June 2018 Grocery Challenge

Puddleglum

I've done two shops so far this month. The first was over budget at £42.70 but I bought a few things which will keep well in bulk. The second was for £34.86 so just in budget. No too bad for halfway through the month.

FoxFace

Hi all

Another NSD here... sometimes being super busy can be a good thing, as I don't have time to spend money

Hope you have all had a lovely day!
Fox
x

Mrs_Cheshire

supersaver1000 wrote: »

Love that fruit and veg box - is that pies and baps I can see :rotfl::rotfl: Seriously though, that looks like a gorgeous fruit and veg box - they don't deliver to the South West do they?

ps thanks for the cauliflower and spinach tip

They are Manchester based and expanding into other areas in Manchester, I've been waiting for them to deliver in my area.
It was a manchester tart and 4 barm cakes (as they call them in the north), I wasn't bothered about receiving them but they come with the box. The tart was ok but was not that inspiring,I've not tried the barm cakes yet!

beenthere_donethat wrote: »

I also like the look of the fruit and veg box. I used to have one before and am tempted to start it up again

I only got it because I would use everything in it, I've had them before from the organic places and I didn't know what to do with some of the vegetables in it.

Tales17 wrote: »

Love our Fruit & Veg Box!

Much better value and last so much longer! Plus I get exactly what I want rather than a random box of stuff that a lot of the bigger brands supply x

This box had a good combination of the fruits and vegetables I would usually buy, so seemed good value. I didn't like previous boxes by other suppliers as they contained vegetables I didn't know what to do with.

A couple of spends to add to the total for bits I forgot from the main shop yesterday!

Chloris

Evening All. Weekly shops done and milkman paid. Went over my £70 guide, unsurprisingly, as hazelnut milk and a few other bits were on offer. Seemed silly not to take advantage. Silly me forgot a £12 money off voucher when I went to Sains yesterday but they very nicely have me £12 cash today when I presented the voucher and receipt. I was very relieved.

So new spends of £96.91 bringing the month total now to £336.41. I only have £113.59 left and half a month to go. Blimey. £56 a week or £7 a day. Well today was a nsd, hallelujah. Keep them coming and I may squeeze in. Also I am NOT buying any more nakd bars. They are kryptonite to my budget and diet.

Good luck guys. X

Hopeless_Case

pamsdish wrote: »

Really, really hacked off, windows updated the other day, not on comp much yesterday due to sis`s visit, all my excel files deleted, no spends sheet, no incoming outgoing d/d`s sheet, and worst of all no fridge/freezer list. Looking in play store for a free app to use in future, any recommendations please.

Called in Morries picked up 16 tonic water, 9 Ariel, 6 for friends, 4 pumpkin rolls, 4 reduced geraniums, and a bottle of famous grouse, collected £5 voucher due, get another for todays spends, so my share comes to £33.80, plus yesterdays bits and nearly forgot bought 4 ben & jerry in co-op yesterday, so £42 to add to total spends.

I'd recommend Dropbox or One Drive, I had the same issue yesterday, I have all of my work stuff on One Drive plus my personal accounts etc, and the update knocked it off my laptop. Took ages to remember how to log on online, install an updated One Drive app and then wait for 11,000 files to sync :mad:, but at least I didn't lose it. I had a lap top die a few years ago and lost a lot of stuff so I save everything on Dropbox or One Drive now!

FoxFace wrote: »

Having to log a spend of £5.77p. My eldest boy sprung it on me last minute that he needed a bunch of ingredients for cooking class at school... can't be helped I guess, but I bought the cheapest priced items.

Edit: I just wanted to add... I don't know if anyone else does this, but I am currently gaining a great deal of pleasure in checking my food budget balances. I only use cash, so every time I update my sig, I grab my purse and count what's left... each time it balances perfectly, it is such a nice feeling

Hope you all had a lovely Monday
Fox
x

Yes and no - I'm doing really well as I've not used half of it yet and I'm not going to need to spend much more, BUT it's been an expensive month in other ways and while I have £160+ left on my budget on paper, I certainly don't have it in the bank so despite the fact I'm hardly spending, it's still stressful - but it could have been much worse if I'd actually spent the money on food, at least we had it for other things - that's the bright side!

pamsdish

I have one drive so will give that a go thanks @Hopeless case, don`t know why I didn`t think of that, my sister is always nagging her O.H. about saving their business stuff to the cloud.
£21.51 spent today, 10 bars of my choc, 3 toilet things for cistern, bread and some y.s. fish,

Doom_and_Gloom

Since last post we've spent £16.12 on June budget and £8.91 on bulk.
The fridge is crammed with food, got a lot of stuff reduced; we still haven't got a new fridge freezer so we're hoping the duck tape holds the plastic shelves together . We really need to sort out getting a new one though.

June
£85.34/£150.
£64.66 left.

Bulk
£83.26/£90.
£6.74 left.

Ginmonster

£11.95 spend today on some bits to take away camping this weekend and a few items for the food bank as they have a permanent collection point in our local Mr S. I don't shop there often but always try to put something in when I do. It's a shame all the supermarkets don't do the same sadly the need for food banks only seems to be increasing.

Doing really well with the budget so far this month but to be fair that's because I've had a few months of letting it slide and have loads to use up so not much need to buy more.

£25.57/£100

YorksLass

Weekly shops done today - £7.70 market, £7.37 Morrisons and £3.92 Heron Foods. I used to use Morrisons a lot when I was working as I could call in on my way home but haven't been for ages. It was a bit of a nightmare as everything (and I mean everything) had changed and I couldn't wait to get out. On the upside, it meant I could visit a nearby Heron Foods, a new (and pleasing) experience. Bargain 1kg pack of bacon mis-shapes for £1.29, x6 part-baked crusty rolls 59p, 500ml bottle of yogurt & mint dressing £1 and x2 packets of biscuits £1.04.

Since taking up this challenge, I've noticed my shopping habits have changed - for the better, I hasten to add! We've gone down to a Friday market shop, one top-up shop mid-week and one home delivery roughly every 4-6 weeks. Things that have helped are:

Keeping an inventory of what's in the freezer and store cupboards
Checking what's in the fridge before going shopping
Making a weekly meal plan based around existing stocks
Making a list - and sticking to it (most of the time)
Looking for genuine promotion prices and ys stuff
Ditching the debit card and paying in cash - it really makes me think about what I'm spending
Using coupons - but only if it's something I would use anyway
Separating out other spends (toiletries, cleaning items etc) from the grocery budget - even these have been much reduced!

£53.75 left in the budget with two weeks to go, so I'm feeling optimistic for this month. :) Signature updated.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Chloris

Not a nsd I'm afraid. My youngest wants to make Madeleines this weekend and we were out of baking powder. Didn't want to let the little chap down. Think it was £1.10. It's in the book anyway. X