June 2025 Grocery Challenge

C_J · 24 June at 12:53PM

Hello everyone

I was out and about this morning (I had several bags of donations to drop off at the charity shop) and once again found myself in the vicinity of my third favourite community fridge during its one hour opening slot, and no queue of people. So I nipped in. The volunteers are always very good at sharing the produce fairly so that everyone gets something, but it works the other way too and when they are swamped with certain items they sort of force it on you whether you want it or not! I know they want it distributed so that they don’t have the hassle of throwing anything away - it is very hard to say no to them so I have ended up with a bit more than I needed.

I picked up a loaf of thick sliced Hovis granary, potatoes, onions, LOTS of cherry tomatoes, LOTS of large flat mushrooms, 2 punnets of ripe nectarines, some easy peeler satsumas, a big hand of fresh ginger, two packs of tiny (about 4ins diameter) cornmeal wraps (hot honey flavour, never seen this sort before), a pack of penne pasta made from yellow peas (that’s new to me too, interested to see what it’s like), a small cauliflower and two beautiful bouquets of yellow roses. This Fridge does not ask for donations towards running costs as it is funded by grants, so all of the above was free. I now have to work out what to do with it all - the bread and wraps will be frozen for later in the week, I think I might cook the tomatoes into a pasta sauce, and the mushrooms will make a dish of garlicky mushroom and cream cheese pâté for a few lunches and probably a pan of mushroom soup too. The ginger and satsumas will join some apples, lemons and honey that I already have to make some ginger fruit tea. I’m off to search t’internet for ways to use up the nectarines now (suggestions warmly welcomed!).

I then went mad in Tesco, but given how fortuitously under-budget I am for the month it seemed an okay thing to do. I needed tinned dog food, orange and mango squash, milk, butter, back bacon, two tins of sardines in oil (an occasional treat for the dog), some dried parsley and dried oregano but I also bought some own brand cream cheese with which to make the mushroom pâté, treated myself to some soft goat’s cheese, and a large boneless leg of lamb with Cornish sea salt and cracked black pepper which was a yellow sticker reduction (but still £14!). I do love lamb though and it will make lots of meals. £39.09 spent.

This brings my total for June to £72.25/£150

GSDMum · 24 June at 1:18PM

Good luck with your gathering @carboot_karaoke you've got some great suggestions. I'd go with the Coronation Chicken too. Smorgasbord can be very tasty and creative.

The last laundry detergent I bought was Ariel 'The Big One' which was on a special and new to me. I've just 4 pods left so it's time to restock. For several hours this week I sat trawling through the internet trying to compare the best and most economical detergent. What a mine field and practically impossible to compare 'like for like'. Seeing that we also needed to restock on bottled water due to the hot weather, I decided on a Tesco delivery which wasn't on my plan.

At the moment until 1st July, Tesco are offering 25% off if you buy 5 products from their laundry and cleaning product list. Cutting a long story short I went for Tesco's own non-bio capsules which worked out (using 2 capsules per wash as I'm in a hard water area) £0.19 per wash after the 25% off. Also bought 1kg of Vanish for whites, and 1kg Vanish for colours should the laundry need a boost, both were within the 25% off promotion. My thought process may seem messy but I think I'm quids in seeing that on rough average the branded detergents worked out around 38p a wash.

Today I spent £85.13, and I've now also stocked up on fabric softener, oven cleaner, tea and coffee, dairy, marmite, dog treats, salad and fruit, bread/rolls/crumpets for the freezer. I've not bought any meat as I've got enough of that in the freezer which is presently bursting.

I'm calling in my spending for June at £366. My average per month since January is now £377 and I need to bring that back to my target of £350 per month by the end of the year. Well that's my plan anyway.

themsthebreaks · 24 June at 1:28PM

Hopefully, my final spends to report in June.

It’s been confirmed that redundancy notices will be issued at the start of next week, but no idea yet who will be affected. With that in mind, I went to the local Asian cash & carry yesterday, and spent £29.52 stocking up on pulses and spices. I then spent £5 at the Local Pantry this morning.

Total for June is £358.66/400.00, which leaves £41.34 of the budget left.

What does everyone do when they come under budget?

Do you add the remainder to savings, or next month’s budget? Or, does it just remain in the everyday budget? I was thinking of sticking it onto a supermarket savings card, but as I don’t know what’s happening with regards redundancy next week, I’m not sure what we do with it.

The other issue is, this last month, I have used a lot of the excess stock we already have in store. That has helped keep the budget down, but it may not work next month (although I would like it to).

Soontobeoap · 24 June at 1:53PM

@GSDMum thanks for the heads up re tesco cleaning products. I will check them out now.

@themsthebreaks it's sounds like rough times are ahead. Fingers crossed all works out well for you. I don't come under very often so can I just congratulate you on managing that. I have a yearly target as well as one each month and so it rolls forward into the next months budget. Each month changes drastically depending on how many you are feeding , if you have any invites to go too which might mean one less meal to cook etc so I don't have same target each month but hope to come in roughly the same over the year if that makes sense. Hope this helps. Remember it's your budget and your goals. This lovely group is here to help with ideas and support along the way.

Added to total £5.50 for ice lollies and chips from Iceland in the Range. Thought DH deserved a treat for stripping wallpaper in all this heat.

C_J · 24 June at 2:13PM

What a worrying time this must be for you @themsthebreaks, I hope it works out in your favour. I sweep any leftover budget into savings, but earmark it for extra bulk buying or too-good-to-miss offers which might crop up over the year.

TravelCrystal · 24 June at 3:48PM

@themsthebreaks, hope it works out for you like @C_J said.

I keep all my GC money now in a Chase account which I opened a couple of months ago, you get a little bit of interest on what is left over. Hopefully come the end of the year I can see what profit I have made. I add my budget amount in to it every month and just spend from there. As I am like Scrooge I love to see the pennies add up. If you go on the main Martin Lewis page you can see an explanation of how the account works, under banking 😊
Hope that helps

T.C

themsthebreaks · 24 June at 5:12PM

Thank you 😊

I have been searching the board for cheap vegan meals, just in case. It is something the meat eaters in the family might have to consider, not having meat with every meal. Dried pulses are good value, so I will incorporate lots of those while putting the slow cooker to more good use.

carboot_karaoke · 24 June at 5:30PM

@themsthebreaks Congratulations on your underspend that is quite the achievement !!

As for your question on surplus budget, l agree with the other comments. If that money was ear marked for GC then l would keep it separate. Then in months when you spend more than planned you have a little in the reserve pot.

Hope your work position is clarified soon.

otb666 · 24 June at 7:23PM

its such a rare occurrence we come under that I must admit i dont do anything separately with surplus. I normally plan to come in on or just above and splurge a bit in aldi on biscults and crisps if there is extra but rarely the case nowadays.