Food spend won't reduce no matter how I try!

SAV3R

I have been reading, reading and learning for 9 months on here now. I have cut down my grocery bill from what it was previously. I am still annoyed at how much we spend. Don't really know what to try next.

We always take packed lunches to school / work.
Try mostly to bake cakes / biscuits - unless I can buy them on good offers.
Stretch mince dishes with lentils, chopped tomatoes and other veggies.
Cook more roasts at the weekend so that we get a meal already cooked for Mon, Lobby for Tues / Wed
Started making own soups - although they are dearer than some of the tinned ones we used to eat they are more filling and tastier.
Aquired a BM from a friend although only make 1-2 loaves a week, DS2 will not eat it all, he is really fussy.
We have changed to many non branded foods.

I am pleased that all the changes have meant that we spend less now than we did, even though the prices have gone up. However, our average spend is still £420 for 2 ad, 2 ch.

We do eat quite well, I do cook almost all meals from scratch, we tend to stick to old fashioned English meals eg meat and two veg, shepherds pie, although we have HM pizza quite often too or leftover mince with spaghetti.

SAV3R

oops pressed enter before I'd finished

Does anyone have a similar problem, or any more ideas to try, please?

Penelope_Penguin

SAV3R wrote: »

oops pressed enter before I'd finished

Does anyone have a similar problem, or any more ideas to try, please?

Have you your most recent shopping receipt? If you post what you bought and how much each item was, we may be able to suggest cheaper alternatives

I find that roast meat is relatively expensive. As I'm not so keen on them, they'd be the first to go for me

Have you tried eating vegetarian meals There are loads of suggestions on here, and my meat-eating family love them. We eat veggie about 2 or 3 times a week, and I often have a meat-free alternative of what the rest of the family have

Penny. x

Lalaladybird

I am in the same situation but i had a lightbulb moment this week...it occurred to me that we don't eat a lot of tinned or frozen fruit and veg, always fresh stuff which is expensive. I will try to grow my own veg this year but as it is still only January, I might have a bit of a wait. So until then I am going to try to use more frozen and tinned fruit and veg.

Other tips of mine are to use powdered skimmed milk if you are making a sauce/cream of x soup/milk pudding. Only use fresh milk for cereal/tea/coffee.

Make sure you look at your receipt after grocery shopping so you can work out where every item will be used to prevent waste.

I'll watch this thread with interest for more tips!

Pink.

Hi SAV3R,

Give yourself a pat on the back for managing to reduce your bill in light of the recent rising prices. :T

Have you read Martin's article on Supermarket Shopping ? It has lots of good advice and tips on reducing grocery shopping.

I don't know if you meal plan but if not, it's a great way to save money by making sure you don't buy unnecessary things. To get some help with meal planning have a look in The Complete Menu Plans Collection.

The best place on Old Style to get help with reducing your grocery bill is the Grocery Challenge thread where the regulars come up with fantastic ideas to save cash. I'll add your thread to that one later so that you can get some help.

Good luck with cutting back.

Pink

tessie_bear

do u serve huge portions ?? do u buy 'expensive' cuts of meat ? such as lamb chops steak ? do u try and buy reduced goods ? have u tried downsize challenge.... moving down a brand ?what sandwich fillings do u use ?do u buy lots of cola /snax ?

Butterfly_Brain

Well done so far - it really is hard and I am guilty of splurging sometimes when I don't need to. It is a lot of trial and error really, I have joined a shoppers club at a local frozen foods wholesaler it saves me loads of money, try and see if you have any local to you.

• Shop around for the best prices - I go on the Netto, Aldi and Asda web sites and check the prices before I go shopping
• Write a list and stick to it - is really worth doing
• Use cash instead of debit card it is surprising how that reins in on spending
• If your son does not like the home made bread try making rolls instead, i had the same problem with my son when I first started making my own - now he won't eat the "cardboard bread from the supermarket (his words not mine)
• While cooking from scratch is far better allow yourself a bit of leeway .Try thinking if it is really cheaper on some things?(A family chicken pie in farmfoods is only 89p and really tasty- I couldn't make one for that).
• Milk is only £1 for 2 litres in Farmfoods too
• Buy frozen veg it is just as good for you
• And lastly don't kick yourself because you can't always get it right - The supermarkets are still putting prices up regardless of what they advertise, just keep alert and you will beat them in the end

Good Luck

Patchwork_Quilt

Do you count wine in with your groceries? This can be quite expensive.

Reverbe

I could suggest the option of no cakes or biscuits at all. It's also much healthier.

Also possibly growing own fruit/veg /herbs if you have access to a garden/allotment/windowbox.

Harsh as it sounds you can try telling son its cheaper option hm bread which is better for him or no bread.Of course I don't know how old he is but surely old kids and teens should listen to reason.

got-it-spend-it

I veer between keeping my grcoery spend really low and spending £40+ a week for two of us. The main things that I do to achieve a low spend week are:

-Write a mealplan, look at what we already have then write a specific list of what I need to buy- ie. My list would have apples, onions, potatoes rather than fruit and veg IYSWIM;)
-Pad out mince based meals with red lentils (bolognese, lasagne) or baked beans (shepherd's pie, chilli)
-Use frozen veg to make up our 5 a day
-Use money off coupons- Tesco and Asda will usually take any coupons even if you don't buy the product, as long as they sell the product. I can easily save £5 a week using coupons and that's a significant proportion of our grocery bill.:T
-Have a 'cheapy' meal once or twice a week. For us that means HM pizza, lentil soup, pasta with tinned tomatoes etc

Hope that helps. I find it's little tweaks that seem to add up to good savings when you stick with them.

angelavdavis

SAV3R wrote: »

Aquired a BM from a friend although only make 1-2 loaves a week, DS2 will not eat it all, he is really fussy.

Have you tried making rolls instead? I have found these more popular for lunches and also there is little waste.