November 2026 Grocery Challenge

Blackcats

I'm currently full of enthusiasm to have a low-vember for groceries. The freezer is rammed full and the cupboards are well stocked. I'm basing meal plans on using up and not buying new. The last shop of October happened yesterday and we have all the fresh fruit, veg, milk etc until this Thursday. It feels like a head start for a good month ahead. I've kept the budget the same and will aim for an underspend.

£400 for November please

Greying_Pilgrim

Ooooooh, @Blackcats - 'low-vember', like it, like it - gonna nick it as me mantra. Ta 😘

£143 for November 1st -30th for 2 adults and 1 child please

@JingsMyBucket - I'm going mean, lean and low…… I sound like a hot-rod rather than a supermarket consumer! 🤣 But thank you - as always - for putting in the hard work to keep this thread going. It is super-appreciated.

Why am I going to try to get groceries for nearly 1/2 my usual grocery spend? Well, I have vouchers that total nearly £60 to spend in sainsbugs, and I have coupons for MrT that would give us £7 off a £60 spend (in total over 3 weeks). So in "theory" I'm allowing £60 spend in sainsbugs, £53 - £60 spend in toscos and I'm allowing a minimum of £20 for Leedle - but anything I shave off the toscos shop, can be put in the Leedle pot if that makes sense. Plus in theory I have nearly £3 left over from October - in fact, I'll lob that into November's pot too - £143.

We will not starve, as the cupboards and freezer are heaving, and if - at any time - anyone of us is in danger of being extremely hungry, or having a health episode, then naturally, I will up the budget. But at the moment, I want to see how far I can make our food stocks and vouchers/coupons stretch. It's not like there aren't some big bills looming around the corner in terms of electrickery bills or clothes for a growing child, so any penny saved, will be put to work elsewhere.

Greying X

Finstickle

a few spends so far this week:

£2.25 - Stock cubes in B&M, not sure if it was actually a bargain

£16.70 - veggie bits in Sainsburys that Lidl don't sell, so bought quite a lot

£12.99 - refill on the soda stream, this should reduce the soft drinks i buy so taking as grocery challenge

£43.65 - Lidl, so many vegetables, i hope they last okay

Still need to pop to Tesco to get paneer. i thought Lidl would have it so didn't check sainsburys which I am annoyed about! i also need drain cleaner which is the same.

Current total:

£111.89/£350

Linda32

Hello all,

Joining in after a long time away.

I haven't added up but I bet I spend about £450 per 4 weeks. I'm paid every 4 weeks and that is how I budget.
"This month" runs from Saturday 31st October to Friday 27th November.

This month will be looking at prices (which I think I do anyway) and seeing how much is actually spent. Then in future months trying to reduce.

wishus

Spendy day today.

OH was cooking and the bean sprouts he bought had rotted, so we had to go to the posh W shop because he didn't trust Aldi to have them. Then he wanted a vegetable oil I didn't have, so I had to pop to the shop again for him. Over £54 spent.

Logged spend for the month so far £78.06.

debtfreewannabe321

Morning all,

We did our first shop of the month yesterday.

DH went for me (firstly he won't deviate off a list ever so it's cheaper 🤣 but secondly I've been having awful anxiety going SM shopping lately so he offered for that reason too).

Spends -

Lidall- £48.08, £6.72 (he forgot a couple of bits, or more accurately I did off the list and as I said he will not deviate lol)

MrT - £82.27

I load up a gift card for MrT every month as I get a BL discount of 4% for there. It actually runs out end of this month so I hope to get It loaded for December's budget too. We also had another £5 off voucher for Lidall.

Once DH was home I did a huge session of bulk cooking and we've now got -

• Six mince pies frozen (we may have had two each yesterday as we did have twelve lol)
• Twelve individual mock chicken and veg pies. (Just need to add chips or mash and veg on the day this will do 4 dinners for three of us)
• Two shepherd-less pies (we had one yesterday- two dinners)
• Five spag bol/ chilli bases (we'll add chilli beans if we want chilli otherwise use as spag bol- five dinners here just need spaghetti or rice depending on how we eat it).
• Ten portions of Vic sponge frozen individually. (This saves me runs to the shops when I'm wanting a sweet treat and then spending way too much on rubbish I don't need).

I'm exhausted now so rest day today 🤣.

Total spends so far for November - £137.07/500