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July 2017 Grocery Challenge

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  • Florence_J
    Florence_J Posts: 1,942
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    Had to do some top up shopping today, I am much better at sticking to the list when shopping.

    OH and I went to a food festival and as we are doing quite well this month I said we could use some of the food budget wallet funds to buy a treat each.

    We have £33.01 left to last till the 27th, I think we will do it, we have a lot of stuff in the house.
    Debt Free Stage 1 - Completed 27/08/2020
    Debt Free Stage 2 - Completed 50/181 Payments
  • Three of five weekly shops down, and I'm at $670/1100 with $430 left to spend. Which is on target and I do still have a reasonable amount of food in the cupboards and freezer, although not as rammed as it was at the beginning of the month! Wish I could get to Costco and stock up more often but it takes a whole day out of my working week. I've got a whole chicken, plus enough leftover cooked chicken for a laksa, 3 more dinners' worth of beef mince, a bit of pork mince which is enough for Mapo tofu, and 5 good quality pork sausages that I can do in a casserole or something. It won't stretch over the rest of the month but if I can end this week with some of it left that would be good.

    Mr E has just made us a delicious lunch of beef burgers which is very sweet but also that was supposed to be one of my week's dinners, so now I'll have to come up with something from the store cupboard. Love him, but this meat-for-every-meal thing makes it expensive when he's home on holidays.
    MFW diary here. 1 Feb 2017 $229,371 - MFD Feb 2043 :eek: aiming for May 2028
    14 August 2017 - Refinanced: $220,000
    January 2019 $211,580 Current MFD 31 June 2036
  • pamsdish
    pamsdish Posts: 2,585
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    Wanted a bottle of Gin, got chicken thighs, reduced sausage and a celareac, used £11 in vouchers, so £9 spent.
    Do I need it or just want it.
  • Another week has passed by at lightning speed!

    Have slightly reduced my spend this week based on the last two! First time I've taken our food budget out in cash for a long time and it's clear that it burnt a whole in my pocket at the beginning of the month and I'm now trying to be very careful. We also entertained this week for dinner and drinks, so I looked in the freezer to work out what we had before going shopping! This is novel for me as I'm so used to just going to the supermarket and picking up whatever meal I've thought of on the way there! Think I said it last week but I'm definitely learning a lot about how I can reduce my spends, just by doing really simple and probably obvious things - like checking what we've already got in! :rotfl:

    So, with 12 days to go, our spends currently stand at: £352.61/£400, so 47.39 remaining, it's going to be tight but I'm hopeful as I've done a meal plan based on what's in the freezer :)
  • YorksLass
    YorksLass Posts: 1,691
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    edited 16 July 2017 at 2:05PM
    Mr E has just made us a delicious lunch of beef burgers which is very sweet but also that was supposed to be one of my week's dinners, so now I'll have to come up with something from the store cupboard. Love him, but this meat-for-every-meal thing makes it expensive when he's home on holidays.

    :rotfl: I used to have this problem too but since retiring DH doesn't eat as much meat as he used to (probably not expending the same amount of energy!) so meals tend to be a bit more balanced these days. I try to do a veggie meal once a week, fish a couple of times, a salad-y meal and a stir-fry or pasta meal so we're probably having meat only twice a week, three at the most.

    Week 2 finished with a £24.70 spend; £15.35 of this was on Thursday in Sainsbobs where I used two vouchers worth an extra 500 loyalty points on each for a £1 spend. They both expired on the same date so I split the shopping into two piles and paid for each half separately and used both vouchers. That's another £5 on the loyalty card. Oh, and what I bought was needed not "wanted". :D

    Week 3 has so far seen a £17.73 spend in the market and the Co-op who had a few YS items but tbh there wasn't anything I needed/fancied, plus the reductions were very small indeed, so I didn't bother.

    This week's meal plan done and I shouldn't need anything from the shops so hopefully a few more NSDs to come.

    Baking day today - carrot & orange cake, banana loaf and orange & choc chip loaf - using a few more stock items (sultanas, mixed chopped nuts, squishy banana, one orange and chocolate chips).

    £32.70 left in the budget (looking good ;) ) and 9/28 NSDs to date. I'm planning on eating out of the freezer and cupboards for Week 4; if all goes to plan there should be surplus cash left at the end of the month. :D

    Love reading everyone's posts - they really help to keep me on track so thanks all for dropping by. Enjoy what's left of the weekend, I'm off to watch the tennis now and chill for a couple of hours.

    Welcome to simplelivingcottage and elf06.

    Suzywoozy8 - using cash really does make you think about what you're spending and I'm sure your entertaining using what you already had was just as good as if you'd gone out shopping for yet more "stuff". Well done.
    Be kind to others and to yourself too.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
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    edited 16 July 2017 at 5:28PM
    Well, my 'away time' was cut short, went Thursday & got home Saturday. I did get to see the most amazing group - Placebo - never heard of them, but 'wow', totally blown away.

    Spent £5.23 on some wraps, houmous, salad & burger buns and three packs of pitta bread to go with stuff already in stores. I am going to meal plan for the next week and hopefully won't buy much, as I really want to continue working through stores, just want mushrooms, free from salad cream, beetroot, lettuce & cucumber, which will be £3.50. The meal plan will be (ish), but flexible.

    BREAKFAST - Fruit Smoothies - I have blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, mango, grapes, kiwi & bananas frozen.
    LUNCH - Homemade soup - I have Tomato & Lentil, Mushroom & Brown Lentils & Broccoli
    DINNER - Homemade Falafel, Houmous & Salad Wraps
    Sweet Potato, Spinach & Chickpea Curry
    Jacket Potato & Spicy Meat Free Mince with Salad
    Meat Free Burritos with Salad
    Linda Mc Quarter Pounder in a bun with all the trimmings and salad
    Savoury Bulgar Wheat with Meat Free Choriza & Salad
    Stirfry - maybe with vegan quorn

    Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone - have updated sig.
  • PennyGrabber
    PennyGrabber Posts: 1,288 Forumite
    Evening everyone.

    I've managed another nsd today. Seemed weird not shopping on a Sunday, but between church and lunch at a friend's, I was busy the whole time the shops were open! I should do that more often!

    We had roast at my friend's, and I ate loads - it was delish. The ch didn't eat a huge amount though, so we had a picnic tea so they could eat as much or as little as they needed.

    While at church, we gave four tins for the collection, so that's a bit more space too!

    Took some pre-made bolognese portions out of the freezer for the children's dinner tomorrow, and a tub of unidentified stuff for me - possibly beef casserole? Whatever it is, I'm having it with spaghetti!!!

    Nsd planned for tom, don't need anything, as going away next Monday until Friday.

    PG x
    Grocery challenge for family of three - me, dd(12) and ds(11), feeding dp 2 or 3 x a week too. Only food, not toiletries. Jan £87.97/£100 Feb £0/£100
    Frugal 2018 needed! Saving and NOT spending
  • YorksLass wrote: »
    :rotfl: I used to have this problem too but since retiring DH doesn't eat as much meat as he used to (probably not expending the same amount of energy!) so meals tend to be a bit more balanced these days. I try to do a veggie meal once a week, fish a couple of times, a salad-y meal and a stir-fry or pasta meal so we're probably having meat only twice a week, three at the most.

    Yep, this is what I normally do. Mr E cooks on the weekend, so I budget the extravagant meals for Saturday and Sunday (usually a roast and a seafood dinner), then I do a mixture of veg, cheap meat like mince, and storecupboard like tinned tuna patties or pasta. But it's school holidays, and I was trying to catch up on work on a Sunday, and he must have thought "goodness, there is some mince and also a packet of burger buns, those are definitely not already earmarked for a meal I bet".

    Save Dosh, have you really never heard of Placebo before?????
    MFW diary here. 1 Feb 2017 $229,371 - MFD Feb 2043 :eek: aiming for May 2028
    14 August 2017 - Refinanced: $220,000
    January 2019 $211,580 Current MFD 31 June 2036
  • MissLemon
    MissLemon Posts: 112
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    Weekend shopping came to £49.09 so I have spent a total of £129.39.

    The weekend shopping included dog food but I've still got to get him his kibble so fingers crossed I can stay under budget.
    Original MF Date January 2035. MF Date February 2022
  • XSpender
    XSpender Posts: 3,811
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    The frozen whole chicken I defrosted fro Sunday's dinner was grey and stinky so bought a fresh one from Aldi.

    Total is now £287.42/£410 with 2 weeks to go.

    My goal is to use everything up in the fridge and have no waste this week including the veg that is left over from the week before. I should not need to buy anything else until Friday if I can make some sweet treats and a batch of grain free bread.
    Save £10,500 - £2673.77 - 25.5%
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