August 2022 Grocery Challenge

mumtoomany

Hi, @katkin. Ha ha, yes i have an OH like that too. The trick is to take the dog with you when you go shopping. I go in the shop, OH walks the dog around the car park. Problem solved, with the added advantage that he picks up change off the floor and blackberries from around the car park. Win, win! HTH, hugs, mumtoomany.xx

Soontobeoap

@joedenise thanks for tip re tinned potato’s. Never tried roasting them but will now. Going for a bit of a store cupboard challenge over the next 2 weeks so if the weather cools down I might give them a go.

@katkin yes I have a hubby exactly like yours. Both retired. I try to slip to the shops when he is bowling otherwise he always likes to come. (To help!!🤦🏻‍♀️) and numerous additions get added. On the surface he thinks that I am obsessing about the cost of grocery shopping but I have noticed that he is now looking for bargains and telling me when a supermarket own brand works well for him. I think with him it is a pride thing. He thinks that if I am trying to cut prices he is not providing for me properly. Very old fashioned I know. Anyway we both agree that our meals have not suffered at all. In  fact they have improved because I have added more recipes, think about meals more carefully and add more veg. It’s a win win.

I don’t know if anyone else has noticed that they have become much more careful in other areas because of this challenge as well. I think twice before I buy anything now.

@elsiepac thank you so much for running this thread. It has made such a difference to my budgets and I know once I have done a year I will be able to set much more realistic targets next year.

katkin

I'm glad it isn't just me!

@mumtoomany that's excellent! Free blackberries sounds great and I bet your dog loves supermarket trips. Alas I have 2 cats and chickens. Though one of my hens is a curious sweetheart who loves hanging out with people....hmm wondering how she'd feel about keeping an eye on OH outside Al*i 

@Soontobeoap I think you are spot on about the pride thing. That and being used to a certain lifestyle where he's never had to think about it and since our standard of living is good he hasn't noticed that in the background I'm juggling away like a financial swan    smooth on the surface, legs going ten to the dozen under the water   

I am taking much more time and effort to check prices, plan and track what I'm doing now - using spreadsheets. Always looking for new ways to do things and experiment. Groceries and the leisure/treats budget lines seem the only ones where you can really make a difference and claw back some money into the ones you have little control over like the utilities. Appreciate you can turn heating down, move house, walk don't drive, get a new job etc but sometimes its about finding a balance and making compromises that still make life enjoyable. I know I'm privileged to even be able to say that....

We eat well with variety and more veg/salad etc so cutting back on the grocery spend has had advantages. So it's not all bad! 

PipneyJane

Good afternoon All and welcome to the new GC-ers

Since I tested negative for Covid this morning, I have finally been shopping in August.  (Wore a mask, just in case, but I am pretty much asymptomatic now.)  

First stop was L!dl.  £49.58 spent.  Finally got to buy fresh veg:  carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pak choi, onions and spring onions.  Other highlights were two YS packets of steak, a YS quiche, an 800g block of extra mature cheddar - increased in price by 50p to £4.09 - and 15 free range eggs (up 10p to £2.09).  Even though I was there 5 minutes after they opened, there were no £1.50 boxes.

Thank you, whoever it was, who mentioned that L!dl were selling chopped tomatoes at 28p a can. They had a pallet full, so I bought 12 cans, plus 6 cans of their cheapest baked beans (22p each).  If you saw a woman staggering back to her car with four heavily laden bags of shopping - that was me.  I did regret not getting a trolley.

Second stop was Sainsbugs, to buy loose-packed broccoli, bananas, 600ml crème fraîche, cotton buds and a chorizo.  They had the big tubs of Yeo Valley yoghurts on sale at £1 each, so I got four.  £12.58 spent.

Somewhere along the line, the GC purse acquired an extra 40p, but 20p of that was in coppers - now in the money box - so it’s only up 20p on what I was expecting.

The above brings our total spend to £62.20/£150.50, leaving £90.30 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

nannygladys

I did a bit of shopping in asd@ on Tuesday (I think it was!!) And spent £22.41 on their bright yellow package stuff and got loads, I was really surprised by the total I thought it was going to be more. I did buy other food as well but all the fruit and bit of veg I bought has lasted really well so well pleased. And I couldn't have cared less if people noticed as it enables me to pay bills and sleep easy!!
So my sig has already been updated. Im going to menu plan this week as I dont really want to go shopping again before I get paid, although I have to buy milk and bread for dgd who is staying tomorrow night

 Anyway, off to have tea

Nannyg 

ancientmum

Things did not go to plan this week, and I ended up spending more than anticipated, but all ok, I just need to reign it in over the next two weeks.  I took the bus across town to buy some soap from the eco-shop, usually £2.50 a bar, and they were doing three that were a little bashed at the corners for £4.50, so now I've enough to last until Christmas at least. Near there is a food rescue centre which had just had some bananas delivered so had a pack of those, then a sliced loaf from the Polish shop for a change, very tasty.
On Saturday £17.17 spent between Asd@ and S@ins on groceries, and some shampoo that was on offer, and some cider for a treat at the weekend.  I missed the market as I was meeting some friends in the Big Town, so the only fruit bought this week is apples and satsumas but I have strawberries and raspberries in the freezer to add to porridge.

Tonight's tea was roasted courgette and beetroot from the allotment, with sweet peppers and onions that I bought last week with rice.  There is enough for tomorrow's tea and a portion for the freezer.  Does home made strawberry jam or fruit cake count as part of your five a day? 

Caroby

Two smaller spends made recently. One on the 9th at Asda ... £8.38 for some celery, walnuts, wrapping foil, cherry tomatoes, French mustard, beetroot, lettuce, brown basmati rice and wholemeal pasta penne, then on the 13th spent £2.90 at the local Co-op for a loaf and box of fruit and fibre cereal. Almost never use the Co-op as I think it's too expensive but we needed those two things to tide us over till the second (last) main shop of August and the only other local shop is a Spar, also an expensive one, but it saved a trip in the car.
Have now spent £119.00 exactly (what are the chances) which leaves a maximum of £61.00 for the rest of the month. Still quite a few things in the cupboards and freezer, plus huge courgettes and a few runner beans keep growing so may be ok.

Suffolk_lass

LittleGem said:

Hi all,

no spends for me today 🙌🏼and got back late from seeing friends so an easy tea of beans, scrambled eggs, bacon and toast for us. Means I’ve eeked out an extra day on the meal plan so I’m happy with that. 

I love how many of you talk about a well stocked pantry, always sounds so comforting. I’m trying to build up more of a stash, motivated by this thread and price rises of course. Although I haven’t got a huge kitchen I’m going to aim to add a couple of useful tins (beans/tinned toms) to each shop, and maybe some pasta and rice. 

Would love some more ideas for useful things to add to the list. 

@LittleGem  I keep a store cupboard too. My tins are chopped tomatoes (I buy four when they are on offer), baked beans (the same), plus sweetcorn, condensed chicken soup, a tin of chick peas and a tin of borlotti beans (good sub in chilli for kidney beans).

I also keep a spare flour, sugar, pickle, marmite, coffee, tea, mayonnaise and jar of ready made sauce (one curry, one pasta). I buy dried chick peas, split peas and lentils and cook a bag at a time, freezing the batch in those rectangular takeaway boxes (the tin of chick peas is a standby in case I do not get round to cooking my bag of dried ones) and if the tin is getting old, the tinned ones make a smoother hummus than my pressure cooked ones. 

Oh yes, a couple of packets of jelly (one of life’s forgotten pleasurable desserts), a tin of sliced peaches and a tub of custard powder, with a packet of crackers, McV digestives and some (OB) ginger nuts. A pack of dried skimmed milk too.

I keep cornflour, nuts, herbs, spices, stock jelly-pots, oxo, Worcester sauce and tabasco in the cupboard on the go, but only get more when these are running out.

My budget has a row for stores items so I track what I spend, and I have previously bought multiples when things are on offer, from that line within my annual budget. It lets me buy my brands (coffee, shower gloop, soap and McV) when they are on offer in slightly bigger multiples - fewer of these recently.

Soontobeoap

Is any one else having trouble updating their signature today? I have tried to add £5.30 spent in the local co op and cannot find figures beyond June.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning GC'rs!

Approx £12 to own up to spending this morning.  That did get me some staples, one or two items that we've run low of (because we use frequently, ie chopped tomatoes and tommy puree), and a couple of items to replenish stocks.  But it's still frightening when you look at the amount I got for what I paid..........  I did get some YS'd carrots in MrA, but they were a bit ropey (had to dig through) and were only reduced by 10p.  HB is getting a depressing place to shop these days - eggs have gone up 10p again from when I bought last, and now for half a dozen eggs it's £1.19.... or 20p e.a.c.h.

At least we now have apples in the fruit bowl, and sufficient tomatoes for this month's cooking endeavours (I hope! 😊)

I have soaked some white beans overnight (they were 'Greek food week' ones I got YS'd in MrL several weeks ago).  I've not really ever cooked many dishes using white beans before, but looked out a - new to me - soup recipe that I will try with some of the beans for tea tonight.  It has pasta in it, so I'm hoping a) to start to use some orzo pasta that I have had for...... some time.......... 🙄 and b) that the pasta quotient will encourage LG to give it a go, although I'm less hopeful of this as a) beans may be a step too far and b) they really haven't embraced 'soup as a meal' as of yet........  Never mind, we've got to keep trying 😊

I'm at £100.87/200 spend, which isn't so bad for half-way-ish through the month, supermarket price inflation is just.........

Greying X