June 2022 Grocery Challenge

elsiepac

July GC Now Live!

I'm sorry the June one still doesn't seem to be stickied - the forum team do say it is so I'm not sure what's happened there.  I've asked for the July one to be stickied now too but just in case I advise continuing to Bookmark the threads so they don't get lost

Soontobeoap

thank you @elsiepac for everything you do. I am relying on this thread more and more. I know I go over every month but am determined eventually to understand my budget and vary it accordingly. I don’t think you really understand how much your efforts are appreciated by so many.

@Bluegreen143, I am also waiting for some tasty cereal bar recipes. So much better when they have been tried and tested rather than picking a recipe at random.

I have been putting off totalling up this month after losing total in signature as I knew that I had gone over. With DH doing little shops here and there as well I was very concerned. Anyway it’s only £30 with £2.00 more spent today on tin foil and freezer bags at Poundland. My month finishes on 24th so not too long to go now. Next month will hopefully be better.

CynicalPinnacle

Did my first proper Aldi shop probably since before the 5 yo joined the family! Spent almost £58 for a weekly shop. Unfortunately our local shop didn't have quite everything so will be popping to Sainos for Tempeh, fancy lemon biscuits, fancy ham, 9v batteries, cumin and caraway seeds. Spent almost £6 on stuff not on the list, but probably should have been. Oh, well, it's the first time since pre-pandemic I've written a list and gone to a physical shop, something was bound to get missed. And I've decided to ditch the Sainos pass, we spend far too much on convenience of delivery and don't practice using up what's in the cupboard enough first. There's always free click and collect if we need to rely on an easy Sainos shop, so that will save us £60 a year.

£399.20 of £600 spent / £200.80 remaining

Greying_Pilgrim

Good afternoon GC'rs!

I was very grateful to receive some items of food from a waste food diversion scheme this morning.  I will only ever take what I know we will use, and I'm always mindful that there are others in the queue behind me - even if only one person! But every item helps. 

Although our grocery month doesn't end until the 30th June, because dear elsiepac has put up the July thread this morning, I have set our budget for July - £200 again. But there is now the added incentive to save every single penny that I can, as we are lucky enough to be going away for a few days holiday at the end of July/start of August.  The holiday is self-catering to keep costs as low as poss, but obviously, if I plan we can make sure that our meals are available 'out of stores', and any pennies saved off grocery spends for the next 6 weeks or so, can formulate a little treat fund.  Ice-cream will, of course, be top of the list, but maybe fish & chips (or some other 'bought' meal) would provide a little respite for the cook (😉) too.  So I now have in my lazer-sights any savings that I can rein in for this month, and obviously anything from July's budget.  My challenge to myself is to plan, plan and then plan some more, so that we can focus on having a spiffing family time, making memories. If there were to be any pennies left over from that endeavour, then perhaps they could be channelled into purchasing one or two items to top up stores, although I don't want to get ahead of myself.

Greying X 

Pinwheel

Hello all,

I have just been through the book where I write all my spending down and I have updated my signature.  9 days until pay day so I can possibly do it. I'm going to try and use up everything I have rather than go over budget again.  

I didn't have a chance to update as I went along last week and felt really anxious about adding it up today.  I hope to stay more engaged now, reading all your posts definitely helps me stay on track.  Thank you!

Have a good evening 

Doom_and_Gloom

I'm still around and have been keeping an eye on our spends still. Been reading but have not had the energy after being in the greenhouse or as for one day, and this hasn't happened in ages, actually going out to see people, to respond.

The following is how we are doing with our budget. 
£235.92/£240.
£4.08 left.
Our month goes until the 30th so this may not suffice 😑. 

Both the milks my OH will buy have gone up in price. One of them is now £1.70 for a litre 😱, he bought the one that is £1.45 today but he prefers the other one. The OH isn't finding reduced meats as often as he used to and the aren't reductions aren't as good as they previously were. The same can be said on the other products we were nearly always able to get a good reduction on before. Though the OH went in today and was able to pick up a 2 pack of vegan burgers for just 20p! They are dated today but will keep in our fridge until our BBQ tomorrow (kind of a home date thing for a change of pace). 

The produce I have growing will likely not be able to start being harvested until near the middle or even the end of next month as I started rather late. However I should at least have courgettes coming out of my ears once they start fruiting. I'm limited on space but am growing them vertically which helps me grow more than what could be in a traditional growing way. First time trying this method but the courgettes seem to be fine doing this so far and growing well so fingers crossed. 

Suffolk_lass

We are still in June, although I am planning my July spend as I have a 25% off from Morries for a £60 online spend. I also need to buy sugar, which I get from Sainsbug's as their 5k bag is cane sugar which I always buy. Much of it will go to feed bees, so under pet and livestock spend. I may buy zero% cider while there, but that comes out of treats and entertainment so not spend in GC at Sainsbugs unless I am tempted. Their fruit is always lovely...

I was banking on a TGTG bag from the not quite local coop last night but they let me down. Although I got there at the start of the collection window they said they had none. I am convinced some of them keep the bags back for staff as there is no connect between the people putting them up and those handing them out, so no accountability. The woman was awfully smug about the fact I would get a refund. Not of my fuel I won't!

So I picked up a bag of flour and a pot of ice cream and that was it. Just milk DD to go I think now.

pamsdish

£2.94 in A1D1 this morning as passing on my way back from dog walk on the beach, called in for salads.

SausageDogSandwich

Morning everyone, yesterday I spend £1.50 on 1kg bacon from asd@ as this is a lot cheaper than my ald1. Then spent £10.24 at ald1 and got potatoes, 2 cucumbers, pack of apples, 4 pints of milk, pack of apples, mozzarella ball, coffee, 15 eggs and 6 pack toilet roll. They didn’t have any “cheap enough” oil and the wheat biscuits seemed expensive so I didn’t get those. Got home and looked on trolley and they wheat biscuits are also a lot cheaper at Asda and the oil is 35p cheaper a litre. So will have to take another trip there one day this week. Ald1 didn’t seem to have any of their “essential” brand items so I think that’s how it was more expensive than Asd@ . I used to just expect them to be cheaper but definitely not anymore. 

£29.27 remaining with 10 days to go.

CynicalPinnacle

Sainos delivery pass cancelled! £60 for the year saved straight away, and hopefully more, but less tangible, savings will also be made as we switch to Aldi and try to make more use of what we already have in the house. The one time the delivery pass is truly useful is on holiday but have discovered there's an Asda near the holiday cottage which does click and collect for 50p. So, technically a £59.50 saving but I'm pretty sure an Asda shop will be more than 50p cheaper than Sainos 😁.

£399.20 of £600 spent / £200.80 remaining