June 2026 Grocery Challenge

Sallyp2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82030687#Comment_82030687

Your beef stock sounds like my dear old nan's oxtail soup x

t14cy_t

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82030161#Comment_82030161

im exactly the same remmie, youre not alone! theres only 2 of us but i keep 3 freezers full! olio is my downfall, but i keep reminding myself of the money im saving! thats my excuse anyway!!

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning GC'rs

Shopping done. I went to Leedl today to get; bread, olive spread and a bottle of red wine - £10.53 spent, and then I went and did the bulk of my shopping in Sains. £31.55 spent on a frozen veg/food stock-up, a couple of herbs and spices, and then milk, cheese, bananas - all the usual weekly things. There were no green boxes/waste boxes today, and I'm pretty sure i didn't buy anything YS'd. Total grocery spend today £42.08 - I'll update my signature.

The leedl app changes this morning were slightly beneficial as they include 3 (I think) 15% off vouchers that I could well make use of. I 'won' a 30% discount on oven chips with the scratchcard, but I don't think they are the sort of ovenchips I normally buy, so possibly less useful.

Greying X

dollypeeps

Declaring this week at £84.01 / £90.00

£5.00 coins shuffled to golden pot aka £1 jar

99p in odd change jar.

Shopping list done for week2 …..not looking hopeful as I ‘need’ to bulk buy ice creams lol

Suffolk_lass

@remmie and @t14cy_t I am another who is stocked up for the next Suffolk Siege (the last was in the Civil War in the 17th century, and lasted less than an hour).

We have been eating the freezer in the Cart Lodge down all year but it is still over half full, but easier to move stuff around rather than play tetris to the 99th level. I have temporarily switched off the upright commercial freezer that stores garden produce, and moved the pre-prepared meals to the toolshed freezer to replenish the kitchen one of opened packages, without having to find more keys than the back door

My most successful techniques are to stay away from the shops and only SM shop once in a normal month. I have milk delivered and although it costs more, it means fewer top up shops. I will go to the local Coop (carrots, more milk, some fruit) in between but we don't need to eat fresh everything so a few things like my own jars of passata make a tasty sauce to have with pasta (yes, currently two spares of each kind of dried pasta in the store-cupboard after shocking myself by running out of penne and spaghetti). It only works when I stick to it. IYKWIM

I also do a running list (in the Morries App) and try to shop from that but I often add 25% of off list purchases because I prefer to shop in person.

remmie

Thanks all for the input re. my food hoarding. I do meal plan and actually enjoy it when the stocks get low, planning on what I can make with whatever. Then I spoil it all by panicking and overstock again. The only good thing is that nothing ever gets wasted and everything gets used up.

PipneyJane

Afternoon All

I have one shop to declare: £22.30 spent this afternoon in L!dl. Items purchased: Creole seasoning £1.49, 1kg baby potatoes 2x89p, Egg noodles 2x81p, 1.5kg wholemeal bread flour 3x£1.09, Maple Bacon Quiche £3.65, 200g chocolate 2x£2.25, 500ml plain yoghurt 55p, cream cheese 95p, and 200g smoked salmon £4.49.

You’ll note that I bought 4.5kg of wholemeal bread flour for the grand total of £3.27. I only ever have one type of flour in stock, usually chapatti flour purchased in the 10kg sack from MrT’s or Sainsbugs. The problem with buying chapatti flour is that the gluten content can be a bit hit-and-miss and bread made from the last sack doesn’t rise as well as expected. (I think it was Elephant brand and was purchased in 2024). We’re running low, so I’ve been shopping around for a replacement and at 72.7p/kg, L!dl’s worked out the best. It’s not as cheap as MrT’s chapatti flour (£6 for 10kg Clubcard price), but it is proper bread flour.

This brings our total spend to £102.30/£195.30 leaving £93 for the rest of the month.

Meal plans for the next few days:

Tonight Toad in the Hole to use up the last of the old flour plus some Bratwurst that’s been lurking in the fridge
Friday Mung Bean Curry, which will finish up the opened plain yoghurt
Saturday We’re going to the tennis at Queens, so for lunch will take the quiche purchased today, plus smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels. For dinner, I’ll do Southern Style Pork & Beans in the slow cooker, using belly pork and cooking bacon from the freezer, plus black-eyed beans (since I don’t have any cannellini beans)

• Pip

dollypeeps

Week 2 of GC for June……and it’s not looking good!

Lidl shop done total £60.36/£90 ……£12.25 of that is ice cream 😱…. Bought neopolitan and plain wafers, strawberry cones and mint cones, 2l tub of vanilla and one of their Ben and Jerry’s dupe…..I think I may need to transfer from the surplus grocery account cover this. I’m just thankful that I’ve been careful over the last few months where I’ve transferred any surplus grocery funds. This was really to be used for household bulk purchases next year but heyho….lesson learnt ..don’t let the ice creams run down.

Tomorrow sees me visiting Tesco for fresh stuff and Aldi for some rice that we like from there….fingers crossed the only ‘over budget will be the ice creams.

next weeks menu for 3 adults (maybe 4/5 depending on who calls in )

Fri fish chips and peas

Sat sweet and sour balti curry,rice and naan bread

Sun burger buns side salad and french fries

Mon salad with breaded chicken mushroom and cubed potatoes

Tuesday sausage, mash onion gravy and veg

Wed spaghetti and meatball with green salad and either garlic bread or part baked baguette

Thursday likely to be ‘on toast’

Lunches will be tuna, egg mayo and lemon chicken rolls over the 5 days

Breakfasts will be toast, cereal, bagels, eggs or bacon sandwiches

Sallyp2

On cold turkey this week. Budget £60 rather than the May £50 due to petrol. Have spent £59.70 cash since Monday on petrol & groceries 30p left until Monday next week. going to do one cold turkey week every month as a reset

i don't think 30p buys anything anymore - not even packet sweets so looks like i'm staying in next 3 days. i need to work out my grocery spends minus pet food since 1 june anyway and it will be an excuse to get some house/garden/allotment jobs done!

** yesterday i shopped in co-op and morrisons with only cash. The 3 items i couldn't get in co-op i got in Morrisons where I had £5.78 in cash left to buy butter, proper Greek yoghurt and a packet lunchbox choc bars for OH. having only £5.78 in cash meant i brought the items needed according to what i could afford so adjusted brand level, pack size and looked for deals. Got all 3 items for £5.48 **

(i could have just gone in and brought said items without focusing on price, size and paid on card but would have likely gone over budget)

Sallyp2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82031399#Comment_82031399

have you looked at why you hoard?

Since I've been rewatching spendaholics from 2008/10 on you tube i've been trying to figure out some things, especially since i cleared debt/s again this year. I'm 55 in a couple years and its making me sort out a few things in my head