How can I reduce the shopping bill further..?

clutterydrawer

Bitsy_Beans wrote: »

I definately think your price is a leeeeeetle bit out of date. Cheapest I found for raisins was Aldi 99p for 500g.

The stuff you are buying is it branded? I buy loads (well almost exclusively ) Mr S's basics range.
What sort of money do you spend on toiletries and cleaning products. I buy Stardrops and that lasts me ages. Apart from bleach I don't use any other cleaning product - whereas before I'd be getting through a bottle of cream cleaner every couple of weeks.
Toiletries - I buy my Tresemme shampoo from Costco. Costs about £8 and lasts me nearly a year and I wash my hair nearly every day.

having just done my weekly shop i realise i was thinking of sultanas - 65p/500g:)

Psykicpup

Kippaxmum wrote: »

Hi All,

I've been in lurkerdom on here for quite a while & picked up some useful tips (and now am the proud owner of a BM & SC) I have started batch cooking at the weekend but am in need of ideas for reducing the shopping bill further.

There is me, dh & ds (3), the dog & the cat. Dog & Cat don't eat much so we don't need to worry about them. however, even without dog & cat food my shopping bill for the 3 of us is regularly between £50 & £70 (including toiletries & cleaning stuff) plus up to £20 in top ups!!!!

I've cut back and now make dh's breadcakes as he prefers them to shop bought, I'm trying to cook & freeze dinners for ds that can be reheated the next day. I also now bake cookies & buns for snacks and sausage rolls/pasties for dh's morning snack at work.

We take all our food to work so none of us buy lunches and I provide ds with a packed lunch which includes snacks, lunch & tea.

I try to buy fresh products rather than processed as I'm following slimming world and it doesnt really include much processed food. DH isn't a big meat eater and is quite happy with a plate of veg and ds is now discovering he can be fussy - although, it doesnt work with me. He has what he's given and doesnt get another option (hard but worthwhile, no waste then)

A typical daily food diary for us is:

Breakfast: Me & DS Porridge and milk, DH cereal or boiled egg - is this 'ready' porridge or cooked from scratch from a cheap bag of oats (£1 lasts ages)

Lunch: Dh - sandwich, crisps -not needed (nice I know but a piece of fruit or even veg would be better & cheaper, pop- umm he can take squash or a flask & pasty. Me - left overs or a mug shot- make your own home made soups, yoghurt -try making your own (I found a brand new Easyio at a car boot for £1.50 & its soo easy to use) and fruit. DS - carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, pieces of Ham, couple of yoghurts, packet of crisps or fruit flakes - why not a little tub of sultanas or raisins or any other dried fruit from the baking isle lol.

Dinner - ds - whatever has been cooked and frozen or a tin of ravioli/pasta in sauce type stuff - why not batch cook a few spag bol, pasta with sauce meals in DS size portions for the freezer they can usually be heated from frozen!. Me - meat & veg/pasta or quorn & veg or soup. DH - pizza (now with hm base) meat & veg, veg only, pasta n sauce. Occasionally we do eat together lol.

I try to bulk out bolognese with lentils (haven't been brave enough to try oats) and am very rubbery with my chicken (cooked in sc, pulled apart, make stock then make soup & paella!)

Other than that not sure where else I can cut back! We eat very healthily and my trolley hardly has any processed stuff. Its fruit & veg, small amount of meat (we have cut right back), yoghurts & dried/tinned bits.

Gosh, I've waffled but I wanted to give you an idea of what we get. Just been today & spent £62 in Morrisons. This did include some new baking trays for my newfound cooking abilities (£7.50!) and some washing liquid (fairy non bio £3.75) and a non stick baking sheet (£1.99) so it makes me feel a bit better, I just need to stop going out in the middle of the week haha.

Any ideas appreciated guys. Off to scour for sc recipes suitable for all of us.

Thanks in advance

donna

ps: well done if you got to the end :T

I found the month without supermarkets challenge really changed the way I shop, I would rather give the profit from my shopping- for ingredients in my local shops -to the local independants than to Mr T for prepacked overpriced rubbish. in fact one day when my local shop had no mince but we had our hearts set on spag bol that night I bought the beef steak that was on offer & minced it - I could not believe the amount of mince I got & when it cooked none of the water cooking out or much shrinkage! & I got complements on the flavour being much better than usual but I hadnt spent any extra!

link - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=369405&highlight=month+without+supermarkets