July 2026 Grocery Challenge

C_J

I made a quick trip to a neighbouring town this morning and visited my second favourite Community Fridge while I was there. I picked up two large baking potatoes, some cherry tomatoes, a pineapple, a butternut squash, some kale, big bunch of fresh coriander, a 300g pack of minced lamb, a tub of burrata, some plums, apricots and apples, a loaf of sliced white bread and two chocolate cronuts.

I have frozen the bread and the lamb for use another day, and have a nice recipe in mind for a butternut squash, coriander and pineapple curry. I ate one of the cronuts (my, they are lovely!) with a cup of coffee for lunch. So unhealthy, but I have zero willpower and a lot of gardening to do this afternoon which should compensate for it 🤣

It's a £1 voluntary donation at this Fridge so my July total is now £63.02/£150

Nelliegrace

“I was reminded about all the things that annoy me about each supermarket chain. For example, where you have to look in 5 different places in a shop in order to compare prices for the same basic product because brand A is over there, while brand B is 5 aisles away due to it being “ethnic”. 

Sainsbugs lost our custom yesterday, because they have “internet only” offers, which aren’t labelled as such on the website, but you only find out when you go into a store.”

Well said @PipneyJane During lockdown some basic items were unavailable online week after week, only the expensive branded version, so when DD went for the click and collect at 7 a.m., he went into the quiet store and stocked up from the plentiful supply there, especially the own brand evaporated milk!

I get annoyed when the cheapest of the range is withdrawn. Cheaper items are on the bottom shelf where the shelf labels are unreadable unless you lie on the floor. Items are stocked above the wrong shelf price, or the offer price shown is not the price at the till. I dislike the idea of loyalty card lower price, it seems mean.

Worst of all is the frequent adulteration of items with a variety of cheaper ingredients. It should be illegal. It has got so bad that Aldi no longer lists ingredients online but says to read the label in store for the latest changes.

We are on a tight budget to the end of the month but I am poorly. We have plenty of food, but DH won’t cook. I will give him a shopping list when we need more. I cannot praise the local A&E staff highly enough.

Soontobeoap

@£89.60 spent at tescos. I received a £9 00 off a £60 shop. So in my defence. My son has a family of 5 and although not staying in our house they are staying in an air b and b so will eat most of their meals here. I bought a large chicken some ham and sausage meat to make a picnic pie with. Quite pleased with the price on an extra large chicken. Also bought beef burgers as that's a nice quick meal with some fresh salad veg for the kids. The meat content was £28.00 of the bill. Cathedral city Lacto free cheese was considerably cheaper than sainsburys as well as flora proactive buttery so that was another £12.00 for 2 packs of each. ( Stocked up a bit) Other than that we bought bisto and oxo cubes as well as pom bear crisps because 5 yr old granddaughter won't eat any others .🤪 The rest was made up of bast amounts of fruit salad veg salad cream, dressing and coleslaw. Absolutely no naughty treats so pleased about that. Will get some ice lollies for the kids at Aldi tomorrow but I am going to record in August. So I am declaring £282.72 for July! Not too bad all things considered. I have completely run down freezer in the last 2 months so with this big shop, I am ready to roll for August

diminua

£2.21 over already, and I suspect I'm going to want milk and salad veg again before the month is out.

That includes a trip to the the zero waste shop on the way home from work on Monday (pleased with myself that I remembered to bring the paper bags I have into work so I could reuse them) for staples like bran flakes and rice and pasta, and also vegan shepherds pie with veg and a glass of wine at a concert in St Martin's in the field on Thursday. Other than that all the usual things - bread, coffee, milk, eggs….

K9sandFelines

£12.76 spent between Ald! and HB.Im really enjoying smoothies. So I went out for some ingredients, to try some anti inflammatory variations. I forgot gherkins and they didn't have any frozen cherries. So, I will need them later on next week and some bits to top up any meal plan ingredients missing.

£10.40 bulk buy 12 x Mutti tomatoes. I've been hearing people rave about these. So want to see if they are as good as everyone says

JingsMyBucket

Oh no, hoping you can heal well this week @Nelliegrace x

TravelCrystal

hope you feel better soon @Nelliegrace

MrsFrugalLiving

Hello All 😊

Last spends.  Went to Waitrose, Lidl and M&S.  Overspent on toilet paper and various other top ups!  Been a bit hectic and can’t find receipts now so haven’t been able to list everything I bought. But can remember coconut oil and Brazil & cashew nuts, pumpkin seeds, almond butter - expensive stuff!! 

Spend this week £62.02

Month total £189.74/£190

Underspend 26p!!

Just realised I increased budget in July - so feels like £190 works !!

Hope to be stick to this for August 💪

Ps.  Hope @Nelliegrace you get well soon.

C_J

Good wishes for a speedy recovery @Nelliegrace!

PipneyJane

@Nelliegrace so sorry to hear that you are unwell and have visited A&E. Hope you feel better soon.

• Pip