August 2021 Grocery Challenge

Finstickle

Closing out the month on £551.36/£544.50 - £6.86 overspend.  I'll take this in a month when I've had a festival and a holiday so lots of snacks / drinks purchased and not focusing on frugal food.

Mrs_Cheshire

Declaring £338.48/£350 so just under budget. Really pleased considering this included the food bought whilst on holiday See you over on the September chat

goldfinches

Declaring at £124.15/£124 so a mere 15 pence over which has been a struggle against temptation for me and I'm glad to say that I triumphed this morning by managing to walk past both the back and the front entrances of M*rks and S*insby's with my nose firmly in the air on the way to and from the library.

I'll see you all over on the September thread.

flossyblog

August total grocery spend came in at €230.61. A little over my €250 budget.

PipneyJane

@thriftwizard - sorry to hear about your moth infestation.  Hopefully, you’ve stopped it in its tracks and saved the flour, etc, that you put in the freezer.

@LadyWithAPlan - I do use a spreadsheet to track my GC spends but it’s hardly a rocket-science one.  While I may make a note on the side, if I got something for a good price, I don’t have columns itemising things by category.  I use the free “Numbers” app on my iPhone/iPad, which means I can add entries while I’m out and about, if I don’t get a receipt.  (Best thing I ever did was buy a Bluetooth keyboard for the iPad, so that I can just type stuff up.). 

I’m declaring at £133.10/£140.  I have £6.90 to roll over to September.

I think there are three spends that I haven’t mentioned: £7.83 in L!dl last Saturday (we needed milk, mushrooms and peppers but I also bought a Salmon Wellington); £5.25 in the C0-0p a couple of days earlier (I was working late and DH took advantage of one of their pizza offers); and a further £11.45 in L!dl on Monday, on items to get us over the £100 needed for a £2 off voucher.  To be honest, the last spend was unnecessary but we were buying an insulated lunchbox for DH - he paid for that - and it took us so close to the threshold that we decided to “go for it”.  

Who mentioned coffee? Have you tried L!dl’s?  I like their ground “Italian Roast”, which is full bodied but not bitter/nasty.  (On the strength scale, it’s a 5.) It works well in a cafetière and our filter-coffee machine.  It’s £1.09 per packet. We only have “proper coffee” on the weekend.   On the instant coffee front, their freeze-dried “Gold” tastes about the same as Nescafé Gold.  While I prefer Douwe Egbert’s, L!dl Gold does us during the week and it’s £1.89 a jar.  (I only buy DE if there is a major offer on it or I need another storage jar.)

- Pip

LadyWithAPlan

@PipneyJane I have an android phone at mo but a mac laptop ... but I have just been adding it to my notes..

I am always happy to downgrade my brands and love lidl/aldi but both their coffee beans are beyond awful for my taste buds. I gave then away. I guess we all have different taste buds - I drink coffee black and no sugar so there is nowhere to hide.
I use an Aeropress mainly  which you have to grind the coffee extra fine or a stovepot when I am being lazy. I had a Nespresso for years but it started tasting bitter no matter how much cleaning and its not good for the environment nor cheap.
I can manage the lidl ground coffee but its the one area I realise makes a massive difference so for me its worth buying the Lavazza  and organic free trade brands and of course I am always on the look out for good deals on coffee beans/ground.