March 2026 Grocery Challenge

Jen_x

After saying I wouldnt need to shop for the rest of the week, I did in fact nip into our little village shop yesterday for some beef dripping and some firelighters as I'm out of my homemade ones. Picked up some kid friendly chocolate whilst I was there too as the multi pack was on offer. The whole lot came to £3.88, more than I would have paid in my nearest supermarket I expect but that's 5 miles away so not worth the petrol for a couple of bits.

I could have done last nights roasties and yorkshire puds in oil but we much prefer them in fat of some sort. What I thought was a block of lard in the fridge when I had a quick check before doing my on line shop turned out to be hubby's meds in a bag! Note to self, don't try to check for grocery shortfalls without your specs on!

We'll probably need milk over the weekend , the 4 year old drinks it by the gallon. It would be cheaper to keep a cow at this rate 😂 other than that I think we're ok now until late next week.

New total £139.04/£400

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81911399#Comment_81911399

Are you already a member of C0stc0, @whitecatcreamsofaDOH ? If not, be aware that there’s a membership fee of about £30 a year.

I got my membership through work. Do we save money? I’m honestly not sure. What we do buy regularly from there are the following:

• Trays of salmon fillet, weighing over 1kg.
• 90-bag rolls of recycled plastic rubbish bags.
• Huge boxes of washing powder. The 130-wash size, which lasts us about 18 months and cost £16.74 in December.
• Packages of ziplock bags.

Is there a branch of Wing-Yip near you? That’s where I’ve bought cheap 10kg sacks of basmati rice and flour in the past. Ditto 500g bags of spices, 4L bottles of washing-up liquid, and 4L bottles of vinegar.

https://wingyip.com/

HTH

• Pip

jivjules1

weekly shop and another top up total up to 179.09/400 this includes wine which I hadn’t really decided whether that should be a separate budget including it for now in the hope it helps with the drinking also! Still plenty of food in the stress of my son in hospital still making it had to make healthy and sensible choices but at least I’m mindful and still tracking and as he’s been less stable there’s less cafes and snacks….

TravelCrystal

Just catching up on all of the posts.

Back from our holiday now, the weather was really kind and the sun shone down on us

Didn’t spend as much as I thought in 5 days Total £108.93 on lunches out.

That brings G.C total so far this month to £200.12

T.C

Finstickle

Morning all,

One main shop and a few top ups to declare since 28 Feb.

Big shop at Asda - £68.40

Two trips to Coop (both for wine and snacks!) - £20.15

A quick stop in Sainsbury today mostly driven by a need for falafels but also got a few other bits - £14

Current total

£102.55/£350

Jen_x

Going swimmingly here….not! Hubby was out on a job this mornng so I asked him to nip into Tesco on his way back for a tub of baking spread (£3.50) and milk (2 x 4 pints at £1.65 each). Have a guess what he spent!

£43.26!!! 😫 No ,you read that right. £43.26!!

I think he must have cleared the yellow sticker aisle. So today I'm playing freezer tetris trying to get 4 packets of lamb mince, 4 packets of bacon and 2 pork joints into the freezer. Granted it is all things I will use but even so…

And he forgot the milk!!!! It's a good job he's cute!

Can't believe I'm nearly halfway through my budget and it's only 7th March!!

Anyway, onwards and upwards eh.😄

£182.30/£400

maryb

Well, as we are living in interesting times, I thought I should maybe do a little bit of stocking up in case there are supply chain shortages further down the line. And there will definitely be inflation even if things resolve fairly quickly. Prices go up like a rocket and come down like a feather.

Not going crazy - eg two bags of flour instead of one and if I see a special offer on something I know I will use I've been buying it now rather than waiting till the next time there's an offer. But although I'm just filling in a few gaps I thought it would still mean busting the budget I set myself of £50 a week. Happy to say that I've added up all the spends and I'm just 22p over the first week's budget. That's just food.

I'm not counting anything I spend on cleaning stuff and toiletries - though I'm pretty well stocked on those on an ongoing basis anyway - I save up my Tesco Clubcard points from filling up with fuel in their Christmas saver and when it pays out in November it always comes with a good discount voucher as well. I designate those for stocking up on laundry and toiletries. Looks like I'll be earning lots of points on fuel going forward Diesel at one local petrol station was 153.9p today and it was 142.9p last Saturday

Total spend to date £50.22 Balance £149.78

carboot_karaoke

Afternoon all,

I went to Tesco, Asda and Aldi yesterday. I knew it would be a big shop but I should only need F&V, bread, milk and a few bits for the next two weeks. We have all the main ingredients for our dinners.

I managed to get 2kg of chicken breast and a pack of pork mince, both with 30% off and on my original shopping list 😊. We will use half the chicken today, some more for fajitas and I'll cook one sliced breast to make sandwiches or pop in a salad. In all l spent £85.24 with over £40 on meat, cheese and eggs. Also brought toilet roll for £5.75 from the bulk fund.

Grocery Budget £195.32 / £400

Bulk Fund £14.74 / £50

Grocery Challenge £ 204.31 / £450

The next two weeks food plan

Hunters Chicken & Chips

Burrito

Caribbean Stew

Jacket Potato with various fillings

Lasagne

Chicken curry & Naan

Cottage Cobbler

Special Fried Rice

Eating Out

Keema

Tuscan Chicken

Muffin Top Stew

Brunch

Fahitas

Burger and Chips

Lamb Roast

Elizabeth49

Hi,

Well, I spent £19.15 at M&S on Friday. 3 for £8.00 quche, mini pork pies and sauage rolls for a 'picnic' tea for visitors yesterday. £1.75 for a loaf and £1.35 for a bread mix, which worked out quite well in the breadmaker. £4.00 for frozen potato rosits. £1.20 for jam doughnuts (They've changed the recipe and I won't be buying them again). £2.00 for 2 bunches of daffs to cheer the place up and £0.85 for a TV mag.

Then £76.03 for Sainsbugs yesterday, but that should be it for the week.

£160.54 spent. £289.46 remaining.

goldfinches

Evening all,

I have rather a lot of spends to list here because I've been so busy this week I haven't had time to sit down and tot everything up so here goes.

First I spent £5.32 at M&S on baked beans, ys mushroom papardelle, radishes and a nice roll to make garlic bread with. Then the baking fund spent £4.65 at Hotel Chocolat on vegan chocs. Then I had a regrettable lapse in Tesco where I succumbed to ys non-stick foil, ys pack of mineral water, ys panini and ys marmite peanuts, which I will not be buying again as they only taste very faintly of marmite, and that came to £4.89. Then I spent £5.40 in M&S on milk, bread and a bag as I'd forgotten to bring one from home and finally I spent £2.70 in Sainsbury's on ys sourdough, spinach and another bag because, yet again, I'd forgotten to bring one from home!

Then, yesterday, a friend and I went to Abingdon market and I was talked into trying a Riverford organic veg box there by a silver tongued man and so I spent another £32! The rest of this month's food will have to be from stores is all I can say, so I spent some of yesterday batch cooking and am planning to do some more tomorrow.

All that makes my new totals

Main GC challenge £104.97/£186

Baking Fund £14.44/£24

Bulk Buy Fund £19.74/£93

On the bright side I have got a full fridge, freezer and larder so I'm definitely going to concentrate on using up what I've got for the next week at least.

I will have to buy fabric conditioner and fat free yoghurt tomorrow hopefully that will be all until I need more milk towards the end of the week.