It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

AnnieG

We had an agreement to only buy Christmas presents for the children in our family last year rather than all the brothers and sisters etc, which saved me a fortune and an awful lot of stress. The only down side was that as I'm the only one without a partner, I didn't get anything at all!! If we go back to giving presents for everyone then it's definately going to be jars of chutney or pickled onions from me, gone are the days of buying people rubbish just so I've got something to wrap up!

sammy_kaye18

catznine - very inventive with your apples - I fancy doing some home baking but boyfriend is on a health kick at the minute so he's after healthy things to eat etc but thinking if i can copy your idea and do that then if I cook up some pork loins (they are always reduced in our tesco for some reason) - then I can put the apple sauce on top of those and cook them.

Which has reminded me I brought a big pack of chicken breasts in tesco yesterday and put them straight in the freezer - it was the big pack of breasts for like £5/6 - and I forgot to seperate them into portion sizes before I froze them! doh! :(:( may see if i can do it later - wishful thinking though i think that they might break easily.

Really must sit down and meal plan at some point - need to find some Tupperware tubs still though or tins to keep baked goodies hidden in otherwise they wont stand a chance. Cant wait till babe is here so on a Tuesday morning i can wake up, take Ben to school then walk to town to the market as they always have good deals on fruit/veg there.

Also happy as I heard from maternity allowance yesterday and it looks like I have a £130 arrears payment coming to me within the next few days which should be nice. then I'll be getting £180 every two weeks so hoping that the change in payment days/ styles/ and amount wont throw me off too much from my usual paying methods etc - cant afford to get any more in debt at the minute.

Annie G - we tend to buy only for immediate family. so this year i have £12 to buy for but hoping to make hampers etc for some that wont cost a lot and pick up bargains - I've got a budget of £10 for most fo them but I am lucky in that I have access to quite a few of the cheaper shops - wilkinsons, B&M, Home Bargains, Poundland and there are 5 charity shops in my little town.

Winged_one

One of my ways to make the pennies squeak is that sometimes, rather than ffeeding the compost, I use the peelings of my (already clean!!) veggies to make my chicken stock rather than the veggie parts. Like if I am doing a big roast chicken on a Sunday, and having a salad for lunch on Monday, I might have the peelings of 5/6 carrots, skin of 2 onions, base and tips of 3 celery stalks, and some bits of brocolli stalks etc. So I would keep those aside until the carcass is stripped and then use them in the slow cooker for stock.

If I am making stock that I want to use some as soup immediately, I will use only "proper" veggies, and use those to make the soup. But if I am using a carcass to put plain stock in freezer, the peelings work very well as they will be taken out again. (Sometimes it does need a few extra whole veg for flavour, but that depends on how many peelings I have, and every little helps!).

snoop2008

mardatha wrote: »

Has anybody else noticed food rising steeply in the last week ? Today it was Sainsburys and things have ALL gone up.

yes this is true. Also the portions of some frozen stuff have been reduced. Morrisons use to sell their 20 thick sausages for just under 2 pounds. Now you only get 15. Lilds sells the same product 20 for 1.39.

Packets of crisps have also shrunk in quantity but the price is the more or less the same!!

greengoblin

Went food shopping with my mum today at our local farm shop (who actually grow nearly all the fruit and veg on sale [except for obv. things like lemons]). With meat, lots of reduced bread and a whole selection of veg it came to £40. As I am on my own I just skim off what I need from her shop and we work out what it costs (usually about £10) and even then end up swapping bits and bobs at the end of the week. As much as the food is from the East Anglian region (even the tea and coffee is blended near the shop!) as possible. Cheaper than our usual supermarket shop Nuff pennies left for a cake and cup of tea at nearby cafe

I like hanging out with my mum :eek: Help ! lol

mardatha

Ask your mum if she wants to adopt me ...;)

zarazara

I'm trying to think that the shops is the lastplace to get things,not the first. So, instead of rushing off to buy what ever I need i look around for something else first,for example I am growing seedlings in old plastic margarine tubs.

Hippeechiq

snoop2008 wrote: »

yes this is true. Also the portions of some frozen stuff have been reduced. Morrisons use to sell their 20 thick sausages for just under 2 pounds. Now you only get 15. Lilds sells the same product 20 for 1.39.

Packets of crisps have also shrunk in quantity but the price is the more or less the same!!

I have - and it's not by a few pence like it used to be, it's like 10, 20 & 50p+ at a time!

I usually buy my chicken from the fresh section of Icel@nd. One of the packs I get are (or used to be) 8 Bone-In Chicken Thighs for £3 weighing 1.2kg, but I've noticed in the last few weeks, you now get 9 Thighs for the same price, although the weight of the pack remains the same. So clearly, you are getting less meat, as you now have 9 bones instead of 8. It really pees me off that they think we're too dim to notice such things!! :mad:

It's not just Icel@nd either, it's right across the board of supermarkets. As you pointed out snoop, they're reducing package size but charging the same price.

Hippeechiq

MissisP wrote: »

Yes, I know what you mean. Had my knuckles wrapped on another forum asking for genuine advice for my baby sis, so I felt like I 'wasted' my first post as a newbie, so I shall definitely stick around here! Much friendlier and more supportive.
As for the groceries, my bill covers toiletries, loo rolls etc and cleaning materials as well, so probably not technically accurate. I haven't had the heart to break it down further so maybe there are still savings to be made!

I was made redundant in January, so things are extremely tight in my household, and I think the one biggest thing I've discovered that helps me save money, is grocery shopping online. It tots it up as you go along, there's no impulse buying, and if you have a particular budget you really need to stick to, you can. If, when you've finished, it comes to more than you wanted it to, you simply remove things that aren't absolutely essential from your trolley until the total of your shop is what you ideally wanted to spend.

The 2nd thing is My$upermarket.com. I'm fortunate enough to live within walking distance to Te$cos but usually do my main shop online with A$da. They both constantly have offers on everyday items which I take advantage of and if what I usually buy from A$da is on offer at Te$cos, then I walk there and get it instead. I've saved £'s and £'s by checking the website first, although, I appreciate that if you're working you might not have the time to do this.

The 3rd thing which Martin suggests, is downgrading (that's not the right word, but it wont come to mind at the moment) eg if you normally buy Heinz Baked Beans, try the Supermarkets' own brand and apply that to several items to see how you get on. Again many SP/Value/Basics are absolutely fine especially things like fresh fruit and veg - it might be odd shaped, or have a bit of muck on it (potatoes for example) but what does that matter? - tinned tomatoes, kidney beans, flour, rice, pasta etc., Some things you try will be and are bleurgh :rotfl:, but then you go back to what you normally buy and try the same process with something else....you'll be surprised how much difference it makes to how much you spend

Wee_Jo

The 3rd thing which Martin suggests, is downgrading (that's not the right word, but it wont come to mind at the moment)

Hippeechiq - I think this has been one of the things that's made a really big difference to how much I spend on my groceries, by dropping brands I have saved so much money. Combining this with planning out my meals has seen our grocery bill plummet by around £35 :eek: each WEEK!