July 2026 Grocery Challenge

Greying_Pilgrim

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82065864#Comment_82065864

Oh @Nelliegrace you've fired up a memory there. I remember my 'younger' aunties making that dessert - I thought it was 'so sophisticated', especially as the first one i ever tasted was either lemon or lime. Mum was a strictly strawberry or raspberry jelly buyer. Mum's Kenw00d was from the 1960's - it was a wedding present. The bowl was opaque white, and the body of the machine was white with turquoise flashes. She kept it, even when it was broken beyond repair, as it had been such an expensive gift.

Greying X

TravelCrystal

memories @Nelliegrace, thanks, I have done this in the past, remember it as a child. You never know D.H might get lucky and have this one Sunday, the only day I make a pudding, other than our daily fruit of course 🤭 I seem to remember apart from making sure the Evap was cold you whisked it in to the jelly when it was nearly set

P.S Thanks for the recipe

T.C

Suffolk_lass

My School Housecraft Book (1969-1972) includes milk fruit jelly (as well as the simplest, best rock cakes recipe I still use if making them!)

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82064042#Comment_82064042

@C_J no, your dog is not odd at all. When I was growing up, our dogs always adored fish. I have vivid memories of our black Labrador begging supervising my mum while she prepared and fried fish. His “fish” was the remains of the batter, fried up in same oil after all the fish was fried. 😀

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82065864#Comment_82065864

@Nelliegrace i hope your sister escaped her controlling husband and has lived a happy, comfortable life since then.

Back on topic, I have a few small spends to declare. These were mainly driven by the heat and the need for more ingredients for salad:

• £2.90 in L!dl on Wednesday, when DH popped in to get something to accompany the pork chops I’d left him for dinner. (I was at the local beer festival with friends.). He bought YS cheese coleslaw for 62p and two packets of YS fishcakes for £1.14.
• 87p spent by himself in Sainsbugs on Friday, when he went there from work are lunchtime. He bought 340g honey74p, 1 mushroom 6p, 1 carrot 7p. (The latter two were purchased to get Nectar points.)
• £6.51 in L!dl on Friday afternoon, spent on a YS premium steak pie £1.74, spring onions 69p bistro salad 89p, 500g Deluxe vanilla ice-cream £2.69
• £4.82 in Sainsbugs yesterday. We purchased 5 green bananas 78p, peppers £1.69, 1kg baby potatoes £1.05, wild rocket 70p, spring onion 55p

This brings our total spend to £100.40/£180 leaving £79.60 for the rest of the month.

Meal Plans

Meal-plan-wise, I’m cycling through all my salad recipes on a regular basis. We’re practically living on salmon fillets purchased from C0stC0 (paid for by the Meat Fund).

Today we’re out for lunch and dinner, so nothing planned.
Monday Three-bean salad, made with two tins of mixed beans, spring onions, diced peppers, sliced carrots, sweetcorn, rocket leaves and some leftover salmon.
Tuesday. Pan-fried salmon accompanied by HM potato salad.
Wednesday Thai-style chicken livers, made with leftover coconut milk and home grown bean sprouts, served with noodles.
Thursday Tabouli

I may swap Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s meals depending on a) how quickly my bean sprouts grow, and b) how far the bean salad goes lunch-box-wise.

• Pip

PS: Update on mangoes. I used two for HM mango smoothie (blended the pulp with half a tin of coconut milk, water and some lemon juice). It was OK, but I won’t make again. For the remainder, I harvested the pulp and we had it with Icecream over two nights.

JingsMyBucket

Morning everyone. It’s finally cooled down here this morning thankfully but it'll heat up again this afternoon. Yesterday morning I ventured out to the high street early around 8:30am to beat the heat. The heat wave is going to be long here this coming week and I wanted to get items to last us a while since I’m now busy with two simultaneous client projects. I looked in the fridge again before leaving and noticed we were actually out of most veg. 

£42.18 at M & S for loads of bananas (1.98), strawberries (2.10), sliced watermelon spears (4.90), 3 pack of bell peppers (2.10), eggplant (1.00), 3 pack of zucchini (1.45), mushrooms (1.00), 1kg onions (1.00), YS hummus (1.15), 2 packs of sliced ham (5.00), 1kg Greek yoghurt (2.00), brie (2.00), skyr (2.50), 350g cheddar (2.80), 3 cans of baked beans (1.20), penne pasta (75p), jarred green lentils (55p), a loaf of cranberry pecan bread, various bakery pastries, and a YS pack of tortillas that I got free because of pricing mistake. 

£7.50 at Iceland for sliced corned beef (3.00), 250g red Leicester cheese (2.75), and fake mint Cornettos (1.75 for 6 in a box!).  

Total £173.81 / £350 spent. £176.19 remaining. 

I need to put my hands back in my pockets for a while. The watermelon was a huge splurge I don’t normally get but I was deranged by the heat, I tell ya. Cooking plan for the week in rough order: 

• Salad dinner — last night I put out the ham, brie, hummus, butter, bakery loaf, salad greens, etc. 
• BBQ chicken drumsticks, pasta and vegetable salad — the chicken will be cooked in the air fryer 
• Mexican black beans — I’ll cook these tonight specifically to use later this week
• Pork fried rice 
• Black bean Quesadillas 
• BBQ chicken, black beans and rice bowls 
• Spinach and bacon quiche 

I'll also probably make another cold lentil and vegetable salad at some point this week to use up a previously aging eggplant and some leftover feta cheese.

Finstickle

I had my usual weekly order with Asda this week but also did the thing I do when I'm trying to keep costs really low.

Review every single item in my basket with the question of 'when will I use it this week?' if the answer is I won't then it gets removed, added back to the list and will get bought another week. I will keep doing that each week this month as we started out high and restocking the cupboards is not for months when you start high! £48.88 in the end.

I also went to Lidl for the first time in ages, primarily to get some of the Extra Light Mayo they used to sell, but apparently do not sell anymore. I got some other bits while I was there including frozen responsibly sourced Basa fillets for £1.79. I don't really understand how they can sell them so cheap but it did remind me to check in on Lidl prices occasionally and do a top up, Asda might be fairly cheap but Lidl does beat them on some items and so I should load up there when I can. £12.16.

Total week £61.04, although I do need some more Greek yoghurt at some point.

Current Total

£285.82/350

diminua

£115.04 spent so far. That does include 2 cold drinks in cans and some crisps yesterday while I was out for a walk - I was wandering through Cheam and Nonsuch and Bourne Hall Park, which have trees, and there was a breeze, but still very hot - and a real ale marmalade I liked the look of (stumbled across the Surrey bee keepers event in Ewell). The only thing I really need in the next few days is salad veg and fruit.

thriftwizard

I flew past yesterday & updated my totals, but never got round to posting as it's been (yet another) busy week. But life should calm down now until late August (if all goes according to plan) when another grandchild is due over in Pembrokeshire & I'm needed to mind the toddler. I've deliberately kept the calendar as clear as possible to give myself a chance to clear out unsold stock and excess household items via the local car boot sale, whenever the weather permits, and so far that's going swimmingly. Anyway, I'm trying to grow as much of our salads as possible, given the lack of rain, to keep costs reasonable; you really don't want to have to rely on W8rose for warm weather food unless you're very wealthy! Luckily the tomatoes are coming thick & fast (and delicious) now, & some of my allotment "weeds" (tree spinach & fat hen) have turned out to be prolific & delicious & that makes up for my complete inability to grow an edible lettuce!

DS3 will be returning to our little town shortly, his departmental funding having been cut again. But he's taken a PT job here that comes with shared accommodation & can be done alongside PT university stuff, so the ongoing grocery budget is off the hook! Phew - but it'll be lovely to have him nearby.

Greying_Pilgrim

I walked into town with my kiddo yesterday morning. The intention was to pick up non-food items, primarily to deal with bites, scratches and scrapes. I got most of the things on my list - b00ts were oos of medical antiseptic wipes (to put in the first aid kit), but as they are the only place that appear to stock them, I will have to keep looking out for them. All that I bought doesn't come out of the grocery budget, but I did pick up a bottle of r1bena in 'omebargins, so £1.49 to add to my total.

Greying X

K9sandFelines

Joining you now, as no spends today and I'm due a few items tomorrow.I have no meat Beef flavour Oxo and coconut milk coming from Am@zon. The oxo I can never get to the shops when it's on offer and some have stopped selling it. It's cheaper now to buy on S&S, although not environmentally friendly. The latter has few ingredients and I like the quality of it better. I will add to signature, so I don't forget tomorrow.

My list is small this week whilst I'm still working my way through freezer/meal planned bits; with the odd pasta salad or similar thrown in when I can't face a hot meal.