June 2017 Grocery Challenge

Skintmama

Pennygrabber - Thank you for those ideas, they sound great. I need to get a bit more confident with cooking large roasts. The initial cost tends to put me off and I worry that I might spend a lot of money on a hunk of meat that is tough. Your suggestion of slow roasting it would be the way to get around that :T

elsiepac

Lost receipts but I know I spent a further £5.36 on a few veggies bits.
Stuck to my meal plan except for Friday night as my friend was coming over and she's obsessed with my soups (she doesn't cook much lol) so I said I would do her potato and leek... I didn't want to buy leeks so I used what I had which was red onion. Had to buy stock cubes though and parsley as I love it. It was fine, I just pushed back the other meals as I'd had tonight down as leftovers anyway, so I'm no worse off.

The best part is... after months of talking about it... I DEFROSTED MY FREEZER!!! YES! Can't believe how nice it feels to have it clear of all the carp I'd accumulated, but knowing that I did use up everything useful. Look at the beauty for inspiration lol:



I'm declaring out now and heading into July. £179.03 / £150

So, over again but not a ridiculously crazy one like I was doing. I do feel like I'm a lot more in control. Obviously still got work to do though!




................................£150 Budget
Date.......Shop......Amount.....Remaining
26 May.....Ocad0.......£45.31....£104.69
26 May.....Co-0p.......£01.60....£103.09
26 May.....Superdrug...£08.32.....£94.77
26 May.....Lush........£06.25.....£88.52
26 May.....M&S.........£05.00.....£83.52
26 May.....A1di........£01.10.....£82.42
29 May.....Tesc0.......£20.95.....£61.47
29 May.....A1di........£07.15.....£54.32
30 May.....T3sc0.......£09.24.....£45.08
31 May.....T3sc0.......£01.30.....£43.78
1 Jun......A1di........£03.17.....£40.61
1 Jun......T3sc0.......£25.15.....£15.46
2 Jun......C0-op.......£01.00.....£14.46
8 Jun......A1di........£06.29.....£08.17
8 Jun......Tesc0.......£08.05.....£00.12
12 Jun.....H&B…........£05.20....-£05.08
13 Jun.....Tesc0.......£04.69....-£09.77
14 Jun.....A1di........£00.59....-£10.36
14 Jun.....W’rose......£02.00....-£12.36
14 Jun.....Chippy......£00.65....-£13.01
15 Jun.....A1di........£04.28....-£17.29
15 Jun.....1ce1and.....£02.25....-£19.54
20 Jun.....A1di........£04.13....-£23.67
23 Jun.....A1di........£05.36....-£29.03


Date....Fresh/Frozen..Cupboard/Dry Goods..Cleaning/Toiletries..Treats..Bags
26 May..£04.80........£08.26..............£32.25...............-.......£00.30
26 May..£01.60........-...................-....................-.......-
26 May..-.............-...................£08.32...............-.......-
26 May..-.............-...................£06.25...............-.......-
26 May..£05.00........-...................-....................-.......-
26 May..£01.10........-...................-....................-.......-
29 May..£13.05........£07.90..............-....................-.......-
29 May..£04.57........£02.58..............-....................-.......-
30 May..£02.10........£04.50..............-....................£2.59...£00.05
31 May..£01.30........-...................-....................-.......-
1 Jun...£03.17........-...................-....................-.......-
1 Jun...£16.62........£08.48..............-....................-.......£00.05
2 Jun...£01.00........-...................-....................-.......-
8 Jun...£05.44........£00.85..............-....................-.......-
8 Jun...£05.05........£03.00..............-....................-.......-
12 Jun..-.............£05.20..............-....................-.......-
13 Jun..£00.70........£03.99..............-....................-.......-
14 Jun..-.............£00.59..............-....................-.......-
14 Jun..-.............-..............-....................£02.65..-
15 Jun..£04.28........-...................-....................-.......-
15 Jun..£02.25........-...................-....................-.......-
20 Jun..£04.13........-...................-....................-.......-
24 Jun..£05.36........-...................-....................-.......-

Doom_and_Gloom

Spent £1.98 today.
OH needed milk and bread.

£156.25/£150
-£6.25. £6.25 overspend.

PennyGrabber

So, I did my weekly shop and spent the grand total of £15.31. Added to previous total makes £113.38 against my budget of £100...
Good points-
- I actually made it to the end of the month, and have a total whereas I normally get lost by about the 15th
- I used up some stuff from the freezer
- I shopped fewer times
- I did some nice home cooking
- I won the hamper at Sw - twice!
- I bought some extra bits to stock up that were reduced
Bad bits
- I bought extra bits to stock up (!!)
- I deviated A LOT from my meal plan
- I did some ys shops towards the end of the month which didn't help the overspend
- I went over budget

Things for moving forward
- review menu plan every week and adjust before shopping
- spend less at the start of the month
- no stocking up
- allow myself to go ysing on a thurs after sw if I didn't win and only take £2

Hopefully that will allow me to come in on budget next month. I am sitting doing my July meal plan this evening, while looking in the freezer and cupboards, to keep the costs down.

PG x

PS edited to say - I assume I'm not buying anything else this week!! I don't need to...

armchairexpert

You guys.

Mr Expert decided that instead of having a Sunday roast (already bought) he wanted fish. And then he let the kids choose, and they wanted a whole fish. And he likes to encourage their gourmet tendencies, so they went to the fish shop and bought a $40 fish. And then they realised they hadn't brought the ice bag so they paid another $11 for a thermal bag and some ice to keep it cool for the next few hours since they weren't going straight home.

So I'm $50 over and we're out of plain yoghurt and I still have my Friday rolls to buy. We're going to come in at $1000+ for the month and I am very much in why do I even try mood right now.

t14cy_t

spent £7 in morrisons yesterday on ys bits so zilch in the bidget left now! got plenty in though. so spent the £80 budget for this month and wont be spending until july! x

Ginmonster

I've gone over budget already this month but to stop myself just giving up since I'm over anyway I've given myself a £5 budget to last to the end of the month. I've spent £1.60 of that on bananas and I should be fine now as I've got plenty of fruit and veg, plenty of store cupboard staples and all the bread-making ingredients. Only got to make it to the end of the week so I should be fine.


Well done Elsiepac on defrosting the freezer! I'm properly jealous.

mumofthetwins

so I have been rubbish the last week or so recording my spends and can feel it starting to slip but NO !
over the weekend I spent a toal of £54.10 will update sig.


new month starting tomorrow though .. whoop .. im determined to be better next month


Lisa

Budgetbabe

Thank you for your kind words Elsiepac, Skintmama, Foxface, Caronc, Merlins Beard, Doom_and_Gloom, Florence J, Lynneik, Island Maid and PennyGrabber:)

Ginmonster, your comments about Jelly Beans made me
And thank you for the advice Suffolk Lass regarding spicy food. Very much appreciated!:beer:

Wishing everyone a great last week of June:j

BB x

spendaholic

Underspent by £5 last week, but overspent by £26 this week - I was £25 under for the month, so not a massive big deal, plus we've bought for an extra house-guest this week's who's a total finnick eater. So am happy with a running overspend of £1 so far.

One week to go and £74 to spend to stay within budget.