June 2017 Grocery Challenge

purpleybat

shopped on saturday (£21.95) and as i'll be looking after dad for the next few days after his hernia operation I won't be able to get to the shops to spend anything else
therefore i'm going to declare a total of £129.50 for june.
on the downside I eked out the cleaning and laundry stuff and now I need to get them next month, might up my budget accordingly.

elsiepac

Ginmonster wrote: »

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.

Thanks Ginmonster! Also, good shout on the mini budget for damage control - I always think that's a wise idea!

I'm enjoying a new recipe for lunch - economical and low fat and calorie, and very tasty! Also incredibly simple/quick to make!

Genoese Minestrone

1 large onion
2 carrots
3 sticks of celery
1.75 litres (or just over 3 pints) of stock
2 large potatoes (the recipe said floury - I used normal potatoes...)
1/2 head cabbage
225g runner or green beans
2 tins cannelini beans
3 tbsp pesto (I use Sacla Free From)

Finely chop everything.
Bring the stock to a simmer, and add the onion, carrot and celery for ten minutes.
Then add the potatoes, cabbage and green beans.
Simmer for another 15-20 minutes (I kept the lid on with the holes open)
Add the beans and stir in the pesto.

The recipe did suggest a sprinkle of parmesan is nice - I didn't bother with a vegan substitution.

Recipe said 6 portions - I got 7 very decent sized ones.

Wysiwyg49

Not surprised to find I have bust the budget at £479.55 :eek:

I split out toiletries from food this week as sometimes we need toothpaste, shampoo, shower gel etc. all at once and that can add £20 to the total! OH away part of this week and most of next so I might get off to a good start in July.

That soup sounds very nice, I must try it.

Florence_J

Well we currently stand at £33.55 over budget.

It does reset tomorrow but I was reading a book about foods that can improve your mental health so went out and bought a few of them from Home Bargains where I was very, very, very excited to see Stardrops on sale so I bought my first ever bottle of that (I was going to spend over £4 on a bottle on Amazon, as I hadn't seen it anywhere else), so that was spends of £10.67.

All that meant I forgot the margarine we desperately needed so I sent OH out to buy it and he came back with crisps, doughnuts, bread rolls, and mars bar bites (£4.98)

I think I'm beginning to see where the problems are.

I already have an online basket ready on the Tesco website, and I have gone through it and cut, cut, cut it down to the things that are 100% essential and not just slightly essential, or nice to have. I am determined to do better next month.

FoxFace

Hi everyone, just thought I would pop in to catch up as I won't be spending anything for the rest of this week.

Pleased to say I got through the first month under budget :T

There have been some really positive moments and some of the meals have been quite... ahem... creative... as I have spent a lot more time working with the scraps I have in.

A huge positive was the change in everyone's (including mine) attitude towards the menu plan, as we pretty much stuck to it. Usually I plan and shop, but then decide I'm not in the mood to have what I'd planned, meaning extra money on take aways or trips to the supermarket to buy an alternative. Haven't done that at all this month, which I am very happy about!

Changes for next month. I need to be a little more prepared with snacks for the children, as otherwise they live off toast. Yesterday I made some homemade cookies and scones and they seem to be going down well and might even last a few days, so more baking for quick snacks! Also lunches for smallest and I, as I don't really plan lunches properly. I tend to have leftovers, but need to plan the boy's lunch a bit better.

Good luck to everyone! See you all in July thread
Fox
x

DanielleNic87

£147.34 added for June. Added it to my annual budget... And I'm in budget hopefully this will continue x

amandaatnumber7

Hi everyone,
June has been a write off for me, I had a death in the family and flew over your way for the funeral. I spent 6 days in Windsor helping my cousins with the funeral arrangements and of course the funeral itself plus an overnight trip to Manchester to see my Nanna who is in a care home with dementia.
A whirlwind visit on my own. Hubby did a great job of holding down the fort but naturally i haven't been keeping track of our spending.
And although my trip was done relatively cheaply its still taken all my savings.
I'll see you all over on the July board
Amanda

Florence_J

Finished my June month at £285.56/£250 so some better work needs to be done next month.

I will 'see' you all on the July thread.

pamsdish

£10.36 in wilkos and home bargains,coffee, reduced dog treats, and some cleaning products, dog appears to have enough treats to last till Christmas, I don`t give her too many. 2 sacks of dry food at the beginning of the month and still have a full sack for July so only chicken needed probably get that Friday.

Doom_and_Gloom

Of the extra £10 (after already overspent £4.27) we have £1.31 of that left now after a spend of £6.71 yesterday.
In theory we shouldn't need anything else now but I'm not declaring until Friday when the shops shut!

£162.96/£150 (original budget still for reference)
-£12.96. £12.96 overspend.