October 2026 Grocery Challenge

Greying_Pilgrim

👋 to @debtfreewannabe321 - every penny i manage to shave off the grocery spend is getting hoovered up by the car repairs fund it seems to me! We bought a 'new to us' car as the old one was costing more in repairs than it was actually worth….. however, the new one has already cost us £££'s in repairs…… ☹️

Greying X

debtfreewannabe321

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82175729#Comment_82175729

Oh no that sucks I'm so sorry @Greying_Pilgrim I once bought a little runaround I was so excited as it was cheap and seemed to work well. I paid £2k for it. Four years later I'd spent £4k fixing it 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ we were living on pasta and beans on toast to pay for the darned thing.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning GC'rs

I've grocery spends to declare. I managed to spend just over £30 in Leedle, and so qualified for the £5 voucher. I didn't think I was going to do it, and then when they were oos of this and oos of that, I definitely didn't think I'd do it. However, £25.33 spent in there in the end.

I then went to 'omebarginz and spent £3.99 on peanut butter and apples. Then I ended up in Sainsbugs, and spent £8.70. I had a MyNP for cheese, and I noticed as I walked into the store that they had (brown) onions on SEL NP, at half price - so 47p a kilo (I think), so I picked up a couple of bags.

In total on food I spent; £38.02. I'm reasonably pleased with that as there were a couple of bits and pieces for the hols.

There were some green boxes in Leedle, but the 'careful curator' had been assigned the task of filling them again, and they clearly don't think that the boxes should offer any more than £2 of 'display price' veg 🙄I'm not sure any were bought the whole time I was in the shop. They seem intent on offering 48 boxes of 3 items, instead of perhaps 24 boxes of 6 items, or 16 boxes of 9 items or whatever. Not a real bargain anymore.

Greying X

K9sandFelines

£12.37 in Aldi spent

Went in for yeast extract and orange juice, which I got ....

However, ...... there was a load of fruit and veg reduced 50%, so I grabbed two punnets of strawberries (as DGD) is here tomorrow and loves them. Whatever doesn't get eaten or spoils I'll make into a shortbread crumble. I also got two loaves of bread with 30% off, avocados and two bags of mixed peppers with 50% off ( will be chopping and freezing them once I've got some gaps in the freezer). Garlic and onions were on super 6, and I got some onion granules to make seitan (onion powder is cheaper but clumps together and actually I don't use it enough, so this will do).

Now got to last 20 days with about £29 left. I should be able to do it in theory if I stay out of the shops! I have enough of everything.

K9sandFelines

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82171704#Comment_82171704

Would it be an idea to look at places like Peeko, Iwonderwhat'snext (there's also another new one with Panda in the name) and the likes to stock up on treats and drinks 🤔?They normally have loads of these things discounted. You could store them away somewhere out of arms reach, for the "let's just go to the corner shop "moments?

Greying_Pilgrim

10p spend added to my totals. Went to the PO and called in to the (regional) co0perative on the way and found some punnets of baby tatties reduced to 10p each. There were 2, but one had green and scabby tatties in it, so I just got the one.

Greying X

RedRose61

Another trip to Aldo to pick up fresh fruit and veg, cleaning materials and food for the meal plans. I spent £59.69.
Only £5.08/£270 left!
No bargains today and I didn’t even put my nose into M*rrisons because I knew that I would be tempted by any offers.
There will definitely be an overspend this month but I’ll try to keep it down as far as possible.
I have learnt this month that the current budget doesn’t stretch to my five weeks months if I’m still trying to eat fairly healthily. I will definitely be factoring that in for the coming months.
I can see that we will be having some very creative meals for the next nine days! 😊

debtfreewannabe321

I've got a small shop to add; I spent £14.18 on a few basics and loo rolls oh and antihistamines which I get from SM so use grocery budget to buy.

Total £313.59/£500