Midway through my £100 grocery challenge

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Well, here we are. It is the middle of the month already and I thought I would give you a little update on my £100 grocery challenge.

I should point out that I am in a fortunate position where I’m not doing this challenge because we can’t afford food. I think it is important for us to start working on meal planning, batch cooking and using the slow cooker more again.

This is also a fantastic way to give me the boost that I need to get back in the kitchen and cook more from scratch! There really are HUGE savings to be had!

Note: This is a challenge we completed back in 2016 but this post has been recently updated.

I have received a Gousto box this month, for free, with 2 meals in. This was a lovely treat but obviously, I wouldn’t have been able to buy this within my £100 grocery challenge or I would have had to cut back a little more.

I also had a number of items already in the freezer including meat, fish and a nice selection of vegetables from our allotment.

I’m not saying that it is possible to feed your family for £100 every single month, however, I think some months £100 is achievable as I know I’m often guilty of building up a stockpile of fresh items and frozen food that then needs using up.

What have we been eating?

So far this month we’ve enjoyed a slow cooker beef chilli, I’ve used my stand mixer to make bread, pizza dough and soft white rolls and have been using these tips to avoid overspending

When visiting our local supermarket I’ve been sure to think about whether we really NEED something.

I have made one or two purchases that weren’t strictly necessary and weren’t groceries, but I have included them within my total so far because I wouldn’t have bought them without visiting Sainsbury’s!

Our total spend so far:

So far I’ve spent £51.34. As we aren’t quite halfway through the money I’m not sure how we will do for the last 17 days. So far I’ve spent money on fresh fruit, salad, meat, fish, a little alcohol, nappies, cat food & treats, drinks and two deodorants. I think this is a respectable amount so far. I also purchased a pair of leggings, in the next size up, for Daisy. They were reduced to just £1.25 so were a great price and I would have needed them in a few weeks anyway.

I’ve been able to pay for my groceries using the gift cards that I ordered from a gift voucher marketplace. I paid £97 for £100 of Sainsbury’s gift cards so if I get to my £100 really I’ve got £3 more that I could use and still come within the target I’ve set myself.

How is the £100 grocery challenge going for us?

I think this £100 grocery challenge has gone really well so far. We’ve been thinking more about purchases and we’ve also been cutting down on impulse purchases too.

So far this month I’ve bought no crisps, chocolate or junk food of any description. We didn’t have any in the house from last month either so this has been good in terms of being healthier.

We did buy £4 of alcohol but that is a typical monthly amount as I don’t drink much and it was a nice treat after a hard week.

What about takeaways?

We have had one takeaway this month, however, this was a treat from my Mum and not something that we would have bought otherwise.

It didn’t cost us any money and the dinner we had planned for that night we just enjoyed the following evening.

Do you want to join in with the £100 grocery challenge?

I hope that reading my post has inspired you to look at ways you can cut back on groceries. Perhaps you could try a £100 grocery challenge, or even a £200 grocery challenge depending on the size of your family.

There are lots of ways to cut back on groceries. My favourite ways are batch cooking, meal planning, cooking from scratch and using the slow cooker.

A combination, or even just one of these, is a great way to shave pounds off your weekly shopping bill.

If you want you can skip right ahead to my £100 grocery challenge results and see how we got on!

Are you living on £100 a month for groceries? 

I’ve got a few more posts that may help you, such as tips to save money on fruit & vegetables, unusual money saving tips and also lots of ways to make and save money online. 

I’d suggest looking at making a little extra money too, and completing some paid surveys, matched betting, taking part in paid focus groups, mystery shopping and more! 

If you’re looking for some inspiration then be sure to check out these posts:

• Toppings for chips
• Movie mix
• Sides for fish and chips
• Cheap banana bread recipe
• Onion gravy recipe

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