Grocery Shopping budget thread

ALIBOBSY

We are a family of 6 and average about £250-£300 a month, but I do most stuff oldstyle and as I am SAHM I cook and bake alot from scratch. Like the other poster I avoid the big supermarkets except when there is a really good bargain. I do use Aldi and less often Lidl and poundstretcher to stock up. But living on self employed earnings means when we have cash to spare I "invest" in good offers on stuff we use that can be stored/frozen to use on the weeks/months we are short of money.

Then again I have the time at home to mealplan/cook and bake from scratch/nip in various stores for the offers/knockdowns and research all this online. If I had another "job" it would be harder to keep costs down to the same degree.

I do love my SC, got mine free from an auntie who used it twice and stuck it in the back of a cupboard.

To do joints I make a sort of bed of chopped veggies, so usual suspects-onion/shallots/leeks, carrot, celery, garlic, herbs, salt and pepper. The joint is then put on top and slightly pushed in so to speak so it sits in and on the veg. Then I add some water to cover the veg and come part way up the joint. Then cook. I cook it from the morning and most joints are done by teatime. You get a lovely moist joint of meat, plus a load of homemade stock. A ham joint is great for this. Hot slices of ham with say mash or chips the first day, some cold ham for future meals/sandwiches and take a few ends/broken bits of meat, add to stock with some split peas/lentils and other veggies and cook again to make a "pea" and ham type soup for the next day.

Chicken works well like this as well. I prefer a good beef joint roasted till still pink, but some joints of beef that can be a bit chewyer work fine.

A big area I find helps is wastage, use every bit of leftovers and keep checking fridges/freezers/cupboards/fruit bowls to ensure things get used up. We have "bottom of the freezers" teas where you cook all those bits of stuff left in the freezer, you know 5 nuggets, 6 fish fingers, 1 potato waffle, handfull of frozen peas etc etc. Bung it on the table with something like chips/cous cous/rice and plenty of bread and help yourselves. I also like growing my own-but again am here to have time available to do it. Looking up can see all my seedlings along the window sill and outside in the greenhouse lol.

Good luck

Ali x

thriftwizard

I was earning more than OH when I gave up too, but yes, you're right, the self-esteem would have taken a huge hammering if I'd suggested he stayed home! And I also have one with AS-type issues - she's currently a meat-free zone - but old enough to make her own now anyway. When they were young I always gave the option of poached eggs (basically free for us) or pitta-pizza (a pitta bread smeared with tomato puree & topped with cheese) to any refusniks, though only on condition they ate the vegetables that everyone else was having.

Re your butcher & greengrocer not being cheap; ours aren't either, on the face of it, if you compare like for like. But what they can do that a supermarket can't, is help you choose cheaper cuts of meat or fruit & veg that's in season, thus cheaper. For example, I got some skirt of beef the other day from our local butcher (not the market one but the High Street shop) which he said would otherwise have gone for pet food as no-one else has asked for it for months. Yet it's a brilliant cut, cooked right (in my case that's either pressure-cooked or in the slow cooker all day) zero waste, very lean & tasty. Makes a great bourguinon or stroganoff. And the greengrocer's price for grapefruit or bananas, say, will make your eyes water. But the cabbages, leeks, peas & raspberries grown by the local allotmenteers are pretty reasonable, not to mention fresh, even if there is the odd caterpillar-hole.

Joints of meat done in the slow cooker are great, though you may want to brown them off in a frying pan first if looks matter. I always cook them on a bed of "bendy" veg, i.e. the stuff sold off cheap at the end of the day, then when the joint meal is done, you can just stick-blend the juices & the veg to make a quick & tasty soup.

thriftwizard

Another thing, not particularly at its best just now, is foraging. My kids all loved, and still love, walking in the local countryside & harvesting the available freebies like blackberries, hazlenuts & all the usual suspects. But you don't have to be rural to get quite a bit of wild food for free; some of my best-ever blackberry hauls came from the fences beside the Metropolitan tube line! And it's amazing what you see going to waste in people's gardens; apples, pears, plums & other fruits, mostly, including Japonica quinces, which make a delicious jelly. At this time of year down here in the South, the best things to look out for are early dandelion & nettle leaves, garlic mustard & wild garlic.

But yet again, what you need to benefit from this idea, is time... though even a Sunday afternoon walk will give you an opportunity to find a few bits.

ETA - yes, I do stockpile, quite heavily - cans under beds & in all the kickspaces, spuds, rice, flour & oats bought by the sack (bulk-bought cereals stored in a dead freezer out in the garage) that sort of thing. If it's a saving for one & stuff we will use in reasonable time, it's 7 x a saving for us.

And again to add: have a look at the artisan bread in 5 minutes a day thing - a variant of this works well for us, though I have to make & store twice as much to start with!

K9sandFelines

ipie wrote: »

I have considered making my own bread, but once i find myself a job i don't know how feasible it would as i expect to work very long days maybe i could try and just to bake bread on my days off.

I can't suggest anything that hasn't already been added; but thought a timer plug may help with this dilemma, as the bread will rise until the plug comes on, ready for the breadmaker to do it's magic.

Kcmcc80

Hi all,

I am new so am open to all advice I am wondering what others set as their monthly food budget inc cleaning and toiletries etc???

I probably spend about £150.00 a month at the moment need to cut back on pub lunches as these are on top of this. I want it to cover breakfast lunch and dinner 7 days a week.

Bring it on and thanks in advance.

Karen x

FairyPrincessk

Kcmcc80--it really depends on your priorities and what you can afford. £150/month sounds like it could go lower if you're willing to compromise some. That is about what we spend for two. However, we only eat meat/fish two to three times a week, make most things from scratch, shop at Aldi, meal plan and focus on healthy, economical food. While it works for us, half of that wouldn't over the budget for one--there is an economy of scale in cooking for two. Furthermore, our budget requires a fair amount of skill to maintain and we didn't get here over night. Lastly, there are things about our budget that given different circumstances I would like to change. For example, we cannot afford ethical anything. I try to mitigate many of the effects of this by eating less of it, but I struggled when we didn't eat any meat. It is a compromise but only you can decide what you're willing to do.

I'd suggest you head over to the grocery challenge thread at the top of the page where they set themselves a target for the month and encourage each other to meet it.

[Deleted User]

Theres normally only me and i spend £60 per month. I find that more than enough. That includes all meals, snacks, toiletries, cleaning products and drink, (even wine:D). Im actually going to try and cut it down a bit more as im finding now im cooking from scratch and not meal planning but buying around reduced products i find ive got too much food.

Kcmcc80

Hey fairy princess

Thanks for the response much appreciated I would be interested in knowing some of the things you cook as part of your budget as would like to reduce my outgoings.

Thanks

Karen x

Kcmcc80

Omg I'm doing it for me.

That is amazing do you have a menu that you work too??? Am intrigued to know more.

Karen x

[Deleted User]

Hi Karen, I dont stick to any menus, meal plans or anything. I buy a lot of reduced meat/poultry and fish. I do eat healthily and make vegetable soups from scratch and shop at A**i for there super 6. If you take a look at a thread called Whats In Your Trolley.. you will have a rough idea of what people buy when on a budget. Im a novice cook but on the Grocery Challenge thread on page 1 there are loads of quick, cheap and healthy recipies. I also use coupons, but sometimes its a bit hit and miss and recently i made a boob by thinking i was saving a few pennies but realised when i got home ide spend more on that product than i normally would. Its a learning curve. Take a look through all of the Old Style threads there amazing. Edited just to say, i batch cook and freeze practically everything. Only had a few mistakes that didnt freeze too well.