March 2026 Grocery Challenge

whitecatcreamsofaDOH

£334.02/£425

Currently still on track as we’re heading into the last week, which has been rare lately. Lovely to read everyone’s inspiring posts and tips x

K9sandFelines

Ten days in and I haven't had a chance to pop on and report spends

So far …

13th   Amazon £3.31 coconut milk (4) agave £2.42, spaghetti £0.57, deodorant £3.16 = £9.07

£18.00  Lidl & £4.53 Sainsburys = £22.53

19th Aldi and Home bargains = £31.33

22 nd  24 Bamboo Toilet rolls £22.50 These should last into next month, as I bought 48 last time and they lasted ages. Also, these ones are 400 sheets v 300 or 360

Total - £85.43

goldfinches

@joedenise - thankyou for the positive bulk buy comment, really made me feel vindicated.

@Jen_x - have a look at no-churn ice cream recipes, they've been really trendy for the last few years and Nigella has some lovely ones where if you don't want to include alcohol you can sub in liquid glucose, golden syrup, honey or fruit juice.

I had to go and buy more milk at Mr T's today and spotted a good cc price on Fairy non-bio pods which work well for me so bought a box and will add that onto my bulk buy totals. I also bought cc bagels, Heinz ketchup zero which really tastes of tomatoes and some reduced chemical hand warmer packs to keep in my coat pockets for emergencies. That all came to £7.25 for the main challenge and £7.45 for the bulk buy fund.

That makes my new totals

Main GC Challenge £167.03/£186

Baking Fund £22.44/£24

Bulk Buy Fund ££41.44/£93

Ooer, it's getting very tight but I'm going away for an overnight trip to Bath this Friday and Saturday which is coming from a different budget and I've still got loads of fresh veg in the fridge and frozen in the freezer plus lots of frozen fruit and all the yoghurt I bought yesterday so I think I might just be able to squeak in under budget if I really try. Fingers crossed!

zafiro1984

This week shopped with cash. I don't usually have any cash as everything seems to go through the banking system these days, However, I somehow had £54.49 in cash so the challenge was to use that. It took some planning and thinking but I managed a weeks shopping by just spending £45.16, that was for vegs - fruit - bread, plus some items used for baking, soup making and for toiletries. Hopefully, that will last to the end of the month, - we'll see.

I've just spotted the half price lamb, beef and salmon on offer until the 7/4/26…..

£129.86/250

Jen_x

@goldfinches I nearly broke an ankle running to google no churn ice cream 😂 Thank you so much for this, I never new such a thing existed! I'm going to give it a try this afternoon x

carboot_karaoke

Evening all

A quick post to say, check your Lidl plus app.

I have just noticed l have a £5 off a £30 spend voucher. I know these promotions are targeted so not everyone will have it.

cookiemonsie

Good morning all!

I've just found this thread and I'm in awe of your low grocery totals! I shop for a family of 4 and we're spending an eye watering £800 a month on our food which is so much but I can't seem to get it down much lower than that. It's especially galling when I buy fresh fruit that is the very next day either bruised or starting to go bad or I cut into a melon that looks fine to find it bad on the inside.

Both adults follow slimming world (which I know makes things more expensive) so the majority of meals are cooked from scratch for everyone with very little chocolate, sweets etc. We batch cook meals and soups etc on a Sunday and freeze anything we won't use until later in the week. The kids love fruit and one is neuro diverse so can eat excessive numbers of things like apples if he isn't constantly supervised (it's the crunchy mouth feel they're after not that they're hungry). Anyway... I'm going to have a look at the pinned recipes and get some tips from those but what top tips could you give a newbie to get spend down please? We don't have a big freezer stash of meat and don't have meat with every meal. I saw one post where someone bought 1/2 a lamb / 1/4 a cow - is this worth it? Can you recommend the place you got it for good quality British meat?

Sorry for such a long post but this thread has inspired me to do better!

Nelliegrace

@Jen_x , did the no churn ice cream work? I saved the recipe from The Sunday Times magazine on the 7th March.

“Ice cream makers take up precious counter space, despite being used only a few times a year, and they also make the whole process unnecessarily laborious.

That's my conclusion after trying the "no churn" method. This requires just two core ingredients - double cream and a tin of condensed milk. For each tin of milk, use 600g of double cream, which makes enough for six people.

Simply whip the cream into soft peaks, being careful not to overwhip, and then fold in the condensed milk. The milk's high sugar and low water content act as an "antifreeze" that prevents ice crystals forming and leaves you with a creamy base.

Now you can add in your flavourings, such as honey and dark chocolate flakes or a few handfuls of plump raisins soaked in rum. Fold these in, transfer to a container and then seal with a lid.”

I thought about freezing it in small individual pots, about the size of the original Penny Lick ice cream glasses.

Quantaqa

Final Shop of the month done:

• Asda £9.00
• Home Bargains £21.53
• Lidl £23.10
• Total £53.63

This was a bit of a stock up of bits we needed and takes me £20.53 over my budget for the month.

I'm slowly getting more organised with food and budget. I've set up a notebook as a receipt book where I record spends and keep receipts. I've also done a freezer/fridge/pantry inventory as well.

My new 'month' starts tomorrow as that is pay day.

Blackcats

final shop of the month has been done, unpacked and put away. Lots of fresh fruit and veggies which always makes me feel pleased. The freezer is still full although we keep hooking things out from it. Tonight's dinner is all from the freezer - sausages, mash, red cabbage and carrots which = an end of month free dinner.

finishing this month with a £37 underspend which I'm chuffed about. I"m rounding it up to £40 and donating it to my eldest grandchild to go towards their driving lessons.