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?

im following as well. Someone asked about lunches and I’ve always struggled with that. Until I embraced a 2 2 1 plan for the week. So it’s either 2 egg lunches, 2 soups, 1 meat sandwich, or similar. Really helps me plan. I also discovered freezing bread. Sounds silly. And things like frozen paratha from Tesco.

Deleting shopping app, Next, Debenhams and also Pinterest.

Yeah I usually get a good 5 loafs when I do a weekly shop and throw them in the freezer .
I do have a bread maker maybe I should get it out and dust it off

Popped to shop yesterday as needed some ibuprofen i was so good just grabbing essentials toilet roll, bread , juice still spend £26.00 but I have never ever spent that little so a major achievement.

Feeling a bit bored today as we've been in since xmas day evening but I no as soon as I walk out the door its money spent ,

Might go take the dog for a walk and see the sheep take a coffee with me. Blow the cobwebs out my head and its free

I did no spend on food in December, to empty the freezer and make space for Christmas food and for entertaining. Saved a fortune and the freezer is currently still full. Will need some extras to make things into full meals but I think it can be minimal. I notice a massive difference when uni daughter is home.

Will need to think about new spring/summer clothes due to weight loss but I got most of my new winter ones from Vinted, will do the same.

This year is a fix the house year rather than a holiday year so still spending but mainly paint and soft furnishings - did the kitchen and bathroom recently and the rest just needs a tidy up now, so no big spends.

@CarrierbagsAndPJs that’s a good way of thinking!

I’m definitely in, have a huge bill coming up Jan/Feb and need to regroup.

We always take a thermos of tea and some biscuits from home with us whenever we’re out, it’s saved a fortune over the years. Some hearty soups are my plan, that and not taking my bank card but using cash instead at the shops. Once it’s gone it’s gone.

Good idea. I need to do this. Amazon is just too handy for those ‘wants not needs’, and seeing what I’ve spent on want at the end of the month would probably shock me!

I'm in! Our fridge is running on empty now, so about to shop our cupboards before writing the grocery list.

Goal for January is to afford our car repair bill without dipping in to savings.

I’m in. No clothes for me.

Can you really eat nutritiously on £4 a day? My son had to do menus for that as part of his HE homework once. Just possible for a short time but very, very tight. Eggs and lentils featured heavily.

I think so but you're right that you need to use a lot of cheap protein like eggs, beans and pulses etc supplemented with small bits of cheap meat like chicken thighs or tinned fish. Frozen fruit and vegetables are great, porridge, homemade soups, curries etc. I wouldn't want to do it long term but it's great for a reset.

I do a version of this sometimes when I am trying to cut down on ultra processed food and cut my shopping bill down and I do the 25 item food shop. It takes the thought out of what to buy, it gives me options so it's not the exact same each time, I can get everything from Aldi or Lidl and although it is basic stuff it's really versatile and you can make lots of different meals. If anyone is interested here is my list. I started it after watching a video by The Budget Mum on Youtube and I try to do this every other shop so I'm not tempted to deviate from the list and can start to build up a stock e.g. I have both frozen veg and berries in the freezer as we often don't use up all of them within a week or two:

1. Carrots or Leeks

1. Peppers or courgettes

1. Broccoli, cauliflower or kale

1. Potatoes

1. Onions

1. Bananas or oranges

1. Apples or pears

1. Tomatoes or Cucumber

1. Eggs

10. Bread

11. Butter

12. Cheese

13. Milk

14. Greek yoghurt

15. Minced beef or pork

16. Chicken or turkey

17. Fish or prawns

18. Tinned beans or lentils

19. Tinned tomatoes

20. Rice or dried noodles

21. Pasta or cous cous

22. Porridge oats or Shredded Wheat

23. Frozen mixed veg or frozen berries

24. Nuts or seeds

25. Toilet roll

Im in. Im fortunate that I don't drink coffee, only tea .. and I carry my own tea bags with me everywhere !

I have ran out of my favourite face cream. I've not been without it for over a year, it costs £55 .. I simply cannot justify the cost of it this month .. but to go without it ... (grimace).

Using a voucher I got as a gift to get my gel toes done. Saves me £40. They will last 2 -3 months ish. Cannot bear naked toes and my home polish wears off in days

for adults do one meal a day - it takes a few weeks to crack it. I did it by waiting until I felt hungry to have breakfast - which eventually pushed breakfast to lunchtime. I then dropped breakfast and repeated the same for lunch. I now have my meal for dinner. I never feel hungry now and my shopping bill has dropped even more (I’m vegan and batch cook for the week at weekends)

Count me in

I try to stock up when mine is on offer or if I am in an airport. Boots sometimes do 15% off “premium” brands.

Sign up to their email and you’ll get offers. I also try to go to the same lady in Boots and she gives me free bits sometimes!!

I’m doing a no unnecessary spending year with my sister 😬 I’m absolutely dreading it!

thats £4 per person per day - so if there are 4 of you that would be £112 per week. I can cook a roast chicken dinner for 6 people on a Sunday and include wine, then 4 people for the rest of the week for £112 a week food shopping. I do buy a piece of gammon and cook to use as ham for sandwiches, this will last a couple of weeks. Vegetable soup for lunch and a lot of porridge, bacon sandwiches and croissants for breakfast. Then mince meat made into chilli, cottage pie or lasagna and fish and chips for evening meals.

I think were I save is making meals like chilli con carne and its served with rice, a cottage pie is an all in one meal . I make bread as it is cheaper and homemade soup is really cheap, as is porridge for most of the week with frozen fruit as topping. I do buy chicken drumsticks, they are less than £3 for a tray of around 10, these are also ideal for lunch. if there is only 2 of us for dinner then half gets frozen along with rice etc

@spiritofecstasy I'm intrigued
Can you tell us more ?

I find meal budgeting tricky - dinners are relatively straightforward but how do people plan for breakfasts, lunches and snacks when they don't know what appetites will be and food doesn't really run weekly? It's something I've never really cracked, and I think it's where I waste loads of money. Any tips gratefully received

I find that the easy bit.

My breakfast has been more or less the same for over 20 years either Greek yogurt with nuts and seeds or porridge. Both quite cheap.
We only buy snacks if we fancy something but dont keep them in as a matter of course.

Lunch can easy be made up with staples already in, even if its home made soup and 2 ingredient home made bread, or a simple pasta dish or even revamped leftovers.
If the meal plan is done there's no need to deviate from it unless there's an extraordinary reason.

Essentially, if it doesn’t absolutely have to be spent … we’re not spending it. We have a personal budgeting template/spreadsheet that we’ll be completing and we’ll be checking in with one another once a week. I’m honestly dreading it but we want to take a really big holiday in 2027…which we’ll be using the savings towards.

I spend about £20 a week on shopping in Lidl. I eat healthy and well.

Sales are on though, i,ve just been to two supermarkets got loads of kids clothes, jamas etc to put away for next xmas for pennies, shame to miss the deals while they are there.. includes things like xmas cakes,puds and anythng classed as xmas seasonal

We are using our freezer. We always cook at least one extra portion so have plenty of homemade "microwave" meals. We only need to buy fresh vegetables and milk for several weeks, before we need to do a shop.

I do a no spend February, as January is full of family birthdays and meals out or gifts to buy. I've cancelled my cinema subscription already, then intend to not buy clothes or shoes, only buy essential toiletries and no meals out in Feb. I hate Valentine's so no cost there!

I'm in too. Am in my overdraft 2 weeks after getting paid, and it is getting harder to reign things in.
I have a drink in a cafe every week though as that is part of a support group I attend, and I wont be cutting that out.