Budget Shopping List

Towser · 20 September 2014 at 8:16PM

Budget Shopping List - Can you show me a more frugal way?

Fresh, frozen & chilled
Chicken breast pieces
White fish fillets
Bacon
Chicken wings/thighs/legs (depending on preference and price)
625g cheddar cheese
2 x 1% fat/semi skimmed milk 4pts
8 Pork sausages
Sunflower spread
2 x 6 pack fromage frais
Vanilla ice cream
Frozen mixed veg
Coleslaw

Dried goods
1 kg rice
Pizza base mix
Cornflakes
Porridge oats
Variety pack biscuits (remove from list and bake your own if you have biscuit ingredients at home)
12 pack crisps
Jelly

Tins, cartons & bottles
500g dried pasta
Tin of sweetcorn
Creamed tomatoes/passata
Tomato puree
Tin of red kidney beans
Tin of green lentils
2 x tins of baked beans
Tin of haricot beans
2 x tins chopped tomatoes
2 x bottles high juice squash
4 x 1 litre cartons pure fruit juice
1 tin tuna

Bakery
1 large baguette
2 x 8 pack crumpets
3 x sliced wholemeal/white loaves
2 x 6 pack pitta bread
12 pack scones (remove from list and bake your own if you have scone ingredients at home)

Fresh Fruit & Vegetables
Bag of of mixed peppers
Bag of onions
Bag potatoes
Broccoli (for fish pie)
2 leeks
Bag of carrots
Garlic
Bag of apples
Basics bananas
Basics pears
Mushrooms
2 x lemons

savingqueen · 20 September 2014 at 8:53PM

Hi your list looks quite reasonable already.However couple things stand out for me:

I rarely buy chicken breasts, too expensive if you look at the £ per kg cost. Chicken thighs or legs much cheaper and/or a whole chicken and then you get the breasts too

Pizza base cheaper to make

are the squash bottles to last a month? seems a lot, ours last a lot longer as have it weak and often drink just water

the main thing is where do you shop? If you shop away from the big 4 (no harm in looking for bargains, reductions there too if you are able to as well), prices generally cheaper.

Frozen veg a frugal option for many dishes eg. I buy 3 bags of frozen mushrooms for £2 at Farmfoods to bulk out lots of meals with mince, casseroles, pasta dishes. If I were making a full English though I would buy fresh!

Notice some basics there, are the other items no or low brands?

Lilyplonk · 20 September 2014 at 9:53PM

Instead of Chicken Breasts, have you tried Asda Turkey Breast Steaks OR Asda SmartPrice Turkey Breast Pieces. Both work out great for things like fajitas, goujons - or anything else that you'd use 'strips of chicken' for.

For curries and/or casseroles, I use SmartPrice Diced Turkey Thigh.

Pollycat · 21 September 2014 at 6:32AM

Towser wrote: »

2 x tins of baked beans
2 x tins chopped tomatoes
1 tin tuna

You don't say what brands you're buying.
If branded, try dropping down to shop's own.

Re the items above - buying multipacks is usually more cost effective than buying singles, especially if you buy them half price or on BOGOF - unless you are buying the value brand.

I'd rather pay £2 (instead of £4) for a 4 pack of Heinz chopped tomatoes i.e. 50p per can than 34p for the value (although I do buy the odd value can if I'm cooking up a large batch of chilli or bolognaise).

I can't remember when I last paid full price for tinned beans, tomatoes or tuna.

tori.k · 21 September 2014 at 8:57AM

If you have time opting for dried beans & pulses over tins would make a small saving

Towser · 23 September 2014 at 6:29PM

thank-you for all your suggestions.

I will definitely trade down on everything including the cuts of meat.

Has anybody got a pizza base recipe that works very well?

The bean idea is good too. I shall have to invest the the "Girl called Jack" blog/cookbook I'm sure that could teach me more.

Not cutting out just cutting back.

RAS · 23 September 2014 at 6:53PM

Towser wrote: »

Fresh Fruit & Vegetables
Bag of of mixed peppers
Broccoli (for fish pie)
2 leeks
Garlic
Bag of apples
Basics bananas
Basics pears
Mushrooms
2 x lemons

You have a number of things in that list that are cheapish now but at other times of the year may be expensive.

Nowhere do I see any oil or cooking fat? Without some oils you may struggle to utilise the high levels of protein in this list.

Juice is unnecessary if you have fresh fruit and veggies already and tends to rot teeth and cause sugar spikes.

With beans, start by cooking the green lentils.

baroley · 24 September 2014 at 9:08AM

In relation to chicken, a few shops do three for £10 in their multi buy sections. Works out very good value if you joint and freeze separately as wings, thighs, breasts and use the carcasses to boil up for lovely stock, and you will find plenty of meat bits that can then be removed from the carcass, and used for soup/curry etc. Frozen broccoli would be fine in fish pie. Mince? Didn't see it on your list. Versatile, inexpensive and can stretch! Useful thread, thank you!

baroley · 24 September 2014 at 9:13AM

Oh, and try the off cuts of bacon often sold as "cooking bacon"?

Towser · 3 January 2015 at 5:44PM

Since signing up with MSE I have been keeping a track of spending through my online bank account.

I have saved £950 just by switching to Aldi from Tesco yes really- from 2013 till the end of 2014

I think I am not tempted by all the ready made recipe chill cook stuff which are sssooo expensive and cooking more from scratch.

I am not tempted by all the other stuff in the supermarket.

I think I have brought my shopping bill down to average for a family of four around £370 per month.

I want to change another habit for 2015 to bring the budget down even more. I may have to shop online to ensure I stick to my budget or mealplan or give up alcohol was the suggestion in the Money section of the Daily Mail.

MummyD · 3 January 2015 at 7:05PM

Wow - that's a big reduction! Well done.
Grocery shopping is my area of focus for this year - we spend loads and I'm keen to cut down on buying "splurge" items or like you the "bung in the oven" expensive stuff.

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