Grocery Shopping budget thread

the_cat

pnq06 wrote: »

Perhaps I just need to get back to cooking from scratch... Our 'storecupbaord' is empty so I need to get a few basics in- Anyone know what I can start with? Money is gonna be really tight this month

xx

I would start by writing up a quick list of what's in your cupboards right now. Post the list here as you will get lots of advice on how to stretch out those ingredients into meals as cheaply as poss.

If you start the week with a proper meal plan, there should be enough for ALL of you to eat a proper meal and if you avoid the processed food you are bound to save money. Farmfoods may be cheap for stuff like chips and pizza, but it is loads cheaper to buy a few potatoes, some flour, tomato puree and a bit of cheese. Added to the odds and ends at the bottom of the fridge for toppings, you will have loads more food, which both you and OH can enjoy, plus it will be much, much better for you.

I would plan seperately for your DD for a short while, just until you have managed to sort out the food issues a little bit (perhaps if you all sit down together for meals even if she wont eat, she will eventually start to try bits and pieces from your plate if you don't push it)

Have you watched the BBC2 programme - ecomony gastronomy? Worth a look on the i-player if not, as there are some ideas,recipies of use there

Hope that helps a bit

erichamster

First of all I would start shoping in lidl (if you have one) the quality of their fruit and veg and meat is really good, and loads of it is on offer at the moment, I can spend about £30 in there and fill the freezer with meat and get loads of veg (we're not big fruit eaters).

Also what supermarkets do you have and are they closeish, as its a lot cheaper if you can shop in more than one esp at the end of the day to get the real bargains but if you're travelling far this is false economy.

You can freeze milk, but unless you have the most mahoosive freezer in the world you prob won't be able to store the amount you are drinking and it takes ages to thaw out. How much milk is your daughter drinking? As I don't have children so won't recommend cutting this but I don't imagine it can be more than 2/3 pints a day? If so thats still an awful lot that you and oh are getting through, could he take water or squash to work, even a flask of tea or coffee would be cheaper.

Also if you are getting through alot on your cereal maybe you could have just one small bowl at breakfast and then some toast or a yoghurt or fruit to fill you up, and the same for snacks?

I find baking things like brownies and gingerbread men is quite fun and stress relieving and saves a lot on sweets and choc.

I don't kow that much about farm foods but I think it is mostly dry/packet stuff that they sell? In which case I would highly recommend stopping shopping there for somewhere like lidl and buying more fresh veg and meat etc which is healthier and can be frozen. Perhaes you could give us an idea of the meals you eat on a typical day? And also if money is getting really tight you can post what you have in atm and people can usually help with meal ideas without having to buy more.

Sorry for the really long post and I hope it doesn't come across as patronisng or anything as it sometimes can when you're trying to give advice, good luck xx

clutterydrawer

You can freeze milk, it's fine

Cereal as snacks? No no no :rotfl: It's pretty expensive even as a breakfast food, there's not much goodness in it and usually a lot of salt/sugar etc as well. unless of course it's some delicious musli in which case carry on There must be other snacks you'd enjoy which are cheaper and keep you full for longer?

I take packed lunches to work...I have either a sandwich with cheese or egg mayo or humous or jam....the list goes on really haha...or a salad, or i take a pasty (homemade!) or some soup in a flask and heat it up. Also bit of homemade cake or biscuti, and some fruit. Om nom.

Re...chips and frozen pizza etc being "as little as a pound"....homemade meals can cost a LOT less than a pound per portion. Especially if you use tricks like stocking up on ingredients when theyre on offer, or going to the supermarket late in the day to get yellow stickered things.

I don't know anythign baout the cost of feeding a child :o but to feed just me it costs £50 per month....I eat very well though and could cut it further if I chose.

Your best starting point is probably to have a good trawl through this board, you will find so many tips you won't know where to begin...the trick is to implement them little by little so you dont get overwhelmed! good luck x

debtmuncher

ditto putting up a list of what you have actually got in the house and also how much you can afford to put aside for the weekly shop.

cereal is fine now and again for a quick cheap lunch but theres also making a pot of soup, baked beans on toast, baked potato with beans all with are good for dieters lol. were you following a specific diet? slimming world is good for dieting on a budget imo. htere is a separate thread for dieters so have a wee look at that.

Butterfly_Brain

There are plenty of forums on this board on feeding your family cheap and healthy meals - Here are a couple that have helped me
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=710445

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1885825

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1129333&highlight=mbaz

slowandsteady_2

you probably already have but have you double checked you are getting the benefits you are entitled to? Might be worth double checking with tax credits. Check the www.direct.gov website to see if you can claim milk tokens? Also www.entitledto.co.uk is a good site for making sure you are getting everything you entitled to.

pnq06

the-cat you make so much sense! Why would pizza and chips work out cheaper?! It wouldn't, it just seems like it does because all the ingredients you've listed would cost more on the initial outlay... And none of which I currently have in the cupboards I will definitely check out that programme too :j

erichamster you've not come across as patronising at all! (and even if you did, I did ask for my backside to be kicked into gear :rotfl: )

Locally we have, a tesco's and an Aldi. A 15 min drive away I have an Asda and a coop- But I don't drive so depend on my OH to get me to them... We don't have a green grocers either, well actually we do but its prices are astronomically high- I certainly couldn't afford to get even the basic of f&v there!

I'll also give baking a go- Its been a good 10 years since I baked anything of the 'sweet' variety :eek:

clutterydrawer love the name Thanks, I'll start buying a few pints to keep in the freezer I think- the coop is always reducing milk but you have to use it by the next day which does seem a shame when I could grab a few bargain pints :j

The cereal I eat is musli :rotfl: I thought I hated it when I used it when I was dieting but I actually really like it and it fills me up so I think thats why I always default back to it when I'm hungry- Its only 99p a box in aldi too which lasts me almost a week- OH has cheap weetabix and DD has... anything, it changes every week to find something she'll have!

OH also has egg mayo sandwiches on cheap bread with a cheap pack of crisps and a cheap yogurt and cheap chocolate bar (no expense spared in this house :rotfl: ) but he has just agreed to some HM soup. He does joinery and gets quite hungry and has to eat often as he suffers from migraines which can be kept at bay by frequent eating :rolleyes: But it doesn't have to a full meal or anything, just a cheap small choccy bar or something.

You and the-cat are right about the whole freezer food thing I just need to stock up on basic cupboard essentials

I would eventually like to get my shopping bill down to £150 and thats incl. luxuries

Thanks debtmuncher I was actually following the OS diet with good results too but it was costing too much money... Will look into slimming world though.

I will go and get a rough list of anything leftover in the cupboards and see if you help me plan a few meals with whats there

Thanks ever so much- You are all :A xx

pnq06

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

There are plenty of forums on this board on feeding your family cheap and healthy meals - Here are a couple that have helped me
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=710445

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1885825

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1129333&highlight=mbaz

Thank you Brian- I will take a look xx

slowandsteady wrote: »

you probably already have but have you double checked you are getting the benefits you are entitled to? Might be worth double checking with tax credits. Check the www.direct.gov website to see if you can claim milk tokens? Also www.entitledto.co.uk is a good site for making sure you are getting everything you entitled to.

Thank you too slowandsteady- Unfortunately we aren't really entitled to anything due to OH being on a decent wage but rather stupidly he let himself get into debt with an ex that we're paying heavily for, for the next 7 years :rolleyes: thank you though xx

clutterydrawer

pnq06 wrote: »

I'll also give baking a go- Its been a good 10 years since I baked anything of the 'sweet' variety :eek:

clutterydrawer love the name Thanks, I'll start buying a few pints to keep in the freezer I think- the coop is always reducing milk but you have to use it by the next day which does seem a shame when I could grab a few bargain pints :j

The cereal I eat is musli :rotfl: I thought I hated it when I used it when I was dieting but I actually really like it and it fills me up so I think thats why I always default back to it when I'm hungry- Its only 99p a box in aldi too which lasts me almost a week- OH has cheap weetabix and DD has... anything, it changes every week to find something she'll have!

OH also has egg mayo sandwiches on cheap bread with a cheap pack of crisps and a cheap yogurt and cheap chocolate bar (no expense spared in this house :rotfl: ) but he has just agreed to some HM soup. He does joinery and gets quite hungry and has to eat often as he suffers from migraines which can be kept at bay by frequent eating :rolleyes: But it doesn't have to a full meal or anything, just a cheap small choccy bar or something.

Hehe I will let you off then :rotfl: iI had a friend who was always "dieting" by eating special k - it's like £3 a box and FULL of sugar :eek::eek: <--- not enough shocked blue faces in the world to express my disapproval. If you're a porridgey person that's good too, works out at something ridiculous like 2p for a big bowlful, more faff to prepare though obviously.

Forgot to say, another good way to cut back is by reducing the amount of meat you eat. Having a couple of veggie nights each week or using less meat per recipe and bulking out with lentils or similar can save lots.

You will be amazed how much you can save with time, this time last year i was spending four times what i am now :eek::eek:

erichamster

pnq06 wrote: »

erichamster you've not come across as patronising at all! (and even if you did, I did ask for my backside to be kicked into gear :rotfl: )

Locally we have, a tesco's and an Aldi. A 15 min drive away I have an Asda and a coop- But I don't drive so depend on my OH to get me to them... We don't have a green grocers either, well actually we do but its prices are astronomically high- I certainly couldn't afford to get even the basic of f&v there!

I'll also give baking a go- Its been a good 10 years since I baked anything of the 'sweet' variety :eek:
Thanks ever so much- You are all :A xx

Definitely try these brownies http://www.cacaoweb.net/brownies3.html as they are sooooooooooooo yummy and use cocoa not real chocolate so cheaper to make, and for a change you can omit the vanilla and use orange zest for choccy orange brownies mmm

Do you have a Lidl anywhere near? Sorry to go on but I do think they are the cheapest of all esp for the healthier, fresh stuff, definitely cheaper than aldi (which I don't think has enough fresh produce, esp meat, although I am addicted to their benenfit flakes, even better than special k)

Also have you considered a bit of foraging? I for one can't wait to go blackberry picking and am going to attempt jam, many many crumbles and don't know if you're drinkers but blackberry wine and hopefully elderflower champagne. You can also just freeze the fruit too and its great as a really low cal snack or to add to yoghurt or cereal.

Oh and def agree that cooking from scratch is much cheaper, I used to buy loads of frozen pizzas thinking £1 was cheap then realised you could cook loads more for that amount. I think this is especially true of things like cakes etc, although if you'retrying to diet I'd only recommend it if you already buy lots of these things for the family, as once you start baking, you get used to a constant supply and its hard to stop! Although, I think as hm stuff is so much more satisfying I've actually found it easier to diet this way, even with the afrementioned brownies in the house.