August 2022 Grocery Challenge

franby64

I'm using up odds and ends as well. I just made some soup for lunch from (very small) onions from the garden, yesterday's left over veg and a bit of left over cream - the cream made it really tbh!
I can pick another bunch of runner beans from the garden today and just need to make something to go with it. I'm buying less processed veggie stuff now, it seems very expensive, though I do have a Linda McCartney pie most weeks. I  need to learn how to make pies. 
I'm annoyed with the C0*p over the price of Heinz soup. They had a deal, 4 tins for £3 and then they put the price up to £1.55 a tin! Outrageous. I do like a tin of mushroom soup but I'm going to have to wait until the offer comes back, can't pay that.
So, just under £45 for the rest of the month but I think it's doable.
Hope ever body is having a good week.

thriftwizard

A miserable failure here! I was doing all right at the market yesterday until I went past the Greek deli stall... thenI promptly splurged £15 on olives, pickled garlic & samosas! I knew I'd be really pushed for time today & the samosas are at least a moderately healthy grab n'go snack. And the tub of olives & garlic will last us several weeks. So now I have just over £85 to spend for the rest of the month. OH & I are away for 3 days next week for a funeral, which will help, and there's plenty in the freezer & at the allotment; I just need to be very firm with myself!

elsiepac

September GC Now Live!

Blackcats

Some grocery spends to report and overall I'm pleased with the month so far.
I am determined to do a freezer inventory tomorrow and see what treasures and mysteries it contains.
we are having a Chinese fakeaway tonight which I'm really looking forward to.  I bought a bag of prawn crackers to have with sweet chilli sauce, a pack of vegetable spring rolls and I'm making firecracker noodles using a small amount of chicken, a handful of prawns and using up veggies - carrots, peppers, broccoli and spring onions - should be colourful and tasty.

The cats are still within their monthly budget too. 😸

if I have any money left at the end of the month I'm going to divert it to my council tax bill.  

£147 remaining to last til 31st August.

leftatthetrafficlights

I'm off to the September challenge as my budget started yesterday- lost the plot and the receipts over the past couple of weeks so can't report for August 🤦‍♀️ must do better!! 😂

otb666

went over 690/600 for august will try harder in September 

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning GC'rs

A much needed NSD for me yesterday, and if all goes to plan, I should achieve one today as well.  

Due to elsiepac's endeavours, I've been thinking about September's GC and then ahead to the run into the last quarter of the year.  Obviously, all of us are facing 'unknowns' (known and unknown) going forward, and it's certainly going to co-incide with a period of change in the Greying household.  Change is to be embraced, and at least, in our case, it has been chosen, rather than thrust upon us, so we're looking ahead to this change in a positive light.  However, it will 'pay' us to assume the best, but plan for the worst, as louse-ups can happen at the best of times, and sometimes folks and organisations do choose vindictiveness over 'doing their best'.  I am therefore going to do all I can in terms of planning and preparedness to ensure that should folk choose to play silly-b's then food will still be available to be put on our family table. 

To this end, and with the benefit of reasonable stocks in the cupboard and meals in the freezer, I am going to aim to finish August GC with £25 still in hand.  Ideally I am going to spend no more than £10 on this weeks 'main' shop, and spend no more until we hit September.  It's made a little harder with the BH weekend being next week, but I do still have my 'treats' budget in hand, so hopefully we won't be without an icecream or something nice to enjoy.  Also, I am NOT in anyway aiming to buy 'food for 3 of us for a week' with this £10.  It is simply to purchase milk, bread, and any essentials - plus if I could get hold of a 'useful' £1.50 box, or if I could secure some food items from the waste divert, then I shall look to do that.  It's about not actually spending all of my remaining budget, not about sticking to a miniscule budget - building an 'emergency cushion' just-in-casedness......  

I have to be aware that we could have a cash-flow issue in September, or it may well work through to October (much like when SSP effects worked through several months later after the actual sick leave, earlier in the year), so I'm actually being proactive now, to do what I can to ameliorate things, just in case the worst case scenario happens.  I'm trying to be prepared - because even if everything works out just peachy, all households are facing such uncertainty at the moment, with prices of everything going upwards, I just feel better if I know that I've tried my best.  Our grocery/household budget is my 'domain' so it's important (to me) to do my best.  DH is supportive, and has already played his part by not accepting the car insurance renewal figure, by comparing and then going back to the company and telling them that they were £40 more expensive than their competitors, what were they going to do about it?  Fair do's they price matched, so that is a household saving made right there.  

We had a 'cheat' tea last night, cardboard box fish, oven chips and mushy peas which meant putting the oven on, but I also made a lemon & blueberry cake which used 1 punnet of the YS'd blueberries and 1 of the YS'd lemons I picked up on Friday, and 4 of the YS'd eggs that I had got from HB.  I now have 2 of those eggs left (we had scrambled eggs/omlette for lunch yesterday) which I will use for egg mayo sangers today.  The oven was filled last night, and the eggs have been utilised fully - £1 well spent.

Sorry to 'think out loud', but it helps me to set out my plan and know where I'm aiming - even if I don't get there. 

August Budget £164.20/200   'Treats' Budget £24.02

Greying X

LittleGem

Morning all, 
Need to do a medium sized shop today as running out of things like onions and potatoes as well as milk and bread. Hoping for around a £20 shop but we’ll see how I go as I’d still like to add a few store cupboard items too like gravy and passata too. 

Does anyone have any any recommendations for good DW tabs? I currently get mine on a plastic free subscription service called smol which is great as I don’t have to think about buying them and they don’t come individually wrapped in plastic, but wondering if there are any decent cheaper plastic free options I should consider?

Have a lovely Sunday all. We had our Sunday tea yesterday (casserole) so an easy fry up dinner on the cards tonight which is always a win with DD 👍🏻

thriftwizard

Kudos to your OH for getting a deal on the car insurance, @Greying_Pilgrim. The savings are usually there if you can be bothered to look for them! But sad to think about people/organisations choosing to be vindictive, though I'm well aware it does go on... may that not happen to any of us! 

Off to cook up a massive batch of windfall apples now. I don't know quite what I'm going to do with them, as DD1 has filled the freezer up with bags of (bought!) ice for her G&Ts; obviously HM ice isn't good enough any more. (Time someone had her own kitchen & her own budget...) I can't bottle them as I'm out of seals for my extensive collection of Kilner jars & can't seem to find any more, though to be fair I haven't hunted online yet. I suppose I could make fruit leather... can't crush them to make cider, due to an incident with the (very elderly) garage door meaning I can't currently get into the garage at all to fetch the apple press. Sigh!

Greying_Pilgrim

thriftwizard said:

Kudos to your OH for getting a deal on the car insurance, @Greying_Pilgrim. The savings are usually there if you can be bothered to look for them! But sad to think about people/organisations choosing to be vindictive, though I'm well aware it does go on... may that not happen to any of us! 

Agreed thriftwizard.  Hopefully things will just go through as normal, but unfortunately there is a history of ineptitude/vindictiveness with this particular organisation, so it would be remiss of me to not factor in a sn-afu.........  But I'm definitely embracing positivity and hoping for the best.  The best plans are always those that are made, but not actually needed...... 😉

Greying X