March 2026 Grocery Challenge

Suffolk_lass

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81911399#Comment_81911399

Re non-perishables - I look around for the cheapest non-perishables and I moved lots of them from unconscious picking up in SM to medium-sized bulk buys from Big River - they come out of my subscriptions and DD pot (within Grocery Challenge) - but I do check and skip, and I also use the hack of having an item that costs less than £2 in my back pocket, so that if the subscription discounts drop below 15% I can put that in my basket. Branded instant coffee is on a three month subscription of 6 jars and is consistently less than buying in the SM, even when on offer - last month it was £.80 a jar cheaper (that is the best I have seen).

I also separate my shopping into store-cupboard and fresh, but my store-cupboard is now down to things like pasta (if I don't make it), a few tins of baked beans, soup and other beans, and things like spices, herbs and corn starch. Anything else, if I buy it in the SM, I include it. If I buy my expensive lotions and potions (toiletries) from elsewhere, I don't - they come from my personal spends

I do buy an expensive imported flour, and bake our bread, make most meals from scratch and use recognisable ingredients - eg meat and vegetables, served as if they were a roast, separately on the plate. I found I was buying expensive ingredients to use infrequently in "specific" quite complex recipes, so I massively simplified things. We eat better quality, but less expensively now and it suits us.

Oh, and @jivjules1 I put anything like chocolate, wine or ice cream into a treats and entertainment budget line. I track it (to stay within a reasonable limit, as it also includes pub, meals out and take aways) but I don't include it in the GC. And the same with pets and livestock costs. Like expensive toiletries, these are tracked but not included.

LotsOfTea

I've a couple more spends to report. We were away at the weekend and were planning to eat out on Saturday evening but instead bought some supermarket takeaways which came to £17.12. Then today DH nipped to the local corner shop to buy a few bits we need for DS's packed lunches (and also some chocolate for himself I notice) and spent £9.40.

We're now up to £83.68/£300 for the month.

TravelCrystal

a few things to report.

Not sure if I mentioned it before but I managed to obtain an Amazon voucher worth £100 which I have treated as savings but have spent on either cat food, containers for my larder and some food. So food reported in this G.C

I bought 12 tins of kidney beans, atta flour, and 2 x butter beans. £14.09 I also have £.70 written down. My fuzzy brain with this, yet another cold, given to my by D.H can’t remember what that was for 🤭

While I am here I had better declare my bulk meat, lamb, cow and pig arriving Wednesday.

Total food so far £214.91 plus £417.25 bulk

T.C

jivjules1

thanks @Suffolk_lass i may need to revise my budget lines a bit makes sense I’ll maybe look at it for April.

Spent 16.39 bottle of wine bread and milk some ys fruit and peanuts for snacking

195.49/400

Soontobeoap

DH went shopping and spent £16.00 on our breakfast needs and some chocolate and biscuits that were not on our list!

goldfinches

Evening all,

I fell off the wagon with a resounding and expensive thump this afternoon and spent £16.27 in the Tesco on the corner. 😳

I went with a list but ended up buying ys grapes, cc fat free yoghurt, ys large eggs, ys houmous, 2x fresh herbs, fabric conditioner, 6x lemons and cc biscuits.

That makes my new totals

Main GC challenge £119.24/£186

Baking Fund £16.44/£24

Bulk Buy Fund £19.74/£93

I'm off to bed and will try not to spend any money on food again tomorrow.

PS I meant to say have a look at this link about ys strawberries if you need a giggle.

Suffolk_lass

"I'm just going to get oranges, when I go into town for the other two things" said I - and came back with the things missing from Morries shelves, plus a load of nectar priced dairy, veg and fruit. That should last me the month with 3 kilos of carrots now in the outdoor veg box, along with several calabrese, cauliflower and cabbage, oh, and leeks. I'm just going to avoid shops now. 20% of my annual budget gone. It's hard at the moment, with very little produce from the garden

TravelCrystal

@goldfinches thats very funny.

I’ve just ordered some frozen strawberries 2 x 500 gms from Ocado for £2.21 each on an M and S Mother’s Day special. They will be 🥶

T.C

Blackcats

We are trying to create some space in our freezer which has the added benefit of creating some "free" dinners this week.
we have been to MrL for fresh fruit, veggies, bread, milk and cheese etc. we also bought ingredients to make pizza with one of the grandkids who is coming after school on Thursday to do some exam revision. They live in a very hectic household so we are providing an hour or so of peace and quiet for studies. I also bought them a few snacks too - you've got to treat grandkids 😁

£49 spent

£231 remaining

thriftwizard

I've re-stocked the store & cleaning cupboards today with non-perishables, having spent £105.74 at L1dls, to which I've added £12.72 spent at Aldi in Wales (we're not near one - yet! - but they've got planning for one a mere 2 miles away, yippee!) on tinned fish & tofu. The bulk budget has also taken a hammering, with poultry from Pembrokeshire (giant turkey drumsticks & a couple of chickens) now in the freezer for future reference; also a quick dash into Makr0 for olive oil & sugar. However I hadn't spent anything from the bulk-buy budget since stocking up with flour (about £40s-worth) from the mill in January, so that evens out at an "average" of £50 per month. I may add a sack of spuds at some point this month, but they might just sprout before we can eat them all, as it's relatively warm down here, so I'm havering on that & will count them into the grocery budget if I do; that said, I could possibly split a sack with DD1 or my neighbour. Events in the wider world make me feel I'd rather be well-stocked-up just now, as long as I'm rotating stocks effectively so that nothing goes out of date. We may not run out of tinned beans or tomatoes or soap for 6 months…

In allotment news: my Asturian Tree cabbages (which are short-lived perennials) are attempting to flower. Sigh. But it turns out that the florettes are just as tasty as Purple Sprouting, so we'll just harvest & eat those as well as the leaves. The kales too, but they are a little bitter now so they'll probably be uprooted & go to the chickens, who do love their greens. A few of the leeks planted last autumn are approaching edible size, I'm still harvesting & enjoying the "weed" wintercress, and I may be in line for a little extra space, which would be lovely!