March 2023 Grocery Challenge

Saver-upper

I've just looked at my spending for this month. As mentioned, I have spent £319.34 this month.

Purchases this month have included stocking up on:
Cheese: £8.89
Flora margarine: £7.80
Tinned salmon: £6.00
Toilet paper: £18.50
Teabags: £5.40
Cooking oil: £6.10
Gravy granules: £4.50 😱😱-definitely the next thing to downshift on! What is everyone's recommendation for gravy granules please?
Fish fillets: £11.20
Flour: 58p

Total £68.97.  Have also spent £9.00 on crisps !!

2Scratters

@Saver-upper the non branded aldi ones are fine but we prefer the reduced salt product as we find them too salty. Branded ones available at Q Save. Or as I keep trying to convert DH to an oxo cube and cornflour. 

2 Scratters xx

Soontobeoap

I find Aldi gravy granules OK but I end up using nearrly twice as much to get the right thickness. I have stuck with Bisto but make my own with oxo cube and cornflour for stews or when I can use meat juices. I have changed the meals that we eat so much since we started this challenge which seems to have resulted in us using far less instant gravy. (I have only just realised that) Thanks for this discussion. 

Nelliegrace

Bisto gravy powder, cheapest at Safeways. 

DIY if you run out.
https://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/2016/07/gravy-mix-from-scratch.html

joedenise

Couple of small shops in Tesco and Sainsbury and now standing at £94.38/£200 leaving £108.62 for rest of the month.  I'm happy with that.

Definitely going to go over on the bulk fund as still need to go to the butchers as nearly out of sausages and like to bulk buy those and freeze.

Soontobeoap

Just done the weeks top up at Aldi. £15.39. Should last to next Friday hopefully apart from bread. Can see DHs take on buying cheaper beginning to change. Went to buy Albert potatoes (He has always said that they are best for roasties) but he picked up the cheaper ones and said "a red potato is a red potato". I bowed to his superior knowledge! 🥴🤣. Slowly but surely I am changing his mindset!

Not sure that eating from stores will last to end of March. I started at the start of the last week in February, so 3 weeks done already. Freezer still looks full but a lot is veg and one shelf for special dietry requirements. The tins and jars are looking very sadly depleted though so it will be interesting to see how this impacts on next month. The urge to restock is getting stronger and stronger but I am resisting at present!

No own brand oxos in Aldi so will have to wait until big Tesco shop on 1st April. 🤯

Nelliegrace

I have checked the fridge and done the weekly shop at Asda.
milk, 2 x 4 pint, one yellow stickered.
vegetables, essentials onions, mushrooms, celery,
fruit, oranges 2 x 5, clementines & grapes (2 for £2), bananas x 7, blueberries,
Cod liver oil capsules x90, 3 for 2 

10% discount with Blue Light Card.
£16.72

£21,72 for the week
£80.74 so far for the month.

The TGTG covers lunch and dinner for two days, plus there is a dated tin of tuna to use, and what we have already in the fridge. There is a bit of bacon, and black pudding. 
I shall get meat out of the freezer for Sunday. 
Breakfasts are porridge and a bit of fruit, and an egg. The hens have laid 7 so far this week, a bit down on last week. 
I shall bring another tray of stored apples in from the garage.

zafiro1984

I'm having a niggle.
I mainly shop online and tick the box for no substitutes.
Their policy is that if an item is unavailable they replace it with one as close as possible and if the cost is greater they will let you have it at the original price.
If you hand a replacement item back to the driver they will do a voucher or credit your account
OK so far.

Niggle:- I've found lately that when they substitute an item and the replacement costs more they cut back on the quantity, so that you spend the same but you get less.
My example is with bread. I ordered 4 supermarket branded loaves and 2 loaves of a more expensive one. They had none of the supermarket bread so replaced the four loaves with 2 of the more expensive ones. The cost was the same but I was two loaves short. I've had the same happen with loose parsnips against packaged ones.
Has anyone else come across this niggle 

Soontobeoap

 @zafiro1984 I have found tescos are quite good but had a right wrangle with Morrisons after working out Richmond sausages best value. I was actually doing a  bulk shop with Morries because of this offer! They didnt have the big packs so sent the same monetary value of smaller packs. I ended up about 10 sausages short!! They said that this was their policy. After a lot of tooing and froing they did a bit of a refund begrudgingly. 

Nelliegrace

Asda were very good to us during lockdown and afterwards. I was on the extremely vulnerable list, not for treatment on the first point on the Covid admission algorithm. DH collected our groceries as the store opened, before anyone else was about. 
We did our frugal shop of basic ingredients under £30 a week, trying to eat very healthily, and occasionally there was something extra, and extra pack of chops once, a whole leg of lamb instead of a half. Any substitutions were in our favour, a pack of courgettes instead of one. 200g of posher dark chocolate instead of 100g of basic. I did try to pay the extra, but was told it was not possible. The groceries were packed with care, and nothing was battered, bruised, or near its use by date.