March 2026 Grocery Challenge

mandco

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81921188#Comment_81921188

frozen peppers are great ok the texture is a bit different to fresh they tend to be softer and so dont have the crunch of fresh but I use them loads for stir fries, pizza toppings stews ect where that doesn’t really matter. You can get a bag of mixed pepper slices for £1 so lots cheaper than fresh. Making your own is easy too simply slice/dice fresh peppers to your preferred size and freeze great way to use up ys buys.
i always have frozen peppers, mushrooms ,onions & sweetcorn in the freezer they are a good base for many meals

my top up shop at sains ended up being £41 as quite a few non list items made their way into the basket - that said it was mostly bits that were on offer I’d be getting in the next week or so anyway. Total £391 so far this month

LotsOfTea

I went to the supermarket today and restocked on some fruit, veg, cheese, cream, sun-dried tomatoes, nuts, seeds and oil. I spent a total of £39.48 and have plenty to keep us going for now. I bought the cream and sun-dried tomatoes as I fancy trying this recipe out

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/marry_me_chickpeas_69231

Undoubtedly the teenager will turn his nose up at it despite definitely liking chickpeas because he still seems to have a toddler's distrust of any new recipes. Gotta keep trying though.

There will be further cash spent on groceries this weekend as DH has informed me he's taking DS to the shops tomorrow to buy stuff to make Sunday lunch with so DS can show his filial appreciation of me and all that. I look forward to seeing what they come up with.

Total spent so far £123.16/£300

weenancyinAmerica

@LotsOfTea - Have you considered having the teen help make it so he knows what is in it? Might make him more adventurous with food if he had a hand in making it. And you might get to cook less.

Soontobeoap

£19.33 spent between Sainsburys and marks and Spencer's on baguette and filling for DDs tribe who are coming over today. (🤦 I forgot about Mother's day in my planning). Still I think my budget is still doable if I continue to freezer dive for the rest of the month and it is always so lovely to see them. 😊 I am frustrated as I still need to rest my arm and DH kindly did the shop before his bowls tournament. He went without the nectar card and we could have got 11 nectar points + 200 for spending over £10.00 challenge! Am I being over obsessive?

LotsOfTea

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81922173#Comment_81922173

I have tried that and so far it hasn't made him any keener on new things but I live in hope!

JingsMyBucket

@patentgirl I’ve recorded your new goal for the month.

LotsOfTea

I've checked the bank account and DH & DS spent £33.89 across 2 supermarkets on food for tomorrow, sourdough for today and a load of sweets.

We had the marry me chickpeas for lunch today with broccoli, roasted sweet potato and sourdough to mop up the sauce with. It was delicious but very rich. As predicted DS was not a fan but there was plenty of everything else for him to eat.

I'm now up to £157.05/£300 so it's still all fine since we're about half way through the month now and I won't need anything else until the end of next week.

moginstein

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81922599#Comment_81922599

Just wondering if it is worth asking Nectar / Sainsbury's if they will add the points for you? The 200 particularly is a shame, but I suppose sometimes we have to be grateful when OHs manage to stick to the list!

goldfinches

Evening all.

My veg box delivery came yesterday so the fridge is now overflowing and I am hastily trying to make some space in the freezer so that I can stockpile some meals for busy days.

Anyway this week I have spent £1.40 on cous cous at Tesco, £7.50 on organic tofu at the Japan Centre, £4.45 at M&S on 4x milk, 1kg fat free yoghurt and £0.35 on bananas to freeze for baking, then today I spent £6.48 at the Moroccan deli on filo pastry and feta cheese and £8.46 at the Indian Supermarket on a new mini strainer, a flour strainer, coarse bulgur and spring onions.

In an attempt to motivate myself to rein in my impulse buying I've decided to try photographing the day's purchases and adding the photo to my posts on here, I don't know if it'll work because I seem to be an incorrigible spendthrift when it comes to food but it's worth a try.

Anyway, all that makes my new totals

GC main challenge £147.53/£186

Baking Fund £16.79/£24

Bulk Buy Fund £19.74/£93

That seems awfully high for only halfway through the month but I do have lots of meals planned from the veg box contents and lots of stores of beans, flour, oil etc. so I'm hoping that I shan't have to buy much more before the end of next week or even halfway through the one after that.

Jen_x

Mornng everyone.

@goldfinches I'm terrible for impulse buys where food/cooking is involved too so you're not alone. But then I figure, I dont drink, I don't smoke and I don't gamble so you have to have some vices. 😂 It's why I do the vast majority of my grocery shopping online because I cant be trusted otherwise!

Had my fortnightly shop delivered yesterday at £104.82. I normally use W's but watching the news I'm convinced food isn't going to get cheaper any time soon and so I'm starting to bulk out my stores a bit to try and guard against this and/or in case there are supply issues further down the lineand Mr T's is cheaper for 'bulk' sizes of things.

We also had fish and chips on Thursday night as a 'treat'. (It definitely wasnt worth the £21 it cost which will have to come out of my grocery budget.)

So my new total is now £308.12/£400

Still on track to bring it in on budget as with the exception of milk we shouldn't need anything for the next week/10 days. Just need to keep hubby away from the YS aisle 🤣