August 2022 Grocery Challenge

CynicalPinnacle

It's been a busy month, have been rubbish at logging spends on here but am adding them on YNAB. A bit scary that we're just halfway through the month with only £100 left in the budget 😱. But we shouldn't need to buy much more for the month so we may just about get away with it. Not strictly part of the challenge but we've only spent £63 of £200 eating out budget, which is promising compared to our normal spends.

£448.04 spent / £550, £101.96 left to spend.

Nisssha

I am still alive and within the budget! I run a separate account for food spends so I don't tend to keep track myself (plus my account ruthlessly rounds everything up, whether I like it or not, so the real spend is less). I have 1 pound left until the end of the month (which is 25th for me).
I have so much food at home it is ridiculous. I can't seem to stop myself when I see a good ys - and I pass by Sainsbobs on my way back from work when they put them out (half priced piece of gammon today, even though I already have so much meat in the freezer? Why not! I just wanted some bacon...) and I have c00p within leisurely stroll distance, where I hunt for yellow stickers just for sport if I'm bored in the evening and I have some freezer space. AND I went to l*dl to buy a plant, was not expecting a 1.5 box, but they had 3, one with 2 cabbages and 2 bags of carrots plus a lot more stuff, so I just couldn't leave it (I was walking around 2 miles carrying the stupid box in front of me, it was heavy, I was not planning to buy anything other than the plant and maybe crisps so I didn't even have my bags to re-pack it)
I honestly have a problem. My next month's budget needs to be a lot smaller (especially without cat shopping), so I can't keep hunting like this. But my parents will be visiting so I probably will really need some food then!

149/150£ spend

PearlRose

Just been to Tesco and spent a whopping £74.51.

DS’s little friend is coming to play, so I added some snacks in the trolley for them. Tesco’s doing Any 2 for £3 for some fresh fruit, picked a punnet of strawberries (400g) and a punnet of red grapes (500g), and a box of breadsticks for £0.55. Last week there were three of them and we also had two types of fruit and a pack of Hartleys Jelly (£2 for 6 pots).

August grocery spending so far £166.32/ £400

Saver-upper

Did a "quick shop" in ASDA this evening. I only wanted to get a few bits to have pancakes tonight, came out £28.78 lighter hahaha. Still couldnt get bananas (far too green), so nipped across to Aldi just for those (71p).Total spent today=£29.49.

August Spend: £261.75/£300 (sigh!)

Suffolk_lass

We have skipped our one big shop this month and so DH did a top up of yogurt, cream and fruit (peaches and apples) in Sainsbugs as he was nearby. He also managed to snaffle a very large jar of OB mayo that has been MIA at Morries for a month. Oh and two bags of cat litter - now £1.95 up from £1.55 for 10L 

I am making my own coleslaw at the moment (one carrot, one small onion and a lump of whatever cabbage, 1-2 small frozen chillies, dressing is a dollop of mayo slackened with lemon juice and black pepper) it is about a third the price of SM budget slaw and tastier, fresher and I know what's in it. I have used lemon juice and yogurt instead of mayo too and that works too.

Apart from an iceberg lettuce (a want, not a need) we are getting by and including a few store-cupboard things we are on £118.47, with various meat products portioned and frozen for as and when use-ups. Of course growing my own tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, chillies, beans and courgettes is helping enormously and my produce freezer has many bags of prepped veg for winter. 

I have been bottling fruit too (cheaper to store than in the freezer!) and foraging from the local hedgerows

London_1

Good Morning chums ,been sorting out my accounts, and spends for August only 16 more days to go .

I have at the moment a £3.50 voucher from Tescos in my purse along with around £15.70 so of my £64.00 budget I have £19.20left and around two weeks to go.But I'm pleased with that as I have virtually nothing on my shopping list to buy so a good week or more of NSDs. Having spent time on Sunday sorting through my food stocks (I now have two shelves full upstairs on my cleared book case of tinned and dried goods )

I was surprised at how much food was actually in reserve. So no need to shop for at least another week or more. I have enough fresh fruit and veg to last as well.

My lovely neighbour gave me a huge bag of windfalls plus some Rhubarb which will be cut ,cooked in soft honey and frozen in portions for the really wintery January

 I hope to get some decent blackberries this weekend with some forageing as well to be frozen for the winter.

If I can hang on to the end of the month without spending much more the residue will get squirelled away with July's left over lolly . Every bit that's tucked away will go towards a 'big shop' right after Christmas, when the supermarket sell off their unsolf Christmas stuff great time to get fancy stuffing mixes and mincemeat etc, forward planning  

Hanging on to as much as we can and streetching stuff out will be the watchword this winter I think . My DD texted me this morning to say EDF had just sent her revised figures for her DD she pays £190 a month now and they expect £350/60 in future. She is £350 in credit as it is . There are only two of them as both the children have flown the nest !!!. God knows what my youngest Dds will be as there is 5 of them at home at the moment.

A very worrying time for people ,goodness knows where it will all end up.

I'm OK for now as I have mine fixed until August 2023 so not too bad, but I'm still tucking as much away as I can and cutting thing back as much as possible.

But I'm sure we will get though it somehow  

Take care everyone it will all come out in the wash it usually does  

JackieO xxz

                                                 August spending so far   £44.80/£64.00  

LittleGem

I think I’m up to 4 NSDs for me, but need to head out today for a few bits (milk, yogurt, kids snacks etc) so aiming for around a £10-15 shop. 

We are doing surprisingly well this month (on track at £98.16/£200) but I realise this is because this month we have had a lot less visitors. Whenever people are visiting we always tend to buy things like big bottles of fizzy drinks, more snacks and treats, fancy lunch things so this definitely is something to bare in mind. It’s nice having visitors but it adds up!

need to pop to £land for some foil takeaway trays for freezing portions up. I’ve got enough pie filling and pastry for two pies to pop in the freezer so that’s this afternoons job.

Soontobeoap

Decided to cook a batch of ginger cakes yesterday although it didn't go as planned! In an effort to fill the oven whilst it was on I decided to make 4 ginger cakes at ONCE. (2for tea and cake for DH's bowls team and 2 for freezer) I used my very big mixing bowl but it was too much to manage by hand. it became a bit like the sorcerers apprentice!!! It all went lumpy and I had to put it all through my net sieve! 🤦‍♀️. Very sticky mess everywhere  and in desperation to get cakes in oven I only made 3 very large cakes!!! The best laid plans and all that. Still I tried!!!
DH felt it was his duty to test one and see if it was OK. 🤣. I Seem to have got away with it even if I was left very hot and flustered. 

Greying_Pilgrim

Afternoon All!

Some spending to record - £15.32, spent in 3 shops.  I had to go across town to get some schoolwear for LG and so made the best of having access to shops that I don't normally go to regularly.  Ironically, I was most pleased with my (food) spend in MrT, and least pleased with my MrL spend!  Given that I bought very 'ordinary' things in both shops, I don't know why I'm grumpy! 🤣  MrT had some stock cubes that I wanted to try (smoked paprika & tomato flavour), that will be for specific dishes - and I knew they were pricey at £1.20 (kA110 brand), but I had been inspired at seeing the kn0rr brand tomato stock powder that a US vlogger had used for some dishes, and looked for something 'similar' here.  And yes, in future, I shall probably use a general stock cube, tommy puree and some paprika, but it's nice to know where you're headed with your flavourings, approximately........  I also bought a tin of jackfruit for a future dish, but at £1 for a tin, I didn't feel that was anymore expensive than MrA or indeed HB.  In contrast in MrL, I guess I purchased stuff for the storecupboard that just 'added up' quicker, and 'seemed' more expensive.  Plus there was a thai green paste jar that was SEL £1.09 which went through the till at £1.19....................Grrrrrrrrr.  However, I did get a reasonable YS item in MrL.  They had knocked 30% off a 900g bag of dried cannellini beans (Alma Latina brand), so they were 84p - which I thought was quite a good deal, when they virtually double up in quantity when cooked.  

I also took the opportunity to have a look around fArmf00ds, Iceyland and BeeandM, and left all three stores without making a purchase - a significant mix of 'nothing we needed' and the prices.....😮  I'm glad that I went to have a look in the 'stretcher of pounds' shop, as I did manage to find some generic children's paracetamol (in date until 2025) that has been sadly lacking in any other store, such as HB, w1lko and BeeandM.  Although I think it was a little more than I paid the last time I happened on a bottle, at £1.50 it is still half the price of the well known branded version.  As I managed to get one of the things that I was looking for for LG, it was a worthwhile trip.  LG also spotted a toy in one of the stores, and with absolutely no prompting said that that was the one they would like to buy - but it was far too much money and they were persuaded away from the shelf.  Unbeknownst to LG I had seen the exact same toy, heavily discounted elsewhere, so that has now been ordered on click and collect and will be picked up out of sight of inquisitive little eyes......... 😉👍

Greying X

LittleGem

Well my aim of a £10-15 shop ended as a £17.88 shop split between B00ts (baby food & kids snacks) and L!dl. That should last us til mid next week hopefully with the exception of some more bread over the weekend 🤞🏼