June 2021 Grocery Challenge

PipneyJane

@thriftwizard - I feel your pain.  At least you got to spend some family time with DS1, DS2 and their other halves.  Can you add up what’s left in your GC purse and just set that as the remaining balance for the month?  (I’ve done that before.)

I have a small spend to declare from Sunday.  £7.19 spent in MrT’s, on mushrooms, broccoli, YS satsumas and 8 YS pork loin steaks (£2.84).  This brings our total spend for June to £113.19/£144.20, leaving £31.01 for the remainder of the month.

- Pip

Money_Choices

Hi
I've spent £11.35 which equals £64.65/£120 target. It was spent on 19 and today 22 June due to having hospital appointments and shopping at the nearby shops.

Money Choices

pamsdish

£6.97 in M0rr1es yesterday, salad and veg, 2 1 litre bottles of whipping cream, 1 for my friend, y,s 60p each, will freeze into portions.

MissRikkiC

I am over budget this month so declaring myself out but looking forward to restarting and having a more achievable budget. I know i wasnt too far off with my target but the cupboards, fridge and freezer were all whittled down to nothing. 

Question for those in the know; does anyone have a rough expectation for how much a replen' shop would cost vs normal for them (i appreciate its all relative). 

I have shopped from home first in June in order to defrost the freezer and want to set a realistic budget for July taking that into account. 

Do you replen straight away or buy extra bits as it were each week to stock up again?

I think i remember from old people used to ensure there were 2 of most items in and once it was used replace it so that there was still always the 2. However we are down to ZEROs of everything

Suffolk_lass

MissRikkiC said:

I am over budget this month so declaring myself out but looking forward to restarting and having a more achievable budget. I know i wasnt too far off with my target but the cupboards, fridge and freezer were all whittled down to nothing. 

Question for those in the know; does anyone have a rough expectation for how much a replen' shop would cost vs normal for them (i appreciate its all relative). 

I have shopped from home first in June in order to defrost the freezer and want to set a realistic budget for July taking that into account. 

Do you replen straight away or buy extra bits as it were each week to stock up again?

I think i remember from old people used to ensure there were 2 of most items in and once it was used replace it so that there was still always the 2. However we are down to ZEROs of everything

I replen when I get to one left in store, but I only buy store-cupboard items when they are on offer - so all non-perishables are on a "buy 6" when on offer regime. If I run out, I buy just one or stop buying. My cleaning products are whittling down to bicarb, bleach, white vinegar and lemon juice which is saving a fortune (as is the catering pack of laundry detergent).

If you are down to zero your objective could be to vaguely meal plan - by which I mean, put veg rather than the specific veg and buy what is on offer or seasonal. You can substitute for lots of recipes without them being dramatically different. For instance I use a stick of sausagemeat (on offer) to make pork burgers (with cooked onion and breadcrumbs to pad them out), meatballs or in squashed toad in the hole (instead of sausages)

MissRikkiC

I like the idea of a vague meal plan, I find i can’t shop without a list these days and i can’t write a list without a meal plan! But I like the subbing idea for what’s seasonal! Thanks @Suffolk_lass

PipneyJane

@MissRikkiC, my store cupboard regime is similar to @Suffolk_lass.  In the pantry, I have storage containers for most things so for dry goods (e.g. 2kg dried beans), I aim to ensure that we have a package in reserve for when the storage container is empty.  When I refill the container, I put that item on the shopping list and buy it within a month.

We also have a "Bulk Fund", which is £20/month and is segregated from the main budget.  That way, if there's a great offer on, say, chopped tomatoes - we use a lot - I can buy the entire shrink-wrapped double tray of 24 tins and not worry about the impact on my main grocery budget.  (I never pay more than 25p/can for chopped tomatoes.) 

In the early days, the Bulk Fund also paid for several of the storage containers.  I mainly use Lock-n-Lock boxes or their own-brand equivalents, because they are air and water tight, so no weevils/bugs can set up home in my rice/flour/dried beans/sugar.  (I've had that horrible experience.) I buy my rice and my flour in 10kg sacks, usually paying less than £10 for 10kg basmati rice and £3-£4 for 10kg of Chapatti flour at MrT's. The largest sized Lock-n-Lock box will take half a 10kg sack, so you need two boxes for each.   When I finish one of the boxes, I start looking for the replacement sack at a good price.  (I only have Chapatti flour in stock, using it for everything: bread, cakes, pastry, etc, adding baking powder to make self-raising.) 

On the freezer front, I use and abuse my freezer.  It's rare that I don't win at Freezer Tetris.  Everything is stacked as much as possible and frozen flat/into a modular shape.  We buy most of our meat from a local butcher - again, separate budget of £40/month - but if there's a good YS offer at L1dl or MrT's, I will purchase it and figure out how to shoehorn it in.   

HTH

- Pip

MissRikkiC

Thanks @PipneyJane - I really like these ideas! 

I have made a list of bulk items this month ready however i wouldn't ever usually think of those type of items (rice, tomatoes etc) as being bulk. My brain thinks of loo roll and kitchen paper etc. We also used to get in from the butcher and loved it but would also spend more than needed so resorted back to supermarket meat. I love YS's though and enjoy a haul and then playing tetris with the freezer. I dont know if i have been missing the best times for YSing though recently as havent had that much luck. 

Ive always loved food shopping, i know some loathe it but im quite excited about doing a replen this friday! Maybe i need to get out more!

Off to write more lists and look into housing 10kg of rice at a time haha

Fiona236

£25.11/£50 
Im needing a bigger budget next month

Sallyp2

Sallyp2 said:

Sunday night job, updating grocery spends from the last week: £land £8 / Aldi £17.92 / Asda £14.52 / JS £31.40 = £71.84
June grocery spend to date £377.54 vs. budget £350
Overspend £27.54 ... more still to come

Cheeky shop in JS £20.06
Few YS bargains, although only 33% off, but better than nothing
June grocery spend to date £397.60 vs. budget £350
Overspend £47.60
Consoling myself that its not as bad as last months overspend ... but I did increase the budget from £320 to £350