July 2020 Grocery Challenge

joedenise

I think a lot of us are losing our mojo @K9sandFelines during lockdown.  All we can do is our best - if we go over budget it's not the end of the world.  There is always next month to try again!

thriftwizard

K9sandFelines, don't beat yourself up We are definitely living in the proverbial Interesting Times, and prices are all over the place, availability of some items is very patchy, people seem to have lost the goodwill & politeness that broke out at the beginning of lockdown (after the Great Loo Roll Panic) and one way or another we can only do our best. I'll be over budget too before the month is over & my only strategy is to try to keep the overspend to a minimum. Enjoy your DD's birthday & relax. 

Merlin's_Beard

K9sandFelines said:

K9sandFelines said:

Picked up the milk from L1dl, aswell as fruit juice, d.f. yoghurt, gherkins, cucumber and some bits for DD1 and GD tea. Also, went to Sainsberrys for a few bits before work as i was so hungry, despite having breakfast. I had nothing in to take for snacks, for the journey there. So crisps bought, for the week, and for DD2 for tonight and malt loaf for GD.
This leaves me with just over a tenner, which is to include DD1's birthday on Monday and another week to go.
Realistically, don't think i will be on or close to the budget   

I'm definitely over budget now,and havent even purchased anything for DD1s birthday, like cake. Went to Tesco to get birthday cards and it was bedlam. No more one way system or queuing outside,i hate it. Too packed to properly distance or grab what you need. I also forgot gf pasta, ginger and pizza for DD1s tea. Spent £13.11 in total.
I dont know whether i am working tomorrow or Monday (DD's birthday), so was going to have cake Monday if tomorrow and vice versa. We could make one but it cost as much in extra ingredients to frost it..
Feel so deflated, i  might give next month's GC a miss just to recharge. However, ive only missed when ive moved house previously;never because i've lost my mojo .

I think a lot of us are feeling the same! I never realised how much I rely on stocking up when things are on offer, and how much it hurts me when I have to pay full price, or can't get the cheapest brand etc. Really adds up over the month.

boultdj

Market and L*dl shop including kitty's litter, another £36.49 to add, now at £202.37/£350.00

lantanna

Today starts August or me, £0/ £350

mumtoomany

Back again. Took the grandchildren out for the day yesterday, bought locally made pies/pasties and local strawberries for us all for lunch, also picked up some crackers. Shopped today as almost out of bread, forgot it last week, and down to the last few bits of fruit. £13.72 in Aldi, £6 at veg shop. For my £6 I got, 23 apples, 36 peaches, punnet of plums, 3 punnets  of grapes, 1 pinnapple, 6 lettuce, 36 large vine tomatoes, 10 red peppers and 5 bananas. The plums were over ripe, so now in a pie, I had to cut some off 5 of the peaches, about a quarter of the grapes were turning  and one of the tomatoes was soft. Overall a pretty good haul. Total since last here £41.72. Total now £173.33/£200. Should manage the month on what's left. Mumtoomany.

PipneyJane

thriftwizard said:

Oooer, £80 spent at the market this morning, on meat, fish, cheese, olives & hummous, fruit & veg, which should do us for the week. The plot has been slightly lost in that DS2's wedding plans have come slightly adrift; too many unknowns & potential pitfalls attached to the projected France trip, so they've cancelled. The actual legal bit was always happening here before they went; now we need to inflate that to as much of a wedding celebration as can be had in these strange times! They'd paid out half the money for the French venue & won't be getting a penny back, but as they said, it's better than all the money & not being able to go at the last minute, or guests losing their jobs if they had to quarantine on return. So we're now holding lots of "planning meetings" in the evenings, which generally involves feeding them too... 

A wonderful friend has offered the use of her large & rather lovely garden, and the Govt. have today changed the allowances so that there could be 30 guests at the reception (the registry office is currently limited to 16 though) so it might yet be possible to help them have a smashing day to remember on a tight budget. The DDs (also bridesmaids) have already offered to do bunting, lighting & cakes (eat your heart out, Bake-Off!) & the groom, his elder brother & best man were all part of a pretty decent band once, so live music's definitely a possibility & equipment's no problem as DS1 is now a successful musician/composer. Fingers crossed; it's going to be a wild ride for the next few weeks!

@thriftwizard - how bitter-sweet!  I hope they have a lovely, memorable-for-all-the-right-reasons day and that they can negotiate something - perhaps a week's stay - with the French venue for Life-After-Covid.

- Pip

PipneyJane

Mrs_Cheshire said:

I need to catch up with the chat, but just coming by the say I'm currently at £322.05/£450 so doing ok for this point in the month, got loads of freezer stock and plenty of cupboard bits so just basics bread, milk, fruit and veg to buy. Kids have broken up from school officially now so they will want more snacks etc. I've got some baking bits in the house, so going to sit down over the weekend and plan some easy bakes they can help me with -thinking cupcakes, pinwheels etc. 
Does anyone have any good recipes for using filo pastry particularly snack/picnic ideas??

Not a recipe, as such, but a few ideas I've used in the past for using up filo pastry are samosas and pasties.  Also look out for recipes for Spanakopita.  (No idea how to spell it.  It's the Greek spinach and cheese turnover-thingy made with filo pastry.)

HTH

- Pip

candygirl

PipneyJane said:

Mrs_Cheshire said:

I need to catch up with the chat, but just coming by the say I'm currently at £322.05/£450 so doing ok for this point in the month, got loads of freezer stock and plenty of cupboard bits so just basics bread, milk, fruit and veg to buy. Kids have broken up from school officially now so they will want more snacks etc. I've got some baking bits in the house, so going to sit down over the weekend and plan some easy bakes they can help me with -thinking cupcakes, pinwheels etc. 
Does anyone have any good recipes for using filo pastry particularly snack/picnic ideas??

Not a recipe, as such, but a few ideas I've used in the past for using up filo pastry are samosas and pasties.  Also look out for recipes for Spanakopita.  (No idea how to spell it.  It's the Greek spinach and cheese turnover-thingy made with filo pastry.)

HTH

- Pip

Oooh we used to buy those a lot in Greece, n take them for a beach picnic .Bloody gorg 😍

PipneyJane

Merlin's_Beard said:

K9sandFelines said:

K9sandFelines said:

Picked up the milk from L1dl, aswell as fruit juice, d.f. yoghurt, gherkins, cucumber and some bits for DD1 and GD tea. Also, went to Sainsberrys for a few bits before work as i was so hungry, despite having breakfast. I had nothing in to take for snacks, for the journey there. So crisps bought, for the week, and for DD2 for tonight and malt loaf for GD.
This leaves me with just over a tenner, which is to include DD1's birthday on Monday and another week to go.
Realistically, don't think i will be on or close to the budget   

I'm definitely over budget now,and havent even purchased anything for DD1s birthday, like cake. Went to Tesco to get birthday cards and it was bedlam. No more one way system or queuing outside,i hate it. Too packed to properly distance or grab what you need. I also forgot gf pasta, ginger and pizza for DD1s tea. Spent £13.11 in total.
I dont know whether i am working tomorrow or Monday (DD's birthday), so was going to have cake Monday if tomorrow and vice versa. We could make one but it cost as much in extra ingredients to frost it..
Feel so deflated, i  might give next month's GC a miss just to recharge. However, ive only missed when ive moved house previously;never because i've lost my mojo .

I think a lot of us are feeling the same! I never realised how much I rely on stocking up when things are on offer, and how much it hurts me when I have to pay full price, or can't get the cheapest brand etc. Really adds up over the month.

@K9sandFelines and @Merlin's_Beard, you are not alone.  By my reckoning, we're £28.56 over and that's after hitting the bulk fund for £6.90 for pulses and putting £8 back in for cider which the GC Fund paid for earlier in the month.  On Saturday, we spent £33.37 in L!dl, £31.99 in MrT's (which was paid for by me contributing another £10 and using the last £20 of Clubcard vouchers) and £3.22 in A$da.  Yes, some of it will end up in the store cupboard for a few weeks but it's not as if we're wasting money on luxuries.  Some things are getting expensive.

I had a long chat with DH yesterday and suggested, again, that we put the General Groceries Budget up to £140/month.  By my reckoning, it's been £120/month since at least 2011, if not earlier.  (There's a blog post from mid-2011, where I'm talking about our budget and mention the grocery budget is £120/month.)   This is the second month running we are over and, if I'm brutally honest, probably the third month this year (Clubcard vouchers bailed us out at one point).  DH finally agreed.

We're currently at £148.56/£120, so £28.56 over budget with 11 days left in the month.

- Pip