July 2022 Grocery Challenge

SausageDogSandwich

Hi all, just dropping by to declare at £139.50/134 spent. I’m not surprised I went over as the last few times I’ve been out, all the kids have been with me  that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! See you in august!

joedenise

Final shop of the month done today when I went to pick up a TGTG bag from Morries.  £15.02/£200 for the month.  Pleased with this as I'd already moved £50 into other budgets as I didn't need the full £250 this month.

I'm sticking with £250 for August as I'm going to need some meat and fish this month so will probably need the extra.

Soontobeoap

@PearlRose I agree, I imagine I will shop from store cupboard and then see a really good deal on something , so I buy in bulk. Always makes me go over. I am beginning to see that some deals are regular ones that come around every 6 weeks so I might let those things run down a little more.

@rileyg26 I have gone over nearly every month since January when I started. I still keep trying and will also use this years figures to inform next years challenge. It is hard to estimate what you will spend which is why I am not beating myself up about it.

diminua

I'm £18.53 over. Last minute plan to have takeaway pizza and red wine round my cousin's yesterday. I think I'm seeing a pattern to what I'm doing. Beginning of the month spend more than I mean to, thinking I'll catch up. Middle of the month catch up - last week of the month have £20 left, which is only enough if I'm not going anywhere. I need to be more consistent and make better use of the fridge at work. Our office is still very quiet, so there's loads of space. 

Blackcats

A bit of a Vicky Pollard (Little Britain) end of month sunnary from me ...

Yeah, but ..... grocery budget significantly underspent 
however,
No but .... eating out budget is overspent
yeah but ..... I took the overspend from the underspend and I have come in £15 under budget.
very happy with that.
massively helped by Olio, eating out of the freezer and having simple meals like egg and chips.

goldfinches

I have one last spend to add which is £1.15 at Mr T's for 4x petit pain which makes my new monthly total £51.45/£120 and my average daily spend £1.65.

So I'm declaring at £51.45/£120 for my main GC budget. I've been massively helped by having a tin of milk powder in the larder which has stopped most of my little top-up shops which is always where my money vanishes. The other things which have also helped are eating from stores, batch cooking and not really feeling well enough to be out and about much this month.

However, I have gone over by quite a bit on my Baking Budget so have to declare a shameful £27.65/£20 for that. There are five Wednesdays in August so I'm going to plan to use up what I have in already in an effort to pay that overspend back by the end of the month.

Just in case anyone here would find it useful someone who commented on a recipe in the Guardian earlier today recommended this vacuum sealer, I've copied what they said about it below the link.

1pc/set Manual Vacuum Sealer Set Vacuum Bag Hand Pump Handheld Food Vacuum Sealer Vacuum Ziplock Bags Kitchen Food Storage Bag|Saran Wrap & Plastic Bags| - AliExpress

"I wonder if you may also like one of these, it is a tiny inexpensive hand-pump to vacu-pack for the freezer etc. It extends the freezer life of vegetables etc hugely. Everything takes up less room, doesn’t get freezer burn and keeps longer as air is excluded."

gill5blue

Morning all,

very pleased with myself spent £207.50 out of £250.

Next month I will spend any money left stocking up for winter.
gill5blue

gill5blue

PearlRose said:

July grocery spending: £464.2, so unfortunately the grocery challenge for £400 failed.

I've been persuaded to buy a bit extra each time I shop to build up my inventory, mainly canned and dried stuff. Perhaps this is the reason why I failed the challenge this month. I find it difficult to keep the balance - cutting the grocery bill and having a modest stock of goods for later use.    

Hi Pearl,
I would suggest just by cutting the grocery bill to start with, trying to do both is setting yourself up to fail, and then you feel sad.
so by just cutting your grocery bill you will see how better you are doing
gill5 blue xx

PipneyJane

I am declaring at £127.50/£140,

following a spend of £5.50 on two meal deals in MrT’s yesterday.  It was meant to be £6 but we also bought the Sunday Times using a subscription voucher and, when that was manually entered by the cashier - the vouchers are temperamental - it gave us another 50p off.

See you all in August.  

- Pip

CynicalPinnacle

Final declaration for July: £592.45 / £550

So, almost £43 over budget this month but it included three trips away, including a week in self-catering accommodation. We're trying to do more pack lunches to keep the eating out spends down, and the overspend was covered by the general holiday budget. The eating out budget still needs work though 🤦🏻‍♀️.