March 2022 Grocery Challenge

Greying_Pilgrim

Dianez3 - welcome.

You're probably best of joining in with April's grocery challenge.  People set their 'month' - mine is 1st - 30th, but often people set it for the period between pay day etc.  

Decide on what target you're going to aim for and put the target (using heading 2) in your post so that elsiepac can add you to the list.  The first post tells you about the challenge, and then recipes and meal ideas are in subsequent post.  Dear elsiepac always puts them at the start of the thread so that they are easy to find.  You don't have to use any of the recipes - it's just what people have suggested over the years as way to save pennies, or stretch grocery supplies.  

Heading 2 can be found in the drop down menu - it's the one with the 'back to front P followed by an l - sorry, don't know the name for the symbol!

Hope that helps - if you click on the words April's grocery challenge ^ it will take you to this month's challenge.

Greying X

MissRikkiC

Great idea @mumtoomany with the tin can or similar. I’ll have to see what I can find! 

@Greying_Pilgrim the PC doesn’t work on my induction hob so I’ll be resisting and have cooked the beans the traditional way! 

mumtoomany

My pressure cooker is stainless steel, rather than aluminium. My previous ones were aluminium, but they don't survive the dish washer well! This one, the only one I've bought from new, is too big for the dish washer!
Hugs to all, see you in the April thread, mumtoomany.xx

joedenise

@MissRikkiC you can buy a metal plate so that you can use an aluminium pan on an induction hob.  I used to have one which I used for a while when I first changed to induction.

Link to one such plate:  https://cookeryspace.com/use-non-induction-cookware-on-induction-cooktop/

PipneyJane

MissRikkiC said:

Thank you @elsiepac ❤️ Your efforts are so so appreciated here

To every single one of us on this thread, the simple fact we’re here speaks volumes in itself. For some it’s to help with their finances; whereas for others it’s likely an absolute necessity. Thank you to all that post and keep everyone else going 

Exactly.  Well said, @MissRikkiC.  

@Graying_Pilgrim and @DawnW, you are not alone.  OK, DH and I have reached the point where either of us could pay all the household bills from our monthly salaries - including the mortgage - if the other was unemployed, but we both know our jobs are precarious and that building a cushion of savings and supplies is the wisest thing we can do.  We put our GC budget up by £20 last year, when we first notice price rises.  It had been stable for about a decade.

Having said all that, this month is the first time in a long time that we’re over.  After my last post, we did a big-for-us shop in MrT’s.  £42.30 spent, half of which we had to resort to Clubcard vouchers to pay.  

I’m declaring for March at 184.26/£160.66, which means we’re over by £23.60.

Now to read the 50-odd posts that I’m behind.

- Pip

Suffolk_lass

Greying_Pilgrim said:

Dianez3 - welcome.

You're probably best of joining in with April's grocery challenge.  People set their 'month' - mine is 1st - 30th, but often people set it for the period between pay day etc.  

Decide on what target you're going to aim for and put the target (using heading 2) in your post so that elsiepac can add you to the list.  The first post tells you about the challenge, and then recipes and meal ideas are in subsequent post.  Dear elsiepac always puts them at the start of the thread so that they are easy to find.  You don't have to use any of the recipes - it's just what people have suggested over the years as way to save pennies, or stretch grocery supplies.  

Heading 2 can be found in the drop down menu - it's the one with the 'back to front P followed by an l - sorry, don't know the name for the symbol!

Hope that helps - if you click on the words April's grocery challenge ^ it will take you to this month's challenge.

Greying X

@Dianez3 just to add you can subscribe to a thread when logged in by clicking on the little pennant next to the settings spanner symbol, immediately above the first post on a page

ariarnia

ok definitely an overspend in march but i knew that as i knew we had no idea how much we are spending plus the building work going on added a stress that meant more than one last minute takeaway when things didnt go as planned. 

ive tracked every penny though and can say with confidence we spent £118 on food in march (which is great and under budget!!!) but also £187 on takeaway which is very much double less good and thats ignoring me and the kids fleeing to a friends for a meal (which was 'free' but i'll have to reciprocate some how or ill feel bad) more than once when the disaster which is the house just got too much. 

building work is ongoing until the end of april (hopefully if there's no more unexpected happenings) but now i at least have an amount to aim under

K9sandFelines

I managed to come in at £173.10/225, which included a 10kg bag of jasmine rice. I was paying £2+at the supermarket for a tiny bag/box. It tastes so nice in Oriental dishes (which I eat once or twice a week), compared to standard brown or white rice. 
I've dropped the budget right down for April. Needs must! 

otb666

failed today got KFC 293/600 MUST DO BETTER

Suffolk_lass

@otb666 you need to move over to the April thread now, as most people will have unsubscribed to this old one