July 2025 Grocery Challenge

Soontobeoap

£39.17 spent over several shops since I last posted. Last month I worked down the freezer and have continued to try this month whilst also buying in stuff for the school hols in August. Not quite sure I have gone the right way about it as it has resulted in lots of shops for little bits and pieces to use up the last bits! These inevitably result in buying extras like ice lollies and biscuits! Still last 2 months have been better. £39.17 spent overall.

Pennypincin

£4 spent on fresh fruit.
I'm not sure how it's going to pan out as things are a bit different this weekend and until next Friday.
I will likely be eating out more, so will more than likely need to pay out of other money.

C_J

@Mrs_Cheshire I am in deepest darkest rural Oxfordshire. We do seem extremely well resourced with all kinds of community fridge/pantry/larder/etc facilities, and I recognise how lucky I am to have several excellent ones nearby.

Today I had a Pret bircher muesli bowl for breakfast, an egg and cress sandwich for lunch, and a whipped goat's cheese crunchy salad with a cheeky side of chips followed by a peach and nectarine yogurt for dinner - and every single thing was practically free (well, £1 from the larder ).

I've been preserving things too - yesterday I dehydrated several punnets of mushrooms and blitzed them into powder which will store very well in a screw topped jar and is delicious in a risotto. I've also finely sliced a whole load of celery which will be dehydrated overnight, it's great to add to soups and stews. Nothing gets wasted!

carboot_karaoke

Incredible @C_J l love your list of goodies and resulting solutions to use it all up ☺️

As for the CK household, another £56.87 spent on sandwich fillings, snacks, fruit, salad, veg, and meat.

New totals 

Grocery Budget £446.74 / £450
Entertaining £103.32 / £120
Total £550.06 / £570.

Just £19.94 left in the kitty 😬

K9sandFelines

Went to post a prescription and get a free coffee from Waitr@se.

I didn't realise the doors to the box are.locked on a weekend, and when I got to Waitr@se the coffee machine was also broke.

So, I walked away with three loose red onions for £0.36p I think.I want to make a Turkish side dish with the glut of tomatoes from Bread and Butter thing (I've been roasting most of them). I've also no room in the freezers.

Soontobeoap

I went online last night looking for all of the bargains that I could find to feed 3 growing boys and OH and I for 2.weeks from next weekend. I am very cross with myself that we go to the shops so often for bits and bobs when they are here. The freezer that I have run down over the last 2 months is now chocablock. I have hopefully got enough bread and oat milk  for the gluten free / dairy free twins, At least 10 out of 14 evening meals, bits and pieces for picnics including gluten free sausage rolls, gf/df plant based cheesy dippers, gf pizza bases, gf sausages. (all of the gf/ df stuff really adds up and out Aldi doesn't stock it.) I also bought ice pops instead of ice lollies.  We usually spend a fortune topping up on lollies. We will buy them ice creams for a treat when we are out. There are several Amazing ice cream shops that have dairy free ice cream on the island and it's so much easier than trying to find something they both can have in the supermarkets. I expected the total shop to come to £200. No I am not joking. I bought quite a lot of meat. I can't get joints big enough for 2 meals for 5 or 6 people in Aldi. Anyway by doing my research we saved  £35.37 for having a nectar card so we only spent £170.87. How do people even afford to feed a family these days? I am trying to get an order from approved foods for crisps and sweet snack bars to bring the cost down
 Had the whole shop in my basket last night and couldn't check out. I couldn't register an account because my email had already been used but when I put in a forgotten password request they couldn't send it to me because they didn't have my email address!!! I did email them yesterday lunch time but they didn't get back to me and they closed at 5 so I will try to sort that out  on Monday. I am determined to enjoy our grandchildren for less this holiday. My daughter can never believe how much they eat when they come to us. It must be the sea air.
 Hopefully the weather will be lovely and we can have quite a few beach days. This shop will go towards August budget as we won't be using any of it until then.

Suffolk_lass

I had not thought of dehydrating things like celery @C_J - I have only ever chopped and frozen the slightly sad stuff if ice-cold water doesn't revive it. 

Over here my hopes to spend under £200 have been well and truly thwarted. One of my no-compromise-brands; namely McVities wholemeal digestives are now £3.20 up from £3 for a double pack and I swear they are shorter packets (again!) too. Anyway, we are up to £290.65 - and my year to date is £1854.59 - well over normal. I haven't exceeded my £3000 annual budget since before the pandemic but I think we shall this year.

I do have lots of food in and lots in the garden. Right. Off to make soup for lunches next week

Nelliegrace

DD gave me a bag of Wonky Coffee from a company which claims to collect surplus coffee beans and ground coffee, repacks it in 500g or kilo bags and sells it online. It seems a bit expensive, but the introductory offer was good. 

PipneyJane

Good morning All

I have a spend to declare from yesterday:  £17.08 in L!dl.  After our MacMillan Mighty Hike, we decided to treat ourselves to pizza for dinner (2x£3.99).  We also bought a couple of YS items (a pie for £3.35 and Churros for desert for £2.39), plus picked up two items that were on 15% off on the L!dl+ App (1L lactose free milk 2x84p, seeded wraps 2x84p).   12p went to the money boxes.

The above brings our total spend to £152.50/£162.50, leaving £10 in the kitty

It won’t last long.  I’m just waiting for DH to finish doing something and we’ll head to Sainsbugs to pick up the paper, some yoghurts and some fresh veg.  (The paper is paid for via a voucher, so isn’t part of the GC.)

- Pip

RandomOne

I've not posted in here for ages, mainly out of shame and embarassment. I had so much help last time i posted, lots of great advice etc, but i am still really struggling with food shopping every day and having a ridiculous amount of food in my house. 

I wont stop trying though. So I'll jump on the August thread as soon as it's posted.