July 2019 Grocery Challenge

Suffolk_lass · 25 June 2019 at 1:09PM

Doom_and_Gloom wrote: »

I do my best to buy package free.
Earlier I bought one pepper, 50p. Meanwhile you can get a bag of 3 for £1.10 or a bag of 4-6 for £1.20.
Again earlier I bought loose mushrooms that are 20p more per kg than the cheapest wrapped in plastic version.
Annoying yes. However only having what I need in can help with the budget.
Sometimes I buy reduced items wrapped in plastic but to me the waste of both the plastic and food inside is a worse thing.

It is really hard. I was looking for liquid soap for the downstairs loo and kitchen but it was literally all in plastic bottles, unless I wanted to buy a premium product. So I have been googling homemade simple soap and decided to try and make some. I had everything I needed except some peppermint essential oil which I got in the Health Food Shop - and while in there I spoke to the woman in the Health Food Shop about their cellophane bags of dry goods. She completely missed the point and said that is what their supplier uses. I said "well you'll have to ask them to use paper bags like the flour bags then". Either she was really thick or I was not making the point well enough as she told me that is a different supplier :doh:

Anyway I have made some soap this morning (the joys of not working) - it took less than an hour so far but they need to set - 24 hours or so and then 4 weeks to cure before I use them. I filled the silicone patty "tin" to make 12 individual soaps and lined a small loaf tin with (supposedly biodegradable) plastic film for the leftovers. Let us see if I have wasted my time or chanced on a new skill. If it works, I may just have sorted my inexpensive gifts idea for Christmas too!

Suffolk_lass · 26 June 2019 at 9:55AM

My July starts today. I have spent 43.88% of my annual £3000 grocery budget or £1316.51 for the year to date. It sounds superficially impressive but I allocate an extra £200 for December to cover the extras for Christmas. So actually it means I am overspent so far.

I notice that a few things in Morries have increased this week. Savers thin bleach has increased by over 25% from 28p a big bottle, to 38p. And their own brand extra mature cheese has gone from £3 for 500g (60p/100g) to an "offer" of 2 for £5 but the pack size has reduced to 400g (so 63p/100g on "offer") and 75p/100mg after the offer. They have also stopped doing 4-pint organic milk so a massive increase there too.

My hm soap works out at 28p a bar (but I can't use it until August). It smells fab but I can't try it until it has cured for four weeks. It was a really simple recipe and easy technique.

indigowarrior · 27 June 2019 at 12:19AM

Hello joining in. Budget starts today and ends July 25th and I have £160 grocery budget, There is just me and the cat called pepper.

indigowarrior · 27 June 2019 at 7:43PM

£5 spend today.

Scrimps · 27 June 2019 at 10:31PM

I wanted to start my budget on the 1st having been paid on the 25th but medicines and prescriptions come.out of 'housekeeping' and I have a poorly boy and husband. That and we needed bread, milk, eggs and then cereal to try and tempt the toddler to eat etc etc! 145 of 200£ left.
I'm hoping that spreading the rest out week by week instead of doing a 'big' shop will help me not overspend this month

Rachiedabbler70 · 28 June 2019 at 10:04AM

Thanks Elsiepac for getting July up and running and updating :A

Please could you put me down for £140 from today until 31st July - very long month for 2 adults including all toiletries etc. My freezer has a few portions of leftovers - probably 7 meals for one person and I plan to have jacket potatoes 2 evening meals per week and a something on toast evening

to keep costs down. I don't know if this is doable - I have spent £12.95 so far, but I want to give it a good go as I am really trying to get my mortgage down as quickly as possible - hopefully for my 55th birthday.

Good luck everyone

vintageteainmywardrobe · 28 June 2019 at 3:59PM

Hello all,

Could I join again this month?? I was super surprised at how little we spent last month, though I did make sure we ate out of the cupboards as much as possible. This month we won't have that store cupboard to use. Please put me down for £200 again and anything we don't spend will go into savings

Cheapskate · 28 June 2019 at 4:43PM

Hello, I'm back and starting again!! Please can I go down for £350 for July? Thanks very much.

A xo

thriftwizard · 28 June 2019 at 9:40PM

Did you get the new place, elsiepac? Fingers crossed...

I'm off into the July budget with a £65 spend at the market this morning. There'll be a bit spent at the supermarket tomorrow morning, as I'm away trading for the rest of the weekend & I need to buy in some things that I know His Nibs can cook! There'll be a L1dls stock-up sometime next week, too, and I'm away next weekend so I'm beginning to wonder whether I should have allowed a little extra this month, as I'm not in sole charge of catering arrangements. Not to mention the 3 birthdays... However I'm hoping I can rein it back in and keep the rest of the month under tight control.

In the meantime, my tomatoes are coming on a treat. I need to sow some salad leaves, too, because constantly buying salad in hot weather is a real budget-buster! At least we don't have to buy ice-cream any more; I can just make it using whatever bargain fruit I can lay my sticky paws on.

LIzzieM · 29 June 2019 at 6:27PM

Hello :hello:everyone (hope I've done this in the right place, as although a long time lurker, haven't really posted for a long while!).

I'd love to join the challenge please if I may? I'm currently off work (already registered disabled prior) following major surgery (which was planned for later in the year but suddenly decided it didn't 'feel like waiting' IYKWIM!

There's only me (plus a tank of tropical fish!) and I'd like to put a budget of £40
please to run from 1st - 31st.. This is only for food, as I have some HB vouchers to use up which I will tomorrow as my sister is taking me to get household bits and pieces. I am planning to defrost my freezer middle of the month, so obviously I need to use all the bits and bobs, in addition to my never-happened-brexit/limits to mobility 'stash'. I need to eat a high protein diet for medical reasons (although this is supplemented via my Doctor).

It's my first time so please forgive me as I'm obviously a newbie at this. I'll thoroughly go through all the recipe ideas in bed as there look to be some fantastic ideas on there. Oh, and my little slow cooker is my friend

Thanks very much,
Lizzie

Oh, and if any of you kind people would let me know how to make my 'total' red, along with updating my signature I'd be very grateful

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July 2019 Grocery Challenge

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