March 2019 Grocery Challenge

Need2bthrifty

I’m in again with £70.00 for this month please Elsie.

Its only the 2nd and I’ve already blown more than half of my budget. I did a big shop at L!dl, doubling up on what I would normally buy in tins and dried goods for the store cupboard. Stocked up on fish at the farmers market, treating myself to a dressed crab which will do 2 portions, a HUGE haddock which I’ve divided into 4 portions, and a large tuna steak which will also do 2 portions.

I’ve spent £44.37 but I’m quite happy with my haul and hoping to stay well away from the shops for about 10 days at least. Got a weeks’ worth of meals planned so far then I’ll start dipping into the freezer for some homemade RTH meals.

Sat - Fish in breadcrumbs, chips, peas & tartare sauce
Sun - Mediterranean stuffed pepper, mixed salad
Mon - Hm steak pie, mashed swede & green beans
Tues - Lentil dal, mushroom bhaji, flatbread.
Wed - Chicken & mushroom lasagne, green beans
Thurs - Seared tuna, couscous salad & asian style slaw

thriftwizard

And I'm off into March's "allowance" with £67 spent at the market, yesterday & today. That's bought fish, meat, cheese, eggs (the Girls not currently laying quite enough yet) fruit & vegetables for 4 for the week, possibly 6 tomorrow. There will be a couple of small top-ups required, but I'm happy that'll basically see us through 'til next Friday. Bread & bananas spring to mind as two things we will run out of, but I might make the bread, energy levels allowing.

MadamMim2013

Weeell... Spends at both Sainsbobs and Mr L’s today.. :cool:
Total so far £108.37:eek:
I’m a little flapped by it, that said, I have a stock of cat food, beans, tin tomatoes, soup and the freezer is full!:D
Off to work out a few meals to make this week..:A

ditty1234

Am currently following 3 threads including this one, and am thinking this is my next big step. I shop for me and one 16 old young man doing lots of training.
This past month my shopping went through the roof as was stressed, had a car accident, half term and visit from uni boy. I need to keep us healthy, send money to uni boy as very poor, keep me skinny(ing) and boy needs fattening up. So a fairly complex set of spex. I tend to spend £60-80 on groceries including snacks, cleaning products, toiletries etc. And I am hoping to spend £90 on fuel for new car.
This all puts my challenge budget for March on
Groceries £260
Diesel £90
So after today its
Diesel £50/£90
Groceries £104/£260
Not really a great start, but did stock up on some meat, vege and dog food. Will be investigating getting a vege box every 2 weeks.

taka

Thanks for the thread elsiepac.

Can I be put down for £161.20 please this month. In theory I have another £14.25 left over from last month but I'd prefer not to spend it unless I really have to!

First spend of the month @ £9.70 (Well £7.70 but I got a £2 coin with my change which goes into my mortgage overpayment fund! )

Need a few bits of fruit & veg and some bread so hoping this week will be low cost one... Famous last words! :rotfl:

JingsMyBucket

Hi everyone! Welcome to the third month... yikes.

Elsiepac, could you please put me down for $300. That will last from the 1st to the 31st.

shabbychic12

Please add me in x sorry to be late l took my eye off the ball. I'm going for £150 (god loves a tryer) x

cuddlymarm

Good morning guys
Spent £5.50 on 2 boxes of teabags, two bags of salad and 8 yoghurts. I also needed dishwasher salt but there wasn’t any so I will pick that up later in the week. We drink decaf and it can get expensive if there’s no own brand ones so I keep well stocked. I also need to take some into work so I’ll do that today.
I rejigged the menu plan to avoid waste and in theory I have enough of everything to last a couple of weeks (apart from milk and salad) so I am avoiding the shops like the plague. I have a lot of expense this month, some will have to go on the cc but I am trying to redirect any spare money first.
This month is about damage limitation but after all the practice I’ve had I can stretch what I do have till it squeaks.
Anyway better get on
Have a good day guys
Cuddles

PipneyJane

I have a spend to declare: £33.52 in Lidl yesterday, of which £4.99 was a new shower curtain. We also stocked up on pesto (3 red, 3 green at 69p each), mixed nuts (which I add to my breakfast cereal), their “Simply” baked beans (4x22p) and splashed out on one of their Salmon En Croutes for dinner (£3.99).

The above brings our spend for the month so far to £91.78/£162, leaving £70.22 for the rest of the month. I’m off to the farm shop in a moment (expect to spend about £7), while DH is going in the opposite direction and will check out a new Lidl that’s just opened about 3 miles away in order to stock up on their sugar-free hot chocolate (our local branch didn’t have them).

- Pip

flubberyzing

A £7.80 spend in Tesco this morning. I did actually spend £16.80, but the extra £9 was carried over as left over from last month's challenge. So I used that to stock up on a few things. Jars of pasta sauce and the like. Stuff that I know will get used during the month.

Rather proud of myself for thinking to check out the price of frozen chicken goujons, rather than chilled... In the chilled packets, you get about 12, and it's £7+ per kg. In the frozen bag, there are 44, and they're £3+ a kg. So it was a bigger initial outlay, but I got a LOT more for my money.

I also wanted meatballs for a meal this week... Managed to get 12 of the Finest range, for the same price as the regular supermarket-own, as they were on special offer.

I'm all set, food-wise, for the week ahead.