March 2026 Grocery Challenge

maryb

I’m planning on joining in for March - life has been a bit unpredictable recently but I’m hoping things are back on an even keel. I was doing an inventory to see how much I could use up in a meal plan and was browsing the recipe list. I clicked on the link for a couple and it took me back to 2013 in one case and 2015 in another. I was really struck by how much lower the monthly budgets were on those threads than the y are now. I mean, we all know food price inflation has been way more than the official inflation figure but it really brought it home to me. I did a bit of Googling and it seemed to suggest food prices were fairly stable for the five years from 2015 to 2020 and then increased by 38% in the subsequent five years

This has made me think I’m not doing too badly keeping the average spend to £60 for two adults plus doing a big Sunday lunch to include our two daughters each week - they seem to like my cooking! But as it’s a challenge I’m going to go for £200 March. I do my shopping on Thursday for the most part so that makes it a four week month at £50 a week

I’ve already got plenty of meat in the freezer so it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch. However I take advantage of special offers as and when they come up so I might end up buying more. The supermarkets are likely to have meat offers in the run up to Easter, especially on lamb which is a big saving (but 50% off a big number still leaves quite a high price). And I usually get a £1.00 off voucher for Waitrose Higher Welfare Chicken about twice a month which brings the cost of a chicken down to c £5.00 so I always take advantage of that. So I’ll assume it averages out rather than counting on keeping the cost down by using up stocks

£50/£200

otb666

200 spent of 600 first shop of 4. Splurges a bit but we both just had a 24 hour bug and recovering from that. So got a few bits to tempt us back on food. Including avocados and frozen blue berries. Watched the batch cooking program on channel 4 and they had a few high protein meals which avoided red meat. They looked quite tempting. The day I was ill was the first day I tried buckwheat which put me off it slightly but know it was nt buckwheat that made me ill as hubby was ill and never ate buckwheat. So will try again with it sometime Just not now.

goldfinches

Thanks for the new thread @JingsMyBucket much appreciated.

Please put me down for

GC £186 Baking Fund £24 and Bulk Buy Fund £93

That covers all food, household items and basic toiletries for one vegetarian woman.

Finstickle

Hi All,

Please can I be put down for £350 for March.

After two months in a row coming in more than £50 below my budget I've decided to drop it. I have a freezer full of meat which won't be huge amounts of use as I am doing Meat Free March but will help feed DD. I don't intend to use lots of meat replacements so I am also hoping that by focusing on vegetables and grains etc I will see a positive impact on my budget, although I am going to be eating fish I don't see that being more than twice a week.

zafiro1984

£250 for March please

That's for two people plus a 'weekender person'

DH busy on computer at the moment so I'm going to creep into the kitchen and batch make some biscuit dough to freeze. The kitchen wood burner is making it nice and toastie so I'll put the kettle on and enjoy a cuppa as well.

carboot_karaoke

Morning all,

Many thanks @JingsMyBucket for running the thread.

We had a fairly low spend for February due to being away for a week. I have returned to an empty fridge and cupboards and will need a few bulk items during the course of the month.

We do still have some of the xmas half price joints in the freezer lamb, beef and salmon to use up but these will be restocked from the easter meat offers when they launch. This months budget will £450 although there is a £50 buffer if needed.

Grocery Budget £0 / £400

Bulk Fund £0 / £50

Grocery Challenge £ 0 / £450

TravelCrystal

Good morning guys

Had my Ocado delivery last night.

Added in a few more bits, hopefully they will be still alive when we return from our holiday at the end of next week, but with the 10% discount it had to be done.

Milk for the freezer, sofrito, frozen fruit, eggs, sweet potatoes, other fruits and veg that I hope will keep. Tins of various beans, pasta, muesli, cornflour, toothpaste, mayonnaise, other jars and sauces, t bags, marmalade. Chicken breasts and thighs and chipolata sausage’s always good for a quick lunch in some homemade rolls. Flour, feta and honey.

Total spent £91.19

Will add all up at the end of the month.

April and May will definitely be months to watch the pennies.

T.C

Soontobeoap

First shop for march done today. £14.92 at Aldi.

thriftwizard

First shop of the month for us came to a slightly scary £99.41, between the supermarket, the butcher, the fishmonger the fruit & veg stall & the Greek deli. That said, we shouldn't need much else this week, or next, as DD2 & I are off to Wales for a long weekend with DS1 & family, and some of the fish bought today is in the freezer for later in the month. The non-perishables can wait until we're back as nothing's running desperately low. I don't know when DS3's planning to appear but that may not be until April so we'll just keep on keeping on until he does!

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81890419#Comment_81890419

Apologies @JingsMyBucket we had £2.90 left from February so

Please increase my budget to £182.90

Many thanks. I’m off to the cashpoint later to withdraw the housekeeping and will stop at L!dl in the blind hope that Italian Week will mean they have dried cannellini beans on sale. It’s been about a year since they last had them and, stupidly, I didn’t stock up at the time. (Yes, I have kicked myself.). I had to resort to using larger dried white beans, bought a local Asian shop, for the three dishes I make that require them. (No real taste difference, but it does impact preparation and timings.)

Good luck in March everyone.

• Pip