August 2017 Grocery Challenge

dangerbadger

We're going away on Saturday for a week self catering, so I have done some food shopping in preparation for that. A further £16.10 to add to my total, bringing it to £108.27. I'm expecting to have to spend a further £50-60ish whilst we're away, but should still come in nicely under budget this month.

YorksLass

Still have a week to go before the end of this month's GC but am declaring today as we're away on holiday from Sunday. :)

Have bought 1pt of milk today to see us through till then but otherwise no shopping as meals between now and then will be coming from what we already have in the fridge/freezer/cupboards. That means I have a whopping £84.62 left in my budget. :j:j

Good luck to everyone with the rest of the month and "see" you all in September. :wave:

elsiepac

It feels so weird - I've hardly been here this month! The forums that is...
BUT I've just about managed to keep up to date with my spends and so can declare at

£190.38 / £200

That's right folks, I'm actually under budget for once! And I had a lot of frivolous spends this month, although, I balanced these out somewhat with a lot of frugal meals and eating out of my stores without topping them up. As I went through the month, I was good about freezing meals too, and so have been living mostly off freezer meals the last week for dinners! I also used up all my bendy veg for an "all-in" rice and lentil and veg soup for my lunches this week, and added tons of spices so it's actually really tasty!

Payday tomorrow. I've been working on average 30 hours of overtime a month for the last couple of months, and have done in August too, so am raking in a lot extra at the moment, and I need to be careful in case this bubble bursts and suddenly I really do have to be frugal! Because that will be a shock to the system!

For September, I have a lot of cleaning products / toiletries / cupboard stuff to restock up on as I've run some things right down (I have no tinned tomatoes and no stock cubes at all - 2 things I ALWAYS have!!). I'm going to do an Ocado order for my stock up shop, and then have weekly spends after that. I'm actually going to put it in weekly envelopes, instead of all in one and keeping track on my spreadsheet - I think it'll help me not overspend so unconsciously if it's physically separate..

With that in mind I'm thinking of going for a £200 budget again for next month - purely because I have such a big stock up to do, (although I have a code where I'll get £10.50 off £50 spend for the Ocado part). If I can stay under again, I'll look at reducing it slightly and go from there.

I want to really focus on fresh foods this month though, fill up on salads etc, so we'll see how I do. I eat pretty healthily, but I don't feel I have enough raw stuff in my diet!

I haven't had chance to catch up on the thread, and I'm so sorry guys, but thank you all as always for helping me focus and inspiring me! I'll do my best to be around more in September!!

elsie x

armchairexpert

Loving all the success stories, well done Elsiepac and Yorkslass!

Need to buy burger buns tonight for hamburgers, but nothing else to report. As expected, I did have to do a fairly hefty top up shop during the week, but I'm still going into the last week in good shape with $255 to spend.

caronc

£19 today bring total for August to £108/£120, this should be my last spend this month

ScotinLondon

So July/Aug month finished yesterday for us - £129.51 spent over the month. It has been an up and down month for us.

Oh well - still under budget, so that is good.

Just need to make sure that we both still eating properly and not wasting food. We are trying but sometimes it doesn't work. Work, studying and family getting in the way.

Everyone have a good long weekend.
SILx

BrassicWoman

£9.09, leaving me with an emergency 94p...

Did well on YS - lots of soy yogurt pots, aubergine, carrots, hummus, grapes, salad
Full pricebananas and peanut butter

Payday is Thursday; might be a few pasta and sauce days before then

Wysiwyg49

Seriously took eye off the ball this month so YNAB reports £525.83 SO FAR and there's another weekly shop to do on Sunday!!

Our self catering week away was a major budget buster - as we were in a little village with a couple of pricy convenience stores and I didn't want to be trekking 20 miles plus to a supermarket. We didn't have much room in the car to take food with us either. (Thanks to those who offered tips. I did make sandwiches a few times in the week but somehow it still ran away with me!)

And in the 2 weeks since we got back have had some family illness and a very chaotic timetable as a consequence, plus expensive bits and bobs to buy for D of E expeditions. I have come to the conclusion that we are terrible snack food addicts. Biscuits, sweets, etc. - think I will do a detailed breakdown of my next few shops as the basics always seem quite reasonable and then the add-ons must be at least the same again.

Just checked earlier posts of mine and found to my horror I was trying for £380. I think this was for 4 weeks though, when really there are 5...but I've exceeded what that would have been already!!

Going to try to recover next week and then September is a new month!

zafiro1984

£34.89 spent today at one of the cheaper supermarkets. When I got home I did a comparison on line with my usual supermarket and found I'd saved around £18 - no guessing where I'll shop next week.

I've 40.57 to last until next month, I may have to get a bit of fruit but I'll see how it goes, but I should come in under budget for this month

Suffolk_lass

Thanks to being away for much of August we can declare at £81.85 this month. Boy, did I need a month where I was under my £200 average! I think this puts me firmly in the green, and ready to join September.

Just been in and checked and DH was paid on Friday. I know lots of people working in Essex, for schools and the Council, are having to wait until Tuesday. My thoughts are with everyone struggling for money this weekend (and always)