August 2025 Grocery Challenge

RandomOne

Hi everyone, I'm back to try again for August. I have a few weeks off work, so should be able to spend less this month, plus i have a lot of meat and fish in the freezer. So should really just need fruit, veg, dairy  and pantry items this month. 

Please set my budget at £400 for August.

This is still quite high, but since i am so bad at sticking to my budget, I'm not going to lower it until i can consistently stick to the £400. This is to feed myslef, 2 adult sons and an elderly cat. I also have 2 dogs but their food comes from a seperate budget. 

I think i might try shopping at Aldi next week, I usually shop at Tesco and have heard mixed reviews as to whether Aldi is actually much cheaper. Would love any feedback on this. 

Soontobeoap

Hi, @RandomOne I haven't looked back since shopping at Aldi. I am always pleasantly surprised at the cost at checkout. We do one shop at Sainsburys or Tesco's once a month for branded items that we don't want to change and the rest from Aldi. Have been today for a small trolley full of fruit, veg, salad vegetables, milk, juice, mayo, golden syrup, lemonade, 3 boxes cereal and it came in at in at £31.00 new potato's were down to 69p a bag. Their meat is lovely. I am just aware of white potatoes at the moment as a lot of them have been bad but they have been worse from Sainsburys. Is anyone else experiencing trouble with white potatoes lately?

GSDMum

Popped into Lidl today:  £38.92, less £2.99 Wash and Wax', that goes in the car's budget. £35.93/£175 = £139.07 left.

Must have been a bit dopey this morning as the 1st thing I saw in Lidl were watermelons @ 59p. Wasn't till I checked the receipt where I missed the 'per kg', turns out I was charged £2.24. There was a few other prices I got wrong too, could have sworn the 500g packet of dog treats were £1.99, on the receipt it was £3.79. 

I did do well with the West Country butter, I'm sure I saw the price as £2.34 (Tesco more or less sells the same for £2.80), on the receipt a pat of butter was £2.29. I bought 6x 250g pats which should last me till the end of the month (6 egg Victoria sponge/s willing) - that's a saving over Tesco of £3. 

Hoping I don't need to shop again until at least next Friday. 

Nelliegrace

Thank you @Elsiepac, another month of shopping mindfully. 
I wonder how far people travel for their regular grocery shop? Last week DH saved petrol by walking to the local Co-op but paid 20p extra for milk. 

August Grocery Challenge for Two, £5 a day, £155.

We are well stocked, so it is mainly milk, fresh fruit and vegetables this month from the local Aldi, (1.3 miles).
Meat, fish, cheese and butter from the freezer, eggs from the hens, some fruit from the garden, homemade bread and cakes. 

Soontobeoap

I tried approved food when they first started years ago and we had a growing family. We lived on the mainland then. Decided to use them for snacks and treats for the Grandchildren visit. What I hadn't realized is how much longer it takes for them to get it to the island. It will arrive on Monday. All of the oatie treats for the allergy boys are in there so instead of buying more for the first 2 days of their holiday I have put together some oatie fruit bars from the oats, apples, sultanas and garden Raspberry's that I already have. Also forgot salad dressing when we were shopping so will do without that for a few days too.

mandco

@RandomOne I think it depends on what you buy personally couldn’t do a full shop at aldi though my local is a fairy small store and they don't have a free from section but i do buy quite a bit from there and some of it is still cheaper than elsewhere though prices are increasing. Im not loyal to any one shop I’ll go where ever has the best offer on what I want and there are own brand items from various stores I’ll go specifically to get even if I’m not doing a full shop there. The bulk of our shops tend to be sains as while its not the cheapest it is the closest & next to gym so easy to pop in afterwards but I won’t buy blindly if it’s full price there and on offer elsewhere I’ll wait to buy unless it’s essential.

a couple of spends to add
£8.25 in Poundland for bottles of drink & sweets/popcorn for the cinema -also picked up some reduced to clear swizzles sweet bags 25p each they are Halloween packaging but most of the sweets inside are not themed dated 12/2025  - a couple went to the food bank & the others I’ll put away for trick or treaters later in the year.
£11.30 in boots on handwash, shower gel & deodorant - dropped off some recyclables so got £5 worth of points back

themsthebreaks

My first shop of the month @Aldi, and I spent:

£71.85/£350

Part of this was for picnic foods, as we are going to an outdoor theatre showing of The Merry Wives of Windsor, tomorrow afternoon. Other stuff has gone in the freezer, as most of the meats I bought were either fifty, or seventy-five per cent off. These will be used throughout next week.

This leaves me with £278.15/£350 for the rest of August.

Changeyourlife25

£116.65 / £600 

£1.90 on milk at the corner shop
£8 in Iceland on a ready meal for the kids 🤦‍♀️
£100.95 Lidl

I waited in all day for a dishwasher that never came, ended up having to get the kids a quick dinner in Iceland, decided to run to Lidl after so I wouldn’t spend any money at the corner shop tomorrow but Lidl didn’t have several things I wanted so will have to pop back there or to Iceland another day in the week.

Free croissant and tissues from Lidl though,
and have another 3 freebies (crisps,bakery, and a veg item) for next time
 

JingsMyBucket

Howdy. I’ve had a barrage of deliveries / orders the past couple days 

£75.37 spent on a Tesco delivery after £7.68 of refunded bad quality goods. The picker was definitely having an off day on Thursday. Nonetheless, I got an extra large chicken that roasted well, pork shoulder roast, ground pork, salads, butter, sliced ham, cheeses, pâte, bread, crackers, cornichons, spices, canned fruit, canned tomatoes, Fairy dish soap, ice cream/lollies, frozen breakfast waffles, fruit, herbs and chilies, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, paper towels, and toilet paper. 

£55.01 spent at Amazon for food bulk items: 3kg of almond flour; 3 boxes of a specific fruit tea; a box of Kind Bars; 1kg tub of crunchy peanut butter; and a 570g tub of Maldon salt. A lot of these items will last for the next few months, possibly until December. 

£130.38 / £400 spent. £269.62 remaining.  

We’re pretty stocked up with vegetables and meat for at least the next week. I may swing by Lidl tomorrow for eggs and butter to help keep us out of the shops for most of next week. I’m also thinking of making an almond flour pound cake to have for snacking. 

Before heading out in the morning, I’ll attempt a meal plan for the week. I roasted the big chicken on Friday night and we have lots of leftovers. This evening I made a cold peanut noodle salad with some of the chicken breast and will maybe serve more chicken cold for lunch tomorrow along with salad and bread. I’m planning to make a tester batch of American breakfast sausage patties with the ground pork. I’m not sure if there’s enough fat in the mix and may need to use freshly and coarsely ground pork from a butcher. But first, a taste test! 

weenancyinAmerica

Even here in the US, we do our basic shopping at Aldis and then just top up with items not available there at a couple of other grocery stores that are local. I really like their costs on cereals, cheeses, milk, eggs, and condiments. If I could get my roommate to start cooking, instead of eating readymade meals, we would be able to save even more. Some items I can only get at Aldis like the pain du chocolate and cheese shredded to my older cat's liking. My roommate much prefers their version of Poptarts but everyone else seems to also as we sometimes have to wait while they restock it. Their oatmeal and chocolate bars are over 25% less than our grocery stores.