August 2020 Grocery Challenge

PerfectChristmas

Hello all, hope you are all safe and well    I am making a real effort post lockdown and pre-potential-more-lockdown to sort out our finances and budgets. I want to get back into cooking from scratch and making healthy food rather than relying on packaged and processed when I can make most of it myself.

For the first month I'd like to put down £350 please . 

and see where we do actually properly come out as. My guestimate was £300 as my last  fortnightly home shops that fell in July were £96.81, £119.11 and £68.76  which came to £284.68 but I did also have to pick up my doggies medicine at the start of July so I remember I paid £30 on some bits in Iceland and a little bit more in Asda grabbing a couple of bits I couldn't get on the online shop (popped in on the offchance they had bread mix or bread flour /SR flour & yeast etc as I was passing) 

Hoping to really narrow that down as I get back into the swing of actually cooking and preparing properly instead of being lazy and only doing it rarely now (ah the joys of being an exhausted carer!).

missmarbuff

Please could you put me down for £200 for this month.  I feel that I must gain some control over our food spending as it has spiralled out of control during lockdown.

jam2019

I've let things slip a bit, so could you please put me down for £60 just for this month?

thriftwizard

Well. Having missed my target again in July, I was wondering whether I should actually sit the next two months out; DS2 is getting married mid-September, and we were all going over to France for a fuss-free celebration/villa holiday together. But in the end, that's had to be cancelled; too many potential pitfalls, so now we'll be "putting on the Ritz" for them in my friend's big garden instead! Needless to say, this is going to involve some planning, and currently planning meetings are being held in a gazebo our garden, usually over a meal, so my food budget's buckling a bit under the strain! (That said, the allotment's in full production so some of it isn't costing us a lot.) But I've given myself a strict talking-to, gritted my teeth and will aim again for

£450

this month,  please! Any wedding supplies purchased will sit outside the main budget, though they've managed to find a caterer to do the evening BBQ, so we're just in charge of cakes & decorations; this may be a disaster on the slimming front, because we'll need lots of practice!

elsiepac

Budgets updated to here

Welcome @missmarbuff @PerfectChristmas and @storybookgirl - you'll find everyone here very friendly and approachable 
Welcome back everyone else!
@thriftwizard good luck with the wedding - you must put pictures of your cake tests!

K9sandFelines

I wasn't going to join in this month as I was really disheartened at the last few totals, but I've decided to anyway. Onwards and upwards - £400 please.
Chin up elsiepac and hope this time for you isn't too unsettling. Thanks for running the thread, hopefully this keeps you busy in a good way.
I have no food bulk buys this month, so that should help stay on track. However, I do have two shops booked for Weds. I need different things from different shops, and the cheapest most con venienent slots were both Wednesday. All the rest were the wrong times; I would have work the next day or the slot was stupid money for delivery.
Good Luck all.

MazzieD

K9sandFelines said:

I wasn't going to join in this month as I was really disheartened at the last few totals, but I've decided to anyway. Onwards and upwards - £400 please.

Good to see that you are still with us.  Think we all felt your pain, it is so difficult to get it right with groceries at the moment,  I've been struggling for months but have found that just taking part and posting on here is really helping.  For some reason writing it down seems to make me think more about what I'm spending,  being able to look back at previous posts and the support on here have made such a difference.

thriftwizard

elsiepac said:

Budgets updated to here

Welcome @missmarbuff @PerfectChristmas and @storybookgirl - you'll find everyone here very friendly and approachable 
Welcome back everyone else!
@thriftwizard good luck with the wedding - you must put pictures of your cake tests!

DD2 practising her choux skills for the Croquembouche by making us some profiteroles...

PipneyJane

thriftwizard said:

elsiepac said:

Budgets updated to here

Welcome @missmarbuff @PerfectChristmas and @storybookgirl - you'll find everyone here very friendly and approachable 
Welcome back everyone else!
@thriftwizard good luck with the wedding - you must put pictures of your cake tests!

DD2 practising her choux skills for the Croquembouche by making us some profiteroles...

I must NOT show my husband.  He loves profiteroles.

Good luck with the wedding planning, @thriftwizard.  I hope it goes well.

- Pip

joedenise

PipneyJane said:

thriftwizard said:

elsiepac said:

Budgets updated to here

Welcome @missmarbuff @PerfectChristmas and @storybookgirl - you'll find everyone here very friendly and approachable 
Welcome back everyone else!
@thriftwizard good luck with the wedding - you must put pictures of your cake tests!

DD2 practising her choux skills for the Croquembouche by making us some profiteroles...

I must NOT show my husband.  He loves profiteroles.

Good luck with the wedding planning, @thriftwizard.  I hope it goes well.

- Pip

Me too!  I think croque en bouche always looks amazing.