August 2022 Grocery Challenge

Finstickle

I haven't updated in weeks but have still been tracking.

Closing the month on £448/£522 - £104 under
YTD £841/£2,830 - £1,989 remains

Festivals and events meaning my buying pattern was slightly skewif, hoping I can continue the good work.

Blackcats

Glad the freezer swop is working Greying and well done to LG on sporting the f and v boxes.

I'm finished for the month with cats under budget by £15 which is partly because this month I didn't need to buy flea tablets and, shock of shocks they will eat Lidlees finest cat food range - only for dinner when sprinkled with their fave dried food.  Breakfast remains fixed at the Gourmet pearl finest fish fillets in gravy.  Cat treats are downshifted to Lidlees too.

humans are under budget by £43 which I'm really pleased with.

Greying_Pilgrim

Thanks mumtoomany and Blackcats - the difference to the cost of energy used today - compared to previous days/weeks is over 30p as I type (possibly more).  And yes, that doesn't sound much, but that is just one day, and it's made such a difference.  OK, the 'new' freezer is a smaller capacity - it's slightly slimmer, not as tall and definitely has 1 drawer less than our previous one, if that makes sense, but it's still a heck of a consumption drop.  And given that I've not (at the moment) had to compromise on what could go into it, I'm really pleased.

LG has been a little trooper today - they even podded the peas that were in the MrL box for us to have for tea, and they (eventually) ate the spoonful of peas on their plate (not a huge fan) which is progress, and I think the fact that they had podded them helped. We had Omlette, boiled tatties, green beans, peas and carrots for tea, followed by yoghurt and raspberries. 

Greying X

LadyWithAPlan

Grocery Aug 22 £130.42/£170     + 17.50 Sains card    
£4.50/£30 bulk - 


I spent £30 as I  bought food from Waitr, Al** and tesco Saturday to use expiring vouchers up - saved £6 at t*sco and £1.50 WaitrS - some of it was for  dinner for returning family as I have been pet, house, horses,  cats, dog sitting as a favour. I spent a bit more but had been left some cash which covered it.
I will add the unspent difference to my savings account.

I made up a new version of potato boulangerie (which I had never tried - only read about) yesterday
Had bought lots of mushrooms, onions  from Aldi etc so gently fried them up, par boiled sliced potatoes and then layered them .. I then added some hot vegetable stock - and oven baked for 40 odd mins with herbs and fresh basil. Everyone loved it, some of the potato top was crispy. I added grated cheese  on after for those who could eat cheese..



I will aim I think for £160 next month plus another £30 in the bulk fund. This could be very ambitious as I live in London I know others manage fine. I have to be GF  and am Dairy sensitive so I have given up with TGTG as so much wheat in. I will take loads of apples and plums from here though - I may try dehrydrating apple slices.

I do prefer Lid* to Al** -they so loads free range and  GF meats inc sausages/burgers etc - I like the Lid app as well with their vouchers and their free money on spends. - I dont think Al** does one?

My GC is never this low £130!!! but I  have been out of London for 2 plus weeks and I did defrost their freezer for first time in 5 plus years -with their permission and sent what food I could to a neighbours spare freezer drawers but ate out of it a lot.

I am planning to do a freezer  and larder inventory when I get home - I have my 2nd fridge freezer turned off at present - but feel the need to get extra frugal in Sept and I am going to try monthly meal planning a la Tilly from MFW. 

NSD 15/13
My first attempt at NSD's in months - and hopefully I will manage a 16th one tomorrow
to close Aug on.

I am thinking of buying an electric blanket -and also an extra for my parents.

My electricity usage is very low compared to the national average - I live on my own and still it is now running at £36/month now - it used to be under £30/month and we are in  the summer months so no heating on and I have not been using my oven where possible - my new pressure cooker/saute 6 in 1 is brilliant. I dont have a TV and its a small flat so. I have been swimming a lot in my local gym so I have had showers there  straight after a lot this summer - this may be a cunning way of keeping my home bills down. Its a pain to go home with wet hair so I just shower there rather than take all the hair stuff with me.

The MSE price cap  Calculator is great and not too scary at present but I dont know my winter elec usage ... I am putting aside money to cover me and the £400 will help

I am sure, scary as it is for all with rising prices, that there  is a strength and a sense of control of facing this utility issue and planning for it as long as there is some room in the budget. I need to read more on the frugal thread and I appreciate how lucky I am. I will be helping my parents with their bills no doubt - my mum said she could not sleep cos of worrying the other week- their energy DD has gone up form £120 to £280/month  and she never says things like that. So much as I am saving for my house deposit, my mum being able to sleep at night despite being on a small fixed income is important to me. 

Ald* (and I note Li** ) do a gift card  that I believe I can then refill . There is one walking distance to them so.

K9sandFelines

Hi everyone, 
Finally just caught up on here. 

I'm here til the 12th. Anybody else? 

Its a struggle to hit target lately. Times are hard.
I've already nearly spent everything. With two weeks to go, I think it's going to be impossible not to go over!!! 

diminua

I'm declaring at £22.09 left. Very little of the last bit was on groceries - one takeaway coffee as I had a 25 minute wait in Esher changing from train to bus. Yesterday's pain au chocolat, crisps and apple to go with my home made egg, tomato and salad cream sandwich, potatoes, bread and a can of G&T bought on the way home yesterday. Anything else this week will come from the holiday budget as I'm off to Margate for three days with my brother, but I'm making egg rolls for the train anyway. The ones I make are nicer than shop bought.  See you all in September. 

London_1

Good morning chums well last day of Aigust and thanks to some finacial wiggling and using up every scrap I can to make something edible and also steering clear of shops for as much as possible I am more than happy to tuck away 

   £17.92,into my winter squirelling account.I have streetched things until they squeeked at times so along with the £14,63 from July.
 I now am happy to have a spare £32.55 tucked away safely into a separate account.This will go towards a big stock up shop later this year hopefully  

I was lucky in that I had four main meals at DDs house plus two other meals out at my eldest DD as my gradndson is home for  a few weeks from America. I also had so really good y/s bargains that I got accidently being in the right place at the right time

The New Month starts tomorrow, and looking at my shopping list there is not a great deal needed at the moment that's urgent so I will try to delay shopping until I have at least 10 essential things are required. At the moment the only thing on the list is a jar of beetroot,so I can live without it for a bit longer :):)

6 weeks today I have a short five day break,it was suppsed to be in Porthcawl, but the coach company has changed it so I'm now going to Ilfracome in Devon, but I don't mind,its all paid for so just need a bit of happy cash for spends .

As the colder weather comes in, more warmer meals will be needed. When I have a little more wriggle room in my freezer I shall use the M&S voucher I have in my other handbag that I had forgotten about , and stock up on some meat,fish etc. It was meant to buy me a few bits for my holidays back in july ,but I completely forgot about it As its £25.00 it should get me at least some nice chicken or meat of some description to help with the cold winter days .

Well done to everyone for getting through August reasonably unscathed ,so new challenge head for September

JackieO xx 

mumtoomany

Scotch eggs went down well with most people. Babies wouldn't eat the egg! Today will be chicken curry, home made; rice and chippaties, reduced to10p. May do some onion bahjis. Sent OH for milk, so £3.40 spent. Realized the pigs go on 5th October, not the 7th. Will probably be collecting the meat on 7th. Total spend to date, £1879.55/£2640. I wonder if i can keep this to less than £2000 by 7th October? Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xxx

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon GC'rs!

Well, I think I'm safe enough to declare August at £179.86/200.  A total of £5 more than my hastily re-arranged intended target a week or so ago, but I'm pleased to have got in under budget.  Let's face it, even 1p under budget is a win these days!  

I won't be going near any shops until tomorrow and spent absolutely nothing today.  LG suggested we go to our nearest NT property (actually mostly grounds), and we had a wonderful walk - taking in a section of the grounds that I hadn't explored before.  Saw oodles of wildlife - a whole colony of young squirrels playing tag in the trees was by far the most wonderful thing we saw - and ended up in a shady spot in the auld walled garden to munch our picnic lunch.  It got too hot to take in the play area (no shade), and on our way out, LG whined a little for an ice cream, but when I saw the price, I decided against it today.  As it was, we came home and I asked LG whether they would like a treat of an ice-cream out of the freezer.  You'll know what the answer was!  We had a lovely morning together and a treat has been enjoyed.  Hope I'm getting something like balance, despite having to think about the pennies......  The school hols aren't yet over, so there (hopefully) could be another chance to shoe-horn in an ice-cream treat yet 😊 

Keep on keeping on, and I'll see y'all over in September - but will still cheer on from the sidelines here too!

Greying X

SausageDogSandwich

CAnt keep up with the days as it’s now almost the end of the summer holidays, my brain does not want work with me  so luckily I have written my spends down but don’t remember what I’ve spent on again. £9.62 + 5.31.. not sure what I spent that on. Icelan £3.85 on chicken pie and the new white toffiffee sweets. Went to pick up some ice creams but the £1 value has now gone to £1.25 but the freezer was empty anyway. £5.26 in Tesc0, this was items for sweet and sour, egg noodles, cookies for kids, honey for husband, rice. Finally £2.69 in post office, 69p on a Jiffy bag and £2 on the litttle pocket money sweets for the kids. The week definitely hasn’t gone how it was supposed to and only managed a NSD yesterday, should be one again today though. 

All in all £149.41/200 spent. 

Will need to get a small amount of fruit and veg and milk tomorrow if I have no luck with olio tonight. I will be using the left over money from this month to do a tesc0 shop at the weekend, I have no chopped tomatoes left , running low on other tins, no pasta left etc. So will be stocking up on all of that plus some items for my stores box for winter. 

Have a lovely day ☺️