March 2026 Grocery Challenge

JingsMyBucket

Evening all. I meant to say on the last thread @jivjules1 sorry to hear about your son. Don’t beat yourself up trying to restrict everything right now. Just do what you can. 

Last week I was away from the thread because I was heads down studying for my Life in the UK test so I could apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). Good news is that I passed the test on Friday! And then I immediately got sick because my body crashed from all the stress of studying. 😂 I’ll start the ILR application this weekend. I can’t believe it’s been 5 years already officially living in the UK this time around. 

So yeah, because I was sick this weekend, I booked a Tesco order for Sunday evening. After various unavailable items and returns due to crushed / out of date produce, the final total was £125.64. We were totally out of meat in the freezer so I focused on restocking us there. 

That got us 750g 15% fat steak mince (7.10), a turkey drumstick (3.32), pork meatballs (3.00), duck legs (3.95), 1kg chicken thighs (2.99), 500g 10% pork mince (2.65), sausages and chipolatas (5.00), pork shoulder joint (5.14 at 50% off), chorizo (2.95), yoghurt, 2 lots of toilet paper (11.50), canned fruit, bananas and oranges, mushrooms, herbs, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, avocados, 4 boxes of frozen breakfast waffles (8.00), curry paste, microwave dals and lentils, cold cuts, bread, juice, and loads of other stuff! It’s one of the biggest shops we’ve done in a long time. 

Total £195.64 / £350 spent. £154.36 remaining. 

They didn’t bring the eggs, tomatoes or whole chicken I ordered amongst other things. On Friday I’ll head out to Lidl and M & S to resupply us with some usual items. We also need baked beans, cheddar, and washing tablets. I’ll try to keep my spending to £30 between the two stores. 

Soontobeoap

Just nipped to Aldi this evening. I have finally got my head around meal planning again and needed a few boys. Mainly veg, tinned toms and soup and tomato ketchup. £7.95 spent. Should get us through to the weekend.

determined_new_ms

Hey everyone - just caught up with all your posts - lots of wheeling and dealing going on!

I am 14 days into our monthly shopping and we are still going strong. I will need to purchase some coffee. And I have run out of yogurt - tried to make some with frozen whey and it didn't ferment - but at the moment I am living without and eating other things for breakfast and it's fine. I'm seeing how long that will last….

what's everyone thinking about the impact of the war on pricing? I'm debating whether to go and buy some things to stockpile. But on the other hand I've never done that and always been ok and I don't want to be part of the reason why prices hike

mandco

Had some horrible flu type bug so not really been keeping track - checking my bank account I’m currently at approx £350 so far this month which is actually a little better than usual especially as that includes everything rather than separating out any extras like Easter eggs that come out of other budgets. Will be picking up a few bits later as we’re low on all the usual bread/milk/fruit/veg and I have an order to collect anyway. Will also need to restock the medicine cabinet this month as used up nearly all my cough/cold supplies - surprising how quickly you can get through them when you are all ill at the same time.

Soontobeoap

£5.99 spent in Aldi on mint sauce, lemonade, milk, lacto free milk and potatoes. My shoulder is really bad . Don't know what I have done to it but have pulled something. Anyway had taken out leg of lamb bought half price at Christmas for tonight's dinner so along with a bit of supervision DH made a lovely roast whilst I rested my injury. 😊

otb666

500 spent of 600 3rd shop of 4 Went to aldi and staff were restocking shelves as they were looking quite bare, dont know if this was because of people stocking up because of news, strangely shop was very quiet.

From July we will be going from a 3 adults to 2 so will have to reduce budget to 400 then. We cannot wait to be on our own and are quite excited by this as been waiting patiently to become empty nesters and finally happening. Only 4 months to go.

goldfinches

@determined_new_ms - I am firmly resisting the subtle cues to stock up partly because, like you, I don't want to cause shortages for others or to drive prices up but also because I'm still trying to reset my inner hoarder from the pandemic and think I mustn't succumb again. I can always do as you are and simply eat something else or substitute an ingredient in a recipe and it's usually fine with a bit of thought. I can't help wondering if the supermarkets don't encourage us to overbuy at times like these so I'm holding firm where I am for now.

Meanwhile, I baked these Lemon almond cookies today and they were both easy and delicious, I got 15 from the mixture and all my friends loved them so they've gone straight into the to be repeated file.

I also made Yotam Ottolenghi's Confit Leeks for dinner and substituted sour cream for double and brown lentils for puy but the end result was still sensationally delicious. The leek cream is absolutely delectable, it's the sort of dish where the flavour convinces people that you're a genius in the kitchen. I didn't bother taking a photo because mine came out looking exactly like the recipe one.

Suffolk_lass

Good point @mandco about restocking the medicine cabinet after an episode! I have various asthma inhalers that now need replenishing after a very nasty cold that has hit my chest old-school. It reminds me of the train or office caught lurgies I used to get when commuting.

And yes, that is me too @goldfinches - trying not to stockpile. I might be making ginger biscuits soon as I am not risking a supermarket visit for just those (or I know I will go off-piste list!)

carboot_karaoke

Evening all,

One more spend to declare from Tuesday. We had run out of bread, so popped to Asda.

l brought, 2 x bread, milk, bananas, broccoli and salad total spent £9.12.

Grocery Budget £204.44 / £400

Bulk Fund £14.74 / £50

Grocery Challenge £ 213.43 / £450

Nelliegrace

March Grocery Budget £155.

Shopped at Aldi yesterday.

Milk £1.65 and £1.15, evap 55p, Sardines 45p, (the same are £1 at Asda,) coffee 2 x £3.49, grapes £1.37, blueberries £1.09, celery £1.75, bananas 88p for 7, broccoli 79p, Super 6 offer*, kiwi 89p* and oranges 99p*.

Total £17.99

We are well stocked with coffee now. I treated myself to carnations for Mothering Sunday, £2.49

We walked across to M&S Food for shortbread fingers £1.15, and their Only…Ingredients baked beans x 2 and overpriced cornflakes for DH. I could make him popcorn for a fraction of the price, £1.43 for 500g from Asda.

£5.15 spent.

Total £71 .45