August 2022 Grocery Challenge

atrixa

£7.83 shop in Mr M to declare (got some pennies off in vouchers). Can't seem to keep away from my bank card lately. I got:
Frozen broccoli 69p
Branded meat-free sausages £2
Leeks £1.49
Part baked baguettes £1.05
300g mushrooms 99p
4 limes 69p
Branded bread 99p.

Anyone else choosing branded items over supermarket own due to price increases and quality? The own brand sausages were £1.75 for 6 and they're a bit naff, so I went for the higher quality 8 pack for £2. Own brand bread now up to 79p, but I find the quality isn't that great and it goes stale quickly, so I opted for a 99p branded loaf which I find lasts longer.

Own brand toiletries were looking rather sparse on the shelves.

total now £114.95/£145. May have to be rather creative to get anywhere near my budget this month. Won't be buying those baguettes again at that price.

franby64

I live very near to a Coop and a small Tesco and usually shop most days. Yesterday I managed not to but I don't have many no spend days, something to work on. It's too easy to just nip up the road!
Today I spent £8.65 in the Coop and £2.65 in Tesco. I go to Tesco for milk because it's 15p cheaper but had to dig right to the back of the cabinet today for a decent date.
Stuck to the list so all good! 

Soontobeoap

Another £18.00 spent today on ham, sandwich fillings, slushys, fruit shoots and crisps in Aldi. It soon adds up with little ones staying. 

joedenise

Have finally finished my "big" shop which was mainly Bulk Fund buys so not including in the GC.  I couldn't get my usual baked beans in Sainsbugs this morning as they only had branded ones which we don't like and as I've still got a couple of tins I just left it so it was a grand total of 59p for a decent size cabbage!  I may need to move some of the GC money over to the Bulk Fund as it has been depleted with all the bulk stuff I've bought so far and only have just over £8 left in it!

My total spend to date is £10.26/£250 leaving £239.74 for rest of the month.  Some of this will be transferred over into our holiday fund as we've got about a week away mid month for which I will transfer probably £150 as we are self catering but will also eat out a couple of times but only for lunches and in cheap places like Spoons!

JackieO - I'm sure the halloumi slice will be a lovely topping for the stuffed peppers.  I usually stuff peppers with some herby or spicy couscous and top with cheese.  Yesterday I stuffed the peppers with a veg heavy couscous (9 veggies) with chickpeas and topped with mozzarella - must say it was delicious.

joedenise

Just seem that Iceland has a 7 day deal on Lurpak spreadable for £3 per 500g tub if anyone likes this butter.

LadyWithAPlan

Hope all are doing well, very glad to be back doing this challenge again after a long break 

Grocery Challenge £12.84/170 spent £0/30 bulk 

Lidl I popped in  - they had some veg boxes but were 70% potato and I am not that into potatoes - some hurt my stomach, so I didnt buy.  So I am looking @thriftwizard veg box with envy
I did buy some tasty salt and pepper chicken sausages YS - lovely ... I had some before from the H8ck brand and didnt like them but these lidl ones were v tasty. I also bought a bit  more of their specials limes, organic tomatoes, DF milk .. another bunch beetroot 99p - I am put in the pressure cooker and then grate with cider vinegar and sugar

I found the strength to put back the Dorit8s..I put them in my basket and then removed them before the till - my crisp and sweet habit needs curbing as I want to lose at least 1kg of fat this month. Happy to put on muscle though ;`) If I buy junk I eat junk.. Its not rocket science!

NSD 2/13

Mortgage Pig - I have one with wings and a unicorn horn and emptied it today £12 thats gone as cash in my grocery purse and the £12 i moved to savings.
Never quite sure what to do with my mortgage pig  - suggestions as to best use?
I did add cash in the other day when I didn't go out to buy some sweets.  So when I am extra frugal and limit myself from excess spending I will pop cash in there 

Caroby

First shops of the month need to last us till around the 16th. On Monday at Aldi we spent £45.49 inc a large ripe avocado for 69p and four large red/yellow peppers for £1.16. Today at Morrisons we spent £6.72 which was a win/lose as the plant-based korma sauce we like had 25p off but they've put their cheapest tissues up 20p a box. Then to Tesco and a spend of £55.51, noticed some more price increases but managed a few savings here and there inc two YS finest super seeded farmhouse loaves 38p each and a Warburton white farmhouse loaf 78p; they're in the freezer now.
£2.81 went on stuff for the food bank.
So total spend so far of £107.72, if I'm to stay in budget there's £72.28 left, not sure if I can do it.
We had an unexpected bill yesterday, plumber was here for about 15 minutes, cost £58!

London_1

I must say I have never tried couscous JoeDenise, I will have a search for the best price when I next go shopping and get some is it similar to rice in flavour ? the chickpeas sound good as well .I have those in the cupboard. I'm definitely going to have a go with the peppers and the halloumi today. I used up all the potatoes yesterday in the cottage pies, so spuds have gone on the shopping list. 
But as its really warm today and I have the tree surgeons coming to take down a very large conifer thats dying, it will be a NSD today as well. I have lots to be getting on with though as I am sorting out a bag of books for the CS, mostly read, and just taking up space.

JackieO xx

                                     

Greying_Pilgrim

Morning GC'rs

My weekly shop was done today (yesterday's 'top up' was really about resetting after hols).  So I spent £31.91.  Did feel today that I at least got "some" shopping for my money - an £18 shop on hols literally filled one (small) morries woven bag for life, and I carried 2 loaves with the other hand!

Today's shop found the MrL sweet pickle at 10p dearer than the last time I bought it, and their frozen green beans were 10p a pack dearer too 🙁But at least they had lentil curls in stock (YAY!), particularly amazing as there was tumble weed blowing through the crisp shelves in-store yesterday...... (mind, 2 cartons of lentils curls was about the extent of the re-stocking that had taken place 🙄).

The only thing that I got that wasn't on the list was a pack of 2 x cheese and onion slices, YS'd to £1.04.  Not a huge saving (30%), but handy to pop in the freezer for an emergency meal component, although cooking/reheating costs have to be taken into account so much now...... 😕.

£41.99/200

Greying X

joedenise

JackieO - couscous hasn't really got any taste which is why you need to add stuff to it to give it some flavour.  The one I used this week I bought when I was in France earlier in the year and the stock, veg, chickpeas came in a tin which was mixed with the couscous.  Very tasty.

I'm going to try making a variation of it myself with some passata, stock, cooked frozen mixed vegetables, finely chopped onions & garlic and some chickpeas.  Will also add dried herbs of some sort for a bit more flavour.  For the passata I'll just use about 100ml (I have a few "pucks" frozen which are LO from a pack I used a while ago - very rarely add a whole box!).

What I particularly like about couscous is that you just cover it with boiling water, or stock then put a plate on top (or some cling film) and leave to stand for 5 minutes.  After that time the water/stock should have been absorbed.  If you've added dried herbs they usually come to the top for some reason so just use a fork to mix them back in.

I usually make up a fairly big batch as it's great to add to a salad, to serve with some sausages or even just eat on its own.

Morrisons are selling 500g plain couscous for 79p; Tesco/Sainsbury/Asda are 80p.  Couldn't find it on Aldi website - they only seem to sell a flavoured one.

I've never been impressed with the flavoured ones - they're just not to my taste.