A no spend January with limited grocery shopping spend

[MikeRafone]

Im needing a detox from spending for January

Ive cancelled my amazon prime account - for now as I rarely use it until easter so it saves £35

all my bills will go out by direct debit and standing order by 2nd of the month

Im going to set a limit of £4 per person per day for the grocery shopping so £28 per person per week. We have a lot of left overs, some of which im going to freeze for January.

Coffee at home rather than out in a coffee shop, no hitting the sales for stuff no-one else wanted!

Im wanting as many no spend days as possible for January

anyone want to join?

yougov approx 50p (50 points per survey) can get extra by using connections for browsing history amazon shopping netflix paramont disney if you use them; also extra points for linked bank accounts

you don't get messages like you don't fit profile after already doing half survey you get paid for every one, occasionally short 10-25 point surveys

you have to wait until £50 but you can get cash not vouchers you get surveys a few times a week I got 3 payouts last year so £150 not mega bucks
there are only so many surveys so you can't do like 10 a week,

Spend day today at £10.70 for coffees, it was my turn to pay

so running total of £87.16

still eating our way through the freezer, an assortment of soup, bubble and squeak, meat pie and home made pizza to go - probably get to Friday before having to do my first proper grocery shop of 2026

Sorry @Fatmumslim01 I just noticed you asked what I ordered on the food shop.

We eat mostly vegetarian meals which definitely cuts down our spending. Meat is so expensive nowadays! So for example the other night was jacket potatoes and salad. DH and DDs had beans with theirs and I had cottage cheese.

I buy a lot of frozen fruit and veg which is cheaper. Porridge or greek yoghurt with frozen berries thawed overnight in the fridge is a staple breakfast as well as store cupboard meals like pasta or egg fried rice where I can use frozen vegetables.

And at least two nights a week we aim to have very cheap dinners (so the jacket potatoes fit into that) or tonight we're having soup or we'll have something like egg and mushrooms on toast.

So generally eating simpler meals, more pulses and frozen fruit and veg and less meat keeps our food bill down. It is treating ourselves to food out at the weekend that's our issue and that we need to cut back on!

I have t spent a penny since Christmas eve ( excluding usual bills out of my bank account)
Im going to the city on Saturday so that'll cost me my trai fare which is about £13.

I had tuna bean salad for lunch and dinner today. Got some sausages and cooked them for DH with some left over veggies and gravy (from Christmas) from the freezer.
We’ve got pasta with pesto tomorrow night.
I went to Aldi to stock up on biological liquid but they had none - just fancy fragrances which I don’t like (and we can sometimes have reactions to the highly perfumed stuff). I got some proper Persil instead (had to pop into Sainsbury’s too). It does smell so much nicer and stronger than the Aldi stuff. Is it worth buying proper Persil but just using less?

Hello, I’ve been following for ideas and to keep me focused and it’s been incredibly motivating - thank you!

Money is incredibly tight for me this month and will be going forward post separation but I will be ok - as long as I’m disciplined (which is very new concept to me 🤦🏻‍♀️).

Anyway, I’ve been trying to be creative with the contents of my fridge and freezer and cupboards and have found a lot of satisfaction in reducing food waste at the same time whilst still giving my children interesting and varied food options so here is one little contribution to the growing pot of ideas!

For school/nursery snacks for my two children I’ve been making fruit bread (that’s what I’m calling it!) which is like a loaf cake without too much sugar. I slice it up and put in their snack boxes and freeze the other slices. It’s great for using up fruit before it goes off.

• One cup of fruit puree (I’ve used apples, plums and pear so far). But also have added in whole blueberries.
• Half a cup of vegetable oil (I used rape seed)
• Two cups of self raising flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 3 tablespoons of milk
• 2 medium sized eggs
• Two dessert spoons sugar (but you could add more or less depending on taste)
• Tablespoon of desiccated coconut that was left over so not essential.

Preheat the oven to 175. Mix all the ingredients together. Line a loaf tin with paper (mines around 25cm) and put in the oven for an hour. Check around the hour mark with a knife/skewer to see if it’s baked through and cover with tin foil for another 5/10 mins if necessary.

It was based on this recipe that I adapted. And I got roughly twelve decent slices out of each loaf. But you’ll see how you can add in lots of spices and nuts etc but for my children, I kind of knew they’d want something dry and bland 🤦🏻‍♀️ But I will try and sneak in some other nutrient packed bits and keep experimenting!

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/17683/spiced-applesauce-bread/

I hope this might be useful for someone 😊

That looks delicious thank you @SweetMeadow

I havr been keeping up with this thread since the beginning but have not het posted. At the end of every month I am trying to check my accounts and see what I have spent money on. My account has a budget section that tells you how much you have spent in certain categories. In December alone we spent nearly £600 on eating/drinking (not alcohol) out. It is something I have noticed creeping up over the last few months. It happens when I am unable to cook (chronic health issues) and my husband is at work so he is unable to cook.

I am currently doing well and have not paid for any food or drink since the 23rd December. This is huge for me, I am not expecting this to be £0 at the endnof each month as my husband works long shifts and he is not office based. He is pretty good at taking food and multiple drinks to work but with this weather I wouldn't blame him for wanting a hot lunch or needing extra hot drinks.

I spend a a minimum of £250 a week on food and household things.we are a family of 6 with 4 teenagers, 3 being boys who grow like weeds. Currently I am not too worried about trying to bring this down but once I am sorted with my other goals this is something we will make a big push to bring the amount down. We are starting to add less meat to meals and replace it with beans, pulses lentils ect. I also have a child with an eating disorder so my food bill will always be higher as some of the things they need are expensive.

I am enjoying reading what you are all doing and will hopefully try some of your ideas out too!

I’m also in need of thermal tops for Budapest in Feb 🙈🫣😅

I had another no spend day yesterday and also received £5 from an item I sold on Vinted. I should have another £62 coming this month from Vinted sales, I just need to post the last item.

I'm in the office again today so it should be another no spend day as I've prepped lunch to take with me.

Thank you for the recipe @SweetMeadow, I always prefer baking snacks for the children rather than buying from the shop as I'm trying to limit UPFs so more recipe ideas are always useful!

I've failed! I bought some kitchen accessories off Amazon, some clothes in the F&F Sale, a new mat, new tupperware in Aldi, the list goes on....... 😫

£5 top up shop today. Got loads.

Hi, can I join?

Our income is down approx £700pm. We've reduced gas/electric, changed over to a water meter, DH has cancelled a couple of subscriptions - £25pm. DH really isn't very well at the moment, so not up to coffee/lunch/drink/trip out, so that stops us spending money, and has paused his gym membership

I noticed a local petrol station has cut it's prices (others haven't), so I've filled up the car. I'm only buying cat food when it's on offer.

Also, it's just me doing the food shop (no DH getting tempted!) - I've gone through the cupboards to check we use things that are close to use by date, I'm looking for supermarket offers I know we'll use, but trying to make sure there's reasonably healthy food in the house particularly for DH. There's only two of us, I've spent about £46 on food this week, will probably need to get a bit more fruit, milk and some fish in breadcrumbs, then we won't need anything for a few days.

I do want to try and keep up my exercise classes though, as it does me good getting out, also good to keep myself fit and healthy.

All welcome

have you made sure you’ve checked entitled 2 website, worth doing in case you can get council tax relief

Ive had a NSD today!

so 3/15 another 12 to go

£87.16 spent to date

Just £6 today, bus fare to and ftom work.

I took leftovers from dinner last night for my lunch, plus a box of grapes. I also took some coffee bags so made my own hot drinks.

Tomorrow will be the same, just my bus fare. We're having spag bol for dinner tonight so I will cook a bit extra pasta so there will be leftovers for lunch again.

I have a few things in my Amazon basket which I will leave until I have enough in there to qualify for free delivery.

It"s going very well so far!

Still eating through the freezer, have now looked through the cupboards.

found spaghetti so making an anchovy and mushroom relish smith recipe. will need both anchovies and mushrooms

found Thai curry sauce, coconut milk and chickpeas, wondering if there is a curry out of that to be made or put chicken on the list & add noodles I have in the cupboard

have pasta, pesto, garden peas frozen and a piece of gammon with Parmesan

jacket potato and tuna in cupboard

have plenty of flour to make bread but need yeast

so think I have another 12 meals there,

I reckon a small top up shop under £20 will see me though u ntil Tuesday/Wednesday next week

im working Sunday and always get a dinner in a box at the end, yummy take out for free and enough for two - no cooking either

i have got a Sainsbury shop in my trolley ready for meal prep. It’s £71 so far and that should easily do 2 weeks

have a few things in my Amazon basket which I will leave until I have enough in there to qualify for free delivery.

do you get it delivered to locker local to you for free?

I have two things in my basket

silicon large muffin tray - for making breakfast egg bites
2 square pillow cases in white

i shall next week if i want them, i need to add a birthday present fir a 4 year old boy, any ideas?

Yes I find local locker is usually free delivery as long as you dont select the faster date. I always do this anyway as delivery drivers can never find my house.

Food shop today was £80.36 against a planned spend of £80, I also spent £5 on things i didn't need in the Asda sale.

Nsd yesterday taking me to 5/12.

Well done everyone! Feeling that I need to confess my spends on here has saved me a couple of times!

I have spent another £37 in the past few days. Mainly food but it did include 2 pots of tete a tete bulbs from supermarket. Yes it was an impulse spend and not a "need" but I'm trying to not make this a miserable experience.

So in total this year I've spent £113 which includes 2 presents and £6.39 on "treats" for myself.

@Ithinkthisisthelasttime yuor food budget is reasonable Uk average is 35-45 person per week which for 6 is 210-270 so you're in the middle, teenage boys probably eat more than an adult woman anywy

Today is food shop day...just over £23 as I only bought the needs/essentials instead of being on auto pilot and buying repeat items of what I already have.

Also taking this time to think about what I buy as I could do with making some better food choices and hopefully losing a few pounds stone along the way.

@theressomanytinafeysicouldbe don’t worry. Just brush yourself off and try again. 🙂

Just checking in.
So far this month I’ve spent £242 on groceries. Hopefully won’t need to buy anything next week or if we do it will be very little as I did a huge restock shop. I aim for £650/month which is £108.33 per person so around £3.50 per person per day (in a 31 day month). Hard to say exactly though as I do buy some toiletries and cleaning stuff in the supermarket.

£27 on monthly yoga subscription.

I’ve ordered a new cushion cover as one of mine disintegrated in the wash. £12.99

I’ve spent £34 on gum treatment stuff as my gums are receding badly due to over brushing 😳. I hope it helps.

We spent £100 on a new bike for ds for his birthday.

I’ve cancelled some subscriptions and delayed others until we actually need them-forgot to delay the veg box though and did a big shop so now we have A LOT of veg to eat! We do get through it though with 6 of us so it won’t be wasted.

I need to buy more supplements. That will be £25 for 3 months supply. I know lots of people say they don’t do anything and I’m just making expensive wee but I do feel a difference when I take them.

This weekend will be expensive as I’m away with friends and will be eating out and having a few drinks but that’s planned for spends. I think I said before we have lots of trips and mini breaks booked for this year so not trying not to spend on things like this, just to stop the mindless spending and buying of crap.

No random or unconsidered purchases so far ✅

Really? I feel like I’m doing very well then! I need to show dh this next time he complains how much we spend in the supermarket!

A planned spend day today as I'm getting my hair cut and coloured. I pushed it back by a month but that's as far as it can go before I look like a badger.

I'm up to £236 spent on groceries so far in January - family of four including two teens/almost teens who eat like adults.

How often do you all shop for food? I seem to be going every other day. I spent £84 in Aldi on 5th Jan and then £40 yesterday with a £12 Tesco top-up shop in between, Is that normal? Maybe I need to spend like £150 in one go?

I think food shopping/groceries are a big overspend for us so would love some tips on how you all manage it please.