July 2025 Grocery Challenge

Changeyourlife25

Nelliegrace said:

I do feel for you @Changeyourlife25, I remember Mum buying and extra loaf just for my teenage brother and he would tear it into big pieces and eat it plain. 

🤣🤣🤣 That sounds about right, great idea from your mum though! I might try it! 

PipneyJane

themsthebreaks said:

How do you all store onions?

I buy bags with around seven or eight onions in them, and store them in a dark bag, but as the house is warm, they can start to sprout if I don’t use them quick enough. We do use a lot of onion - with a bag often lasting less than a week - so, that isn’t usually a problem. Cost wise though, I would like to get a big sack of onions, but I already know they wouldn’t keep in the house.

If I was to store them in the shed, would they need to be off the floor? Would they stay in their original packaging? How long would they last in there? It is a spider haven in the shed, would that matter?

Sorry for all the questions. I would like to buy a big sack of onions, but don’t want to end up throwing half of them away, so would appreciate your thoughts 😊

@themsthebreaks I store my onions loose in a basket on the kitchen counter.  I was always told not to cover them because that encourages sprouting.

As you may have noticed from my post a couple of days ago, I tend to buy mine in 4kg "sacks" (mesh bags) from a local greengrocer.  One sack will last us about a month.  The important thing is to ensure your onions aren't sweating, so do not store them in plastic bags.  Preferably, only buy them if they are loose or in mesh bags.  Also, be aware that supermarkets onions are often sweaty when you get them home - even if sold loose - because they come from cold storage, so need to dry out before being put away. 

HTH

- Pip

Naturelover22

@Changeyourlife25 well done on working out what needs to change and how to do it. Other pressures and problems quickly pile up and things can get out of control so fast.
Sounds like the takeaways has been a big part of your family spend and food consumption. To help you avoid the temptation to just order one day when you are tired/stressed, try to make your meals as interesting to you as possible so you look forward to them. On the days you usually go for the takeaway try and do a favourite meal or extra dessert so you dont feel like you are missing out.
My weakness is being tired after work without an easy meal to hand.

If you have them as a treat or to cheer yourself up, maybe a planned few in the month would help you reduce them rather than cold turkey, however I know different methods work for different people.
You are off to a great start x

C_J

@themsthebreaks I store my onions loose in a wicker basket kept on a shelf in one of the kitchen base cupboards as they do better in the cool and dark. As Pip says, always ensure you take them out of their plastic bag before storing, and I was always told not to store them in the same box/bag as other veg particularly potatoes as they encourage each other to sprout.  In the past I have bought onions in the large mesh sacks and kept them in the garage, where they did keep well. I just don't need that many any more now that I am just cooking for (mostly) one.

If I end up with too many onions, and if I have room in the freezer, I chop a whole load of them, bag them up in small portions and freeze them. So handy.

A quick trip into Sainsbobs today for some Twinings Everyday teabags, a couple of packs of Ibuprofen for the medicine cupboard, and 12 sachets of cat food. I don't have a cat, but zhuzh-up the dog's worker-biscuit evening meal with a sachet of the fish flavoured cat sachets now and again as a treat, he loves it.

£7.67 spent, bringing my total for July to £8.67/£150.

otb666

300/600 I have switched to frozen chopped onions as so much easier to use and store. 
When i think back to my childhood my mum would send me to greengrocers to carry a sack of spuds home when i was a teenager and chips and mash went with everything I also picked up two loaves of bread a day (on my way home from school)but we were a large family.
When i looked after my own family of 4 I would often go to Maccys most days and had a large american fridge freezer that i would stuff with processed foods spending over 100 pounds a week on food.
This all went on credit cards when we retired had to pay of £40k plus of debt (which we did with severance money following redundancy) This does not include the additional remortgaging borrowing we used to do to incorporate the overspending every 5 years.
I used to argue with myself I went to work so I could shop like that. How deluded was I.  Now my shopping has changed thank goodness for my health and purse.

carboot_karaoke

@Changeyourlife25 Do you have a favourite takeaway/go to? 

During covid we made our own fake-aways and have never gone back.  
For example we like a Chinese curry.  l  buy Mayflower powder from B&M cook with chicken,  mushrooms, beansprout rice or chips. Sometimes we even have prawn crackers and spring rolls with chilli sauce as a starter. 

All at a fraction of the cost of a takeaway. 

wishus

Good onion tips folks! I store mine in the top cupboard and potatoes in the bottom cupboard. Eggs are in a chicken-shaped pot and tomatoes are kept in a pot on the worksurface - they're best not refrigerated.

Tonight I went to make my green lentil-based chilli, and found the tin of kidney beans I thought I'd bought the other day wasn't there.

Go to the corner shop, said OH, and I was almost there when I thought, what am I doing? For the sake of another five minutes of walking, I can get a tin from the cheap German supermarket beginning with A. 
Kidney beans acquired with loose change, probably saving at least 70p.

t14cy_t

did an approved food shop yesterday so budget now standing at £68/£200.  olios been abit lean this week but hoping sunday may bring up some goodies!! strawberries in the garden have now finished, but blackerries are just starting to ripen

JingsMyBucket

Morning all. Yesterday I did a fair amount of shopping to get ready to make Mr. Jings’ birthday dinner of eggplant lasagna. I’ll make the large batch of Italian sausage base sauce this weekend and will assemble / cook the dish next week. His birthday is today but we’re getting together with folks early next week. 

£4.35 at Iceland for three tubes of Pringles. 2 for his birthday and one for me. 🙂

£35.00 even at Lidl for tomatoes, 7 eggplants, fresh basil and parsley, Babybels, sliced mozzarella, shaved Parmesan, 2 tubs of ricotta, sliced ham, pork belly slices, ground beef, butter, 2 cocktail cans (99p each). 

£90.11 at M & S for bananas, a big tray of strawberries, doughnut peaches, clementines, salad, garlic, chili peppers, 3 for £12 fish, 3 for £8 deli, 4 packs of sausages (3 Italian and 1 chipolatas for £13), 2 garlic baguettes, YS pasta meal, 3 bags shredded mozzarella, 2 YS burrata balls, coffee beans, seeded wraps, 2 bars of chocolate for Mr. Jings’ birthday, and 1 for me. 

£143.94 / £400 spent. £256.06 remaining.  

I didn’t get a few items because I was already weighed down like a pack mule and knew I couldn’t get a cab home. I’ll return to town on Sunday or Monday for more eggs and baked beans among other things. After that, I’ll ration out my budget for the rest of the month. 

Nelliegrace

Grocery Budget for July £155 for the two of us.

We stopped at Lidl on the way home from a pleasant afternoon using our membership at a National Trust property. I took a flask of coffee and homemade cake, so no extra expense, not even in the second hand bookshop. 

Milk, a red pepper, radishes, cooked beetroot, small bananas, and oranges.

£5.90 spent.

Total £32.75