August 2022 Grocery Challenge

Blackcats

Sounds like a great trip @joedenise .  Look forward to following your adventures.

littleGem - I use smol too.  OH was very sceptical about their products (and their prices) compared to Lidlee) but now declares them worth the cost as they are the best product he's used.  Praise indeed from him! 

joedenise

I don't tend to post much when we're away as it's often difficult to find wifi and now that roaming is very limited with our phones it will be even less!

mumtoomany

Hi, @LittleGem, Just replied to your question, but on the wrong thread! Aldi and Lidls dishwasher tablets are cheap, less than 10p each, and the "plastic" wrapper dissolves. They come in a cardboard box, HTH, mumtoomany.x

Greying_Pilgrim

Morning GC'rs!

Forgot to add yesterday that I ended up composting food 😡 I had bought 6 tomatoes from MrAl in the super6.  The only reason I picked them up was because I was in there because MrL was out of frozen broccoli (and MrAl didn't have any in stock anyway 🙁), and I knew that I could use fresh tomatoes in the curry I made last night.  As soon as I unpacked them I thought they looked a bit ropey, and they literally went bad overnight - some sort of blight-like/virus - they 'shrunk/shrivelled' from the inside out........  So that was 59p wasted.  And then I composted the sweetcorn cob I bought from MrL which felt plump and was 'fresh' green (with brown tassels) but when I peeled back the papery covering, alot of the kernels were withered, as though it hadn't had enough water (unsurprising).  Whilst I have had sweetcorn like this before (used to grow our own), the distribution of the shrivelled kernels was such that it couldn't easily be used/eaten.  So I gave up and composted it.  In total £1.08 of the budget wasted.  Still, lesson learnt and move on, we must.  There would no point in taking the tomatoes back to MrAl, as I hadn't kept the wrapper, and the time and petrol would equate to 59p anyway, given that I don't routinely shop there.  I couldn't be bothered to keep the sweetcorn until I go back to MrL, and any special trip to make a return would cost more than 49p.

Will look to have a bit of a bash at forming a meal plan later - for the next 9 days.  Can't be too rigid, as I'm unsure about the weather, fair weather is promised for the BH weekend.  But can definitely look at what needs to be used up first and foremost and get formulating a broad outline at least.  

Greying X

joedenise

@Greying_Pilgrim - it's worth at least an e-mail to both Mr Al and MrL to let them know about the condition of the tomatoes and corn.  They should know that the stuff they are selling at full price isn't worth the money.  You may even strike lucky and get a voucher to use next time you shop there.  

My DSis is good at complaining and getting vouchers usually for more than the cost of the original item.  I've only ever needed to complain to MrTs and all I ever get is the equivalent amount voucher.

kayannie

Greying_Pilgrim said:

Morning GC'rs!

Forgot to add yesterday that I ended up composting food 😡 I had bought 6 tomatoes from MrAl in the super6.  The only reason I picked them up was because I was in there because MrL was out of frozen broccoli (and MrAl didn't have any in stock anyway 🙁), and I knew that I could use fresh tomatoes in the curry I made last night.  As soon as I unpacked them I thought they looked a bit ropey, and they literally went bad overnight - some sort of blight-like/virus - they 'shrunk/shrivelled' from the inside out........  So that was 59p wasted.  And then I composted the sweetcorn cob I bought from MrL which felt plump and was 'fresh' green (with brown tassels) but when I peeled back the papery covering, alot of the kernels were withered, as though it hadn't had enough water (unsurprising).  Whilst I have had sweetcorn like this before (used to grow our own), the distribution of the shrivelled kernels was such that it couldn't easily be used/eaten.  So I gave up and composted it.  In total £1.08 of the budget wasted.  Still, lesson learnt and move on, we must.  There would no point in taking the tomatoes back to MrAl, as I hadn't kept the wrapper, and the time and petrol would equate to 59p anyway, given that I don't routinely shop there.  I couldn't be bothered to keep the sweetcorn until I go back to MrL, and any special trip to make a return would cost more than 49p.

Will look to have a bit of a bash at forming a meal plan later - for the next 9 days.  Can't be too rigid, as I'm unsure about the weather, fair weather is promised for the BH weekend.  But can definitely look at what needs to be used up first and foremost and get formulating a broad outline at least.  

Greying X

Although I don't take part in the grocery challenge, I do read along to pick up ideas on stretching my very basic state pension. I agree with joedenise about sending an email to complain about inedible food. I complained to Lidl by email about one of their £1.50 boxes (of all things!) because even though I paid next to nothing for it, it should contain food that is fit to eat. This box contained a bag of spinach (all slime), rotten carrots, etc. I received an apology + a £5 voucher.
KA 

purpleybat

good morning all,

i'm really not doing too well this month....
20/8 £7.22 spent on mainly convenience foods cos i was too tired to face cooking that evening and just wanted to heat and eat
tomorrow's morries delivery is £41.10 taking my spend so far to £171.20 with 9 days to go. i'm trying not to beat myself up over it but with the gloom still ever present it's proving difficult.

thinking about it tho i was budgeting to £40 a week, the same amount as i used to budget to two years ago, still it gives me a good idea where to start from.

Greying_Pilgrim

Thanks joedenise & kayannie - I'll have a think about it, but in terms of the sweetcorn, it is difficult to assess the quality of the corn, as the leaves cover it up.  Plus with the tomatoes, whilst it's annoying for me, without the wrapping to show which producer/supplier it was, I'm not sure what remedy could be made? 

I ended up going to MrAl today as well!  A friend has suggested a trip to an out of county attraction for a day this week, and I needed a couple of things for a picnic.  I couldn't find everything I needed in MrA (was passing there), so had to nip to MrAl.  

£6.72 spend - arrggghhhh!  What did I write yesterday about limiting expenditure to £10 🤣  Still, I'll take it off my grocery budget for the time being (it wasn't all picnic stuff - but was all food), as I will need to find an admission fee from the holiday treat budget as it is.  I'm wondering whether I have done the right thing agreeing to go. It isn't somewhere I would have chosen to take LG to myself - however, I am fully aware that sometimes it's good to do 'spontaneous' and sometimes it's good to just go with the flow and see what happens. It'll be an adventure, and we haven't had as many of those of late as I would like for LG, so let's go for it! 😊

Grocery budget £170.92/200 Treats budget £24.02

Greying X

SausageDogSandwich

We didn’t end up in the shops on Saturday, so that was a nsd. On Sunday my daughter got her giant land snails - more mouths to feed  So as we were out already I went into ald1, didn’t go to far off the list. I did buy 2 jars of coffee for the stores box and flowers for neighbour who’s been unwell, this will have to be taken from gc as there isn’t any other spare money right now. I also purchased 2 coke xero, 1 bottle of squash, 6 pints of milk, 6 packs of noodles (haven’t seen these in the shop for ages) 3 x packet rice  3 x cucumber, pack of apples, 2 x toothpaste, crackers, fish fingers, chips and onion rings, finally my son picked up some biscuit spread that was £1.89   

Didn't seem to get much for the money but writing it all down it seems more. This cost me £23.24 altogether. NSD again today, will see how tomorrow goes!

£98.17/200 spent.

Saver-upper

Spending, spending, spending......

I needed to get milk, but I also didnt have any nice snacky bits in the house (chocolate, biscuits etc). I spent £21.90 in ASDA, then, a couple of hours later, realised I didnt have enough cheese for cauliflower cheese tonight. Running errands in the afternoon, I returned to ASDA and spent £3.65 on cheese.
Total spent today= £25.55

August: £330.69/£300.00