July 2024 Grocery Challenge

LadyWithAPlan

Mimismoney23 said:

I realised after totting up what I spent on June that without including meals out I spent £840.93 on groceries. Over the year that's my entire post tax wage of £10091.16!!!! I nearly died seeing that. 

ouch!  At least you can pin point a quick win. This Grocery Challenge thread and all the experts on here will help you (I have learned loads)  

You have inspired me to look at my grocery spend since Dec when I started YNAB (which I love and has really helped - I used to move money between bank accts as 'pots' but always ended up not tracking the transfers eg where I overspent on one area i would take it out of another pot - whereas YNAB makes it completely clear on spending)  
Since Dec 1st 
Grocery  - £766.42
Bulk      £122.50
MEAL boxes £113 *HF deals
Junk £86.85
Snacks/meals  out £108 - not include big bday meals
Coffee £107.13 (sometimes social or at college)
Abroad food £608 - I often travel for work
Total £1911.90 (am single) over 8 months so avg £239 pm but rest of July to go through


July so far
Grocery £118.40 of my £160 budget (just me and occasional feeding of my date) includes 2 lots of the coffee
Bulk  £33.99 /£30  now  but needed to get more coffee  so just seen as part of Prime Day deals 12 x 250g Lavazza was £31.33 so £2.60 per 250g packs vs the £4+ in stores (plus I always buy more food when I run out to buy coffee) - I do like Creme e gusta more but not at £4 a pack  (was £2.50 a pack last time I bought last year)
Junk sweets/crisps  £19.29 (ouch) 

I am away this weekend abroad so have budgeted some for food but outside this budget

I am currently going through a huge declutter - driven by reading about 'The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning' so hallway is in chaos

carboot_karaoke

Afternoon hope your enjoying the sunshine  

Two shops to report £15.27 at home bargains and £33.85 at asda. I confess £31 of the bill was for beer & wine whilst we're away.  I don't normally include alcohol in our monthly food budget because its non essential... well, most of the time  But for holidays or entertaining its allowed.  

Planning a small shop tomorrow, and then I'm sure we'll end up buying a few bits down there.

This months spending has gone surprisingly well so far, but we did start the month with a full freezer of reduced meat. l know how quickly things can change, with kids off school food just evaporates...lol  and we're entertaining friends twice this month  (haven't brought anything yet). Not to mention both vehicles need filling up with fuel.

New totals 
£687/ £325.53

1. Petrol £180 / £47.37
2. Food/Cleaning £350 /£181.30
3. Camping food £100 / £57.95
4. Toiletries £57 / £38.91

TravelCrystal

Good morning Everyone.
Just been to Lidl's to buy what is hopefully the rest of the shopping for the month.
We have guests on Sunday so had to buy a few extra's.
I dare say I will have forgotten something 

I make up our cereals out of oats, dried fruits ( which I vary) cashew nuts, cinnamon, flaked almonds and seeds.
So had to top up with fruit and nuts today.
We have this with Greek Yogurt and either fresh or frozen fruit.

Had a few YS bargains.
Ham, which I bag up in to separate bags and freeze to go on either home made pizza's, or sometimes cheat carbonara's. £1.57
55 pence for a crunchy mixed salad
2 x oriental stir fry bowls @ 59 pence each ( will be okay for Sunday with some Chinese barbecue pork I am making)
£1.04 for some salami slices.

Also had some discounts on onions, and lettuce on my app.

Had to buy some Prosecco to go with Sunday's lunch of course.
Also soft drinks for the driver.

In addition all sorts of other fresh fruit and veg.
Total spend £47.83

Total spend so far this month £240.98/£400
Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine 
T.C

carboot_karaoke

Your breakfast sounds delicious 😋 @TravelCrystal. 

Also forgot to mention that I've just had to spend an unplanned  £15 on a new airbed. 😅 

Suffolk_lass

Back home after a week away in the motorhome. Our fridge runs too cold so we took a cold box and some freezer packs to juggle things as much as possible. The Strawberries we bought en-route suffered and the inside of the cucumber went a bit translucent, but otherwise, a bit of semi-fredo soup was never going to take away from our break. It ended up being a very cheap week. DH cycled to the nearest village to buy bread, and had a tea and pastry in the little cafe, but that all comes out of the treats and entertainment pot.

Other than that, costs were fuel and camp-site; the latter a traditional tap in a field with a toilet and chemical disposal point only. Lovely and quiet, and very cheap. Apart from the big river subscriptions and milk, we might make it without further spends (although I have a hosting T&E coming up the weekend after this. 

Pennypincin

Morning everyone, sorry I've been awol again.
Fell of slimming world and the food budget front and into normal money to buy junk.
Back on it now hopefully.
Thursday/yesterday I spent £29.80 in Tesco.
Mainly on salad vegetables, fruit, a small amount of vegetarian protein, cheese and wraps.
I will need more salad, I'm aiming to stick within £5 so I can save £5 for the bulk fund.

Pennypincin

£5.20 spent in Morrisons on salad vegetables, cottage cheese and pickled onions.
I'm aiming to save the the last £5 for the bulk fund.

thriftwizard

Oh 'eck, I've more or less lost the plot! Trotted off to Wales last Friday to house-sit for DS1, and am not counting the little we spent there; there was lots already in their fridge & cupboard as they're quite rural so keep a well-stocked cupboard. OH spent a little bit here, mostly on "treats" to welcome us home on Thursday evening; that will continue to provide us with lunchtime options for a fair chunk of this week, but the £30-cash housekeeping I'd left for him was untouched. Yesterday was, of course, a nightmare as the supermarkets couldn't take cards although the local shopkeepers & market traders could; it's going to take me a while to untangle what I spent where, but it was in the order of £80; £30 at W8rose, £20 at the market and £30 at the butchers as DS2 & family are "popping in" over a mealtime tomorrow! I suspect there will be a little more spent, as I didn't really have a chance to assess stocks before going to the shops, but I'll add the £80 for now & try for a more accurate figure later on.

ETA: I'll stick by £80! The butchers bill was £30.89 and I know I had something just under £50 in cash, which was spent down to the last 45p, so it's just about right. I'm actually thinking that this looks do-able, but I'm working next weekend, including my normal shopping day of Friday, so will probably spend a little more than usual as I'll have to miss the market. 

Pennypincin

Managed a no spend day and will be putting the £5 left into the bulk fund.

thriftwizard

A swift £9.80 added - went to make a halloumi-nut-roast alongside the roast chicken, thinking there'd be some left over for my lunches next weekend as it keeps & travels really well. But we were out of sweet potatoes & parsnips, two important ingredients that I doubted I could substitute with anything we did have. So a quick trot up to W8rose took place; I also bought cream (strawberry ice cream will be made tomorrow) Brie, sliced bread for OH, and a bag of mixed salad as my HG salad leaves aren't quite ready to eat yet. Hopefully I can stay out of the shops now until Wednesday or Thursday.