March 2017 Grocery Challenge

Flat_Eric

My March challenge started yesterday and there have been no spends yet but today is only day 2!

I was tempted to buy a sandwich meal deal today for lunch but instead made do with a ready meal that I had in the freezer which was actually really tasty and meant I didn't buy the meal deal and extras....

I've cobbled together a meal plan of sorts which needs tweaking. I've tried where possible to base the meal plan on what I have at home. What I don't have, I'll write a list for.

I'll need to buy cereal bars tomorrow if I don't get these on my way home today.

Enjoy pancakes all if you are having them

March Challenge from 27 Feb - 31 March
Spends:
Mon 27 Feb: £0.00 Tue 28 Feb:

Lauralozzle

So first day of the March challenge as it is pay day and first shop to report. I've spent a lot today but I've decided to try and 'bulk buy' meat at the start of the month. I've got a lot for what we've spent

Aldi - £25 (guess - I've misplaced the receipt but it was less than this - overestimating is better right!) bread, lots of fruit, smoked salmon, potatoes, crisps, some flowers for £4 quid.
Butchers - £42.80 - 20 chicken breasts, 8 lean pork steaks, 8 lean sausages, 2 corn fed chickens and 12 eggs .
Morrisons - £25.33 - x2 pork loin joints, x2 diced lean pork, x2 salmon fillets, pork pie, sausage rolls and x4 boxes of fibre 1 chocolate brownies (oooops)
Asda - £25.47 - salad (aldi didn't have much at all!) strawberries, sandwich stuff, sugar free pop (for lunches), Quorn mince, milk - something else but I forgot already!

So, my total is now
£118.60/£300

caronc

First day of new month for me too and usual top up of pet supplies, laundry and toiletries and coffee/tea bags so online shop of £35 today. Food stuff apart from some jarred meat paste was mainly fruit and veg as fruit bowl was nearly empty and veg down to root veg, tatties and onions only so surprised it wasn't more. Total so far is £35/£150

AlwaysHungry2016

£3.80 spent on few sandwich ingredients. that's all

zafiro1984

Meal plan done, 30 lunches, 30 teas, 30 desserts, I can now do my mix and match meals. Shopping should be minimal as I've tried to work around what is in the freezer and cupboards.
One hiccup though Tes** has just sent through the post an 3 X £8 off a £40 shop coupons, that's a 20% saving. May need to stock up on dog food, loo rolls, or washing powder, something non edible.

Off to see how far I can stretch my first coupon.

lynnejk

armchairexpert wrote: »

Thank you all! Lynne it is about that, but I always feel like I need to (defensively!) say that the exchange rate doesn't reflect the actual cost differences at all. Until you guys Brexited yourselves, the exchange rate was more like one pound to 2.5 dollars, so my budget would be closer to 400 pounds, and I think that's maybe closer to the reality. What I mean by that is that, am I right in thinking that 600 quid would let me buy all sorts of nice things from Waitrose and Ocado? Whereas my $1000 means lots of slow cooker soups and homemade pizzas and cheap cuts of meat. I mean I'm not bulking things out with lentils and boiling up wild greens, but I am being careful, and there's definitely no room for entertaining or alcohol in that budget. Lean beef mince costs me about $11-13/kilo.

Anyway I know it doesn't matter and it's a personal challenge and thank you all for having me!

Thanks for the info. I know the food in the UK is really cheap atm and I think many people will be surprised when we Brexit at how much prices will rise. It won't help in that we import so much food-stuffs :eek:

You don't actually say how big your family is. There are just the two of us now - empty nesters - and I allow £200 a month for all household supplies. This covers food, cleaning, laundry and general toiletries. Everything else has it's own budget.

I've been on this thread for ages and people's budgets vary sooo much. It depends on what you eat eg vegan, veggie, Omni and whether you can grow-your-own veggies, keep chickens etc. I think I am kind of middle-of-the-range looking at other budgets.

However, I hope you enjoy the challenge and it helps you keep to the budget you would like in the months to come
Lx

fairy3

Hello all - back for the March challenge after managing January and February under target,
Will be away for 7 days this month on paid for breaks so will aim for £85 to include everything except alcohol for myself, ancient pooch and ad hoc meals for DD and DS.
Loose menu plan done from 1st - 31st March

Good luck everyone

armchairexpert

Got up this morning in an excellent mood.

DD2: why are there no cornflakes AGAIN?
DD1: Mum, there's no cat food and the cats are staaaaaarving!
DH: Did you know we're out of tinned soup, and it's very useful for me to take to work so I don't have to buy lunch.

I do not have a family which copes very well when the cupboards are less than groaning! The cats, BTW, were perfectly happy: they polished off a bowl of food overnight so they were hardly wasting away with having to wait two hours in between meals :rotfl:

Anyway, I took the opportunity to experiment with Ald! for the first time since one just opened up a couple of suburbs away. DD2 had better enjoy the A-brand cornflakes, they only sold them in a massive 750g box. Ditto DH and his tins of soup and pot noodles. Picked up the extra ingredients for tonight (hamburgers) and tomorrow (gado gado), an enormous jar of pickles and another fruit bowl's worth of fruit. Since Saturday my family have gone through two huge fruit bowls already: we keep two on the table because one's never enough. If this is what they're like now I'm dreading the teenage years :rotfl:

Anyway. $51.30 which is a lot for a top-up shop but then again the last weekly was cheap, so.

oceanspirit

Please put me down for £90 again. It's for one adult from 1st to 31st March and is a 5 Friday month which means 5 vegboxes. Will use up more stores and attempt to avoid a sm shop this month.

Have started by looking up Jack Monroe recipes.

zafiro1984

Just finished off reading the Feb challenge and I'm amazed at the number of people who have come in on target or just below, its quite inspiring. Makes me want to try to see if I can do the same in March as I rather overspent in Feb.

I'll see if I can do just on-line sm shopping, that has helped in the past as I'm not tempted. The downside is I will miss going to the shops but hey think of the petrol I'm saving on a round trip of 15miles. I filled up my car in early January and I've still three quarters of a tank left.