March 2018 Grocery Challenge

[Deleted User] · 25 February 2018 at 6:40PM

Hi, I won't be starting 'till Thursday, but can I put myself down for £80 for the month, to include everything, but not nights out or lunches with friends. I have a separate monthly (at home) alcohol budget of £20, which amazingly I have been keeping to. I will catch up on the posts, when I have time. Good luck everyone.

mrs_motivated · 25 February 2018 at 6:41PM

Hi everyone,

Can I join in please? My shopping budget has been creeping up and up to around £500 a month ( currently cooking dinners and making packed lunches for 5 adults ) although towards the end of March this should drop back down to 3 adults.

This week I have planned meals and lunches and apart from a top up bread shop I have everything we need, but that shop came out of Febs budget.

So for March can you put me down for £350 please

Merlin's_Beard · 25 February 2018 at 7:25PM

My normal £100 for March, please.

RedFraggle · 25 February 2018 at 8:54PM

Dropping my target this month to see if I can do it!
£300 please!

Tales17 · 25 February 2018 at 9:28PM

Hello!

Can I do £600 again please, will be a 5 week shop for me this time and will need a meat delivery at some point I think so will do my best in the shops to keep other costs down!

Thanks!

JingsMyBucket · 26 February 2018 at 1:31AM

Evening everyone. A big thanks to Zippy for doing the challenge so long. I hope everything and everyone is okay in your world.

My March runs from March 1 - 31. This will be a stock up month for us for both where we live in continental Europe and when we visit the UK for a week around March 20th. With that, please put me down for the following:

€400.00 regular groceries and stock up.
£150.00 for UK stock up.

I’m mostly including groceries for myself and household items as well. I’m not really including some of OH’s food expenses because he goes a bit off piste. That said, I’ve resumed buying a lot of his stuff lately. We’ll see how it goes. I’m hoping I can keep it to €300 instead of €400.

I’m still on the February thread and will check back in later this week.

elsiepac · 26 February 2018 at 2:09AM

NSD in every area today! Very pleased with that!

Made a kind of smoky spicy veggie and bean stew at lunch time -
I used:

A big leek, sliced
4 big mushrooms, sliced
1 big red pepper, chopped chunkily
1/4 of a head of broccoli, florets and stalk chopped
1/4 head of cauliflower, florets and stalk chopped
2 big courgettes
Herb stock pot
3 big cloves of garlic
2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp salt
A tin of chopped tomatoes
A tin of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup (125ml) unsweetened almond milk

I got some brown rice cooking while I chopped the veg.
Then put the garlic with 1/2 cup water in a big pot, with the herb stock pot, got the heat on high and let the stock dissolve.
Then added all the veg - the leek, red pepper, cauliflower, broccoli, courgette and mushrooms.
Saute for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, and it will reduce drastically.
Add the spices and mix, then the tinned tomatoes and beans.
Stir and cook for about 10 mins before adding the almond milk.
Keep warm on low heat until the rice is done and serve over it.
I also topped with 1 tbsp of toasted pumpkin seeds (I have a teeny frying pan meant to be for one fried egg that I got for £1 in the poundstretcher that I use to toast nuts and seeds - pro tip there!!).

I have two portions left over which I'll have for dinner Monday night and lunch on Tuesday (take to work with a salad instead of having rice as I can't deal with that on work lunch times).

I'm out for lunch tomorrow with mum (she has £20 Zizzi voucher towards it so will only be a quid or two each but that's non GC).

And I have leftover smoky butternut mac from tonight for tea on Tuesday. I'll do some green veg to go with it.

private_helen · 26 February 2018 at 9:34AM

After keeping the total for last month I now have a better idea at what I'm spending. I was a little too ambitious for February so I'm putting in my March target for £400. (all food, alcohol, toiletries and cleaning- starting 26th Feb)

I think it will still be a struggle as last month I started with quite a few bits in the freezer. This month my freezer is almost empty. However, I aim to reduce my alcohol spending which I know will make a difference. This morning I'm doing a meal plan for the next 2 weeks and then off to do a big shop.

cw18 · 26 February 2018 at 10:04AM

Please sign me up for £100.

Could go either way this month as I'm away (self-catering) for a week. Due to food prices in the area I take everything I'm likely to need with me which should mean I don't spend anything on general groceries that week (that will definitely help me stay in budget), but if I run out of something it'll cost me an arm and a leg (which could break my budget). I was going to set my target to £80 again, but I'm allowing an extra fiver as I know I will be buying something I can only get in the area (love my Grasmere Gingerbread), and another tenner as I'm off to a marmalade festival (doubt I'll come home empty handed from that).

I also need to get to Costc0 as they've got some vegan burgers on offer at the moment that I want to stock up on (that's £7 gone before I start!), but to make space in the freezer for those I'm going to have to eat from the freezer for the next week which should mean a low(ish) spend week

euronorris · 26 February 2018 at 10:57AM

Please add me with a target of £300.

I doubt I'll hit that, but it's what I'm aiming towards and I will be trying very, very hard to reach it this month!

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

March 2018 Grocery Challenge

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