June 2020 Grocery Challenge

thriftwizard

Popping in to say - plot lost! I'm probably not far off track, if at all; I've not been getting any more cash out than usual, and I've not been going to shops, or buying groceries online, and if anything there's more in our account (and less in the freezer!) than I'd expect at this point in the month, BUT I have no idea how much I've actually spent, so I'd better write this month off & behave better in July! I'll keep on reading, and commenting, and wishing you all well, but there's no point guessing what my total spend is. 

On a brighter note, allotment produce is now coming on stream - two meals this week have had a high home-grown content, of beetroot & beet & chard leaves, and there's rhubarb champagne a-brewing!

*** slinks off, feeling quite incompetent & guilty ***

Suffolk_lass

Suffolk_lass said:

candygirl said:

I'm determined to stick to my budget this month, n use up what I've got, rather than hoard food as I've been doing during lock down  
I only spent £25 this week, n still have loads in  

I always think of hoarding food as paying the supermarkets to store their stuff for them. Providing you have a basic store cupboard you should always be able to swap ingredients around to make recipes work for you.

We have spent £2.84 so far but I have despatched DH with a big list this morning, trying to minimise the places for him to go. He won't shop (except for milk) for another ten days after this so some making do and substitutions will be needed.

Well the shopping divided into four portions - basic food is now £69.86 for June, with alcohol £26 (a bottle of nice white wine we like is on offer - so he bought four!), store-cupboard £37.58 and treats(! - a new feature) were £24.96 - treats includes ice-cream, biscuits, nuts, crisps and other snacks. At least it is instead of the entertainment budget (along with alcohol).

CRANKY40

Good morning everyone, 

Online shop is being delivered today. Everything that I ordered is being delivered so £86.54 added to total spends (signature updated). This should last us two weeks with maybe another trip to HB for some extra cat fud if required. 

The HT has been moaning that eating bread has left him feeling bloated so I've bought a couple of gluten free things to see if a gluten free week makes a difference to his acne, joint pain etc. I already have gluten free flour so it should be easy enough. He can have home made biscuits as snacks which we've done for most of lockdown anyway.

His lunch today will be cheese and ham baguette and he's asked for pizza for dinner. Not much variation going on there then.....I'm having egg on toast for lunch and a chicken salad wrap for dinner. 

Charliebear

Spent £6.76 of my budget yesterday on reduced stickers. Managed to get 3 large quiche, 2 chicken breasts, 4 cod fishcakes, ciabatta rolls, brioche rolls, a large victoria sponge cake and a yeo valley extra thick yoghurt. So far my budget is on track, I might even get it under my £100 if I stick to yellow Sticker shopping   

sarahj1986

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

Hello all

Could I be added to the list again please?
€300 for June 

I had to suspend mine in March due to the lock down here in Spain. I couldn’t use my usual supermarkets due to the restrictions and my husband was doing the shopping and he’s guilty of picking up things we don’t need. He is  now back at work (kind of) and I’ve been in the supermarkets by myself and we are allowed to go further so I can visit the ones I like. 

I’ve spent €8.50 today on tuna, veg and water €291.50 left

Hello all

€28.50 spent

this is from yesterday and today. I went to Eroski for things on offer. Safe to say I enough chocolate to last the month! Aldi today for meat/fish on offer. Today’s menu -

breakfast - I had banana pancakes with honey and Greek yogurt. My daughter had weetabix and a pear 

lunch - daughter had croquettes and peas and I had mine with salad and mayonnaise 

dinner - for all three of us lentil and minced beef lasagne. All homemade apart from the pasta. I will do homemade garlic bread (well I’ll add the garlic butter to some part baked baguette)

Daughter has yogurt, biscuits and ritz for snacks 

€263 left 

Haven’t been on for a few days but spending tracked -

€85.51 spent

i did a “big” shop in Mercadona on Monday. There’s things in there I prefer and with the lock down easing here I finally felt confident enough to venture that far (as I walk past 2 other supermarkets to get there)



€177.49 left 

SJAllicat

SJAllicat said:

£22.90 spent since last update. On bits to keep us going (bread, milk, fresh fruit and veg ) before we do a main shop which will be tomorrow possibly. 

We are running out of a lot of basics like oil, and have no. Fish and meat so will write a meal plan again, as this helped so much as I only bought what we needed for that. 

So £81.30 spent of  £250.00 ( doing okay)

Did a proper shop for the week since the weathers yeugh and we had nothing in to make any lunch 😂.

Spent £32.15 in Al#i and £11.25 in Moggies. So £43.40 altogether. I wrote a meal plan and stuck to my list, except in Moggies as went in for GF bread, and managed to get YS sausages and 2 packs of free range chicken thighs ( only 79p each for 3 big thighs in each pack), as well as some other free from things that are cheap atm in there to pop in the cupboard as it’d be silly not to ( eg Yorkie pud mixes are only 15p each, crackers 60p and spaghetti 60p). Was going to get a FR chicken And sausages in Al#i anyway, so got them cheaper 🙌.

Hopefully no more spends till we need milk, and then just that. 

£124.70/£250

lushlifesaver

Visited B&M on Monday - the only store close to work without a queue to get in! £13.78 spent in there, as I've gone back to work I've picked up some extra cereal and lunch box bits as OH doesn't think about food unless someone else does and where he's renting a bay atm has very few facilities! So here's hoping he'll eat lunch at least - as I'm making my own I may as well make his too!
And then after school small and I went to a new ASDA superstore; it was great - no queue, mostly enough space in the store (small was fascinated as it has a mcds and claires accessories inside it!) spent £59 in there. would have been more but i forgot my list with what spices i need to pick up. Now stocked up for a while except maybe for cooked meats for sandwiches

PipneyJane

Good morning everyone

We went to MrT’s this morning.  Our local store opens at 6am and we got there just before 7.  No queuing.  £48.74 spent, which included £4 for 2kg dried kidney beans and £3.50 for 2kg dried chickpeas.  Most surprising were their frozen chicken livers, 25p for a 250g tub!  (We bought 4 tubs, which will make at least 2 meals.). No offers spotted and I’ll continue getting my cheddar and cream cheese from L!dl, and Yeo Valley yoghurts from A$da.  This spend brings our Grocery Challenge spend to £77.40/£120, leaving £42.60 for the rest of the month.

While we were out and about, we went to the butcher where we bought 2 sirloin steak for £16, a kilo of cubed steak for £7.50 and 6 chicken thighs for £6.40.  £29.90 spent from the Meat Fund.

Meals planned for the next few days are curried mung beans for tonight (we have plain yoghurt that needs to be used up), steak tomorrow and a Chinese-style chicken bake on Saturday.

- Pip

sarahj1986

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

Hello all

Could I be added to the list again please?
€300 for June 

I had to suspend mine in March due to the lock down here in Spain. I couldn’t use my usual supermarkets due to the restrictions and my husband was doing the shopping and he’s guilty of picking up things we don’t need. He is  now back at work (kind of) and I’ve been in the supermarkets by myself and we are allowed to go further so I can visit the ones I like. 

I’ve spent €8.50 today on tuna, veg and water €291.50 left

Hello all

€28.50 spent

this is from yesterday and today. I went to Eroski for things on offer. Safe to say I enough chocolate to last the month! Aldi today for meat/fish on offer. Today’s menu -

breakfast - I had banana pancakes with honey and Greek yogurt. My daughter had weetabix and a pear 

lunch - daughter had croquettes and peas and I had mine with salad and mayonnaise 

dinner - for all three of us lentil and minced beef lasagne. All homemade apart from the pasta. I will do homemade garlic bread (well I’ll add the garlic butter to some part baked baguette)

Daughter has yogurt, biscuits and ritz for snacks 

€263 left 

Haven’t been on for a few days but spending tracked -

€85.51 spent

i did a “big” shop in Mercadona on Monday. There’s things in there I prefer and with the lock down easing here I finally felt confident enough to venture that far (as I walk past 2 other supermarkets to get there)



€177.49 left 

Hello all

€20.28 spent today

my first trip into Lidl post lock down easing. The gloves in there are such a pain to get on but of course I fully appreciate the need for them. I actually went in mainly for the summer clothes they had on offer. I got a playsuit and loose fitting trousers for the summer. I’ve deducted them from the cost above. While on there I got things I like specifically from there (cheese, spaghetti pasta, yogurts) plus fruit, peppers, pulled pork on offer and cat food. I’ve been feeding the strays the last 4-5 weeks so that’s now part of our budget. 

€157.21 left

supersaver1000

Since lockdown my budget has gone downhill - already on £542 against a budget of £320.  Having DD home, who is a bit more spontaneous about meal planning, has really thrown a spanner in the works.  Its good that we are having more fresh veg. but it has to be to a budget.  We are going to sit down and have a planning weekend to try to get a grip of this, as this is money which should be paying down the mortgage.