August 2026 Grocery Challenge

PipneyJane

Evening All

Two small shops to declare:

• £6.65 yesterday in Sainsbugs, spent on cookies £1.40, 130g carrot 9p, YS large Melton Mowbray pork pie £2.11, salad 70p, spring onions £1.90, aubergine 99p, 5g mushroom 16p
• £9.51 today in L!dl where DH purchased chorizo 30% off 5x£1.32, smoked ham 30% off 3x97p, using two vouchers we’d received.

This brings our total spend to £42.20/£180, once £2.20 of shrapnel goes to the moneybox (includes a £2 coin). However I’ve just counted and recounted the GC purse and it’s £9 short! DH did today’s L!dl shop and took the GC purse with him. He’s in a foul mood, so I daren’t ask him to check the bottom of his work bag… I’ll just have to to write it off as lost.

This brings our GC spend to £57.80/£180 leaving £131.80 for the rest of the month.

• Pip

Suffolk_lass

I am underway for August too. I finished July on £270.96 against an aimed for £300 and a few holiday treats left over for use at home (we were s/c in the campervan). My annual budget of £3000 is looking a little more achievable with £1670.18 spent to date (that includes the several "pop to the shops for milk" episodes - almost 25% of this month's £200 gone!).

I am running out of lettuce and the garden ones are looking ready to bolt and seed. I gave them a good water - I might nip the centres out later and bag them in the fridge, or maybe just pull them and make soup with them. Crystal Lemon round yellow cucumbers are going like mad, with six tennis ball sized cucs picked I am looking at recipes and ice cream is winning. Anyway, the point is that the garden is welcoming my watering can efforts (an hour a night!). Mr Sl is busy on honey harvest so no point asking him to help.

I have plenty of purple French bean too so lamb chops are out of the freezer and will be eaten with beans and homegrown potatoes this evening, and cold with homegrown salad tomorrow. The greengages are more or less ready and my neighbour is coming to pick some this morning. The growing does help, but yields are much lower than normal

carboot_karaoke

Morning all,

I went to Aldi and Tesco yesterday spending £80.03 on food which included £29.17 on meat, some wasn't immediately needed but the special offer finished today and 2 packs of wagu finest burgers were YS, 50% off. l spent a further £3.24 on bulk items bleach and kitchen roll. I have most of what l need for the next weeks meals.

Grocery Budget £87.76 / £400

Bulk Fund £3.24 / £50

Grocery Challenge £ 91.00 / £450

JingsMyBucket

Budgets updated to here. 

Morning folks. I’ve broken the seal on this month’s grocery shopping in a big way. The first round of shopping was on Sunday and I have a Tesco order coming this afternoon. 

On Sunday I went to the monthly farmers’ market and bought smoked kippers at the fish van for £6.00. 

Then on to Morrisons where I spent £27.48 for bananas (1.05), vine cherry tomatoes  (1.35), a salad bag (1.60), fresh ginger (64p), a lemon (37p), ham trimmings (1.69), 3 avocados (48p each), red Leicester cheese (3.25), 2 pots of YS hummus (43p each), a smoked ham hough (2.46), 2 boxes Mr. Freeze pops (2.50), 2x Merchant Gourmet microwave grains (3.00), 1kg peanut butter (5.95), kefir (1.50), and a Green & Black’s dark chocolate bar (3.25). 

£14.55 then spent at Lidl for blueberries (1.19), scallions/spring onions (49p), bok choy (1.10), canned mackerel (99p), 3 mozzarella balls (2.97), 4 pack of Greek yoghurt cups (1.49), frozen shrimp (3.89), fizzy vitamin c tablets (1.19), 50% off fresh tortellini (1.24), and strawberries.

I got a discount on the pasta because I pointed out some severely outdated cheese while a worker was doing the yellow stickers. They had expired on July 22nd and July 10th and were a dozen packs or so. Out of gratitude she gave me a YS for the brand new pack of tortellini. 

I just realized that I wasn’t charged for the strawberries! That same worker ended up checking me out on the till so maybe she gave me another discount by skipping the strawberries?? Either way, I fully appreciate her kindness. 🙂

Total £48.03 / £350 spent. £291.97 remaining. 

The coming Tesco order has a few items to host a friend visiting from Brooklyn later this weekend. I also restocked on toilet paper and canned goods because I’ve finally gotten a full time short term project/contract and won’t have time to go shopping during the week. I'll update when the order arrives this afternoon.

Cooking Plan / What We’ve Eaten So Far

• Steak, roasted diced thymne potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, and roasted zucchini ✅ — last Saturday 
• Tortellini with pesto and salad ✅ — Sunday night
• Jerk chicken, sautéed zucchini & peppers, brown rice  ✅ — last night
• Italian antipasti pasta salad (salami, mozzarella, olives, basil, veg, etc) — for dinner and lunches
• Thai noodle shrimp curry soup (bok choy and mushrooms)
• Kippers, scrambled eggs, etc for breakfast this coming Friday 

Paperback_Writer

So far so good for me. I’ve bought Mrs Crumblepuffle her food for the month from Amazon and it was free delivery. That means, hopefully, with a well stocked store cupboard and healthy looking freezer, I should be able to comfortably manage. Keeping out of the shops is what I need, so no weekly cat food shop means no weekly ‘while I’m here shops.’ So far in August I’ve had 2 NSDs. On the other two days I spent a fiver for a coffee and cake with two different friends. For me this is a good start to a month 😎

MrsFrugalLiving

Hello All 😊

August underway week one. 

Lidl for main shop £34.31 and M&S £12.65.

Not bad first week but let’s see if I can keep out of the shops.

Lidl - apples, free green beans, Avocados, Vine Tomatoes, Almond Butter , Almonds, White Tissues, Onions, oat milk, onions, flaxseed, melon, Granulated Sugar       Nectarines cheese, pitta, 6 Organic Eggs        Salmon Fillets, red Pepper, Aubergine, Bananas and Golden Kiwi

M&S - chicken and salad 

Spend this week £46.96/£190

Balance £143.04

TravelCrystal

Just back from the dentist, tuna melt on the way home at a local cafe and I decided to call in to the co op where I had 50p off some strawberries. £3.25 for 600 grams, not really much of a bargain, oh well, what we don’t eat for breakfast over the next few days will go in the freezer. I will add this on to my figures next week when the fresh stuff comes with Ocado

T.C

P.S Meant to say there was a huge marrow on the doorstep when I got home, left by a neighbour, a freebie they picked up in the pub they thought I would like. Mm not my favourite, will probably chop it up with other vegetables and put in the slow cooker, don’t want to waste any meat with it. More than likely will end up as soup later in the year

AnotherNewDay

Hi, I have been MIA for a few months, but pretty much managing on the £350 monthly allocation.

Plan to jump back in for August with the same amount

Thanks AND

Greying_Pilgrim

I've been to do the food shop and a bit of a household cleaning products etc shop this morning.

£51.83 on food in Leedle and Sainsbugs (no green boxes in Leedles), best buy was a HUGE YS'd carton of strawberries for 99p. We got a free croissant; and an extra 10% off some red gem lettuce because of the app 'wellness wednesday' promo. I also got fairy liquid 1050ml for £2.49 (saved 30p) on the app, which was 30p cheaper than 'omebargins too. I also spent £13.45 on non-food, but that's not counted in my grocery budget.

Sainsbugs had 3 for 2 on various things in the chilled/frozen sections. I got 3 x their own organic smoked tofu for £3.16, and 3 x their own brand meatless balls in the frozen section. I also had some soda crystals in MyNP, so they were £1.60 which is cheaper than 'omebargins too.

Away to amend siggie figgie.

Greying X

Soontobeoap

£26.10 spent in Aldi today. I am all over the place at the moment

So muchj organising to do with my voluntary work this week that there is no organisation at all at home. Still we are stumbling through with small shops and trying to make the food stretch as far as possible . DJ suggested a big shop today but I put it off so that I could write a proper list and get my head around it all.