March 2026 Grocery Challenge

JingsMyBucket

@maryb I saw that Morrisons price last night but when adding it to my online cart and choosing a slot in the right delivery window, it still didn't reduce in price. Maybe I should just walk over there and get it. Also, my Morrisons is just a block down from my Lidl so it would be an "easy" shopping trip.

maryb

Good luck. The useby on mine was 6 April which is Easter Monday

PipneyJane

Thank you for posting the No Churn Icecream recipe @Nelliegrace I will definitely try it, once the weather warms up.

I have several spends to declare. The first two are from Sunday - I was surprised to discover that I hadn’t declared them:

• £6,34 in L!dl on Sunday, spent on YS smoked salmon £1.49, free chocolate (was 99p), 1L lactose free milk 3x84p, 500g plain yoghurt 89p, cream cheese 95p, Dijon mustard 49p
• £20.16 in Sainsbugs on Sunday, spent on 400g mushroom 2x£1.15, sweet peppers £2.10, YS pak choi £1, 5 bananas 78p, 412g broccoli 90p, 1.074kg carrots 74p, 450g Yeo Valley Greek Yoghurt With Honey 4x£1.69, bagels £1.43, yeast £1.55, 200 chocolate chip cookies £1.40, 1L milk for DH’s work £1.20
• The L!dl shop pushed us over another L!dl+ barrier, so yesterday I stopped on my way home to collect our free bag of nuts. £2.82 in on our free 200g pack Mixed Nuts (was £1.75), large bulb garlic 33p, 12 FR eggs £2.49. Got home to discover that we didn’t need eggs - we had the best part of a dozen in stock. I’d misremembered.
• On my way home from an exercise class today, I was listening to The Science Show from the ABC’s Radio National. They were discussing honey and I suddenly had a craving for crumpets with honey. £2.89 spent on a 6-pack of crumpets 45p, a pack of 6 Hot Cross Buns, 95p, and some YS breaded Camembert £1.49.

This brings our total spend to £176.70/£182.90 leaving £6.20 for the rest of the month.

Payday is Tuesday and I’ve already started planning my first April shop, in order to take advantage of some L!dl 15%-off offers on ground coffee, instant coffee, and asparagus tips.

• Pip

Nelliegrace

March Grocery Budget £155.

DH bought milk and courgettes from Asda, £3.30 and £1.09,

total £4.39.

and milk again from the local Co-op,

total £3.30.

We shared the last one of our home grown and foraged apples today. They have kept well. Fortunately Aldi have packs of British apples on offer this week.

I sent DH with a list to shop at Aldi this afternoon, milk, yoghurt, cream, and evap. Breaded cod. Super 6 offer British apples x 3, satsumas, small potatoes, carrots, and mushrooms. Grapes, pears, 5 oranges x 2, blueberries, bananas, broccoli and kale. Tinned red kidney beans x 2, tinned corned beef x 2. He remembered the photograph!

total £31.22

He went to Sains for cooking bacon,

total £1

I have been poorly with the wretched respiratory virus. DH seems to have had toast and marmalade for his meals when I couldn’t cook.

March Total £154.50

I checked a dozen of the Aldi apples for any bruises, to store them in the cold garage. DH took them out this morning and found another mushroom tray full of our apples! It is a man thing I think, to look, fail to see, and say there are none!

whitecatcreamsofaDOH

£412.19/£425

Not sure I’ll finish under budget with a whole four days left in the month but I feel closer to it than I have in ages. Going to keep it the same for next month and hopefully keep getting nearer until I actually hit it 🫶

Jen_x

Morning everyone

Hi @cookiemonsie it's only my first month here but I've found it really does help. If nothing else it makes me more mindful of my spending. As others have said , grab a coffee, settle in and read through the links at the front of the thread. It does take time but there's loads of inspiration there.

@Nelliegrace and @goldfinches the no churn ice cream turned out really well, I kept it simple with just vanilla paste and it got the seal of approval from DGD so it's the way forward I think. I'm going to have to look out for ys cream on my travels from now on.

@LotsOfTea I too am bulking out the stores a bit. Even if we dont have supply issues I can't see how food doesn't get much more expensive in the coming months. It certainly isn't going to get cheaper any time soon and so if I can eat baked beans in September at todays prices then I'm going to do that. Like you, it's is only things which we use regularly that I'm buying extras of but every little helps!

I needed to buy milk this week (£3.65) and whilst I was there picked up some ys green beans (70p and did us two meals) so this weeks spends £4.35.

I'm declaring now as payday was yesterday so anything else in March will be out of Aprils budget

March Total £319.76/£400

Pleased that I managed to come in well under budget but it was only a four week month so I'm leaving the budget for next month at £400. See you all in the April thread x

remmie

Declaring this month at £407.50, way over where I want to be this early in the year, although that does include a leg of lamb for Easter, and on offer salmon. I've also been getting extra tins in e.g. beans, tomatoes, tuna and corned beef. Not stockpiling, just topping up the stocks as prices aren't going to go down.

Any shopping I get now will go onto the April budget, so I'll see you all over there. Thanks Jings for running this.

Yearly total to date £1071.74/£3600

carboot_karaoke

Afternoon all,

I decided to do the big shop yesterday visiting Lidl, Aldi and Tesco. Most of my purchases in Tesco are for use in April so l am going to record that receipt in the April thread.

I did quite well in Lidl if l do say so my myself utilising my £5 off £30 along with numerous Lidl plus discounts. I even managed to pick up a £2 box, containing, courgettes, bananas, carrots, red onions, - all on my original shopping list 😇. As l went to pay the sales assistant asked if she could scan my app for the customer in front because she wanted to check if the price of the item changed. It wasn't until l checked my app later that l realised the purchase had been added to my spends. I'm just 60p away from the free vegetable coupon 😁. I will make sure to visit before the month ends to claim my large bag of potatoes. Total spent £28.80.

I only needed a few bits in Aldi, including noodles for the kids lunches while on the Easter holidays. Total spent £4.61

I'm declaring for March.

Grocery Budget £316.70 / £400

Bulk Fund £36.21 / £50

Grocery Challenge £ 352.91 / £450

See you on the April thread.

Soontobeoap

Sorry , I meant to put this on Aprils thread🤦.

We.did the Aldi shop today and even then I forgot to get battered fish. Have bought free from breaded fish for 2 Grandsons with allergies and wanted some for us and eldest Grandson. I think I have enough meals without it so may freeze those for next time they come. £75.00 spent 😱. That is officially the highest shop I have ever done in Aldi. Like many I did put a few extra tins in and some hot dog sausages to help with lunches. Hoping to get to Aldi for some of the cheaper Easter veg next week but as I will feel like the old woman who lives in a shoe I am not sure that I will make it. 🤣

It turns out now that as our daughter has booked a yoga session with a friend on Friday morning and son is bringing Granddaughters to stay while him and DIL. go to lunch with friends and then an overnight stay, we will have an overlap where we have all 6 grandchildren. I am going to use this to our advantage and get them to change the 2 beds that will need doing. We have got the 4 yr old GDs bed made up with her princess duvet cover all ready!

carboot_karaoke

Sounds like an exhausting but wonderful 🥰 time awaits you @Soontobeoap