June 2022 Grocery Challenge

Doom_and_Gloom

Although we have one more day for this month left I am calling it now.

£271/£240
£31 over.

Even though we are over budget I'm thankfully not having a panic attack. I keep reminding myself that the prices are going up and reductions aren't as plentiful or as good as they used to be. 
That said, we still need to make sure the amount spent doesn't go crazy. I am worried about these increases even if my parents keep reminding us that they will help us if we need it but I'd rather we figure this out without doing that and I know my husband thinks the same. Just annoying that the whole budgeting thing is placed on my shoulders as my husband is on the autistic spectrum and one of the things he doesn't completely 'get' is how to budget.
Off to work out what our July budget should be. 

Blackcats

Doom and Gloom - we are all doing our best and keeping an eye on our spending and that is good enough. 

Vanlady

Hi Challengers, 

Main weekly shop £50.18, but then we had another venture into our city market and £6 was spent on a lovely haul of fruit and veg (2 large honeydew melons, peaches, strawberries, red pointy peppers, cherries, possibly more but I cant remember).
I've noticed that the large sm's are no longer stocking their own make cleaning brands as much?? I begrudge paying a lit more for big brands😡
So, my total for June is £220.51/£210.  £10.51 over, I'll take it on the chin as I havent even started on the melons yet, plus we did buy some extra bulk stuff......12 more tins tomatoes, extra packets of rice.
Wishing you all good luck, but I'll opt out for July as I'm starting on the 5:2 and I've enough stuff spinning around my head with working out those calculations😄.

pamsdish

£25.66 in M0rr1es, stocked up on tonic waters, y.s. monkfish for a treat, 2 y.s bacon rashers, 2 jars of own brand apple sauce, none on shelves in t0sco Monday, a gammon shank, may cook that on Wednesday as sister visiting, planned trip to A1d1 tomorrow, have planned my meals for next week so will get last few bits needed tomorrow and hopefully will carry me through well into July.

mumtoomany

Final shop for the month, I hope. Spent £46.01, mostly to top up on stuff from farm foods as DD3 is moving out and I lose her discount from today. Total to date £1412.27/£2640. Hoping this will start to even out over the next few months. Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xx

Greying_Pilgrim

Morning GC'rs!

I'm calling June as £179.41/200, which as you can imagine, I am absolutely thrilled with, as the way the month started, I thought I was going to gallop over my set budget, big stylee! 

There was more 'non-food' items bought this month, as I had to restock after my 'lean' months, but I think that it's fair to say that I have benefitted from being able to utilise £1.50 boxes from MrL (although they have changed in composition, and I'm starting to find that for us they are not always worth the investment even if available), and I have also benefitted from getting some items from a food waste diversion scheme.  I ensure it all helps.

I have no doubt that rising prices does impact my budget, and I have no place left to turn, I've done the down-branding, shop different shops (within the context that even if different shops are 'local' there is no point in wasting petrol or time to shave tuppence off the price of a tin of beans.....).  To that end, i now think that we have reduced further what we actually buy - not that we go hungry - but we probably buy less variety, or less 'interesting' ingredients.  And I continue with my stringent intent to 'use it all up', and only 'take/accept' that which I know will be used, whether it's free/out of date/from a neighbour's garden or proffered by someone going on holiday, clearing out their fridge.  

So i don't feel I have any 'hot-tips' to pass on to reduce grocery expenditure, but I will joyfully grasp my £20 underspend this month to take forward into my (notional) holiday food/treats fund.  

I'll still be cheering on at the sidelines, any GC'rs continuing their June quest.  Meanwhile, I'm popping over to July to report my first expenditure of the 'month' there.

Greying X

EssexHebridean

I think Greying has nailed above one reason why perhaps the price rises feel like they're hitting many on here more than the rest of the "outside world" - for the most part (and particularly those of us posting in threads like this) we HAVE already done the groundwork haven't we - buying only branded items where taste-tests genuinely mean they're better value for us, knowing to check on "price per weight" rather than just price per unit, shopping around the different stores where we can...and of course making sure that what is bought is used - probably ultimately the best way of saving money!  we also of course tend to take NOTE of prices - I wonder what percentage of the population are away quite what steep increases there have actually been in pretty basic items like milk, butter etc over the past year? 

As predicted I have run out of citrus fruit. Not altogether a bad thing as I have a packet of crisps with my lunch in replacement, and it does at least mean my determination to not shop again this week has held. The next question will be how low can I keep NEXT week's spending?

Tonight's tea has ended up at jackets with beans and cheese I think - I debated about taking soup out of the freezer and having that with toast and then realised that tub of soup can come out to do lunch on Saturday instead, so shoved it back! I'll get it out tomorrow to defrost along with the tub of curry for tomorrow night. Yesterday's tea gave us a single portion of mash left over so that's been frozen - MrEH will probably have it with "something" when I'm out one evening next week. Yesterday's tea also made use of a chunk of the slightly elderly savoy cabbage, the final pak choi and some more of the wretched mini peppers as a stir-fried veg side. Very simply done in a splash of sesame oil. 

I must go back and tot up my actual spends for the month so far - I think it must be around £150 though, with two shops still to go... 

I think when I get into July I'm going to resist the temptation to start the month with a "big shop" as it probably isn't needed again yet. I also plan to continue reviewing the veg boxes each time one is due to assess actual value to us. 

diminua

Just made it with 30p to go, despite a few treats - one ice cream and some smoked salmon for lunch sandwiches. 

PearlRose

June grocery challenge £370

Actual spending £415.59

Overspent £45.59

I’ll need to increase my budget for July, because I usually do shopping on Saturday and there are five Saturdays in the coming month. Also expect to add some items into the trolley as small thank you gifts.

DizzyMissIzzy

Hi all

It’s been a little while since I posted, and I’ve just caught up with the posts I’d missed. I’ve been on holiday, away for a week. So my food spent then comes out of a different pot. However, I’ve had a few NSDs since getting home last Saturday so my final figure for June spend is £123.91 (out of a budget set of £180).

This seems like a figure I should be pleased with, however I know I’d have gone over budget if I had got the shopping I do need (bread, milk, fruit). I’ve been eating out of the freezer and cupboards instead which is good, but my concern is that by using up my stores I don’t have much to fall back on now. So my plan is to try to hold off until Monday’s home delivery from Mr T@sco, when I’m going to attempt to restock a few useful tins.

So I’m aiming for £180 again during July, but fear I will go over. Got to try though, as August and September look like being costly months for me as there is a significant birthday coming up in my family.

Here’s to July! (It’s come around so quickly, hardly seems possible that it’s July tomorrow!)

Good luck everyone