July 2014 Grocery Challenge

kate_pixie

I'm in for my second monthly challenge.

I've got a freezer full of batch cooking from June so only really need to get the "bits" this month. I'm in for £50 this month ta.

Will have to alter my shopping habits wildly in order to stop things going off this month. My kitchen is the place fresh veg goes to die!

Best of luck everyone.

elsiepac

Hi all

I'm in for July please at £110 from 26 June to the 24 July inclusive.

I have my meal plan done which at the moment is coming to £112.40 however I should be able to get a couple of bits cheaper on there such as certain veg items.

I have to stick to this this month on pain of death!!!!! :eek:

Good luck all - I'll be back on Thursday after I've done my first July shops

LC x

joedenise

've done my 1st shop for July and spent £36.75 but this included a couple of T-shirts for me, I also had a £6 MOC off £30 spend so GC spend came to £21.75in total. So off to a good start as this included a few bits for the store cupboard, although quite a lot was spent on fresh fruit and veg.

Need to sort out what I have in the freezers to finish my meal plan off for the month - want to use some of the stuff I've already got before adding more stuff. I seem to often put LOs in the freezer because I generally cook for 4 and there are only 2 of us and DH usually has some for his lunch box the next day so not enough for another meal but too much for one.

Denise

fuzzybear01

I'm setting myself a £200 budget this month. Have been tracking a lot over the past few months and have been spending 400-680 a month!!! Trying to save for a house deposit and looking to cut back to bump up the pot!

Have only spent £51.25 so far, compared to £241 by this point last month!

islandhoppa

Can I be in for £300 this month please, did well last month and was under budget so have reduced the budget this month

cw18

Still another week in June for me, but I'm in again for July.

Official budget (for myself and DS1 full time and OH at weekends) is £290.69

The last couple of months I've tried (albeit without success) to stick to an unofficial budget of 2/3rds my official - which would be £193.79 for July

But this isn't going to be a normal month.....

I'm starting off by going away for 13 days from 6th, and don't yet know how I'm catering for DS1 who'll be at home for the first 10 days - though I'm planning on leaving one freezer drawer with enough meal portions for him to defrost & cook through so he can't blame me if he spends up on take-aways Then OH joins me part way in, so he'll be with me for 10 days instead of the normal budgetted for 4 days. While I'm away I don't have easy access to many shops, and the only one within relatively easy striking distance (I won't have transport the first 5 days) is horribly expensive - so if I've not taken something I'm going to have to try and do without, which could mean a very expensive week 1 while I stock up for weeks 2 & 3. I can email OH a shopping list of things I need him to bring when he joins me, as long as it doesn't include anything frozen as he's coming straight from work (has access there to a fridge but no freezer), but we're actually debating getting food hampers for 6 or 8 nights as we're both up for trying new things and it takes away the pressure of meal planning / shopping ourselves even if it does work out dearer.

DS1 will then be away for about a week, so I should really deduct money for that

Then on 25th I have 3 young ladies arriving at my place for a few nights - OH's niece who's rising 4, and my 2 elder GDs (9 and almost 11). His niece is here for 2 nights and my GDs are here for 3, so that's a few extra meals to be catered for (we're going to Liverpool for the day on 26th, and I'm hanging onto my GDs the extra day so I can take them shopping on the Monday for some sturdy trainers to use for walking in the Lakes the week after that - late birthday present for one and slightly early for the other). Also means I've got OH here for a night more than I'd expected.

So that's 7 days less of DS1 than anticipated (and he may hint for a reduction in his keep money)
And 7 days extra of OH - though I know he'll want to chip in something for the food while we're away especially if we go the food hamper route, and will bring his own cereals / sandwich meats / fresh salad for the second week
Then basically 8 days of child feeding (2 days with 3 and 1 day with 2)


So I think I'm going to stick with my original budget, and hope that the extra I need doesn't come in at more than I've been banking from each original monthly budget so far this year....

Which means I'm signing in for £290.69 please


(and the rest of the year isn't looking any easier for budget setting either :eek: )

lushlifesaver

Ok, I'm going to try again after the last 4/6 weeks.

So I am back in with a budget of £25.00 per week please; a change from my usual style but with using the twice weekly market/our small town more I think it makes more sense to do it this way (at least for now)

In light of it now being within my 'acceptable C*******s range' any left over budget will be saved on the Iceland bonus card each week in preparation for the season

It's my birthday this month but I don't plan on budgeting any extra as as far as I'm aware we aren't doing anything special for it food wise. If the weather is fair I may suggest a BBQ at ours or a picnic somewhere nice and we'll just get some meat/party packs in from Iceland

ok...deep breath...wish me luck! will meal plan well in advance and make two versions of the month; one for when bf if bf is not selected for either of July's major tournaments (and is therefore at home) and one for if he is selected - if he's selected he'll only be home 11 days in the month!

PennyGrabber

Hi all! I'll be in for July, with a budget of £93, which is £1pppd, which should be doable given that I have a freezer full of meat and stuff.

I'm still in june atm, but will be back here on the first, and reading daily so in don't fall behind!!

PG x

FrugalWorker

Okay I'm in. First month, and we're not 'stuck' for money, but want to ensure we get best value for our buck! So put me down for Euro 350. I'll for from that towards a smaller long term goal. I'll be working from Thursday till last Thursday in August so a 5 week month.

Really looking forward to this. I know I can keep within this - easily. Can I keep the fridge stocked so OH doesn't feel the need to go out and get 'his food'

mumofthetwins

hi guys
im in for July .. £150

I managed to use loads of my freezer stuff up last month so I will need to replenish these this month so I think I will be closer to budget this month.

Lisa