August 2025 Grocery Challenge

C_J

Hello fellow Grocery Challengers, I love reading all your posts 

A visit to my favourite community fridge again today, £1 spent and I have:

Salad potatoes
Baking potatoes
Large red onions
Mangetout peas
Pak choi
Mushrooms
Asparagus
Broccoli
Avocado
Tomatoes (lots!)
Bananas
Ruby grapefruit
Bag of mixed baby salad leaves
Spring onions
Celery
Spinach
Red cabbage
Courgettes
Carrot
1 Pret chicken and avocado sandwich
1 Pret coronation chicken sandwich
1 large box of fresh noodles
6 duck spring rolls
1 small loaf Hovis granary sliced bread
1 small loaf Warburton's Toastie sliced bread
1 pack pikelets
3 chocolate iced doughnuts
2 pots of Oykos apple and cinnamon yogurt
2 packs plain crisps
2 Pret bircher muesli breakfast pots
1 pack Waitrose chicken souvlaki pastries
1 pack M&S chickpeas and chorizo
1 pack M&S butter beans in tomato sauce
1 litre cranberry juice
1 pack M&S barbecue cooked sliced chicken
1 pack Waitrose thin sliced Wiltshire ham
1 bouquet of white roses

The ruby grapefruit, toasted bread and bircher muesli pots will be breakfasts. The sandwiches and the three tapas dishes (souvlaki, chickpeas and butterbeans) will be for lunches in the coming few days, and I will turn the tomatoes into gazpacho using other ingredients I already have (perfect on these hot days).

I'll cook the salad potatoes and make into potato salad with the spring onions, and will use the red cabbage. carrot and onion to make some coleslaw. This, along with some of the celery, tomatoes, spinach and baby salad leaves and the ham will make a nice salad (maybe using one of the baking potatoes to make some cheeky air fried chips alongside it).

The asparagus will be made into risotto, and the stems added to the noodles/pak choi/spring onions/ mangetout/ mushrooms/courgette to make a stir fry (probably enough for two nights esp if I add a duck spring roll or two as a side dish).  A lighter dinner if it's very hot can be avocado on toast, and one of the volunteers said that the pikelets air fried and then topped with grated cheese and air fried again are delicious so I might try that one night.

Plenty of meals there, and I have enough milk, butter and eggs plus dog food to last several days so can probably keep out of the shops until after the weekend.


August total so far £39.14/£150.

PipneyJane

t14cy_t said:

budget now £83/£100!! this is down to my DH deciding he must have bottled highland spring water for a month as friend down the pub says he shouldnt drink tap water its bad for him, so £18 spent on water.....i could cry!! i myself are quite happy with tap water..also all those 1.5l bottles going in recycling.....so just told DH we now have £17 left for the month so he can forego any cheese purchases..  she says tightening the boots straps once again!!

@t14cy_t  in your shoes, I’d insist that my DH paid for the water out of his own pocket.  Take the £18 back off him.  (Also, most impressed by your haul of freebies.)

@JingsMyBucket I appreciate why you are worried.  Hope your family is safe.  Ditto @weenancyinAmerica.

@Nelliegrace you inspired me to use my bread maker this afternoon.  I’m not impressed by the loaf I made - it didn’t rise a lot. I used new yeast, but I am wondering if the problem is that the flour isn’t strong enough.  Only 3-ish kilos to go before I have to buy more flour.

Is anyone else really glad that it turned a bit cooler this afternoon?  I was a zombie this morning, from last night’s heat.  (It also made it much easier to proceed with my original dinner plan of broccoli-and-chorizo pasta.)

I have two spends to declare - my first spends of the month!  £16.03 in Sainsbugs on Sunday (mainly on fresh veg and four 450ml Yeo Valley Greek Yoghurts with Honey at £1.62 each), followed by a big shop in L!dl on Monday, where I spent £59.85.

A word of warning:  if you do a Smart Shop in Sainsbugs, in order to get the special Nectar prices, make sure that you’ve activated all the offers before you start ths shop and double check them.  I thought I had done so on my phone, but DH used his phone for the smart shop and none of them came up.  Fortunately, the girl on the self-service checkouts could cancel everything and apply the correct, discounted prices.

The above brings my total spend for August to £75.88/£176.40, leaving £100.52 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

Naturelover22

Hello all, what a hot one today! 
Walked to the co-op to get milk at lunchtime today, it seemed further than usual in this heat!
Co-op £7.71
4pints milk
2x raspberries YS
Pack of 6 cornettos

Total now £169.32/£310

Nelliegrace

@PipneyJane Once in a while we get a brick of a loaf. It still makes good toast. DH gets better results when he activates the yeast first in a bit of tepid water until it begins to froth. If the yeast is out of date he adds the tip of a teaspoon of sugar. 

t14cy_t

hanging on to my remaing £17 like grim death!! 

PipneyJane

Nelliegrace said:

@PipneyJane Once in a while we get a brick of a loaf. It still makes good toast. DH gets better results when he activates the yeast first in a bit of tepid water until it begins to froth. If the yeast is out of date he adds the tip of a teaspoon of sugar. 

I’m pretty sure it’s not the yeast this time, @Nelliegrace.  We’ve been having issues ever since I purchased the flour last October.  The bread does rise, it does have holes in it and it smells yeasty, but it doesn’t rise as much as previously.  I normally buy 10kg bags of atta/chapati flour from the Asian aisle at the supermarket - no guarantee how much gluten is in it.  I have a strengthening additive which I bought from Lakeland years ago, I will add it next time I make bread.

I am actually wondering if the issue is the machine.  It’s 20 years old and has been heavily used since at leat 2010.  You mentioned that you replaced your bread machine.  What were the deciding factors?

We only stopped making bread regularly when L!dl started giving away free loaves after you hit the £50-spend in the L!dl+ app.  Now that they’ve switched that reward to fruit/veg, 

- Pip

Suffolk_lass

I am another who always activates the yeast first. I also make a double batch with sourdough starter mixed in. It makes a good sized loaf and six big rolls.

I popped in to the local coop yesterday for a pack of fruit and milk in a plastic carton (to take away in the campervan) and also asked them to add the transaction from last week that failed. So £31.40 added, although that included some treats last week. I didn't get an itemised receipt so I have included the reduced pizza, crisps, chocolate brownie cake and all the fresh stuff in the grocery budget. I am at £81/£200 this month, so far. I might try for £150 but I need cat litter, probably before the end of the month and that is a SM shop. Realistically, that is usually around £80 on its own

Changeyourlife25

£194.98

Spent around 20 in sainsbobs on some dinner bits and some reduced section bargains. 

3 quid in the Leedel wonky box and chicken satays. 

Finally got my dishwasher installed today! I’ll be more inclined to cook from scratch now there’s not gonna be a kitchen full of dishes. 🤣

Can anyone recommend  affordable or decent working dish washer tabs/ liquid/ salt? 

mandco

@JingsMyBucket understandable you’re worried hope your friends & family are doing ok under the circumstances 
@PipneyJane the changes to the nectar app are awful & it’s been really glitchy 1/2 the time even when you do add the offers they don’t get applied so you have to double check 

More spends to add
£39.68 in sains pretty much just on basics like bread milk t.rolls fruit/veg
£6.00 Poundland on some bottle of drink & snacks for the weekend theme park visit - refuse to pay onsite prices
£3,75 pet shop on a birthday toy   - total £49.43 and we’re pretty much out of bread & milk again already 
I think I was being too optimistic keeping the budget the same for the summer hols when I can’t come in on budget normally - barely 1/2 why through the month & nearly 70% of the budget gone     

We do have a couple of birthday meals out coming up & there will be plenty of birthday cake for snacks both of which come out of a different budget and Won’t need so much fruit/veg/gf/yogurts ect next week either which should help rein in the spends as have 2 days of bowel prep diet to follow then the dreaded prep day itself   



;

joedenise

@Changeyourlife25 - Lidl dishwasher tabs aren't bad and pretty cheap.  Alternatively look for branded on special offer.