July 2025 Grocery Challenge

Mrs_Cheshire

I've done a meal plan to help me get to the end of the month without too much more spent. 

Monday - Cheese burgers and chips with salad. 
Tuesday - Ham and cheese pasta bake 
Wednesday - spicy chicken breast steaks, rice and stir fry veg
Thursday - lamb chunks, couscous and salad, possibly some halloumi to go with if its still in the back fridge (will have to find an alternative to couscous for my fussy husband)
Friday - filled pasta with a sauce and some roasted veg
Saturday - sausages, mash and veg
Sunday - undecided but in August's budget

I need to buy tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, carrots, bread rolls. Hopefully that's all. I'll make some cookies to give to my snack hungry boys. 
Breakfasts will be cereal or pastries/crumpets we already have, lunches will be sandwiches/wraps with egg, tuna or cheese when needed with crisps and other snacks already in. the fruit bowl and fridge have a decent stock of fruit too. 

t14cy_t

RandomOne said:

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. 

no judgement here. we are all in this together.

mandco

RandomOne don’t give up we’re all just doing our best and it’s a process the main thing is to just stick at it and not give up.

well the budget is well and truly blown this month more shops totalling £114.55 to add  some if that was stuff that won’t be used till August but can’t find the receipts to work it out so as I really do t need anything other than some lactose free milk & a loaf of bread for the next few days I’m going to declare now for July £855.05/£800  
also spent another £85.42 on bulk pet supplies as a load of stuff I buy regularly was on offer for 1/2 price/clearance but I’m going to spilt that over aug/sept as it’ll cover those months.

mandco

Soontobeoap said:

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.

Gf/df really bumps up the spends you can easily pay 4x the cost of the regular product for a fraction of the size/weight my shopping bill would be so much cheaper if I didn’t need to buy it - I can’t do onions /garlic either (along with a bunch if other things) and it’s ridiculously hard to find things that don't have them in as an ingredient especially the cheaper/budget brands.
my boys are bottomless honestly don’t know where they put it all some days it can be tough for those with kids over the summer holidays the extra food requirements can put a strain on already tight budgets.

TravelCrystal

Just a quickie guys
Just been to Farm foods for a bulk freezer and other items which although doesn’t count on my GC monthly I will add to annual budget
For interest I just spent £108.07 Total saving with my multi buys and vouchers because I spent over £100 was £42.46. Well pleased with that
This is what I bought.







Catch you in August 
TC

Suffolk_lass

Any sign of the August thread yet please @elsiepac?

C_J

I have £14.80 to add to my total, milk and dog food bought yesterday. 

I made a good dent in the fresh food mountain today, making four portions of leeks wrapped in ham and smothered in a cheese sauce (one portion for dinner tonight, three for the freezer), and a small pan of leek and potato soup (with added garlic, spring onion, fresh parsley and a tiny bit of mild green chilli which needed using up). I kept back a bit of the cheese sauce and a slice of the ham, and will use them to make a sourdough croque monsieur for lunch tomorrow.

I can’t think of anything I will need from the shops before the end of the week, so my July total looks like it will end on £33.47/£150. My daughters pointed out that technically I should add an amount for fuel** because I have to drive to the community fridge, but still….. 🤣

** Fuel is a separate budget, and is nowhere near its limit.

PipneyJane

themsthebreaks said:

Well done on your MacMillan Mighty Hike, @PipneyJane. How far did you walk? 😊

Thank you.  We did 14 miles, @themsthebreaks.  It took us 5 hours and I’m not certain who was more knackered at the end, me or DH.

I’m declaring at £166.10/£162.50, an overspend of £3.60.

We went to Sainsbugs yesterday, spending £13.57 on 450ml Yeo Valley Greek Yoghurt With Honey 2x£1.85, 450ml Yeo Valley Lemon Curd Yoghurt 2xE1.85, baby plum tomatoes 85p, bananas 78p, 2kg sweet potatoes £2.37, 288g baking potato 23p, 864g carrots 60p, and 610g broccoli £1.34

We’ll roll the overspend into August.  Had a serious discussion about putting up the GC budget by £20, to £180.  It’s only been £160 since May 2024, so not long, but prices have increased again.  Still not 100% certain whether we agreed to do so, or not.  I think DH wanted to increase by £10, so £5 each, which is quite difficult - I don’t know any cash points now that give out £5 notes.  Hmm….

- Pip

AnotherNewDay

AnotherNewDay said:

Hi, I'm joining again for July - and this time with a slightly increased budget of £115 (up from £100). This will be split as follows £45 for 2 ravenous blackcats and £70 for 1 human female groceries, household & toiletries. 
Hopefully, this adjustment will help me stay on track.

Scores on the doors for July = Cats (Wet +dry food, litter +treats) = £24.36/£45 - one human female who really needs to sort out her budget + stop buying so many treats = £96.23/£70

Technically only £5.59 over budget, but since this is on an increase from £100 will try again for £115 in August. 

Mrs_Cheshire

I went to our local community grocery yesterday (this one is newly opened but I've used the flagship one previously, they were offering free membership and a lindt bunny to the first 100 people this week). 
Got the following
6 carrots 
4 vine tomatoes 
a large handful of cherry tomatoes
rubicon black cherry & raspberry sparkling water
soreen chocolate orange lift bars
macaroni cheese (frozen meal)
2 rice Krispy squares bars 
4 flavour sachets for meat (2 chinese, 1 bbq, 1 garlic and herb)
pack of apple pies ( unfortunately they tasted stale so were binned)
and something else I can't remember 
Cost me £5 

They have different pricing for people who want more items too. I'm going to try and go once per week and base the following weeks shopping on what I pick up.