March 2026 Grocery Challenge

weenancyinAmerica

@Jen_x - The last several meals I have had out haven't been worth it. I like eating at home better. Everyone else around me though thinks it is a treat to go out to eat. I think I just prefer comfort food, not fancy stuff. The last restaurant I ate in had a twelve page menu - and I couldn't find anything I really wanted on the whole menu. I just ordered something because, and it wasn't great.

carboot_karaoke

Evening all,

I have two spends to declare £3.99 in Aldi for plain flour, 6 x Noodles, and some golden syrup porridge.

Then another £49.25 in Tesco's for fruit, veg, store cupboard items, seasonings, bread, milk and £17.40 on meat. Some of these weren't on my original list but were YS so couldn't resist 1kg Chicken wings @£1.53, 500g mincemeat @£2.25 and 1kg pork steaks on offer for £5.50. Total spent 53.24.

Grocery Budget £257.68 / £400

Bulk Fund £14.74 / £50

Grocery Challenge £ 272.42 / £450

JingsMyBucket

Evening folks. @goldfinches I’d remove the cost of the new strainer from your food total and give yourself a bit of a break. 🙂 @Jen_x same here. I don’t really have any other vices either and food is one of my hobbies.

I went shopping just this past Friday and had a bit of trouble sticking to the list but everything was still “needed” and will be used. 

£41.63 at Lidl for 2 bags of baby plum tomatoes (1.78), loose zucchini (73p), loose ginger (56p), loose bananas (73p), cilantro (50p), soy sauce (55p), chorizo (1.99), ham trimmings (2.25), kielbasa (3.99), cashews (2 x 1.69), eggs (2 x 2.89), pasta (75p), 2 blocks of butter (3.98), 2x oatcakes (1.38), milk (1.25), Activia yoghurt (1.75), dishwasher tablets (4.79), and an XL whole chicken (5.49).

I chose the largest chicken (2.2kg) I could find in that category range to maximize my money. I also got a free vegetable from Lidl Plus and chose a pack of sweet mixed bell peppers. 

Next I spent £18.78 at M & S for more bananas (1.08), clementines (2.80), garlic (1.00), 2 packs of Italian style sausage (6.50), double cream (1.80), 550g cheddar (4.25), and 3 cans of baked beans (1.35). 

Total £256.05 / £350 spent. £93.95 remaining. 

Hands firmly back in the pockets until later this week when we'll need to pick up more bananas. 

goldfinches

@Jen_x - thankyou for those encouraging words, you're right that I don't smoke or gamble but I do have to own up to the odd glass of something alcoholic now and again so I'm not perfect there either.

@JingsMyBucket - thankyou for the suggestion of taking the cost of the strainer and the sifter off my total which I will do in a moment, you're right that they don't really come under food, household and basic toiletries since they're more wants than needs; perhaps I'll start a kitchen kit treats budget from April onwards.

Anyway, today I cycled to a local community market just to see what it was like but managed not to buy anything except a veggie samosa as a treat for lunch which cost £3, a bit steep but it went nicely with a green salad and various bits I disinterred from the depths of the fridge.

That makes my new totals

GC Main Challenge £145.55/£186

Baking Fund £16.97/£24

Bulk Buy Fund £19.74/£93

Still horrendous for so early in the month but a few pounds better than it was.

thriftwizard

I've just added £45 from my visit to the market on Friday - the rest of the spends over a delightful, but manic, weekend come under "family contingency"! To be fair, I used one of the packs of "pie fish" from the freezer, and one of the big Welsh chickens, so the only real extra spend was for an unsmoked gammon; the one I already had just wasn't big enough, so that'll be used up when DS3 graces us with his presence over Easter.

Just stripping the chicken carcass down now, for tonight's curry & a stock, which will probably be frozen for the next time the weather throws a few chilly days at us.

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81918077#Comment_81918077

Interesting question about whether to stockpile @determined_new_ms . I don’t stockpile per se, but I do operate the “Pantry Principle” so I shop to replenish my pantry. Whenever I open a packet of something, e.g. decanting a bag of dried lentils into a Tupperware box, I’ll add it to the shopping list and buy a replacement packet in the near future, to ensure I have some in reserve. (Does that make sense?)

Doing this dates back to the days when I didn’t have a car and doing a supermarket shop meant having to take a taxi home with my shopping. Except for veg that I bought from a greengrocer near the station, I rarely shopped more than once a month. The taxi fare was a good disincentive. (Yes, I have lugged home a 15lb bag of onions and potatoes and survived, despite the 1 mile walk.)

HTH.

@jivjules1 hope your son is on the mend and that things get a little less stressful for you soon.

@JingsMyBucket congratulations on passing the test! I hope you - and anyone else who’s been poorly - feel better now.

I have multiple shops to declare. How? Why? I don’t know, but it’s been over a week since I last did so and we’ve got into the habit of hitting both L!dl and Sainsbugs each week in each shopping trip. Also, we take advantage of all of the offers…

• 4th March. £10.14 spent by DH in Sainsbugs on 340g honey 74p, 1kg Coarse Bulgar Wheat 4x£2.35.
• 7th March. £11.75 spent in W8rose on 500g black turtle beans 4x£2.25, and a bottle of their wool wash.
• 8 March. £11.56 in Sainsbugs on peppers £1.69, carrot 12p, 2.1kg baking potatoes £1.68, .5kg broccoli £1.20, YS yoghurt £1.80, yoghurt £1.92, OXO chicken stock cubes £3.15.
• 8 March. £28.16 in L!dl on a filled muffin 89p (+ one free), Tortlloni 2x£1.75, 12 FR large eggs £2.89, Salmon en Croute £4.99, 1kg four berry medley £2.99, peppered mackerel 2x£2.69, 800g cheddar £4.75, Hoisin Sauce 2x£1.39.
• 12 March. £9.26 in Sainsbugs on 450g Yeo Valley Greek Yoghurt with Honey 4x£1.92, YS choux buns 80p, 5 bananas 78p.
• 12 March £0.00.. DH went to L!dl and collected our family pack mushrooms (was £1.69).
• 15 March. £15.58 in L!dl on YS smoked mackerel £1.34, 1kg frozen 4 berry medley £2.54, Sliced Maasdam cheese £2.99, 12 slices Serrano ham £1.89, 120g smoked salmon £2.99, Crème Fraiche 85p, chewing gum for DH 2x£1.49
• 15 March £6.15 in Sainsbugs on 450g Yeo Valley yoghurts 2X£1.50, YS chicken liver £1.40, Chicken Livers £1.75.
• Shrapnel: £5.80 including 2 x £2 coins. This all goes to various money boxes.

The above brings our total spend to £144.30/£182,60 leaving £38.60 for the rest of the month.

Meal Plans

All breakfasts are cereal and all lunches leftovers, unless otherwise stated.

Tonight: Curried chicken livers, served on bulgar wheat. (This requires half a 450ml tub of plain yoghurt.)
Tuesday: Broccoli Pasta
Wednesday: Bread & Cheese Pudding, to use up the mangled/paddle end of the loaf of bread I made this morning in the bread machine. I may make this with peppered mackerel instead of my usual tinned tuna.
Thursday: White fish curry to utilise the balance of the yoghurt.
Friday: Fried salmon fillet accompanied by something…

• Pip

weenancyinAmerica

@PipneyJane - could I ask how you make your Bread and Cheese Pudding? It sounds good.

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81925545#Comment_81925545

It’s quite straightforward, @weenancyinAmerica . It’s essentially a savoury Bread & Butter Pudding. At its most basic, it’s just bread, a strong cheese, eggs and milk. I usually add tins of tuna and sweetcorn, but you can omit them or swap for other types of tinned fish.

Bread & Cheese Pudding

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 slices of bread.
2 eggs
250ml/1 cup milk
100g/4oz strong cheddar cheese, grated
1 x 6oz/175g drained weight tin tuna, drained
1 x 200g tin sweetcorn, drained
Optional - butter or margarine

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/360F.
2. If you wish, butter the bread, making sure the corners are covered. (I don’t usually bother.). Cut the bread in half diagonally and arrange cut side down in a lasagne dish, so they stand up and the corners go crispy when baked.
3. Sprinkle the sweetcorn and tuna between the slices, until well distributed.
4. Sprinkle over the grated cheese.
5. In a jug, beat the eggs and milk together until well blended. Pour over the bread and cheese, etc.
6. Bake at 180C/360F for approximately 45 minutes, or until the egg mixture has set.

• Pip

weenancyinAmerica

Thank you. I have put it in my recipe file to try out this week.

Suffolk_lass

I found half a stick of sausagemeat left over from Christmas in the freezer, so that has been used up in a "Roadkill" Toad in the Hole. I was gifted a dozen eggs on Saturday and half a dozen by someone else on Thursday, so a two-egg batter was needed. I also chopped up a third of a pack of smoked streaky bacon that was left from embellishing the pasta with broccoli last week - so that went in the pan with the flat discs before pouring the batter. All shopped from home. I used to add dried stuffing mix to batter to make it more interesting but this was a better option in my view, especially as I no longer buy mix packs except at Christmas!

The freezer and box of veg outside since Christmas (regularly replenished) is working well to keep our shopping under control so far this year. No waste and easier to see what is going on in the fridge. I have spent £151.08 in March but that includes the tea being delivered tomorrow as part of my big river subscription cycle. Milk will be added for the next two weeks but otherwise it will be whatever Mr Sl uses when I go to my mum's for a few days next week.

I (like @PipneyJane ) run a pantry system but I either buy them in SM when they are discounted (in multiples) or on subscription with 15% off. I try to make do if I can't find the item I want on a discount, I hate paying full price. It's why I track my store-cupboard spend. I have stores, but I always did (clearly in a past life, I starved in a Suffolk siege) - I manage not to hoard, with effort, but you could argue I did hoard with meat, given I have bought none since Christmas and there is still lots in the chest freezer outside