£20 a week OS challenge- you'll be seeing more of me I think!!

angelatgraceland

Invest in a bag of TVP(soya) If you like recipes using mince and youre not a veggy fan-use a cup of tvp and half the usual mince in your recipes. The tvp swells to about double/triple the original amount and a bag which should last about 10 servings(thats a wild guess) is about £1.10. This will knock a chunk off your meat bill.

angelatgraceland

Don't buy dishwasher tablets full stop! Get lidls dishwasher powder at about £3.99. Cheaper than tablets and lasts for ages and ages. I tried the half a tablet idea a while bck and personally I wasnt happy with the results. Lidl cheap washing up liquid at 13p is excellent-far better than tescos or any other cheap one.

Dijoy

Buy large tins and use half and freeze the other. They usually work out cheaper
Diane

jade_2

Hi

I shop at a local greengrocers, and I can get change out of £20 for 2 people per week.

I also 'allow' myself £50 on top of this to shop at Lidl for staples, and cleaning products.

I have also recently discovered the joys of Wilkinsons and this is cheap also. Best bargains at Wilkinsons recently are: shopping trolley for under £20 and 4 replacement braun head toothbrushes for £7.99 (Boots price is £14.99).

charlie007

i often go to the parents for tea, it is one meal a week less and they enjoy the company.

I am also saving up to move and am inspired, may get OH to consider this, don't think we would survive of twenty pounds a week !!

lynzpower

INcidentally, it has been a bit of a not quite success, cos we went to tescos and we got some Cds for the computer ( were bogofs though) . NOt ideal, but we have done £23 and still have LOADS in and will probably mean we wont need to go till MOnday ( we started saturday) so means We've 'saved' 2x days food.

pavlovs_dog

seeing as the student words of wisdom were so well received, here's some links tothe main threads about eating well on a student budget, if they are of any use to you.

student shopping and eating

student flat eating

Skeps

When washing your hair with a 2in1 shampoo, try putting the shampoo on to your hair BEFORE you make it wet. It takes a bit of working in but you will find it works better on your hair because it doesn't need to break down the water first. After you have worked it in, wet your hands to lather up the shampoo, this activates the conditioner part. Finally rinse off. It also saves water if your washing it in the sink or shower.
I go to the markets and buy a load of cheeper £ for lb types of veg, (carrots, swede, turnip, parsnip etc) make a big pot of home made veggie stew and put whats left into seperate packs. freeze and use later in jacket spuds, on toast.
Use condensed soups as a sauce. Put half a tin in your meal and use the other half for an actual soup (2 meals for the price of 1)
Instead of buying cheap tinned tomatoe soup which has loads of added ingredients. Buy tinned tomatoes and liquidise or mash in the tin with a fork for real tom soup...
Regards
Skeps

lubylwu

Have you tried https://www.fixtureferrets.co.uk. This site will show you all the bogof's, price reductions etc. from the major supermarkets, you can even set up email alerts for your favourite products, saves legwork ! :j

Just when you think you find something for nothing hey presto they want to charge you for it - from April 06 fixtureferrets have now started a subscription service, so will only show items with savings under £1 for free. well, better than nothing !!

scootermacc

black-saturn wrote:

I've found it much easier to shop online at Tescos with a shopping list. Then even though they charge £3.99 delivery I stick to the list and only get whats on it and it still works out cheaper. I still visit all the supermarkets once a week though to check out the bargains and BOGOFs and reduced stuff. If I'm not going to use it that week i will freeze it for another week.

This definately works.
Its helped drop our bills too because you are less tempted by the packaging, and look at the nutritional value/price much more closely.

My other suggestions would be porridge every day for breakfast (and I mean proper porridge from oats, not the 'sachets' stuff. This fills me up beautifully, and often I'm eating lunch at 1.30pm, whereas previously I'd be starving before 12 noon and end up snacking - costing money and waistline...