August 2026 Grocery Challenge

JingsMyBucket

Budgets updated to here.

Morning and welcome @merida88! I’ve added you to the list. I’m also highly envious of your Costco shopping trip.

TravelCrystal

Good morning G.Cers

Like you @Nelliegrace I picked some blackberries, sadly not from the garden and was going to make a bit of a b and apple pie with some filo I have festering in the freezer. However the weather is going to be hot again tomorrow so the oven won’t be going on and tomorrow’s lunch will be a carbon copy of last Sunday. Pulled pork in rolls (c/o the freezer) and strawberries and the last of the ice cream until the Ocado delivery on Wednesday.

Enjoy the weekend everyone

T.C

mandco

£8.48 to add for a couple of essentials & 2x tg2g bags - got an email from Tesco 45mins before my delivery slot to say due to unforeseen circumstances they could not deliver yesterday- they did give me the option to collect before 9pm but wasn’t sure if anyone would be able to pick up for me so sent ds over the road for a couple of essential. 2g2g bags = 2xkatsu chicken curry, 2x 6pk veg spring rolls,2 x 6pk chicken spring rolls, 2 x tuna sushi, 6pk chicken Goyza 2x protein yogurt, large tub natural Greek yogurt, pk fridge raiders, 2 x tub salsa dip, pineapple chunks, fruit pot, meatball sub, falafel wrap, a Swiss roll & a couple of worse for wear bananas. Most of it is dated today/tomorrow and they are more generous than normal as they aren’t open weekends in August.

dd did maganef to collect my Tesco order on the way home with minutes to spare

dollypeeps

thank you @Nelliegrace I did bring it to their attention but tbh they couldn’t really care less in store. I’ve been overcharged for meat in the past and have had refunds. It happened a few times and I did email their head office and again, nothing….. so I suppose it’s just customer beware.

Mind you I was well caught in the bakery….. I’d bought what I thought was a chocolate twist… thought it home, sat down with my coffee, took a bite and almost choked ….it was a cheese twist!!!!!
They put them underneath each other on the display and the cheese was slightly browned which obviously led me to believe that it was chocolate. The store assistant did have a chuckle when I mentioned it on my next visit.

Nelliegrace

Disappointing lack of response from Lidl Customer Service. You could tell them that you will report them on The Money Saving Expert!

The staff at Aldi all know me, I make a point of saying hello, they work very hard. They see me taking my grocery photo, and I comment on the good prices, and mention the grocery challenge briefly at the till.

I must get moving, DH is going to take me to Aldi.

Greying_Pilgrim

@dollypeeps I feel your pain! I had a 15% voucher in L's for tinned fruit - erm, 'mix'tail, and when I was picking up the tin today, I noticed they've changed the tin label, and instead of 'in juice' being the green tin and 'in syrup' being the blue tin, they are now both green, and you have to select very carefully, as they are stacked together. Also, they are playing silly b's with the app vouchers. I quite clearly activated the coupons that I used today - there were 3 vouchers, and I got 2 'free' bakery items. When I got back to the car, the teabags hadn't been reduced, and on the app, the voucher was showing as unactivated. How can that happen? I'd written my list reading off the coupons I had activated on Thursday - I'm not going to buy another box of tea bags so soon, so in effect, the voucher is worthless to me.

In Leedle today, I spent £4.34; chocolate bars, tinned fruit, tea bags and Italian sub-rolls. We then went to 'ome bargains and I got apples and some YS'd coffee flavoured kitty-kats - £2.66 spent. I did also get some non-food things, but they come from a different budget.

£7.00 on the nose spent on food today.

They were setting out some green boxes in leedles as we came through the till, but they weren't worth it to me today, they were very sparse - it's almost as if the person filling the box seeks to get to £2 in value, rather than fill a box with going over produce. Why would I pay £2 for £2 of produce that someone else has selected? 🤔🙄

Off to up date my siggie figgie.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Daft question - but is there some 'small print' with the Leedle app that you can only use so many vouchers per visit? I can see no other reason why an 'activated' coupon could suddenly become unactivated. It was interesting that the teabags were also the most expensive item out of the 3 activated coupon. I was never taken with the Leedle app (I signed up about a fortnight before they changed it), but every visit/use seems to throw up a new reason to not be enamoured. I need to start taking screen shots of my activated coupons I think…….

Greying X

Nelliegrace

Grocery Budget for August for 2 Pensioners at £5 a day, £155.

DH bought milk at Asda some time this week.

£3.30 spent

He took me to do the weekly shop at Aldi this afternoon, milk £1.65, cream £1.29, evap 52p, breaded haddock £2.99, green tea 65p, (I empty the tea bag and make a pot of tea,) cashews £1.69, cranberries £1.49, carrots 44p, broccoli 79p, red pepper 70p, 75% off lettuce 19p, (I trim the cut end and they stay fresh in a bit of water in a glass,) 7 bananas 88p, grapes £1.37, oranges £1.39, nectarines 1kg £2.39.

£22.64 spent.

Total spent £ 47.93

Suffolk_lass

I went to Morries which is opposite Aldo's so popped in to Aldo's first and bought iceberg lettuces and onions, cabbage, carrots, (for coleslaw), all for the BBQ for 60 this afternoon for our association (beekeepers) plus oranges (for a cake), Romaine hearts, sweet peppers and soft cheese for us. Total £14.47. The lettuces were the same price but half the size of the Morries ones - I picked one up in Morries when I went in there. I was rather disappointed tbh.

Anyway, kitchen is full and I have used empty honey buckets for the coleslaw and potato salad I have made. Just the Aldo lettuces to wash and some cucumbers to cut and mix in a further honey bucket. I will have to come back when I have separated the treats we bought in Cashco from the BBQ stuff. As usual, after my main shop of the month, about three quarters of the budget has gone.

Greying_Pilgrim

£1.85 on milk from the co0p. Not a member, as I can't afford to shop there regularly - but I noted that member's price for milk was still at £1.65 - a price point certainly Sainsbugs and Leedle & t3$c0 have moved on from in recent weeks. Therefore, the 10p 'extra' I paid, was actually a bargain when pitted against diesel/petrol consumption to get to 'cheaper' supermarkets.

Oh, and i know GC'rs/MSE'rs will 'get' this. We went shopping yesterday morning, and I asked DH if we needed more milk (he uses it more than me), and he said 'no, I don't think so'. I pointed out that i'd picked a carton up earlier in the week than I normally do (I think I got it on Monday), so it might be getting low….. 'Nope, I don't think so - on my head be it, if I'm wrong…..' Dear Reader, he was wrong….. 🤭 And actually he was going to pick up some milk after taking our kiddo out to an activity this morning - so in addition to saving fuel to head over to the supermarket, I've probably saved DH 'doughnut' tax, or 'popcorn' tax or 'pizza slice' tax or something too - as there's no way he'd get out of the supermarket, just paying for milk, alone…🤭

Greying X