi, even more occasionally Lidl. I’m planning to move borough in a month and so should be closest to Waitrose, M&S and Lidl, then further out Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Aldi. So I can technically go to almost any supermarket but I tend to go to the 3 closest. I don’t really shop online. Tempted to do a Christmas shop from Ocado but that will be £££.
Still feeling a bit unwell so for dinner had tuna, rice and veg.

My total is £299.59/£300.

K9sandFelines

Hi navelorange1

Welcome to the board.

I haven't had chance to come on and update spends. Things have been a bit hectic here.

I did a stock up from Farmfoods;but I'm adding it as I open it, as most of it won't be used until after Oct 13th, when I start my next month's challenge.

Farmfoods - 99p edamame and £1.33 for frozen peaches (I wouldn't buy these again as they are a bit tasteless)
‌IWWN - 3.99 for chia seeds 1kg
‌Ald! £6.17 - lettuce, tomatoes, herbal tea and food bin liners.

Total spends £12.48

merida88

Hi GC-ers,

I've had eyes off the budgets this month, but just been in and updated my spreadsheet. Currently at £300.96 / £500 with 6 days to the end of my grocery month. TBH I think I'm only under budget because we were away for some of September. I expect October will be more challenging, plus we are due a costco shop which is always a bit dangerous!

Time to do a meal plan for this week - I feel like I have tonnes in stock so just need to combine them together somehow…

merida88

Oh random question for the challengers - has anyone ever tried making orange cordial? We (well, OH) really likes the M&S orange squash - it doesn't have as much artificial sweetener as a lot of others (more sugar, but he's pretty active so a bit of sugary squash is not the end of the world). However it is constantly out of stock… so I was pondering about making a cordial… is this a mad idea?

joedenise

Just googled and came up with this: https://www.google.com/search?q=making+orange+cordial&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari&safe=active

Any good?

thriftwizard

Declaring for September at £375.07/£450, which I am pleased with. Now toying with figuratively tucking that into a "family contingency" kitty, as I know we will have all 14 of us here for a few days towards the end of October & that might just come in handy!