September 2026 Grocery Challenge

thriftwizard

Reeling slightly after a quick trip down to L1d!s - £86.78 spent on what I'd thought would be about £65… I did get two twin-packs of the Gold coffee though, which worked out £1 cheaper then getting 4 single packs (I.e 50p per twinpack) but really we only needed one pack! However, it'll store, and works out much cheaper than either the pods (which we were using with the "old" coffee machine) or w8rose's filter coffee, so it's not all bad. But everything seemed to have gone up a bit, except butter.

Another one here with an OH who cuts doorsteps of bread & slabs of cheese! Sadly he's decided that that means he should only eat supermarket sliced loaves, which saves him the bother of slicing plus the crusts won't damage his teeth… sigh! He's not having any truck with this microbiome stuff…

Sooo… about £75 per week left, for the next 3 weeks. Tight, but do-able. No guests currently expected, except DS3; anyone with any spare time is going to head up to Pembrokeshire to greet the newest family member!

LotsOfTea

Another spend today of £4.95 as I had to post a parcel near the refill shop and so I took the containers with me and got the bits I needed a bit earlier than I would have otherwise.

Now at £28.70/£300

TravelCrystal

Just back from a long lunch out with a couple of girlfriends and called first in to Aldi, no luck so Lidl’s for full fat Greek yogurt, still £1.49 so I bought 5 and pate at 69p, utterly butterly at .99 and a Ys tiger @ £1.19, treat for D.H, thick slices 🤭 total £10.32 bringing September so far to £215.66

T.C

K9sandFelines

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82129250#Comment_82129250

You're welcome. The best deal was Just€at but I had so many bad experiences with them refusing to refund missing items, that I stopped using them.

The others seem to be much better, and although you do have to factor in fees; it's still a good deal. Especially if you can't/ don't want to physically go out. I think as the bad weather ensues, it will be very useful.

I hope you find some bargains on Monday or one of the Mondays 😊!

Soontobeoap

Home from weekend away and quick trip to Aldi to stock up on basics. £14.91 spent.

Suffolk_lass

@Greying_Pilgrim there's an offer at Morries for some of their "The best" stonebaked pizza and ice cream - I recommend the Marguerita with Chocolate ice cream x2 for £10. I can't remember if it is only online…

They also had pears, easy peelers and something else (maybe grapes or small apples) in Disney bags - normally £1 but 5p with the loyalty card.

I remember you saying you occasionally go for protein; dried lentils or beans? and the offer for the pizza and Ice cream is until 2027

Suffolk_lass

I succumbed to the stock-up/hoarding press reports of impacts on supply chains and bought lots of store-cupboard staples. I have blown our September ambition of £150 but we will use some on hols (leaving mid-week next week until the end of the month. I might move some to October as they are definitely not for this month. I'll hang fire on jiggling to the bottom line at the moment as there are bits to move around.

Right, off to freeze cheese and mayonnaise (I bought a 5L bucket for the big BBQ and have decanted it into 1 litre boxes) - nobody has mentioned whether it freezes but I will report back in due course. Oh, and homegrown produce. That needs prepping and freezing too

Greying_Pilgrim

Thank you @Suffolk_lass - at present I don't have a m0re card - but never say never, as I seem to be collecting loyalty cards like billy-oh 😂

I've done a food shop today. I went to 4 shops 😱 as it made a round trip to justify going to the (blue) co0p to get milk using vouchers. So 45p spent on milk. Next stop was Aldee for cereal bars and school lunch bits - plus I got a bag of wonky carrots and some easy peelers (S6) so ended up spending £8.51 in there. Next stop was Leedle. I don't know if it was just our branch, but they'd reduced the BNS's (PoTW) by 73% - I think it was 29p(??) a kilo so I did get another one. It's not my favourite vegetable, but I actually thought that was a good offer, so I indulged. Everything else was stocking up bits bread, coffee etc. £17.00 spent. Then I landed up in Sainsbugs. I made whoopee with a NP on the cheese I buy and got 4 blocks. Whilst it can sit happily in the fridge (good until November), I shall be experimenting with freezing to see what works for us. I've done grated for cooking before, but I want to try blocks/slices for sandwiches etc. I noticed that whilst there was 3for2 on the frozen veg, prices are creeping up - Frozen broccoli is now £1.16 a bag, and a yoghurt I buy on offer (only) is now £1.75 NP, whereas it had been £1.50 when on NP. I did buy some frozen ginger cubes and frozen garlic cubes as they were NP'd to half price - 75p a pack. £30.11 in total spent and I got triple points for spending over £30 on my shop. Total spend today across all 4 shops was £55.96.

A little more spent than I intended, but then £15 or so was on cheese - which can't be a bad thing, can it? 😂

Definitely noticing prices creeping up though - I know someone on here mentioned noticing the same thing in T3sc0s ☹️

Away to amend my siggie figgie

Greying X

JingsMyBucket

Evening all, just one spend to declare this week so far. Yesterday I went to the Premier corner store and got some frozen aloo paratha for £1.59. I got some snacks too but I’m taking those from a different budget… 🤫

Total £99.81 / £325 spent. £225.19 remaining. 

Nelliegrace

September budget for two pensioners at £5 a day, £150.

DH shopped for me, M&S Fresh soup, chicken, vegetable, grain and broth, £2.90, and an almond croissant, £2.60, comfort eating.

£5.50 spent.

He went across to Aldi for Aldi milk £1.65 X 2 and bought himself caramel shortcake £1.55.

£4.85 spent.

Normal service will be resumed sometime in the near future. I have informed DVLA I am not driving at present, and halted my Leisure Centre membership until the new year, funny the things you worry about at 3 a.m.

£56.37 spent.