August 2022 Grocery Challenge

joedenise

A top up shop in Sainsbugs for mainly fruit for a total of £9.49.  Have now spent £48.65/£250 leaving £193.36 for the rest of the month.  Next week's shop could be a bit higher as we are hoping to get away in our motorhome so there will be more convenience foods than usual although will also be taking some HM ready meals which will come from freezer which will save a bit of money.

katkin

Managed to avoid the "big spend" with OH doing the running to top up milk, bread and bits. The bits got out of control and I had to remind him Guinnes* is not part of the grocery budget    I've not totted up the receipts yet - not looking forward to it.

It's milk that's driving this. I can make do without the "bits" but not milk. OH drinks it and I'm a tea jenny. The milk delivery company will have the last laugh because I'm going back. The slight increase in cost is worth it to keep (him) out of the shops. 

This whole thing takes time, thinking and a team effort doesn't it!    Take your eye off the ball and all sorts slip through.

The game is not over yet. The "big shop" happens in the middle of the month when I get paid - so Friday and I have a well curated, stock checked and price compared list done    

There will be a bit of running around, I'm used to online deliveries, but it will get me back on track with planning out the rest of the month's spend.  

Back on Sat with a spend balance - wish me well! 

MissRikkiC

mumtoomany said:

Went to the local garage for... You've guessed it, milk! Two bottles £3.40. Total now £1691.47/£2640. Still feeding two extra ones and DD3 back for a few days. Will need to shop before the end of the week, running out of nappies again, and milk! Hugs, mumtoomany.xxx

Are you familiar with reusable nappies? I have so many terry towels and wraps that go over which have plenty of life left in them if you think it might help keep costs down? I’d happily send you a handful of more if you’d like xx 

MissRikkiC

We’ve £134 remaining of £350 which feels okay since I’ve spent less than £20 since the 1st August. There was also a spend of £25 however it was towards a (very expensive) breakfast out at the weekend with the children and a friend. 

£27 was spent on some luxuries, as it was our turn for cheese and port. 

So if I take out those 2 spends plus the top up shop we did at the start of the month, actually I think that’s touching the £150 mark so actually the rest so far has been on general shopping for the previous 2 weeks. 

I’ve been pretty rubbish at keeping track but thankfully can see each withdrawal from the pot which helps. 

Olio hauls have been a huge help recently, we got SO much meat at the weekend

mumtoomany

Hi all. @MissRikkiC, thank you for your offer, so kind of you to think of me. Yes, I used Terry nappies for my oldest two, pretty much all that was available at the time, (38 and 40 this year). My younger three all had disposables. When they were going I was either child minding or fostering, too many bottoms, too little time! The three grand children here all wore cloth nappies for the first year, disposable once their mum returned to work. These two will only be here for another two weeks, hopefully. Their baby brother is getting better by the day. I'm sure their mum and dad will want to pay me back for the nappies, but they have less money than us. We can afford the extra costs, and with five children under eight in the house, time is at a premium at the moment. Thank you again, I hope you can find someone else to pass them to.
Spends £6.20 on milk and sweets. Total now £1697.67/£2640. Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xx

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning GC'rs

Back from my MrL shop.  No £1.50 boxes today.

£34.19 spent, on...... not alot.  But they did have the 28p 'simply' chopped tommies back in stock today - they've had nothing or only the more expensive tins in stock, for ages.  The SEL for the icecreams I bought (the mini almond chocolate) was 10p less than the till charged (grrr!), but I think that was the only discrepancy today, although the olive spread that I use has gone up 10p since last week (double-grrr!).  I'm definitely going to have to rein in DH's 'slathering' tendencies (especially on toast) with the spread, as the price has crept up so much.  

At £88.91/200 for the month already spent, I'm a little over where I thought I might be - particularly since we have had some items from the waste re-direct that have been helpful.  I suppose I did go 'off-list' for several items today, but as you know, sometimes you have to strike whilst stuff is in stock, so I bought tofu because it was on offer at £1.49 a block and the store had a slightly larger ie 'some' tins actually on the shelf - selection of tinned fruit today, so I got some.  I was feeling pleased that I had dropped on the YS'd eggs at MrA, as there were literally no eggs in the main egg section of our local store - there were a few of the........ 15 pack barn eggs (plastic box???), to the side, but that was it.  

Can't think of anything else foodie related to report.  We're just trying to do the best with what we have, and absolutely trying our best to 'eat all the things'.  I did have to throw away a couple of slices of bread - that had got a big blue mould spot on the side - which really irked me!  The bread had originated from the waste re-direct, but bread going mouldy is a feature of the time of year/weather, rather than where it originates from.  

Greying X

SausageDogSandwich

Hi everyone, I spent £3.76 on Tuesday in hb, on drinks and rice cakes for the kids and £1.75 on two jars of pasta sauce in the coOp yesterday as I didn’t realise I had used all the chopped tomatoes. Hoping for a NSD today and tomorrow.

current total £29.46/200

EssexHebridean

Hi All - @elsiepac can you put me in for £200 again for the month please!

Another slightly odd month for us as obviously our month starts late anyway - as at the 10th - and in fact we've only got 3 weeks to account for (yes, again!) as we're away for part of the month. Again, I don't plan to reduce my budget, but I do also plan to do a bit of tinned/dry-goods re-stocking I think. will also probably buy another good sized chicken this weekend as that worked incredibly well the other week. MrEH will probably go to the farmers market next weekend, but the spend there will be light as I don't want to put too much into the freezer. 

This week has been suitably frugal (and also covered from the final week of the July budget) albeit not particularly forward planned. Spaghetti on Monday with cheese sauce from the freezer (HM and frozen a while ago) plus peppers, mushrooms and some bacon. Tuesday was pork stir fry with noodles (bought a pack of 4 pork shoulder steaks from Al's when I shopped on Monday - British and a very reasonable price) and last night was chicken pasta salad using roasted toms and peppers from the freezer - that also used the last portion of the chicken from the other week, and the final blob of HM pesto. I'll do the rest of the pork steaks this evening - with boiled new tatties (Al's Super 6) tossed with butter, lemon juice and parsley and peas. Can't say the idea of cooking anything that needs any lengthy prep is appealing much so that should tick the boxes. 

I was originally planning to pop to Al's tomorrow for their big pieced of battered haddock to go with chips we already have, but I'm not sure the weather will be ideal for that either so it'll require some more thinking. 

To use up: The rest of the week's mushrooms (bought a big punnet as there were no smaller ones sensibly priced) and most of a pack of bacon that will go out of date tomorrow. I might just split that into two lots and throw it in the freezer though. 

joedenise

Bacon and mushrooms makes me think of carbonara @EssexHebridean as long as you've got some eggs to make the sauce, even if you end up freezing some of it, or even all of it, for another day.

Saver-upper

I thought I might have had a NSD today, but ended up doing a tiny shop. Went out for milk, and maybe eggs, came back with milk, eggs, fresh tomatoes, and Ribena squash .Total spent £10.13, even though my calculator told me it was going to be £9.98.
 (Not sure why this has been happening to me so often lately. I walk around supermarkets with my calculator, adding my shopping prices as I go. When I compared, Ribena was charged 5p more than the shelf price, and vine tomatos 10p more.Last week, at 2 different supermarkets I was charged more than I had calculated. In ASDA I was charged £5+ more than I had calculated!! Getting a bit sick of it 

£171.83/£300.00