March 2018 Grocery Challenge

LizzieFlorence · 28 February 2018 at 11:38AM

Can I join please. My Budget for March will be £140 for the two of us.
Elsiepac I don't know if this will be any help but I use soda water (the cheapest) to clean my windows and mirrors. Spray it onto a cloth, wipe your windows and then dry with a clean cloth. Works a treat with no smears.

archwaysaver · 28 February 2018 at 12:24PM

Pretty tight this month - aiming for £70 for two of us. We have a fair amount of dry staples (rice, beans, pasta) and will be trying to make it through spending <£15/week. Lots of planning to do!

elsiepac · 28 February 2018 at 4:19PM

My fridge was so well stocked I have totally resisted going to the shops for any little extras! I have made a few different things and been eating loads of veg but still have a LOT left - so tonight I'm going to do a big batch of leek and potato soup - it's so simple and easy to do with minimum fuss it seems silly not to! That will use most of my leeks but should leave a couple for veg accompaniments as I do absolutely love them sliced and steamed!

I have 3 broccolis that need using and a lot of courgettes still - I managed to eat 4 courgettes last night as I spiralised them into courgetti and had with bolognese that I improvised and added lots of veg too (very Slimming World friendly - do shout for a rough idea of what I did!)...

Apart from that I have lots of other bits in, so tonight while my leek and potato soup is on, I will assess what I have, do an inventory, try and make a coherent plan for the next week, and make my shopping list for tomorrow (Thursday is shopping day for me).
I have some REALLY old new potatoes in the fridge that are desperate to be used up, so may have those with Linda M red onion and rosemary sausages and lots of veg tonight. Whilst the oven is on I will roast red peppers and tomatoes and either make into another soup, or a pasta sauce, or a thick sauce I use as a dip - may do the thick one as I can then thin down to use in other things. We'll see.

At the moment for tomorrow shop I know I need a couple of tins to replace used ones this week, plus salad leaves and tomatoes and spring onions, and I'd like some beetroot as well as I love it.

Hope you're all having a nice week!

This puts me at 4 NSDs for GC so far, yay!

...............................£250 Budget
Date.......Shop......Amount....Remaining
24 Feb.....Ocad0.....£75.04....£174.96(STOCK)
24 Feb.....Sains.....£19.55....£155.41(WEEK 1)
24 Feb.....Tesc0.....£61.19.....£94.22(WEEK 1)
24 Feb.....A1di......£03.18.....£91.04(WEEK 1)

private_helen · 28 February 2018 at 4:31PM

Glenda- I use both tinned and dried beans. The only thing I'd add to what has already been said is after soaking dried KIDNEY beans, drain the water, wash the beans and boil vigorously for at least 10 minutes, before turning down to a simmer. There are toxins in kidney beans that can make you quite sick, but this vigorous boiling removes them.

I usually soak my kidney beans overnight (sometimes a little longer), drain and rinse, and boil hard for at least 10-15 minutes.
Kidney beans are fabulous with chorizo, smoked paprika, garlic, onion and sausage. If adding salt/ stock cube- I always add this near the end of cooking when beans are fairly soft as the salt can make the bean skins a little tougher.

caronc · 28 February 2018 at 6:53PM

Please add me in for £150 for this month. Thanks

VfM4meplse · 28 February 2018 at 6:56PM

Having failed 2 months in a row, and March being a long month please put me down for £45.

Doom_and_Gloom · 28 February 2018 at 8:36PM

Thank you zippychick for the work you did, I hope everything is okay with you.
Elsiepac thank you for taking over. Also as you said thank you to Coxy and lynnejk for their work on the thread.
All of you make it possible for us all to be accountable for our budgets.

Our budget is going to be £155 with it being split evenly for our personal spends; £77.50 each for March. This is for food and drink only, minus alcohol. Chinchillas have their own food budget. Toiletries, cleaning products, alcohol etc are budgeted separately.

Edit : my tablet isn't playing ball and I am unable to large or red my budget.

Wysiwyg49 · 28 February 2018 at 8:44PM

Sticking to my usual £360 for March please.

I usually go off the rails by:
1. Lack of planning or time leading to top-up shops;
2. Running out of biscuits ( or whatever unessential item (to me)) leading to top-up shops.
3. Buying ingredients for packed lunches then not making them! Or on one occasion last week - forgetting to pick up the lunch box! Fortunately DH was at home and ate them instead...

thriftwizard · 28 February 2018 at 9:39PM

And I'm off into the March budget, with £10.65 spent today on our own household whilst down in our county town making sure my Mum was well stocked-up for the next week. £3.05 in the co-op on some much-reduced golden syrup & a pack of SR flour; I just wasn't sure whether we had any or not at home, but we do have vast quantities of eggs as The Girls are all back in lay, and if we do get some snow tomorrow I shall just stay in & bake! £3 on a loaf of very good "artisan" bread - I do make my own some of the time, but it's an affordable treat we all enjoy - and £4.60 on broccoli, mushrooms, raspberries & blueberries at the market.

Poppy1984 · 28 February 2018 at 11:58PM

Hiya please can I join?
My month runs 15th Feb to 15th March and my budget for the month is £200 so far I've spent £90
x

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March 2018 Grocery Challenge

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