March 2026 Grocery Challenge

otb666

653 spent of 600. So 53 over.4 of 4 shops done Had a nice quiche and salad today with the warm weather got quite a lot of salad as fancy it at the moment. Was expecting to go over as been mostly using waitrose as quality/choice seems better and we are eating a lot less and trying to make sure we get all our vitamins etc. I suppose I will have to rain it in a bit but dont eat out or buy takeaways now and nice to have a few treats in life. No food gets wasted Brought too many sweets but hopefully in July when there is only 2 of us the budget will come down. Anyway thats my excuses all used up and will try and do better.

LotsOfTea

@Finstickle some veggie sandwich suggestions:

Hummus with grated carrot, sliced red pepper and olives (a little bit of fresh coriander is also good if you like it)

Cream cheese with chopped celery and walnuts

M&S mushroom pate & salad

Peanut butter & iceberg lettuce (offsets the dryness of the pb)

Egg mayo (could jazz it up with garlic mayo or a touch of mustard)

Any leftover roasted veg work well with something like hummus or cream cheese to make them stay in the bread

goldfinches

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81928870#Comment_81928870

Adding to this

stir some lime or lemon juice into peanut butter (smooth or crunchy) until you like the flavour then spread on bread and top with grated apple or carrot with a bit more of the citrus juice squeezed over them and any greens you like.

Marinated mushrooms with tahini sauce - make numbers 1 and 2 of this recipe using ordinary white mushrooms, then spoon mushrooms directly onto bread and drizzle over as much sauce as you like, add greens.

Cut aubergines into half centimetre thick slices either widthways or lengthways, brush with any oil and then either grill or griddle until cooked through. Then pile onto bread and use sauce from previous suggestion or sliced tomatoes (raw or cooked) on top with crunchy salt.

Poached egg on defrosted spinach with lemon juice and crunchy salt

Turkish eggs, shakshuka, frittata, tortilla or scrambled eggs on marmite toast/bread.

Dr Rupy's curried butter beans - I use olive oil not coconut and tinned toms or passata if I haven't got fresh and it's still delicious on toast or bread.

I also keep his DIY dal in the cupboard for emergencies, I find it needs lemon juice and salt but in a pinch it is really quick and filling especially if you boil an egg while the dal is simmering.

This Meera Sodha vegan store cupboard spaghetti is delicious. I make the sauce and cook half the spaghetti one night and eat the rest for lunch the next day either on toast or with more pasta and some greens.

wishus

Been really busy, but thank goodness for that shop I go to… I've spent £136.16 so far this month so have around £14 left. The freezer is still pretty full, just need to top up on fresh stuff and bread.

mandco

popped to the shop for milk came out with milk, bananas, carrots, new potatoes & salad as with the nicer weather fancied something a bit summery So made a quiche using up some odds and ends from the fridge to go with the potatoes & salad. £8.24 spent total so far( rounded up) £681

LotsOfTea

Went to the supermarket yesterday to top up on fruit and veg, tea leaves, biscuits and flour and spent £24.39.

I'm up to £181.44/£300 for the month now.

Soontobeoap

Went shopping in Sainsburys today. DH was with me so a bit more rushed than usual. Checked receipt when I got home and gammon joint had not had nectar offer taken off. So I paid £3.50 too much. Took 3/4 of an hour trying to sort from home. Char bot couldn't help so passed to a real person. Couldn't help so gave me customer care help line. Just kept going round in circles answering questions via my key pad. Decided to email . Have left message with photo of receipt.

Anyway £32.38 spent. Got some food in for Grandsons next week too.

carboot_karaoke

Afternoon Everyone,

I went to Tesco's and Asda today spent £76.37 altogether. I was running low on a lot of cleaning and laundry items. Took advantage of the buy 5 save 25% offer. Also brought food bags, black bags, febreze etc bulk items came to £21.47.

Food wise l needed mostly basics, fruit, veg, salad, bread, milk, eggs, cheese, tea bags, sugar, snacks for the kids and a half price pork joint. Finally, a pack of own brand ice creams 🍦 l put into a small cool bag and took on the school run as a treat when l picked them up.

Grocery Budget £273.31 / £400

Bulk Fund £36.21 / £50

Grocery Challenge £ 309.52 / £450

Still 11 days to go, but lots in the freezer to get through, so should hopefully come in under budget.

Nelliegrace

March Grocery Budget £155.

We enjoyed our March lunch, cooked and served by the catering and hospitality students at the local college. We prefer to have tap water with lunch and don’t have coffee afterwards, which saves us a bit, but they get a well-deserved tip.

I was really impressed that the students had slow cooked ox-cheek and chopped the meat finely to make dainty, croquettes for a starter. The beef taste was intense. We both chose the blood orange polenta cake, orange syrup and crème fraîche for dessert. It was delicious.

DH parked round the corner at Sainsbury’s. I recouped the parking fee in store buying some more loose leaf tea for the store cupboard, 3 x red label at £1.75 for 250g, and 3 x gold label at £2.

£11.25 spent

Total £114. 59.

thriftwizard

A massive £91.37 spent overall for this week's shop; more "pie-fish" has been added to the freezer, but there are no other excuses/reasons! We're still likely to end up inside the budget, even if I added last weekend's "family contingency" spend back in, but I needn't have bumped the target up quite as far as I did. Sigh - one day I might get the hang of this!