March 2026 Grocery Challenge

goldfinches

I had to go to Tesco for vegan dark chocolate chips for tomorrow's bake and while I was there some packets of reduced nuts with a use by date in Oct. 2026 caught my eye so I snaffled those too and stashed them away in the cupboard for summer snacks.

That makes my new totals

GC main £54.66/£186

Baking Fund £9.79/£24

Bulk Buy Fund £19.74/£93

Next week's bake will have to be entirely from stores otherwise the budget will be destroyed so I'll start thinking about that later in the week. Perhaps I could make something savoury, that would be a change, I could manage something with jumbo oats or rye flour. I'll have to look through my favourites and see if anything grabs me.

LotsOfTea

I cancelled the grocery delivery I had planned for yesterday as there weren't that many things I really needed and instead picked up a couple of bits while I was out. I spent £8.45 on yoghurt, fruit, baked beans and cereal and am now up to

£22.86/£300

PipneyJane

@Soontobeoap this is my friend’s Lemon Drizzle Cake recipe. It’s yummy!:

Eva’s Lemon Drizzle Cake

6oz butter
6 oz granulated sugar
6 oz SR flour, sifted
2 eggs, break into a jug, and whisk well with fork
2 lemons (grated rind for cake, squeezed juice for drizzle
4 oz caster sugar (for drizzle)

• Preheat oven to Gas 6, centre shelf.
• Square tin, fully lined and greased.
• In a non-stick saucepan, gentle melt the butter, then remove from the heat.
• Add the 6 oz of granulated sugar to the saucepan, and mix well (with a wooden spoon). Add the grated rind of 2 lemons, and mix well.Add the whisked eggs, and mix well.
• Add the sifted flour, and mix well - but don’t over beat - and quickly pour and scrape the mixture into the prepared tin, and smooth the surface.
• Bake at Gas 6, on centre shelf, for 15 minutes or until done.
• Meanwhile, for the drizzle, in a jug, mix the lemon juice with the 4 oz of caster sugar, and stir.
• When the cake is done - risen and firm and golden - and smelling delicious, remove it from the oven, but leave it in the tin. Use a skewer to make holes all over the top of the cake. Use a dessertspoon or tablespoon to pour the drizzle all over the top of the hot cake, and allow it to cool in the tin; sometimes the caster sugar does form a crust on the top of the cake, sometimes it doesn’t!

HTH

• Pip

Suffolk_lass

I need to shop for a few things today - I have some vouchers and have cut out three that I could use, plus one that I might use, but needs £120 spending. I probably won't if I am to stay under £200 this month. An emergency tin of soup, a packet of digestives and some branded corn chips are less of an issue.

I am shopping meat and bread from home but I need dairy and fruit and veg plus some store-cupboard bits

PipneyJane

Morning All

I have 3 shops to declare:

• £3.50 in Sainsbugs on Sunday, spent on decongestant tablets
• £15.92 in L!dl on Monday, where DH bought bratwurst 2x£2.44, bran flakes 85p, granola £1.99, cooking bacon £1.99, crème fraiche 85p, cans chopped tomatoes 12x43p
• £6.92 in Sainsbugs on Monday, spent on 300g mushrooms 2x£1.29, 8 bananas £1.05, 1.25kg sweet potatoes, .782g carrots 54p, loose mushrooms 6p.

I’m sick with cold, so DH did the shopping. There was also a £2 coin and 6p of coppers which went to the money boxes.

This brings our GC Spend to £45.90/£182.90 leaving £137 for the rest of the month.

Who was it who mentioned food price inflation? I thought I’d share a note from my budget spreadsheet regarding the GC money and how it’s changed over the years:

• 2000 to 2003 - £80/month
• 2003 to 2011 - £100/month
• 2011 to July 2020 - £120/month
• July 2020 to May 2024 - £140/month
• May 2024 to July 2025 - £160/month
• From July 2025 - £180/month

It’s not just that food was cheap for a really long time. Over that time, I became a better shopper and, some time around 2010, we added a Bulk Fund of £20/month for things like 10kg sacks of rice and flour. (It’s now £40.)

• Pip

Nelliegrace

@PipneyJane, I was spending just over £30 a week on the Asda order in 2020-21 which had to last until the next order, there was no going out for extras. That included cleaning and toiletry items and Vitamin D tablets. We could not order from Aldi, or change supermarket, but we were sure of getting an order every week. There were no yellow stickered items, we were buying the best of the 3 for £10 meat and fish offer regularly and filling the freezer, and stocking up a few items to reach the minimum to avoid a fee. We were trying to eat healthily, buying basic range ingredients to cook from scratch. We had plenty of eggs from the hens. I baked and we made the bread and kefir.

The dog and cat food was delivered and DH went to a farm supplier for sacks of poultry feed which they brought out and put in the car boot. DH stood outside the chemists for our prescriptions and when he went for mine from the hospital, he would telephone and the pharmacist came out and dropped them through the passenger window of the car. How quickly we forget.

I am budgeting £35 a week now just for food.

DH has been for the milk, £3.20 spent.

maryb

First spend £5.53 in Lidl and £18.68 in Sains

I would normally do the shopping on Thursday but I had a lift into town and it all has long use by dates

It's more than I would have spent because Sains had its Red Label loose leaf tea in for the first time in , quite literally, months. So I bought four packs which will last for two months

Total to date £24.21 balance £175.79

otb666

400 spent of 600 2nd shop of 4. Might have to reign in spending as only 100 left for each remaining weeks. Although petrol included in that. Only fill up every other month these days.

carboot_karaoke

Morning all,

I keep forgetting to declare my spends from Monday. I brought snacks and a few toiletries from Home Bargains and some fruit and bread from Asda. Total spent £11.40.

Grocery Budget £110.08 / £400

Bulk Fund £8.99 / £50

Grocery Challenge £ 119.07 / £450

Suffolk_lass

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81909261#Comment_81909261

Ooh, I think it was @Nelliegrace who was after Sainsbugs red label loose tea - good to know it is back