July 2026 Grocery Challenge

joedenise

Another watching Sewing Bee. Think the new presenter is better than the previous ones! Agree the right person won Garment of the Week and the right person was sent home. I also like the wrap dress which I thought might have been a contender for Garment of the Week.

Looking forward to watching the rest of the series.

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82072971#Comment_82072971

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82072906#Comment_82072906

Woops! Sorry! I thought I posted this on the Fashion on the Ration Challenge. Apologies for going off topic.

Yes, it’s a new series. Started on Tuesday. Still has Esme and Patrick as judges.

• Pip

Greying_Pilgrim

@Nelliegrace - your description of an NT day out mirrors how we enjoy our membership. Very, very occasionally (moreso if visiting a 'new' place), we will be one of only 5 people annually, nationwide*, to purchase a postcard from the giftshop to send off to a RL 'Auntie'. This summer we're looking forward to exploring a few local NT venues with chums who've collected newspaper vouchers from the recent promo 😉

DH and our kiddo have just set off to a little event, they've snap, coffee and water packed - plus some precious pennies pounds for an ice-cream if desired (it is hot & sunny).

Greying X

*the steep decline in postcard sales was mentioned on the radio the other day. It would help if a) the price of a stamp for a postcard was less than for a (heavier) letter, and b) if the Royal Mail hadn't designed stamps so big that they take up half the address side on yer average postcard 🙄

Greying_Pilgrim

It's a little bit late, as the World Cup Footy is coming to an end (plus footy isn't everyone's cup of tea), but I saw on Blue Peter today that Shini made some shortbread biscuits that quite cleverly looked like footballs. My kiddo is always wanting to make biscuits - we might give them a go (although I also want to try the Almond biscuits on the Leedl app too). Just leaving the links here, just in case it may prove useful for anyone with kiddies and/or grandkiddies to humour in the hols - or entries to provide for the village fete or community festival 😉

Blue Peter Football Biscuits - includes 'how to video'

Lidl Almond Croissant Cookies

Greying X

PipneyJane

Thanks for the recipe links @Greying_Pilgrim .

I’ve spent this afternoon making Courgette Cake. We have two courgette plants growing this year, and there’s about 20 courgettes waiting to be harvested. Don’t think I’ve ever shared the recipe. The first time I ever had this, it was in a team meeting at work. The colleague who made it, had us all guess the surprise ingredient. Nobody guessed it was courgette. Her source was Nigella Lawson’s “How to be a Domesitc Goddess” book. This is my version.

Courgette “Surprise” Cake

Ingredients

2 medium sized courgettes (zucchini), grated using course side of box grater
2 large eggs
125ml vegetable oil
150g caster sugar (I use vanilla sugar)
225g self-raising flour (or 220g plain flour and a teaspoon of baking powder)
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Method

1) Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
2) Combine eggs, oil and sugar in bowl. (I do this in the food processor.)
3) Sieve in flour, bicarb and baking powder and beat until well combined. Mixture is quite stiff.
4) Stir in grated courgettes (if using food processor, process for minimum time until combined).
5) Pour into lined loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes until slightly browned and firm to touch.
6) Allow to partially cool in loaf pan before turning out.

The recipe doubles up well, if you want to cook in bulk.

• Pip

PipneyJane

I have several shops to declare:

• £7.34 in L!dl on Tuesday, spent on 2L lactose free milk 2x99p, 12-pack Ice-creams £2.49, cheese slices £1.69, garlic cream cheese 2x95p
• £9.57 in L!dl on Thursday. DH bought YS steak pies 2x3.99, potato salad £1.59
• £31.51 by me in Lidl today. 450ml Greek Yoghurt with Honey 2x£1.19, 1.5L quad strength squash 2x£1.75, Gold instant coffee £2.65, Salmon en Croute £4.99, 500g Deluxe vanilla ice-cream £2.69, 10 slices prosciutto £1.89, 120g baby leaf salad 79p, 12 FR large eggs £2.89, pack 20 Knorr chicken stock cubes £2.4, Gnocchi stuffed with Feta & Olives 4x£1.99.

Yes, I spotted the gnocchi and went a bit mad, but it’s one of those things you don’t see very often. It will keep in the fridge until October and there’s two portions per pack, so up to 4 meals.

We received a couple of £2 coins in our change, so they’ve gone into the moneybox along with 28p in shrapnel.

This brings my total spend to £153.10/£180 leaving £26.90 for the rest of the month.

Is it do-able? Yes. Just needs planning. I will need to buy bagels, potatoes, carrots, peppers and spring onions later in the month, possibly along with some salad leaves, but that’s about it.

Meal Plans for this week:

Unless otherwise stated, all lunches are leftovers; all breakfasts are cereal. The order may get swapped around and I may substitute something else which’ll use up the bacon.

Today eating out
Sunday Lunch: bagels with prosciutto, salad leaves and cream cheese. Dinner: potato salad with fried salmon fillet
Monday Bread & Cheese Pudding made with sliced bacon instead of the usual tuna
Tuesday Toad in the Hole made with Bratwurst, served with fresh green salad
Wednesday Chicken Tray Bake (to use up thighs from the freezer)
Thursday ? Broccoli & Chorizo Pasta or ? quiche (using the last of the bacon)
Friday Carrot & Cashew Nut Roast served with roast potatoes.

• Pip

MrsFrugalLiving

Hello All 😊

Week three spend.  Went to Lidl and M&S.  

Didn’t need that much food but tempted to pick up a box of cobra beer which bumped up the cost.  And got a couple of bottles of vinegar to make beetroot chutney at some point this week. Where’s the month going!

Corgette cake recipe looks good - I will definitely give it a whirl and also biscuits - but cooler so I fancy a bit of baking.

Spend this week £48.79

Month total £127.72/£175

Remaining £47.28

Lidl - Cobra Lager,  Organic Cider Vinegar x2, Oat milk, olive oil,  Yogurt, Double cream, crackers, Nectarines, Grapes, salad

M&S - melon, sweetcorn, cucumber and radishes.

HB - rice cakes and sweets

cowboymum

Slightly lost control of grocery spending this week due to recovering from illness. Hopefully will still be ok as last week we are away and we've already paid for food for that week.

Health food shop £34.78

Grocer's £10.19

Sainsburys 6.50 and 5.75

Total £310.74 / £500

Nelliegrace

Birthday voucher for two free cakes at the garden centre to have with members’ 2 free hot drinks. The voucher hadn’t arrived in the post so DH phoned and they sent it to his phone.

whitecatcreamsofaDOH

£156.74/£420

My adult child is back home and already complaining about the lack of food in the house - think I’ll soon be over budget again 😂