Saving money on food

ag359

First post on this board, so I hope you guys can help.

I was just wondering how I can save money on my food shopping. There's me and my girlfriend, and we usually spend about £50 at Tesco, about once every ten days. We do use home delivery, as we don't live near a supermarket, so we try to do £50 shops so that we can use the vouchers to cancel out the cost of delivery.

My gf quite likes cooking, and does make a few things like soups etc, but euqually we don't have time to spend our lives preparing and cooking meals (we are both full-time students) so often we need quick-ish food.

We do spend a reasonable amount on fresh meat (chicken breasts and mince mostly) - mostly because our cooking skills don't stretch to using cheaper chicken portions like thighs and drumsticks. Any suggestions? Also, is frozen chicken and mince any good? Do you cook it from frozen or does it have to be defrosted first?And what does it mean by frozen chicken 'portions' on tesco.com? We also spend a reasonable amount on fresh veg (we don't have a local market, sadly) - is frozen veg just as good, or does it lose all its nutrients? We tend to buy expensive wholemeal bread (no time to make it ourselves) but this probably saves money overall, as it means I eat toast as a snack instead of more expensive things. We don't drink much, usually each shop includes one bottle of wine a couple of beers.

We eat quite a lot of pizza and pasta and sausages and easy stuff like that, which all adds up to be quite expensive, especially those pasta sauces.

Also, I'm often skeptical about the tesco 'value' products (especially meat) - what opinions do people have about this range?

Any suggestions welcome...everyone else on here seems to get their weekly food supply for about 12p!

Curry_Queen

It sounds as though you're part of the way there and doing well to cook what you can from scratch :T

Those pasta sauces are quite expensive to buy in jars and it's really easy to make yur own using cheap value tinned tomatoes (17p?) a little tomatoe puree, herbs, onions, garlic, seasoning for a fraction of the price

Also, how about making your own pizzas? Many of us here do that and can make them for around £1-£2 each, again cheaper than ready made and you can use the tomato sauce from above as the base and add your own toppings

There's lot's of other ideas if you have a look around the board, especially in the recipe index at the top of the page and I'm sure by this time tomorrow everyone else will have added there favourite moneysaving bits too

ag359

Curry_Queen wrote:

It sounds as though you're part of the way there and doing well to cook what you can from scratch :T

Those pasta sauces are quite expensive to buy in jars and it's really easy to make yur own using cheap value tinned tomatoes (17p?) a little tomatoe puree, herbs, onions, garlic, seasoning for a fraction of the price

Also, how about making your own pizzas? Many of us here do that and can make them for around £1-£2 each, again cheaper than ready made and you can use the tomato sauce from above as the base and add your own toppings

There's lot's of other ideas if you have a look around the board, especially in the recipe index at the top of the page and I'm sure by this time tomorrow everyone else will have added there favourite moneysaving bits too

Yes, we do sort of do our own pizza, by buying the cheap cheese and tom frozen ones, and covering them with chillies, olives, bacon, extra cheese or whatever we fancy. We don't make them from scrath though...

Yes, we should probably try pasta sauces. Those Lloyd Grossman ones are just so damn nice though!

bethom

If you havn't a lot of time for cooking, how about making up bulk loads and freezing them in portions. That way you get home cooking, but it also saves time.

Do you have a garden? Perhaps if you do you could use a patch of it to grow a few veg and some herbs.

I have used frozen meat before and it has been fine. I always thoroughly defrost mine first before cooking. I normally get frozen meat out the night before use, and put it in the fridge to defrost.

And I have used a few things from the value range and never had a problem with any of it.

Hope this helps and good luck.:)

Trow

I have to say it doesn't sound like you are doing to badly - that works out at £35 per week, £17.50 per person per week - I am curious to know though, do you guys make your lunches out of that, or do you buy your lunch? If you buy your lunch you can make a big saving on that, by making your own.

In order to save time you can bulk up (as has been mentioned before). EG pizza and pasta - if you have time to make pizza (scone bases are really quite quick to do, and very, very cheap especially if you use value flour - never had any problems with value flour at all), make double the tomato sauce (per curry queens post above) and use the rest with pasta the following night for a very quick meal - or if you have more time you could cook up some mince and add the sauce for bolognaise. If you do double the mince then you can use some the following night for chilli.

We don't have a Tesco here, but as far as value products are concerned, I always use value flour and beans (I know some people swear by Heinz but personally I find the sauce 'gloopy' and very unpalatable). I generally use Co-op's own tomato ketchup because it is lovely - I will buy Heinz if I am not going to the Co-op, but when I do go to the Co-op I buy twice as much.

Martin's advice re value ranges is - if you buy branded, try the supermarkets own, if you buy supermarkets own, try value. You don't have to 'stock-up' - just buy one of the cheaper product to see if you like it. If not - no harm done! Personally I don't buy value eggs, I always buy free range (preferably local, but thats not always possible) and I don't buy value sausages (unless they are reduced, and then the cat gets them!)

Hope this helps.

Pooky

The frozen chicken portions on tesco.com are a bag of mixed thigh/leg/wing pieces. I've used them before and they've been ok - not a great deal of meat and you can normally get deals on fresh chicken portions which are normally better quality. If using the frozen ones then defrost before cooking. It might be worth you investing in a slow cooker, you can then just bung some chicken portions and some chopped veg in with a stock cube or homemade stock, a dash of white wine if you've got some and which ever herbs or seasoning you like. You'll find that by the time you come back from work/uni you'll have a wonderful meal that you just need to add some mash/pasta/rice too. The chicken will just fall off the bone and you'll be amazed how much meat is actually in there.

I normally do 8 thighs, an onion, a couple of carrots, some celery and maybe courgette if I have any in. We have meat, veg and mash the first night and then I'll pick the bones out and the rest will get shoved in the fridge until the next night when I add a potato or two and some sweetcorn and a hand full of spaghetti broken into small pieces, probably about a pint of water but depends how liquid it is to start, leave it to heat through and simmer away and you've got a tasty thick soup. That will feed the 4 of us for 2 main meals and there'll be enough soup for DD's to take to school the next day in a flask.


It sounds like you're doing fairly well for the money but it might be worth trying to only shop once a fortnight and only spending £70, there must be somewhere near by that you can top up on veg and fruit.

I always buy value ranges for things like, tuna, tomatos, flour, pasta, tin foil, cling film etc but must admit to not liking the value beans, will keep some in for adding to a shepherds pie but can't eat them alone. Most of their value items are worth a try.

Queenie

:hello: Welcome to OS :hello:

Is frozen chicken and mince any good? - I sometimes resort to buying frozen chickens (Sainsburys have them - large ones @ £2.99 at the moment; basically half price). I regularly cook for 4 of us, but that chicken will make up a minimum of 4 meals (including chicken soup). 4x4= 16 meals for £2.99 -
Do you cook it from frozen or does it have to be defrosted first? Chicken *must* be defrosted first.
Mince - I'm not a lover of frozen mince But, that is personal preference. I buy mince from the butchers, but I also look out for it on the reduced counter at the supermarkets; then, I'll either throw it in the freezer as soon as I get home, or, time allowing, make it up as a meal and then freeze it as soon as it's cooled.

And what does it mean by frozen chicken 'portions' on tesco.com? (see Pooky's reply)

We also spend a reasonable amount on fresh veg (we don't have a local market, sadly) - is frozen veg just as good, or does it lose all its nutrients? Frozen veg is good and as it's frozen very quickly, retains its nutrients

We tend to buy expensive wholemeal bread (no time to make it ourselves) but this probably saves money overall, as it means I eat toast as a snack instead of more expensive things. I used to try to time my visits to the supermarkets for when the bread is reduced: now, I use a bread machine (it has a timer so I can time the bread to be ready at my convenience).

Also, I'm often skeptical about the tesco 'value' products (especially meat) - what opinions do people have about this range?
Again, it's down to personal preference. Sometimes my dh has come home with value mince (yuk!), value bacon (that's ok )
Pasta, flour, tuna: all good

Any suggestions welcome...everyone else on here seems to get their weekly food supply for about 12p ...

- plan your meals a week in advance (or a month if need be)
- make a shopping list based on that meal plan and what you have in the cupboards - and stick to it!
- don't restrict yourself to just one store/supermarket (even online! Check out all the online shops if thats the way to choose to do it - the supermarkets are very competative!!)
- invest in a slow cooker to cook your meals while you're out/ to cook meals ahead to freeze/to take advantage of cheaper cuts of meat.
- invest in a bread machine (I bought mine in January in Wilkinsons very cheaply in the sales and haven't looked back!)
- when you go to your supermarket ... do look out for their "reduced" counters (ie: meat/dairy products near to their use by dates/ dented tins etc)
- don't try and do all the above at once
- Planning is the key. "Failing to plan is planning to fail"
- Take a look at the "Challenges" - grocery and PMS 0 the Recipe Threads are a mine of information.

You are already doing well - :T
Good luck

AussieLass

Hello there ag 359 :wave:

One thing you could do, that's if your not doing it already is when you are shopping keep an eye out for the quantity your buying. For example sometimes it's cheaper to buy two of something than one big one or vice versa. I expect that's about as clear as mud hey. Sometimes "specials" aren't really that special when you work it out. I always shop with a little calculator. Really makes me mad when I accidently press a button & I"ve lost the lot though. :wall: And I have found to menu plan the best way to cut down on food spending. Good luck, you sound like your off to a good start.

ag359

Thanks for the various responses - don't have time to reply properly now, but will have a closer look later!

Downsizing__for_sanity

The Tesco Healthy Eating frozen chicken breasts are quite good value, as you can take them out as you need them, and not have to cook them just because you've bought a large pack of fresh ones. Also, we've started to use just one large chicken breast between the two of us, and add more and more veg like broccoli, peppers, onions, whatever is on offer, to bulk it out.

The Lloyd Grossman sauces are nice, but do you use a full jar for two of you? (They should feed four) You can add some water/milk to swish out the jar with to get it all!

Sometimes if we have the expensive sauces, we just have pasta and veg with them, or alternatively we'll make a cheap sauce from chopped bacon, tinned tomatoes, oregano etc and have chicken with the pasta or rice.

By the time the pasta is cooked, you can have a sauce made from scratch with some basic practice.

DFS

madfrenchgirl

What about using my food planner? and going thru the oldstyle collections? Just run a search for food planner and you will see. If you are a whizz at Excel it can tell you exactly what you need to buy and how much it is going to cost you! I use it for me and OH, and we only spend about 45 pounds for 2 weeks for the both of us. then there is the usual top-up: lettuce, milk, eggs, but those dont cost the earth! So I would say we spend about 100 pounds on food a month for the 2 of us!

Welcome to MSE, BTW, this site has saved me lots of money!