March 2024 Grocery Challenge

debtfreewannabe321

Hi I'm in again please, two adults and two teens here vegan for two, veggie for the other two and most cooked from scratch. I'm happy with having cut down my budget from end of last year to just under £500 (from £800) and we can afford this comfortably so I'm sticking with it to allow me to build up a store of dried and bulk stuff within the budget.
This month I've worked out we have 28 days to plan for so I've done a meal plan already so I can batch cook and my first shop for March turns up tomorrow. I'm putting £50 aside for takeout/ eating out too as it's my birthday next week 😊 
Once again I will do most cooking in the first two weeks and make an extra dinner or two each time where able so I can freeze the extra, then our last week every month is cheap on shopping just for top ups and we eat out of the freezer for meals.

So our budget is:-

£500 

Amateurretiree

£300 for us two adults again please. 

I did much better in February doing one big online shop then topping up with fruit etc once a week so going to do the same again. 

Have stocked the freezer with T s 4 for 3 on frozen fish, veg etc, so intending to stock up on cleaning stuff and toiletries this month if they go on offer.

Suffolk_lass

I'm still shopping from home for most things but will need bowl fruit and potatoes this week, along with milk. So as @Amateurretiree has said, just the small top up shops will do here, for me. I can resist anything except temptation (as my Grandma used to say!) - in my case, off-list temptation on the SM shelves!

Amateurretiree

I’m best if I stay out of the SM as much as possible as I too cannot resist temptation, but when I do online shopping I am saintly!

SausageDogSandwich

Thank you for running the thread as always @elsiepac

I’m going to stick with £350 for the month please.

That’s for two adults and three kids who eat more than me and now includes all meals, as both kids have gone off the school dinners since they changed catering companies. 

Balancinglife

Thank you for the thread. Can I be put down for 

£425

Again please? 

mrs_motivated

Thank you for the new thread @elsiepac

Count me in for March,  I feel off the wagon in Feb and stopped adding the spend up but pretty sure I went over budget.

Could you put me down for £400 please

thriftwizard

Right - total nightmare for planning here! It is and it isn't a 5-week month; IIRC payday will be Good Friday, so actually it isn't really & April will be instead. And whilst DD1 & BF are planning to move to a town on the other side of the county mid-month, her job is here, so she's planning to be here overnight half of the time, to save a couple of 40-mile-each-way commutes until she can transfer. So it's all a bit up in the air and I really don't know whether I can even guess at a sensible target. And if she's here, he probably will be too (not begrudged, I hasten to add; far from it) as his job is halfway between the two towns! DS3 will be here for Easter too, but that's right at the end of the month/beginning of April. So I shall take a pretty wild guess and say please put me down for 

£500

for March, to feed 4 adults FT & 1 PT for half of the month, and 3 adults FT & 2 PT for the rest, plus weekend/Easter guests. With several different, quite genuine, sets of dietary requirements going on... all subject to change without notice, if they don't get the flat they're after, etc. etc!

Soontobeoap

I feel for you @thriftwizard

I dont think we are getting any family to stay this month but you never know!

I started this month a little early with very good intentions. Spent last night researching prices. Asda had proactive flora buttery for the same price as tescos as well as lactose free cathedral city 25p cheaper a pack and half spoon sugar at 50p pack cheaper. I cancelled Tesco order and we dropped into Asda whilst out this afternoon. It was dissapointing, as they had none of the reduced flora or cheese! I did save £1.50 on 3 packs sugar and £1.50 because of delivery cost but DH was with me🤐. This resulted in a steak and kidney pie, a pot of jam and some hot crossed buns being added to shop!!! Extras cost £4.14!!! I would have been better off sticking to tesco order! Lesson learned. So I will be doing the Aldi shop on Thursday when I have the car and dh is out for the day. 

keggie

First spend of the month.

£39.41/£300