June 2025 Grocery Challenge

JingsMyBucket

Pennypincin said:

Thank you.

You're very welcome! Keep posting here and we'll help keep your spirits up. 

JingsMyBucket

Hi y’all, I survived camping overnight! I might be willing to try it again… Before setting off on Saturday, I went grocery shopping. 

£17.76 at M & S for 1L of olive oil, 2 boxes of puff pastry, bananas, and a YS whole chicken. 

£40.19 at Lidl for tomatoes, 15 eggs, 4 avocados (49p each), strawberries, red bell peppers, 2 goat cheese logs, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, meatballs, kabanossi, Babybel cheeses, a wedge of parmesan cheese, butter, jars of pesto and black olive pate, 5 boxes of Nairn’s biscuits, face wipes, and a few large bottles of water. 

£324.59 / £325 spent. 41p remaining.  

Some of the items were for us to take camping and others were regular groceries or a long use buy like the olive oil. I’m wondering if I should break out the camping spends into a separate line item? What do you think? I could claw back £14.09 but maybe I should just suck it up. 

We have some bulk staples and long use items to buy this week including dishwasher tablets, Yorkshire Tea, Lea & Perrin’s, HP sauce, along with regular fruit and yoghurt, etc. I’ll see if I can keep that spending to within roughly £30 – £40. 

carboot_karaoke

Evening everyone,  

I have another two spends to declare just when it was going so well. 

I brought salad, cucumber, coleslaw, bread, squash x3, 2kg of chicken thighs, cream cheese, and a large block of cheese. Also, I had to buy some treats and drinks for a school trip. Total spent was £20.19. 

New totals £371.71 / £446 .  £74.29 Remaining 

carboot_karaoke

In other news l wanted to ask for your opinions.

We are planning to invite a group of friends round for lunch. They're will be approximately 25 people of varying ages. I'm really struggling with what to make ideal budget is about £2-2.50 a head.  I will ask for pudding and drink donations from the guests.

I like things l can cook  / prepare in advance 

Ideas so far

Lasagne/ Garlic bread / Chilli and Rice/ Guacamole / Sour Cream / Salsa / Grated cheese 
Salad 

Jerk chicken  / Caribbean Stew (like mutton curry but with chicken) / Rice / Homemade coleslaw/ Fried dumplings/ Salad 

Taco's with various fillings like / Chilli beef / Pulled chicken etc

I think a BBQ is a bit to much pressure on the day and price wise can easily get out of hand. 

A cold buffet (although this is my least favourite option) not a massive fan of sandwiches but easy enough with cakes,  sausage rolls, etc


I look forward to your inspiration 😁

JingsMyBucket

@carboot_karaoke when is the party likely to happen? Will it be raining or what’s the likely temperature? Are you planning to do eating inside or outside? Do you have seats for everyone or will it be a standing affair? Answering those questions will help us think of ideas.  

Overall though, I’d stick with roughly one type of food or flavour profile. So if you make lasagna, skip the chili and rice and a vegetable lasagne, baked eggplant boats, or a baked pasta dish. Add some Italian salads and sides like roasted red peppers, etc. 

Soontobeoap

@carboot_karaoke I always do a " summer lunch " when we have a crowd. A large chicken or 2 and a gammon cooked the day before and cut into thin slices. I make a quiche or 2 if I need to bulk it up. Then add baked potatoes, rice salad, coleslaw ,potato salad, beetroot, sweetcorn ,peppers, spring onions whatever I have as well as a couple of baguettes slices up. Everyone in the family has now adopted it as their easy go to when they are entertaining a crowd so it must have gone down well . It's simple, easy to put together, works for all dietary requirements and gives you plenty of time to enjoy the get together along with everyone else. It  comes in  at around £2.00 a head . Any leftovers can then go on for sandwiches  if anyone is still around later. Or lunch the next day. I hope you have a lovely time.

AnotherNewDay

Pennypincin said:

I've been buying lots of treats out of my money and not shopping properly.
I've £23.77 left and have wasted some of the food budget on fresh bits that I've had to put in the composter as it went off due to the treats and not eating healthy.
I'm going to try and stop being wasteful,do proper shopping and start again with the healthy eating tomorrow.
Somehow I need to.

I can relate so much to the 'treats' part of this! I also have no interest in cooking even simple meals in this heat. I'm going to join you in re-committing to healthy eating

carboot_karaoke

Thank you for your suggestion @Soontobeoap a summer lunch sounds delightful 😊 

@JingsMyBucket very good questions. The "penciled in date" is next weekend so wont be sure of the weather for another few days. In my mind l was thinking alfresco dining we have two gazebos in case it rains. But l know Mr CK would rather us eat inside away from his precious lawn 😂 In either case we have enough space and seating. 

TravelCrystal

@carboot_karaoke, I haven’t catered for that many people for a long time. I made coronation chicken at the weekend and I know from a 2kg chicken you could feed at least 7 people, just with any salad. I also cooked a vat of roast potatoes that I had previously frozen, only take 20 minutes to reheat. Something that can both be done ahead. Good luck with your party

T.C

Nelliegrace

June Grocery Budget £150 for two.

The usual shop at Aldi, I checked the Super 6 offers, tomatoes £1.79  £1.19 and apples £1.49  89p, the coffee beans were £2.29. The mini bananas 88p for 7, were a bit green so I bought a loose one for today. We have half a banana and half an orange each at breakfast. 
£13.72 spent

I have done a salad with a small tin of pilchards, a Spanish omelette with eggs from the hens, and had the cheese ration and chicken thighs from the freezer. DH made the daily kefir and another loaf this morning. 

Total Spent, £76.73