March 2025 Grocery Challenge

diminua

Declaring for March at 220.02 - so 2p over my target. Better than usual, so I'll take that. 

Blackcats

I would usually shop on a Monday but last week I slipped a day so that this week's spend would come from my April spends.
it's a bit of smoke and mirrors but it means that I have 1 week's money left in the March budget plus a small underspend from previous weeks.
my figures are always nice round numbers because my bank rounds up the odd pence on all spends which is handy as it doesn't test my maths skills too much 😉

£85 surplus for March.

Pennypincin

A spend of £2.09 on butter in Lidl and £8.83 in Tesco on assorted bits, mainly salad.
I've 29.08 left for the week.
I'm trying to budget weekly for food despite the benefit changes being monthly payments to see how I go.

SausageDogSandwich

Declaring at £332.15 

Working_Mum

Well I'm declaring at £337.47/£250 which is disappointing BUT I have mitigating circumstances. My little dog (8kg wet through) was attacked by an Alsatian on March 1st and my head didn't stop spinning for a fortnight - thankfully he is absolutely fine now but he was in surgery for over 3 hours and well....the less said about how the Alsatian's owner the better....my head wasn't in the game so I overspent.

All other areas of my budget came in either on or below target.

I'm back up and at it now though and have set the budget for April and fingers crossed I'll be able to stick to it. 

PipneyJane

LotsOfTea said:

@PipneyJane I didn't use a recipe for the risotto but I'm happy to tell you what I did. I peeled and diced some beetroots, tossed them in oil and roasted for 30 mins. I then sauted onion and plenty of garlic and once soft added the risotto rice. Then I added veggie stock , stirring every now and then (I've never bothered with the continual stirring thing) until the grains were tender and stirred in the beetroot and some crumbled feta, the juice of half a lemon and some black pepper. Job done! It was really tasty. 
I think roasting the beetroot makes a difference as it concentrates the flavour, I've done it before cooking the beetroot in with the rice and it's not as good.

Thank you @LotsOfTea.  I’ve made notes in my recipe file.

- Pip

K9sandFelines

£6.63 spent today in Morrisons on a plantain ( first time trying),  vegan cheese, vegan mayo and a bag for life.
Spends from the other day in the Co-op. £1.98 on lettuce and tomatoes 

£8.61 to add to signature.

Doom_and_Gloom

Doom_and_Gloom said:

£255.94/£248.
£7.94 over budget.

Not going to state this as it total as month hasn't finished yet.

£5.94 was spent in Waitr*se before our March month ended.

Our March totaled 

£261.88/£248.
£13.88 over budget.

I'm hoping that we will come in budget for April but given what we've already spent I doubt it .

JingsMyBucket

Hi, just declaring my March spends. We had a Tesco order last Friday which totaled £83.08. Most of it has lasted us through this first week of April so I’m splitting the amount between March and April. So £19.16 will be allocated to March and £63.92 to April. 

£350.00 / £350 spent. 

K9sandFelines

£2.00 at the c@-op today on peppers.
I'd have normally got them cheaper elsewhere; but it was too late to go to @ldi and I was on the way back from DD1's so it was convenient to just get it from there as it was adjacent to the bus stop home 

To compensate for the little spend, I managed to get three loaves of bread and two packs of bagels from Olio. The lady who collects often always posts too late at night now, so can't collect. The lady this time, hasn't collected for two weeks, so it was a relief to finally be able to get something she was offering, as she's nearer to where i live.