March 2024 Grocery Challenge

blubella

Apologies, I'm a little late to the party. I was away in February on a training course and the budget went out of the window due to having to eat out in the evenings. Hoping to claim back some meal and fuel costs when I get given the expenses login details. I've been happily posting my update on the February thread, so thank you to @Soontobeoap and @Suffolk_lass who redirected me.

I'm going to try and reign my spending in, so I'll go for £130 + £50 bulk for March. I'm hoping I won't spend that much but it should give me a bit of a benchmark. I've totted up my food, toiletries and household consumables and the spend from 1-8th is £53.70 so far. My best bargain so far was a £1.50 box of fruit and veg from L'dl, so I'm getting creative. 

Grocery Spend £53.70/£130  Bulk Spend £0/50

JingsMyBucket

Sorry to be late to the party @elsiepac but could you please put me down for 

£350 covering March 1st — 31st

That’s for 2 adults, one of whom consumes copious amounts of yoghurt. 😂

We’ve already had two purchases. £111.13 for a Tesco order on March 4th. £13.57 at M & S this Thursday for a few salad bits and cold meats. 

£124.70 / £350 spent. £225.30 remaining

We still have enough fruit and vegetables as well as other staples to last us through the weekend and even to Tuesday. I’ll stop by Farm Foods to buy dishwasher tablets this weekend though. We’re down to our last 4 or 5. 

PipneyJane

Good morning All

I’ve got two small shops to declare from this morning:  £13.14 in L!dl (lactose free milk 99p, muffins 69p, RSPCA smoked back bacon £2.49, Salmon en Croute £4.49, Bratwurst £2.99, 2kg onions £1.49, plus a free bloomer (£1.99 saved)), and £9.13 in Sainsbugs (Chorizo-style sausages £3.25, peppers £1.54, Crème Fraiche 300ml 89p, Bananas 0.734kg 66p, loose broccoli 0.504kg £1.10, 4 baking potatoes 1.148kg 80p, mushrooms 300g 89p.).

When we got home, I cleared £2.31 of shrapnel out of the GC purse, to go into the money boxes. There was one £2 coin and the rest was mainly 2p pieces.

Apologies if you were behind DH at the checkout in L!dl.  In order to get the free bloomer, he had to put it through the till separately, after paying for the main shop.  He also bought 2 secateurs for £3.99 each, which were again rung up separately because they’ll be paid for by the Garden Fund.

The above brings our total spend to £63.20/£145.80 leaving £82.60 for the rest of the month.

I’ve got a rough meal plan for the next few days.   

Today - lunch=leftover Hot & Sour Chicken Soup, dinner= Toad in the Hole made with the Sainsbug chorizo style sausages and served with the last of our home grown potatoes 
Sunday - brunch=  Lorne Sausage and bacon muffins (we have a friend coming over to help with the garden in the morning so I will feed him.)  Dinner= something with minced beef in a sauce.  Not decided yet whether it’ll be pasta or a chilli.
Monday - Dinner= haggis with roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli.  (I found a haggis in the freezer while looking for the Lorne Sausage.)
Tuesday - Lunch= baked Camembert, served with slices from the bloomer.  Dinner= Cuban Black Bean Stew cooked in the slow cooker.

All breakfasts are cereal; all lunches are leftovers, unless otherwise stated. Still debating Sunday’s dinner.  Might do the haggis then and come up with something else for Monday, possibly Tuna Lasagne since my recipe uses some bacon and I’ll use the rest of the lump of cooking bacon in the Black Bean Stew… Hmmm…..

- Pip

Blackcats

Another one who is late posting on the March but I've been keeping a note of spending.
I've tried to be more analytical when setting the budget to take into account a short trip away and a meal with family.  I've written out a day by day plan for the month although meals can easily be swopped around - should help with shopping lists too.

I have spent £82 so far with our next shop due on Tuesday.

budget is £300.  Balance is £218

Soontobeoap

£4.19 spent today on milk bread and ham in Sainsburys. Cut a brillo pad in half today to clean the pots. 😂. Hoping the washing powder holds out for the month. I am spring cleaning and freshening everything up.( If it can be put in the washing machine its going in and then drying outside.) 

lovemula21

Hi everyone, I’m adding my bunk order of toilet roll, smol and a top up shop to my total. 

Currently stands at - 


£177.77/£500

Suffolk_lass

Soontobeoap said:

£4.19 spent today on milk bread and ham in Sainsburys. Cut a brillo pad in half today to clean the pots. 😂. Hoping the washing powder holds out for the month. I am spring cleaning and freshening everything up.( If it can be put in the washing machine its going in and then drying outside.) 

Re washing powder @Soontobeoap I have been pre-soaking our cotton pillow cases in washing soda and cold water, so they get white without a hot temperature for ages.  Well, last time I was doing a white load of towels I used the soaking water instead of laundry detergent. All the residual stiffness from detergent residue and hard water has gone and my stuff is all clean and smells great from line drying. I am considering resuming making my own laundry detergent as I used to with grated soap, back when DH was unemployed for months

ancientmum

Totting up my spends for the week comes to £30.05.   This is a combination of general groceries and household from Sains, milk from the farm machine and fruit and veg from the market, which was marked down as they were just about to dismantle the stall.

I made a veg curry last week with sweet potatoes, parsnip and a tin of chickpeas.  I'm not a great fan of chickpeas as I don't like the texture much but this was ok and three portions are in the freezer.

PipneyJane

Suffolk_lass said:

Soontobeoap said:

£4.19 spent today on milk bread and ham in Sainsburys. Cut a brillo pad in half today to clean the pots. 😂. Hoping the washing powder holds out for the month. I am spring cleaning and freshening everything up.( If it can be put in the washing machine its going in and then drying outside.) 

Re washing powder @Soontobeoap I have been pre-soaking our cotton pillow cases in washing soda and cold water, so they get white without a hot temperature for ages.  Well, last time I was doing a white load of towels I used the soaking water instead of laundry detergent. All the residual stiffness from detergent residue and hard water has gone and my stuff is all clean and smells great from line drying. I am considering resuming making my own laundry detergent as I used to with grated soap, back when DH was unemployed for months

How much washing soda would you use to a standard-sized bucket, @Suffolk_lass?  (One of the orange ones you get from B&queue). I’d really like to try this on our white hand towels which, despite soaks in oxy-action bleach, constantly have dingy-grey areas on them.

@Soontobeoap, I routinely cut washing-up sponges in half.  Ditto Brillo pads, when I used them.  Don’t buy them now because I’ve got too much enamel lined cookware, so have to buy non-scratch scourers.  However, I rarely scrub any pot.  If one needs scrubbing, I’ll fill it with water - sufficient to cover the burnt on food - and boil a couple of tablespoons of sodium bicarbonate.  After a few minutes, anything that is burnt on will lift off.    (NB:  I had a pot totally ruined last year.  Took it on holiday with us and we shared a holiday home with some friends.  Pasta stuck to the bottom of the pan and someone attacked it with a Brillo pad, while I wasn’t around.)

I have two more spends to declare from yesterday afternoon.  In my previous post, I mentioned that DH’s best mate was coming around today to help in the garden and my plan was to cook him brunch.  When in L!dl, DH bought one pack of muffins (i.e. 4 muffins), not thinking that we’d need at least 6 to make a decent batch of bacon butties, so yesterday afternoon we walked back to L!dl and bought another pack.   Also picked up a tray of their chorizo sausages - the raw ones that need cooking - for £1.99.  He hadn’t been able to find them earlier, hence buying the Sainsbugs version for £1.26 more than L!dl.  

We cooked the Sainsbugs version last night in a Toad In the Hole and they were terrible.  Didn’t taste like Chorizo at all.  They also didn’t give off any fat when grilled, which meant that even if they’d tasted right, the batter would not be able to incorporate any of the Chorizo flavour.  (For Toad In The Hole, I grill the sausages in the lasagne dish that I’ll use to bake it in.  L!dl’s Chorizo sausages give off loads of garlicky, paprika flavoured fat, which then flavours the batter.  

£2.68 spent in L!dl.   On the way home, we stopped at several of the local Asian supermarkets, in search of dried cannellini beans, which are horrendously expensive at MrT’s and Sainsbugs.  Couldn’t find them, but did find Spanish alubia beans, which are similar.  £5.45 spent on a 2kg sack.  

The above brings our total spend to £71.33/£145.80 leaving £74.47 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

  

JingsMyBucket

Afternoon y'all. Mr. Jings and I headed to a cafe for breakfast this morning for a little change. Afterward we parted ways: him to Wickes for household goods and seeds while I went to M & S. 

£29.56 at M & S for tangerines, bananas, arugula, red peppers, garlic, eggplant, frozen haricots verts, 3 for £8 cold ham/chicken, dijon mustard, soy sauce, single cream, mozzarella, and Greek yoghurt. 

I need to learn not to take an actual cart when I want to keep my shopping total low! I only went in for a few items on my list but kept remembering this I wanted or needed. My brain has been addled today. 

Next was Farm Foods where I spent £12.00 for 100 Finish washing tables. The deal was 2 for £20 but I'd rather just keep the £8 in my pocket for now. Those 100 tablets will still last us until June so our minds are clear for the next couple months anyway. 

£166.26 / £350 spent. £183.74 remaining

Rough cooking plan for the week: 

• Pork Parmigiana – hence the mozzarella and the arugula for a side salad. I'll make the sauce from scratch using peppers and eggplant and we have some pork schnitzels in the freezer from Lidl's Alpine week a couple weeks ago. 

• Bacon & Vegetable Quiche/Strata – We've got bacon in the freezer, peppers, onions. random bits of cheese and bits of bread to use up. The M & S cream is going towards this recipe. 

• Chicken, Rice & Vegetable Soup – There are two chicken leg quarters in the freezer to use up. We're heading to Durham Thursday to Saturday afternoon and I think I may just make a batch of freezer soup before we leave so we have something hot and warm to return to Saturday evening. 

We were just invited for dinner tomorrow (Monday) night so that's one less meal to plan.