August 2023 Grocery Challenge

JingsMyBucket

Afternoon all. Quite a few spends to declare and posts to catch up reading. 

We had a Morrisons order delivered last Tuesday which came to £80.39 after refunds for a couple wrong or damaged items. An M & S run on Thursday came to 95p and a trip to the halal store cost £15 for ground lamb, a couple heads of garlic, and a bag of turmeric. 

Friday I was at Aldi and spent £22.65 for chicken, steak, wonky peppers, bananas, eggs, and a couple other bits. Today I’ll portion and wrap up the meat and put it in the freezer. 

Today are what should be the last spends of the month. £8.70 at M & S for strawberries, milk, rolls, and dried thyme. £2.19 at Iceland for bananas. And £6.99 at our local cheese shop for a bit of cheese and a lemon and cardamom chocolate bar. I’ll hide the chocolate from Mr. Jings until our trip to Edinburgh this weekend. It can be a surprise treat in the hotel room after dinner. 🙂

£394.61 / £400.00 spent. £5.39 remaining!

First time we’ve come under in forever! Mr. Jings has been getting a lot of vegetables from a community garden where he volunteers so we’re currently drowning in chard, carrots, potatoes, beets and other veg. I’m going to process that today so we have some for the freezer. A friend suggested cooking down all the chard and freezing it flat in a Ziplock bag so we can just break off pieces as needed for soups, omelettes, etc. 

I also just ran into a friend in town and he told me there’s a fig tree near his place that’s giving out big fat ripe figs and that we should partake. I texted Mr. Jings to have a swing by on his way home. Our coffers are full and I’m feeling rather lucky. 

Soontobeoap

Everyone seems to be doing quite well this month. I am sure that the abundance of fruit and veg growing locally is helping. I was given some gooseberrys yesterday. I have so much to bake and process that I have just popped them in the freezer for now. I did a freezer inventry this morning and think I can go another week at least without buying anything major. Hubby needed bread today  but I held him off by cooking up 2 sausage rolls that had been left in the back of the freezer. Ham egg and chips tonight to use up the excess ham we bought and ckear some of our egg glut. (dgc now prefer jam sandwiches which suits me) we have loads of tomatoes that we didnt use and they are ripening in the garden now so have made some tomatoe sauce for freezer. I will use it in shepherds pies, bolognaise and lasagna. Meal plan for evening meals until 6th September using stores from freezer.

Open day at Community club tommorrow and after that I will be working my way through baking cupboard. At least all of the perishable food has been sorted today.

DH is going shopping for bread tomorrow which might be our downfall! 🤷‍♀️

Florenceem

Finished my 4 weeks shopping money - helped by community shop prices and free eggs.
I will transfer the left over amount to a column on my banking spreadsheet.

Ainsty

Last shop of the month at ALDI today. Milk 4pts £1.45, Bread 45p, Spread £99p, Wonky mushrooms £1.79. = £6.03 and a grant total of £41.99 for the month.

With lots of HG fruit and vegetables including peas, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, courgettes and more courgettes, potatoes, beetroot, onions, carrots, spring onions, summer squash, cabbage, cauliflower, plumbs and raspberries I won't go hungry. Soon the sweetcorn will be ready followed by the winter squash and leeks. 

thriftwizard

Anyone know whether @elsiepac is OK? Very much hoping so - but there's no September thread up yet...?

JingsMyBucket

@thriftwizard you and I are on the same wavelength. I just messaged her asking if she's okay and if she needs help. Hopefully she's alright. 

Suffolk_lass

weenancyinAmerica said:

@Suffolk_lass - Have you considered planting the seeds in the courgettes you buy? Just one fruit would be enough for a lot of seeds.

I did but the squashes are mostly F1 Hybrids which means they don't grow true from their own seed

Suffolk_lass

thriftwizard said:

Anyone know whether @elsiepac is OK? Very much hoping so - but there's no September thread up yet...?

@thriftwizard maybe message her to nudge her?

Crazycatlady2

Not sure on exact amount but grocery spend was lower this month as 2 teens away for week with grandparents....takeaway and eat out spends were definitely up though. 

In September I'm determined to use stuff that's lurked in freezer for a long time. Will set kids on eating last 2 be xes of ice Lolly's this week before they return to school toi

thriftwizard

@Suffolk_lass, these 3 very different "fruits" are from 3 plants grown from one pack of "official" summer squash seeds that came on the front of a magazine. Only one of them seems to be what they are supposed to be - but at least they are all edible! (Think there may have been a quality control issue at the suppliers...?) You could look at the Real Seeds catalogue for heirloom squashes, both summer & winter; everything I've grown from them has been very good - especially the Asturian Tree Cabbages!



Will try giving @elsiepac a nudge.