Grocery Shopping budget thread

floss2

Bubby wrote: »

We use a fair bit of own brand products with the occasional value item thrown in they are happy to eat whatever I put in front of them usually but the bread wasn't great I have to admit. I will have a look at the bread recipes on here but I haven't got the will to want to do it all kneading etc myself so it will have to go in the breadmaker:o

I had to persevere with bread from my BM, my two teenagers would eat anything, but it definitely was better some days than others.... when my OH makes it, it is fab, he measures everything precisely (he's a chemist by profession ) so it comes out just right.

Gigervamp

Bubby wrote: »

We buy Eukanuba Salmon which is roughly the same price for 3kg as your 15kg bag:o, however they are allergic to many different ingredients so I have a limited choice of foods. I have a few left to try though;)

Ouch!

We were getting Sheba another brand of dog food which was still cheaper than supermarket prices at about £13 for 15 kilos, but she got really dry skin. The Wagg was on special offer one time, so we tried that and I noticed that when she'd been on that for a couple of weeks or so, she wasn't scratching as much and her skin has improved a lot since she's been on it (about 4 months now). So it's worth trying other brands.

nuttybabe

Bubby wrote: »

We use a fair bit of own brand products with the occasional value item thrown in they are happy to eat whatever I put in front of them usually but the bread wasn't great I have to admit. I will have a look at the bread recipes on here but I haven't got the will to want to do it all kneading etc myself so it will have to go in the breadmaker:o

i set my breadmaker to dough and then use half for a loaf and the other half i make into rolls. i let it rise for 2 hours then i bake it all in the oven. my lot prefere that to loafs cooked in the breadmaker.

blueberrypie

Bubby wrote: »

I am posting this as I am trying to rein in our money a bit so that we can save some more money every month.

I currently spend anywhere between £450-£700 per month for a family of 4:eek:, I thought this was ok until I joined this site and saw all of the grocery challenge budgets etc:o.

We aren't particularly stringent with the grocery budget, but we spend somewhere in that range (generally towards the lower end of it) to feed more than twice as many people as you have. So I do think your grocery spending is high, and certainly could be cut back if you want to reduce it.

I find it really frustrating that junk food is cheaper than healthy food:mad:, do all of you with smaller budgets eat lots of fresh fruit and veg and tasty meals or is it a case of thats your budget and you eat within the restrictions of that?

We get through stacks of fresh fruit here, and a fair amount of fresh veg. I do use frozen veg too - just as nutritious as fresh, and sometimes better (because it's *very* fresh when it's frozen).

I'm not convinced that junk food is cheaper than healthy food. Things like pasta, rice and beans are cheap and nutritious. If you're buying sirloin steak - well, yeah, it's going to be expensive. But I think that for both junk and healthy food, you can spend lots or you can spend a little.

Re household products - I think a lot of people spend a fortune on completely unnecessary cleaning products. So many people have a cupboard full of a dozen or more products when one or two cheap items would do just as good a job at a fraction of the cost. I buy white vinegar in 5-litre containers, and that with Stardrops cleans most things. I do also buy laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent - but the latter is bought on sale, or it's Lidl's own-brand, etc.

You mention that you live a distance from a supermarket. You might find it useful to have a "pantry" - it can be just a couple of shelves in the garage or under the stairs. Having things like pasta, cans of tomatoes, beans (dried or canned), an extra bottle of things like ketchup, worcs sauce, mayo etc - lets you buy in bulk when stuff is on a good special offer, and can save those extra, unplanned, expensive supermarket visits.

Ready-made sauces, by the way, are one of the easiest things to make yourself. Have a look at the ingredients on one of your favourite ones. Forget the preservatives, colours, flavour enhancers and look at just what else goes into it. Pasta sauces, curry sauces, etc - those are easy to make and often don't take much longer than using a ready-made one anyway.

Careful_with_that_Axe

Haven't ventured in here before, but what I've done recently is buy the Sainsburys Special offer chicken breasts - £3.49 for 3/4 depending on size. I cut a third off each one, freeze them individually and make another meal with the "scraps". Easy peezy, sometimes it's about fooling yourself!

slscarborough

I was doing the grocery challenge with a budget of £350 a month for a family of 5 however since returning to work and OH staying at home we are spending alot more. I definately need to educate OH but also need some ideas of meals to cook that arent too difficult or time consuming. We are currently spending almost £500 a month!!

nuttybabe

slscarborough wrote: »

I was doing the grocery challenge with a budget of £350 a month for a family of 5 however since returning to work and OH staying at home we are spending alot more. I definately need to educate OH but also need some ideas of meals to cook that arent too difficult or time consuming. We are currently spending almost £500 a month!!

if i had gone back to work and dh stay at home (nearly happened) we would live on takeaways!!!!!!!!! :rotfl:

there are some really good threads on here about cheap healthy meals.

I tend to batch cook spag bol, cottage pie in slow cooker and freeze 3 portions. Also rubber chicken is good! I have bought loads of reduced chicken at netto recently (its half price from morning, not reducing throughout the day) so my freezer is jam packed at the moment. I even got steak today whoopsied. Going to surprise dh with that next week!

he just needs a bit of practise to get used to it. I know it took me a while!!!!

ralloctiger

[bought a breadmaker but they don't like the bread out of it:mad::o

I made a decision a long time ago to eliminate choice and cook HM one meal only. The kids leave what they dont like and eat the next meal cos their hungry. Now they are a little older and have had a variety of foods they eat almost whatever I put infront of them. I dont cook things I know they really dislike but DD1 isnt keen on fish I still give her some just much smaller portion than everyone else and more veg and carbs. DD2 is a veg and this means we eat a lot of meat free meals DH took ages to get used to this but he eats without complaining and I think he enjoys it now!!:T
I do lots of baking and puds so kids neve complain there's no treats

I am not super woman It takes effort and carefull planning to keep within budget I freeze lots and batch cook esp veg meals. We simply cannot afford to be frivolous in the supermarket and I am very aware that our family budget has to stretch to more than just food!!:)

ralloctiger

ps sorry bubby didnt do the whole quote thing properly!!??**

OrkneyStar

OrkneyStar wrote: »

Ours was about £40/week this time last year, jumped up for a bit (started shopping more in Tesco!) but now is back down to about £45 ish a week, and budgetting £40/wk this month. I am now shopping in Lidl mainly, local butchers and the odd thing from Tesco/Coop/small local shops. I am getting back into baking, making loaves and the like, don't grow my own due to dodgy back!
Two adults and 1 toddler and 1 cat!

Just to add we are now on £30/wk this month- week one (15th-21st) I managed it all on £30, this week just done the big shop (incl a couple of extra things we don't need straight away) and spent £18 in Tesco and under £1 in Lidl....will spend the remaining £10 later on in the week on milk, bread, any whoopsies more than likely. I am enjoying the challenge. My other challenge is not just to keep using the freezer but to take stuff and out replace (eg today used steak mince so replaced that with a fresher packet iyswim)........