March 2023 Grocery Challenge

patentgirl

Morning everyone did my first shop at Aldis yesterday was hoping not to go again till end of next week but no milk whatsoever few eggs none of their lurpack dupe no tomatoes so will have to pop in again spent £52.53 out of my £250 /£3000 yearly budget after going over budget last month was tempted to increase like @Blackcats but will continue to monitor for next few months although looking at my shopping book for February( I write down everything I buy to compare prices) nothing jumps out at me that had been extravagant apart from some  steaks we had around Valentine's day. Tomorrow cooking for some of family 9 plus one veggie going to do a roast  chicken bulk it out with veggies not sure how you do it day and day out @mumtoomany you are marvellous on your budget.

mumtoomany

Thank you @patentgirl. It helps that I've plenty of storage space, and the freezers, so can take advantage of bargains when I see them. We also have much hometown fruit, veg and some home reared meat. Hugs mumtoomany.xxx

taka

Morning everyone. It is wonderfully sunny this morning here. Freezing cold but one of those lovely days that remind you that spring is approaching. 🌱 🥰

Can I be put down for

£156

for this month please? (£126 regular shopping + £30 bulk)

I overspent last month by £9 as I found various bargains when nipping out for bread on the 28th Feb so am taking it off this month. I don't usually cut the next months amount (as I feel like it sets me up to fail before the month even starts 🙄) but as it was all stuff for storecupboard or freezer that I'll likely eat this month, it seems best this time. 😂 No spend so far this month as a consequence but I need to pick up a few bits shortly so that won't be the case for too long...

PipneyJane

@elsiepac, apologies but I need to change my budget.  We finished February with a surplus of £16.50, so that will be rolled into March.

Please change my March budget to £156.50.  

Thank you.

- Pip

thriftwizard

gill5blue said:

thriftwizard said:

Not happy - I've spent £88.33 on this week's supplies, between the supermarket, butchers, bakers & market, rather than the £80-odd I was aiming for.  Which means I'll have less to spend next week... ah well, it is what it is. Nearly halfway through my grocery "allowance" for March already and it's only the 3rd! 

do you have a 'shop' that gives away short dated foods, or have you considered using olio app to eek out your food budget- I find these really help with the staples.
gill5blue

Not really; it's all doughnuts, pasties and other ultra-processed stuff available around here, sadly, which could put me back in hospital. I do check regularly. The two small supermarkets give their leftovers to the Community Kitchen & the food bank - kudos to them for that! - and otherwise we just have a couple of corner shops (hence the doughnuts & pasties) and the butcher (goes for pet food) the greengrocer (goes for livestock, including my chickens, and people's rabbits & Guinea pigs) and the baker, who nearly always runs out half an hour before he closes! If I travel down into the city, there's more available, but it's a 10 mile round trip & an hour of my time. Luckily, at the moment, it's not disastrous if I go over budget, but I'd like to keep it that way by sticking to it! I do quite often get given stuff by the market greengrocers "for the chickens" and often return a box of eggs (mine lay blue eggs!) or a jar of jam or chutney made from their offcasts & overstocks. 

Suffolk_lass

I love that. We get our eggs (we do pay for them) from someone whose small flock are on the farm (under net) in the Village and I sometimes gift them a jar of honey, and some surplus veg seeds

KajiKita

Totted up my spends for the month so far and we are at:

£375.59 of £500

Leaving us £124.41 to when I get paid again (which is the cycle I work to) in two and a bit weeks time …. I am a week short on typical spend ……

Hmmmm …..

KK

sarahj1986

sarahj1986 said:

sarahj1986 said:

£52.83 spent 

I only did it today as the offers in Tesco ran out. Big pack of Pepsi 24 for £7 instead of £9.50 not on offer, plus a few other offers expiring today. Made sense to get it today instead of tomorrow. I won’t need anymore fizzy pop till probably end of March or early April but I’ll keep an eye out at the offers. A few things out of stock that I find bizarre - coffee and chicken noodles, no suitable substitute? Weird. I used my £3 points also.  

£197.17 left 

£6.92 spent

As Tesco didn’t deliver a few items I cycled into town to get them. Coffee and noodles. My husband asked for some more biscuits too and I picked up another bag of apples on Clubcard as I only put 1 bag on the shopping instead of 2

£190.25 left 

£4 spent 

I got a too good to go bag from the Spar. It was still a good bag but the “worst” so far from there. 

Edit -£186.25 left 

Gettingmyshiztogether

£13.95 spent in Mr Ts today. 

I had previously asked on a grocery challenge if there's cheaper alternative to Atora, someone suggested Mr M and sons but we don't have one of those near to me, however Mr Ts £1.30! So I grabbed two bags of that. I got children's paracetamol x2 (after a scary experience with youngest DD I always make sure I have some in the house), then some custard, chocolate (DD time of the month so a necessity at the mo) and croissants (see previous reason).

I also nipped to L!dls for some of their compost (this comes out of the house and garden pot for me) £3.50 for 40 litres. Thought it worth mentioning. 

Currently month spend sitting at...

£98.78 / £400

happydenial

£87.75/£500 spent so far this month. This includes a small £29 shop at Aldi and two top-up shops at Waitrose. I also got a Greggs TGTG bag today for £2.95 which contained some good bits for packed lunches (I make around 16 of these a week so everything is a help!).

I’ve meal planned for the rest of the week and shouldn’t need to buy anything apart from
some milk and maybe a few bits of veg - I do have plenty of frozen veg though. I also had a 50% off a fruit and veg box offer from A&C as hadn’t had one for a while, so ordered a medium box which is being delivered on Friday.