March 2018 Grocery Challenge

Mrs_Cheshire

Had to pop out for calamine lotion and cotton wool so thought I'd pick up a few bits to tide us over the weekend. Spent £6.30 in Mr T's and £9.42 in Ald!.
Have gone almost £10 over budget but I'm not worried as that includes some easter treats for the kids and toilet roll etc which will see us into April.

ma-ri-ella

have spent just over £20 for the month, Start of next month will possibly be quite steep as have double discount at work and hope to stockpile some cupboard items. Only possible need really is milk and mayonnaise but am trying to buy the things at work which are on offer and cheapest there anyway with the added bonus of the discount/ Been told the freezer in new place also works so might buy some frozen meals aswell

Aprils target - the 1 major shop then just milk/fresh fruit and veg

thriftwizard

Phew, MadamMim2013, so glad you & your son are OK, and I hope the shock is dissipating a bit now. And Mrs Cheshire, you are not alone; I've gone £5.28 over budget because the butcher tipped me the wink that he likely wouldn't have packs of chicken breasts at the weekend, so I bought two packs today for £10, which is £10 I won't have to spend in April. So yes, I've gone a little over budget, but I'm not stressing about it.

In other news, thanks mainly to the Grocery Challenge, we've ended the month with all the household accounts looking healthy for the first time in many years; whilst we've had no major debts for more than ten years, and the mortgage was mostly paid off 7 years ago and altogether in 2013, we've slid in & out of overdraft on the everyday spending account since the kids were little, and they're all in their twenties now! The bill-paying account has always stayed in credit, and we have a good deal on the "everyday" account, so it's never cost us much to slide a little into the red - which has meant that I haven't hesitated to do so, sadly - but this month, it's never even looked as if we'd need to dip into the overdraft. I'm not going to get complacent, there's many a slip, but I can't help being a little bit chuffed.

MadamMim2013

pamsdish wrote: »

Glad you were both unhurt, MadamMim 2013 shock is awful.

PipneyJane wrote: »

I am just glad you are OK! That’s all that matters, really.

- Pip

Thank you both & thriftwizard too.. Didn't sleep very well, brain keep replaying that last moment, still as you say we are all ok & I shall be forever grateful for it..
Need to brave the gross weather to top up the basics, will add to total when done..

Tales17

A couple of shops to add for me:

Sainburys £43.50 - using a £30 off £50 shop voucher

2 x Fruit & Veg boxes for last two weeks - £30

Brings total to £536.38.

Might just slip over this month, depending on how much I need to spend at the pet shop tomorrow and there is one more shop left to come out from today which was about £50 (I only add things once they through on my credit card statements so I can mark them off as completed!)

Will do final total next week, have a great Easter everyone! x

[Deleted User]

Save_Dosh wrote: »

I'm done - declaring at £25.63. Have a lovely Easter everyone.

Was off today, so have caught up on myself. Am workng Friday n Monday though. Ok, I've had more spends. Just to keep the record straight, £12, bringing total to £37.63, so not the £29 I was expecting, but not too shabby. Also bought some stuff out of bulk, vegenaise, pulses, 1kg minced garlic, plus, wow, how good is the Morrisons offer. Got a load of potatoes, 1kg of carrots and a massive broccoli for £1, stocked up on dairy free cheeses n bought 2 x luxury chocolates (for meeeeee). Also bought a couple of bottles of Amaretto, for Easter #soiree, n very nice it is too - not out of budget - an Easter treat. OMG, I feel the gym calling!! I made most lovely spicy lentil dip, will post recipe in April thread for the recpe list and also made some really nice spicy carrot and lentil burgers. Anywho. That really is it. Have a lovely hols everyone. xx

pamsdish

£25.18 Between Morries and Aldi, hope it will keep me going well into April.

cw18

As of 26th, my spends for the month stood at £89.89 out of £100 (and annual spend to £287.06 out of £1200).


Since then I've had a good haul of freebies, and had one small spend (I actually pay for the 'freebies' and then claim the money back, but as I have enough in the bank to cover it I class them as free from time of purchase - done though an app on my phone).

27th - I needed to cover some mileage on foot (time on feet training for the London Marathon, having done 14 miles as my return commute for work the day before!), so I did an 8 mile walk to visit 3 supermarkets to collect 3 freebies
Asd@ - 200g piece of Brie (worth £1.95)
Morris0ns - 350g squeezy bottle of honey with stevia (price dropped from £5 to £3.35, am being rebated the £3.35)
Tesc0 - tin of something with alcohol, which will be donated to my OH as I don't drink (worth £1.80, although was on a multi-buy offer so could have been got cheaper per tin if someone wanted more)

29th - more freebies and some spending
Tesc0 - £1.40 on a 1kg pot of natural yoghurt, then another freebie tin of something alcoholic (worth £1.80, also on multibuy) and a freebie box of 4 stockpots (worth £1.69)

Takes monthly spends to £91.29/£100, and annual spends to £288.46/£1200



Just need to start searching recipes to see if I can find something using Brie now. It's not a cheese I'm mad keen on - can eat a small amount on crackers once in a while, but 200g is more than a bit much for me. And apparently OH isn't keen on it either, but his 200g freebie is also in my fridge

YorksLass

Small spends today totalling £9.49 for milk, butter, potatoes, sprouts, eggs, lunch tongue and polony.

Really chuffed with this month's efforts as I've managed to stretch 4 weeks' cash over 5 weeks, had just one online order delivered and the rest has been purchases from the market and locally at the Co-op. Ended up with 26 NSDs and £15.82 left in my purse. :j

Next month is off to a good start as I've already done next week's meal plan using existing supplies, although I will need to make a soup, do some batch cooking and also baking. Over the weekend I'll take stock of what's left and then do an online order based around what we need. That shouldn't cost too much as I'll be using a £4.50 MOC and a refund voucher for £8.

Not a good weather forecast for the Easter break but I hope you'll all have a good break whatever you choose to do. See you all over on the April thread.

MadamMim2013

Ok.. Made it by the skin of me teeth! :rotfl:
£295.71/£300
Pheew... Lots to use up in freezer and cupboard so I hope to come in on or under budget next month!!
See you all in April :T