March 2025 Grocery Challenge

t14cy_t

spents of £47 for chicken food, dog biscuits and local honey at farm shop. so, £47/£200. olio still very thin on the ground atm.

Quantaqa

Suffolk_lass said:

Definitely healthier to bake your own @Quantaqa. As you say, you know what is in them and fewer additives. The homemade biscuits in the recipes at the start of the thread are good value too, although I only make Twinks hobnobs when they are leaving the house (or we eat them) - and I only make half a quantity at a time too!

I was reading Nancy Birtwhistle's interview in the Sunday paper and I was reassured that we do many things the same. Except she uses dried out onion and garlic skins, dried out and blitzed, as a sprinkle, where I compost mine, and similarly with orange peel at hers, they are natural firelighters here (that smell so much nicer than the bought ones). 

I broke into this month's grocery budget to buy 4 pints of (org) semi-skimmed milk so the recovering husband can have bran flakes for breakfast. He has asked that my next shop includes the Floral ight spread as it is lower than any others he could find. Just to smear on toast before marmite or honey

Thanks for the reminder @Suffolk_lass, I have been meaning to try Twinks hobnobs for a while.  I'll have a look at other ideas too.  Ideally I wouldn't do any snacking but I've got accept reality 

JingsMyBucket

Morning folks. Hopefully your husband is recovering well @Suffolk_lass. 

A lot of shopping has occurred. I broke the seal this weekend on the March budget. 

£4.63 at Savers for cough drops and tissues 

£48.23 at Lidl for pork, chicken thighs, sausages, meatballs, ground beef, butter, eggs, avocados, yoghurt, various sliced meat and cheeses from Italy week, sliced ham, tomato sauce, basmati rice, strawberries, and asparagus. Via the app I got a free pain au chocolat and a free big bag of peppers. 

£10.33 at M & S for yoghurt, bananas, lemons, YS hummus, bulgur, and baked beans. 

£14.04 at Holland and Barrett online for two 1kg tubs of peanut butter and a chocolate bar. 

Another £15.55 yesterday at M & S for a bag of onions, garlic, salad, milk, olive oil, and vegetable oil. 

So £68.93 spent on groceries and £23.85 coming from the bulk fund (oils and peanut butters) 

£92.78 / £350 spent. £257.22 total remaining. 

£34.15 of bulk funds left.  

I’m already over my allocated £65 budget for the week but I know I’ll need to get a couple items tomorrow when I go collect my H & B order. I also may pick up some train snacks tomorrow.  I’m heading to Edinburgh and Glasgow this week for events/meetings and will be away a couple days. 

sams247

Well so far so good, nsd today.  Had fish from fridge, home made chips for lunch and made a pasta salad to take in to work tonight. Porridge for breakfast.

Hoping for same tomorrow.  Wednesday is Community Food day so my meals will be dependent on what I get then.

Working_Mum

Hello everyone,
It seems everyone is off to a solid start!  I have spent £50.79 on food and £76.76 on household stuff. I am slightly over my dog/household budget already because I'd forgotten I had some dry dog food in the garage. It'll even out next month.

@Suffolk_lass I had my gallbladder removed in November 2023 and am now one of the one in four who can't tolerate fat in my diet. I have found lots of lovely workarounds etc so thought I'd share:-

* use applesauce/ pureed apple instead of fat in cakes and cookies
* add a bit of cornflour to fat free yoghurt (or Greek yoghurt) and then use in sauces where you'd usually use cream or milk.
* toast your toast as usual and then put on the bread board, add jam and then sprinkle with seat salt - gives the taste and feel of hot buttered toast without the fat.
* make mash potato using baked potatoes but keep the skins - cut into slices/ chunks and heat them in the air fryer and use instead of crisps - you can sprinkle with seasoning 
* make a dip using fat free yoghurt (I prefer the texture of Greek yoghurt) by adding Dijon mustard and drizzling with honey. You can make garlic and BBQ seasoning  dips this way too.
* I have a great fat free baked cheesecake recipe if you need it!
* sourdough crackers are expensive but are great for dipping and slathering a bit of lowest Ph1li on 
* Chutney's are a great way to ramp up the taste but with no fat

I still crave cream and chocolate but using these hacks have helped me stay on the straight and narrow without feeling like I've nothing lovely in my diet! I hope his op goes well and he's soon back on his feet.

((WM))

Doom_and_Gloom

£149.86 spent already.
£134.41 spent on Mr S delivery. Stocked up on most of the frozen veg needed for the month, around two weeks worth of fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs for OH (hopefully to last until another delivery), most of the tinned items we'll need for the month and other needed items.
£15.45 in Waitr*se. OH managed to pick up 3 500g 5% mince beef for £1.95 each which was put in the freezer along with pork t-bone for £2.66. 

£149.86/£248.
£98.14 left.

We plan to do another Mr S delivery later in the month for mostly fruit, vegetables and the rest of the tinned items we will need so I'll earmark £50 for that. So in effect we have £48.14 to work with. With what we have in it is more than possible.

OH has plans to make meatballs tomorrow so he'll be having spaghetti and meatballs for most of the week. Otherwise he's likely to have soup with bread/toast, omelette sandwiches or cheese toasties.
I have plans for rather easy meals over the week (all vegan of course); fajitas, tteokbukki, okonomiyaki, japanese curry, tofu vegetable noodles and sausage with mash and beans.
I'll hopefully be able to do a bulk cook this Sunday during the cheap time. I plan to do the following; Porridge with apple, African peanut stew with tofu, quinoa, shepherdless pie mix and boiled potatoes (left just boiled so they can be used as is, mashed, roasted or to put together a shepherdless pie with the mix). I didn't do a batch cook during cheap time yesterday as I knew the delivery would take up most of the free space in the fridge we had. 

Pennypincin

Just spent £14.58 in Tesco.
Did my usual picking up bits and bobs.
Managed to get some reductions, but they are long dated fridge bits that the store isn't stocking anymore.
Also some sponge scourers, and a very late lunch from the reduced section.
I'm going to keep trying to use what I have and keep the spends down 

PipneyJane

@Suffolk_lass hope your husband doesn’t have to wait too long for his surgery and that it’s a straightforward keyhole operation.  It’s nearly 20 years since I had my gall bladder removed via keyhole surgery. I remember a couple of rough days immediately afterwards, but was able to resume my normal life within 10 days.

@Working_Mum please share the cheesecake recipe.

I have my first shop to declare for March:  £24.50 spent in Sainsbugs on loose vegetables (2.7kg baking potatoes £2.31, 1.8kg sweet potatoes £2.15, 0.47kg broccoli £1.02, 0.52kg mushrooms £1.54, bananas 78p, 0.93kg carrots 64p), spring onion £1, and “Nectar Price” 450ml tubs of Yeo Valley Yoghurt (Greek Yoghurt with Honey 3x£1.83, Lemon Curd Yoghurt £1.92), Wild rocket £1, houmous £1.40 and Foxes biscuits to take to the RPG Club £1.25 (Nectar price).  

We were in a rush, but I’m kicking myself that I didn’t either buy 3 packs of TimTams or a 2kg bag of small brown lentils… Anything necessary to take us over the “Spend £30 and get 5x Nectar Points” offer that we had.  (OK, TimTams aren’t necessary but they do make an expat Aussie’s life easier.  We will need the lentils soonish.) 

The above brings our total spend to £24.50/£165, leaving £140.50 for the rest of the month.

- Pip

Soontobeoap

£28.00 spent in Tesco yesterday. I am slightly annoyed. We went there for our branded items as I had £21.00 of club card points. I usually spend them on an online shop. At the checkout I presented my card for points to be taken off. Now you probably all know that you can't do that. But I didn't!  To cut a long story short I was told that I would need to get vouchers sent out to me.when I got home and looked it up, I discovered that I could  could have scanned them off of my phone. I felt a bit stupid but still wished I had been told that so that I could redeem them there and then. I wouldn't have bought all of the bits I did if I had known either! Still lesson learned. We will return and know better another day. I also spent £3.20 today in Aldi on Carrots, onions,2 x baked beans and a loaf of bread. Totals are higher than I would like but we are away for a long weekend at DSs so don't think that we will spend any more until Monday which is 10th I think.

zafiro1984

Small shop at Lidl came in at £37.59. No meat or fish bought mainly veg, fruit and items for baking. I'm a bit annoyed with myself as I forgot to get butter even though it was on my list. I'll have to go out in the next couple of days to rectify that, hopefully, I'll wait until I need petrol.

£37.59/£200