March 2014 Grocery Challenge

craigywv · 24 February 2014 at 1:58PM

just out of lidddls spent 31.00 and think I have every fruit known to man. strawberries look great 1.49 and the punnet is crammed got 3 as on diets in here. cherry toms 39p got 4 anyway loads of fruit also veg. yogurts etc will need to go asbos during week for a few things and that's me ,got enough milk frozen and shall make bread. killer Is out shopping with mum on Saturday ...............self control...........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and breathe!

lushlifesaver · 24 February 2014 at 2:02PM

Internet has been down at work this morning and we can't access anything without the internet(!) so used the time to do a bit more work on my monthly budgets.

I'll be treating March as a 5week month running from today until Saturday 29th - which is actually 5 days in to my April budget! This would mean I have £16 per week for groceries - this is out of the £80 allocated from my overall total of £120 (will be stashing my pet/bulk buy/toiletries allowances until needed in cash so removing those right away).

I'm about to go to the supermarket on my lunch break and my intentions are to only buy the following from my earlier list:
Milk
Garlic Bread
Lettuce
Flavoured water

As this is all we need today and I will get bf to take me on a quick trip to a supermarket either tomorrow morning or Thursday evening for the other bits. He has his cereal and lunch bits for a few days, I have some porridge sachets I want to use up so I will have those rather than buy more cereal and we have most bits for this weeks meal plan other than baked beans and frozen veg so if I can get him to do a quick shopping run tomorrow whilst we are both off it could work well.

Still listing my spends weekly for this month but planning on moving to fortnightly shops (with fresh top ups) from April whilst on mat leave. My plan is to try and reduce the groceries element of the budget whilst on leave as I can source good deals/bargains and have more time to make use of them

malamay · 24 February 2014 at 3:45PM

Hello all, I'd like to go for £180 this month. It's a slight increase - our close friends are struggling with a newborn (their first and last!) and I've been bringing meals for them when we visit.

Sequeena · 24 February 2014 at 5:20PM

I'm going to go over budget this week which is annoying but hopefully my spending will even out for the rest of the month...

I have found that a meal plan is really helping us stop to spending. I am the main cook but I have days where my son is particularly difficult and I just want a takeaway. My love OH has then stepped in and cooked what I was going to so no takeaway spends here

This weeks meal plan;

Monday - Quorn chicken tikka masala, rice and naan bread
Tuesday - Meatballs, homemade pasta sauce, spaghetti, garlic bread and grated cheese
Wednesday - Steak grills, herb and garlic sweet potato wedges, peas and sweetcorn
Thursday - Sticky chicken drumsticks, jacket potato with cheese and salad
Friday - Bacon, leek and garlic and herb philly with pasta and garlic bread
Saturday - pork steaks, cheesy mash, peas and sweetcorn
Sunday - BBQ chicken thighs (like pulled pork) in tortillas with salad/cheese

cinnamonpie · 24 February 2014 at 5:21PM

Hello everyone!

I am new to this challenge but read a lot of your posts in the February thread. I'd like to join you in all in the quest to limit my grocery budget. I have been keeping track of my spending for a few months now so have had an overview of where money goes.

For March I'd like to challenge myself to £120. This includes food and drinks as well as toiletries and cleaning products for two people. I cycle my shopping trips between Lidl, Aldi, Asda and the Co-op. I am going to start my month on Thursday and am trying very hard not to go into shops before then.

I am excited to start this challenge and getting to know some like-minded frugal people :j

A question that I would really like to ask here is where do you normally buy your meat? Supermarket? Butchers? Farm?

laura_hoggle · 24 February 2014 at 6:45PM

Hi all,

I lost track of my GC in January and didn't even attempt February as we moved and didn't have internet until last week, so need to get back on track in March, now we have a mortgage to pay!!

I'm going to aim for £200 for the month of March, which considering the amount of food I currently have in seems pretty doable. This will start on February 27th and run until March 29th.

I now have access to an Aldi (and a Lidl directly opposite!) so I will be shopping in those a lot - I have already noticed the amount I am buying increasing yet the amount I spend decrease!

I also have a chest freezer in the garage now we have moved, so I am able to stock up on bargains and batch cook a lot more once I get myself in gear!

Good luck to all in March!

lushlifesaver · 24 February 2014 at 7:34PM

Managed to pop out and only buy the four items on my list. £4.50 spent and sign updated :-)

Will pop to the supermarket tomorrow and get the other bits needed for the fortnight (with the exception of milk). It will throw the weekly workings in my sig off but they will still help me. Bf is away for 3/4 days in the third week at a training camp and will just need a couple of bits to take with him whilst I will try to just eat from the cupboards/freezer at home :-)

Florenceem · 24 February 2014 at 8:50PM

NSD to kick off my March GC.
For dinner we had roast pork - FF + roast potatoes/parsnip + cauli + carrots + leek + HM stuffing balls + gravy.

Zippy001 · 24 February 2014 at 8:58PM

Hi Everyone
I would love to join March's grocery challenge please. Our household consists of 2 adults, two children 11 yrs and 9 years, and two lovely greyhounds. I did a butchers shop last weekend for mince beef 10lbs for 12.00. stocked up on dog food 4 x 15kg sacks. Freezer is half full , cupboards are half full, Toiletries & Cleaning stuff are half full.

My aim is to run the freezer, and cupboards right down. Plan all meals for the week and stick to it. Use my slow cooker more in the week and make all packed lunches for all of us. (not buy lunches). My husband works in London and was easily spending £7.00 a day on coffee's, snacks and sandwiches.

I mainly shop on a Saturday as work all week. I shop at Cheap SM, the market for F&V, Cheap chemist for toiletries, Butchers for meat, 1 of big 4 SM and discount store.

The budget is really pie in the sky for us, it will include all toiletries, cleaning stuff, dog food and alcohol. I am proposing £500.00 this month from the 1st March to 31st march.

AlwaysHappy · 24 February 2014 at 10:35PM

Can I join again please? £300 for the month, failed miserably last month but am determined to succeed this time around.

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March 2014 Grocery Challenge

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