September 2026 Grocery Challenge

mandco

1st shops of the month total = £229.74

Tesco £77.49 pet shop £17.50 Aldi £28.15 sains £35.25 Iceland £21.52

Morrisons £42.84 - don’t usually get here but we were out and there was one nearby and I had a 10% cash back offer also re signed up to the reward scheme as couldn’t get it to work and got a £5 off my next shop voucher.

Costco went in to pick up a cake for ds birthday was really strict as didn’t really need anything so the only other thing I brought was some chocolate panda biscuits on offer at £6.99 for lunchboxes

it adds up quickly even when the shops individually aren’t that expensive

@library0602 I already started my X@@@ food stash last month I add try to a couple if bits a month and take advantage of any 1/2 price or bogo offers on things I’d be getting anyway.

mandco

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82116744#Comment_82116744

that’s a great idea especially for lunches (the boys would say it’s not enough as a main meal) if I can find any decent spuds.

Greying_Pilgrim

80p to declare as first spend of September.

I had a (extra) £1 off voucher in the BH offer from The c0op, so given I had no milk voucher this Monday in my offers, I decided to put it towards milk. I was a bit confused that a (blue) co0p was shown on a road in our town, which I know already has a 'regional' co-operative. Anyhoo, it all became clear when we realised it was part of a petrol station complex on the edge of the bypass - and we needed fuel for the car/were passing, so called in.

Something that I learnt - the cashier was very patient with me - was that as they are a franchise, rather than a c0op in its own right, they can scan your card/app, but to make the offer work, they need the (long) number that is at the bottom of the offer page. This was all new to me - but I'm glad the cashier explained, as it meant I paid 80p for 4 pints of milk, rather than £1.80.

September's up & running…. 😱

Greying X

Soontobeoap

£79.00 spent in Sainsbury's today on named brands that were on offer. So a little bulk buying happened on half spoon sugar, flora buttery and lacto free cheese amongst other things. Also treated us to 2 bags of whole tail scampi which was half price at £3.50 a bag. Never buy it at full price now.we are away at the weekend and all food has been paid for already as part of the bowls tour so that's me for a week.

leftatthetrafficlights

First spends of the month - bubble bath, kitchen roll, washing up liquid, toothpaste and loo bloo.

£6.67/£350

TravelCrystal

Good morning

A nice drop of rain to start the day

Ocado delivery coming shortly which will total at £67.21

For that I have the months worth of fresh fruit and vegetables, frozen berries, bacon, mushrooms, rock salt, crème fraiche, biscuits, chips, mango chutney, bread flour, liquid detergent, milk, herbs, eggs and frozen prawns.

Including the wine and Lidl’s shop from before total so far this month is £205.34

Shouldn’t be too much more, famous last words, we are away for 3 nights at the end of the month before the new kitty 🐈‍⬛ arrives and haven’t decided how much housekeeping will contribute.
Hope everyone has a good month.

T.C

JingsMyBucket

Budgets updated to here!

Morning folks, and welcome to September. Welcome to the new people and to the returners, thanks for all the thanks. You make maintaining this thread really fun. ☺️

I still need to tally up the end of my August budget because we went over with just a couple days left. I'll adjust our September budget accordingly, probably by ratcheting it down around £30.

Soontobeoap

Thank you @JingsMyBucket for the thread.it.is helping.with my .determinatiom.to.stay inside last year's target. Just when I think that I am running out of ideas someone else will pin point an amazing.offer or come.up with another tip.

£40.00 spent today in M and S using gift cards so no money spent. Mainly boughtimce ,bacon and chicken for bulk meal making when we get back.feom our weekend away. Treated us to a M and S haddock fish cake each for dinner tonight too..

mandco

Had to make a Trip to the opticians today as I got grit in my eye - meant a trip to the pharmacy to get drops/ointment my local didn’t have them so ended up in Sainsbury’s as it was the next closest not counting the nearly £30 the eye treatments cost

£17.19 spent on Bread, ham, carrots, bananas, greens for the buns, cat treats - these were labelled as 2 for 1 but going through at 3 for 2 so took a while to get that sorted, 4 x chorizo crumble 2pk on offer at a bargain £1 down from £2.75 and a bar of chocolate. Also picked up some batteries for the video doorbell from Argos but not sure if should I include those or not?

£246.93/£800

Greying_Pilgrim

Nothing to declare spends-wise, but are T3sco's feeling the pressure a bit? DH had some CC coupons through the post today - and I've noticed that they are also replicated on my account (our accounts are linked) - for the 4 weeks of September, £3 off a £20 spend x1 and £2 off a £20 spend x 3. We don't tend to shop much at T3sco much anymore, but it may well be worth seeing if we could make it work. The usual suspects (ie tobacco/infant formula/alcohol/phone-top ups etc) are not allowed, but to be fair, that still leaves scope.

I won't be getting the 200 points for a £35 spend in Leedle this BH weekend (valid until today), as I think I would struggle to spend that much in a shop this week. Our cupboards are full, and whilst we need fresh bits and pieces, I'm not going to spend £35 just for the heck of £2 in points.

I recognise that not everyone has access to different stores, and we're lucky in that respect, but at least the T3sco offer comes at a time when sainsbugs has gone off the boil offers wise.

It's a big fandango though, isn't it? And a very thin line between "financial savings" on goods and spending more time on offers/petrol driving between stores than you actually 'save'. Not a new concept, but something we have to at least consider when watching the pennies.

Greying X