Grocery Shopping budget thread

McKneff

electric steamers are the most money savers, chicken, fish etc on the bottom layer, veg on the top. A whole meal in
one appliance. To do this without a steamer you would need 3 rings going all at once. Saves on the washing up too.

My last one was bought, unused from a car boot sale for £3, its paid for itself many times over.

flutterbyuk25

I live solo and budget £60 per month for food and cleaning supplies. I do sometimes go over this when there are great offers on, or when I get £x off a big spend. I tend to spend £35 in my monthly shop and then about £8 a week on fresh fruit/veg and eggs. I am veggie though.

HTH

x

Jacey53

Hi

Could any of you who spend £60 or less per month please post a sample meal plan.

I spend over twice that a month on food alone (I have a stock of toiletries and cleaning goods that will last for months apart from deoderant).

I am desparately trying to save money but obviously have some way to go.

I am keeping a spending diary but am looking for all the help I can get. I am not vegetarian but would like to reduce the amount of meat i eat for health reasons.

Any help would be appreciated

flutterbyuk25

I don't do meal plans myself, but I can list a few of the meals I have weekly if that will help?

Breakfasts are always cereal and skimmed milk on weekdays. I use long life milk as I'm not a fan of milk so find this lasts me better than a pint, plus I've always got some in the cupboard so I don't pop out for pint of milk and spend a tenner! Weekends I have fried egg (2) on toast. I make my own bread in bread maker. One loaf will last me a month as I only ever eat it on weekends.

Lunches are salady bits (whatever is on offer in Aldi/Lidl normally) plus either pasta/rice/couscous/cold potatoes, and I take one or 2 hard boiled eggs. Plus I have a yogurt, cereal bar and fruit to snack on throughout day.

Dinners include:

Stirfry - I tend to chop up what veg I have in rather than buy the packs as they are too big for one. I sometimes have tofu with it. I use a sauce like black bean and have the dried egg noodles with them. If I'm feeling adventurous I make egg fried rice too if I have any leftover rice.

Pasta - Tomato based sauce with onions, garlic, tin toms, red kidney beans (or whatever I have in), herbs/chilli, sometimes add quorn mince, topped with cheese. I boil big pan of pasta and use the leftovers for lunches. I always batch cook this so I have 2 or 3 portions to go in freezer as this is the base for many dishes eg lasagne, fajitas or chilli.

Chilli - sauce as above but with extra chillis. I serve with rice (extra made to use for lunch or freeze), sour cream if I have some and cheese.

Fajitas - 2 flour tortillas stuffed full with the above tomato sauce (added chillli), cheese, lettuce and sour cream. (very easy to make when you have sauce in freezer already!)

Veggie roast - pots, veg, yorkshires (I buy tesco own), and either lentil pie/tofu/stuffed peppers, onion gravy

Curry - I'm still trying to make a perfect curry so am experimenting, but basically chuck a load of veg and pots in pan with spices and tinned toms, served with rice and riata made from greek yog, cuc and mint if I have some in.

Soup - I always have soup in the freezer. I make a pan a week in winter and freeze it in individual portions so I can just microwave it when I'm peckish. My favourite is celery soup.

Omelette - veg and eggs and leftover potatoes, served with chips/wedges if I can be bothered to make them.

I also do easy meals like egg, beans and chips, pizza or mash and veggie sausages with gravy.

Snacks - yogurts, fruit, tinend fruit, crisps, cereal bars

I am currently doing slimming world diet but this is more or less how I would eat anyway.

I find that batch cooking is the key, I know that when I come home absolutely knackered and really not wanting to cook, that I can have a homemade meal within 10mins by microwaving something from the freezer. Plus I enjoy cooking so making a portion for one seems silly when it only takes a few extra minutes to make 4 portions.

HTH

x

flutterbyuk25

One other tip, if you have a shop like Home Bargains nearby then pop in to see if they have any of your staples cheaper. Mine does the Blue Dragon stirfry sauces for 25p each compared to Tesco where they are 70p+ each. And has lots of condiments like mango chutney way cheaper too.

x

[Deleted User]

Wow I am impressed by this thread.I budget for myself to £120.00 per month for just little old me.I usually have around £15-20 left over but that then goes straight away into my holiday fund at the end of the month
This money covers everything food ,cleaning stuff,ect but not the petrol for my car.This I do have to have as I am disabled and have problems walking very far and need my car to get around.I do the school run three days a week for my DGS as well.
I have a SC which I find invaluble, and also a Remoska which I treated myself to about 18 months ago.This enables me to cook stuff without having to put my big oven on.I make all my own soups as I am not keen on tinned stuff and cook virtually from scratch.I batch cook as well. I suppose the main amount of money does go on friut and veg but I do like decent meat and would rather have less meat of better quality if I can.Although I have bought the cheaper cuts to go into the slow cooker which I think is the best thing since sliced bread .
I actually have two SC's as my youngest DD gave me her small one when her family started to expand and she bought a bigger one. I am thinking of buying an electic steamer as we had one in our holiday house this year and its the first time I had used one (I used to use a strainer thing over a saucepan of hot water before.)I think it would be a good investment for me as I do love veggies with my dinner and it did cook them very well. I only use about a loaf a week if that, and only keep out 4 slices of bread from the loaf and the rest is frozen in batches to be used as and when.

freakyogre

Jacey53 wrote: »

Hi

Could any of you who spend £60 or less per month please post a sample meal plan.

I don't eat breakfast so this may be where I save money. Very occasionally I will have something at the weekend, but I tend to then have it as 'brunch'. Yesterday I had a sausage baguette. Yum!

Lunches - either a wrap or pitta with cheese/salad/chicken/whatever I have leftover. Bagels either as a sandwich or grilled. Pasta or rice salad. General leftovers. To be honest, I don't tend to plan lunches unless I have salad in, so tend to use up what I have in. I always take crisps (i'm addicted) and take some fruit as well.


Here's some meals that I have had in the last few weeks. I try and vary it as much as possible as would get bored otherwise!

Homemade tuna fishcakes with salad
Chicken in peppercorn sauce with rice
Homemade pizza with various toppings (using what I had at the time)
Chicken stir fry with noodles
Stuffed pepper with potato wedges
Falafel in pitta bread with salad
Chicken laksa
Ham and leek lasagne with garlic bread
Chickpea, spinach and tomato curry
Sausage and bean casserole with cous cous
Gammon with potatoes, veg and parsley sauce
Pasta in tomato sauce
Macaroni chees with gammon
Chicken and peppers in chilli sauce with cous cous

OK i'll stop now as getting carried away. I tend to make Friday my 'easy' evening, so have something junky I can stick in the oven - fish fingers, scampi, chicken burger etc.

Almost everything I make, I do in bulk, so rather than making potato wedges for one meal, i'll make up a whole bag and freeze the rest. I made over 20 falafel balls when I last made it, so I can just take out what I want. I also tend to stock up on things when they're on offer if I know i'll use them.

Tonight i'm having roast pork with all the trimmings. The pork cost just over £3 and i've cut it into two pieces and frozen half for a later date. The rest is currently in the oven and still looks huge, so I will get a LOT of leftovers from that.

I don't tend to buy fresh veg as I find it doesn't always keep, so the majority of my vegetables are frozen. Except for carrots, anything but fresh carrots are horrible imo.

Anyway, enough rambling, my dinner is calling!

missychrissy

I spend less than £60 per month on food and cleaning products. I live on my own with a small dog.

I found that the best way to keep my spending down was to just not go shopping.

I do a supermarket shop (usually Aldi) about once every 4 to 6 weeks though if I am in the region of another supermarket i will stock up on any special offers. I have recently discovered Farmfoods 2 2L milk for £1 50 which i split up and freeze. Otherwise I use long life carton milk so that I never have to pop to the shops for perishables. I also keep my bread in the freezer and only defrost on a need basis so that one loaf can last me several weeks.

I also cook in a bulk. I came in from a night shift this morning and set off my slow cooker with some braising steak, carrots, onions, marrowfat and split peas (soaked overnight) barley, lentils and seasonings. I like the big bags of Aldi's Chinese/Hungarian/French seasonings (used Hungarian today). I had a portion for my dinner tonight and have placed 7 more, one person sized portions, in the freezer.

I grow some of my own veg, especially potatoes. I keep my potatoes in the garage and I just plant any that have sprouted in pots or in the garden. I also make my own wine though I don't count the cost of this in with my monthly shop. I don't buy any rubbish. If it doesn't have any nutritional value I tend not to buy it so I don't buy biscuits, cakes, crisps etc. I also don't waste anything. I freeze things before they get a chance to go off and use them at a later date.

I bought my last lot of dog food from approved foods, a huge bag for under a fiver that will last months.

orangesmartie

I live on my own with my dog and just done my asda shop/batch cooking.

My shopping list was:

1 ASDA Arborio risotto rice £0.93
2 ASDA Brown onions £1.74
1 kg ASDA Carrots £0.86
1 ASDA Casserole mix - bourguignon £0.33
6 ASDA Chicken Breast Fillets £24.00
1 ASDA Chillies - red £0.50
1 ASDA Chilli Mayonnaise £0.98
2 ASDA Cider vinegar £1.36
2 ASDA Dark Chocolate £2.00
2 ASDA Diced casserole beef £12.00
1 ASDA Dry sauce - chicken casserole £0.33
1 ASDA Easy cook rice - long grain £0.98
3 ASDA Feta cheese £4.50
3 ASDA Fresh Tastes Casserole Vegetables £3.00
1 ASDA Fresh Tastes Diced carrot and swede £0.50
1 ASDA Fusilli pasta £3.28 2 ASDA Garlic £0.48
1 ASDA Good for you Creme fraiche £1.76
1 ASDA Heritage Potatoes £1.37
2 ASDA Paracetamol - tablets £0.30
1 ASDA Penne pasta £3.28
4 ASDA Pepper - Red £2.72
1 ASDA Sauce mix - stroganoff £0.33
1 ASDA Sausage Casserole Mix £0.33
1 ASDA Sliced red onions £0.30
2 ASDA Smartprice Cornflakes £0.92
1 ASDA Smartprice Mixed Vegetables £0.40
2 ASDA Smartprice Mushrooms £1.74
1 ASDA Smartprice Self raising flour £0.42
1 ASDA Smartprice Sweetcorn £0.87
2 Carnation Squeezy Condensed Milk £2.00
1 Cathedral City Mature white cheddar £2.00
1 Gallo Risotto rice - arborio £0.93
4 Kerrygold Pure Irish butter £4.00
2 Lambrini Cherry £5.36
1 Louisiana Original Hot Sauce £0.86
2 PG Tips Tea Bags £6.00
2 Wagg Complete Original Beef & Veg £19.82

The two bags of dog food, one is for my house, the other for my parents' house, where the dog spends a lot of time when I am at work.

With the beef and chicken, I have batched cooked meals which are boxed up and in the freezer. I am lazy when i get home from work, so its handy to know that I can have a tasty home cooked meal. I made:

Chicken curry & rice (8 portions)
Beef Stognaoff & mash (6 portions)
Beef casserole & mash (6 portions)
Chicken fajitas (4 portions) [tortillas in the cupboard]
Chicken & Mushrooms in soy & garlic sauce & noodles (6 potions)
Chicken casserole & Mash (6 portions)
Sausage casserole (4 portions) [sausages already in freezer]
Chinese chicken noodle soup (6 portions)
Carrot & Swede soup (7 portions)


I've bought risotto rice, which I'll batch cook up into risottos and rice puddings. I'll also make red pepper and carrot soup. Just need to get some space in the freezer first

The chillis, cider vinegar and red peppers I don't usually buy but I was making some chilli jam for christmas this weekend (already had the jam sugar - cost £1.43).

Carnation condensed milk and dak chocolate was to make millionaire's shortbread, which i made on Saturday and they are in the freezer ready to take to work on my birthday.

I love creme fraiche, its so versatile, i use it on fajita and with fruit as a dessert. I have portioned this up and put some in the freezer.

The sliced onions have gone in the freezer - they are for HM pizza. 2 packs of butter and the cheese is in the freezer.

Mushrooms and inions for omlettes and quesedillas.

Cherry lambrini was a treat because it was 2 for £5

I'd bought my cleaning bits (stardrops and soda crystals) at wilkinsons and spent about £4 on shampoo/conditioners (i like to stock up so i don't have to buy any for a while). Milk in the freezer was 2 for £2.

The soups will cover about 21/2 weeks of lunches. After that I've got 6kg of pasta, which I will cook with some mixed veg, onion and small cubes of feta cheese for lunches.

I make my own bread - and stocked up on huge bags of bread flour a couple of weeks ago for £4.

In total, minus the delivery charge, I've spent about £130. The food will feed me breakfast, lunch and dinner for about six weeks. The cleaning stuff and dog food will last months. That works out at roughly just over £21 a week. Some of that (like the pasta) will last longer than six weeks, but will be in the cupboard for when needed.

This was a big shop as my freezer was pretty much empty (2 portions of mushroom risotto left) so it was in need of serious refilling.

I also suffer from a food cupboard fetish. I get very antsy and depressed when the cupboards/freezer are empty. It stems back to being a child in the wilds of Scotland and having to have fully stocked larders to make it through the winters when we were snowed in for months. My mother is the same, despite the fact we both live in towns with 24hr supermarkets lol!

freakyogre

flutterbyuk25 wrote: »

Stirfry - I tend to chop up what veg I have in rather than buy the packs as they are too big for one.

Not sure if it's any use to you (or anyone else) but Tesco do a bag of frozen stir fry veg which is fab. It has allsorts in it (sadly no liquorice) and stays really crisp when stir fried. It's in their Value range and is about £1 a bag. I found the same problem with the fresh packs but these are much better as you can just tip out the amount you need.