I do not know where to shop, Help?

Lightbulbmoment_2

My husband and I have recently found ourselves in a serious money situation, I now have to try to reduce my £450 food bill down to £200 (possibly less)...

I have the majority of supermarkets around here, Sainsburys, Tescos, Morrisons, Co-op, Lidl, Asda, Aldi, Netto...the problem is I dont know where is best to shop, there are two adults and one toddler...

I did pop into Lidl today and spent £38 on quite a lot however tonight I cooked new potatos and had iceburg let it wasnt that great tbh, the was no taste in the potatos either I've bought a whole load of meat and fruit so I will reserve my judgement till weve consumed everything.

We were having Organic everything before and now I dont have that option! Is it possible to have cheap but tasty food?

1carminestocky

Sainsburys basics range is, on the whole, good enough to migrate to from the branded products (and it's far far cheaper than branded). In fact, in many instances it is actually healthier for you (as long as you consider lower fat/sugar/salt is beneficial to health). We've been amazed at how much less we are paying for our shopping (whilst regretting spending all that wasted cash on branded for years!)


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=778637&highlight=sainsburys+basics

richardw

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/0563488417/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

ClaireLR

Are you near enough to all the supermarkets to maybe do a couple a week to get the best deals? I shop online once a month at Asda to stock up on cleaning products/loo rolls/cat litter/tinned and non perishable foods, then Morrisons once a week to top up food, they have some amazing offers on, not just on junk food either like some of the supermarkets I've noticed, they do deals on their fruit and veg.

Also if you have a big freezer it might be worth a once a month shop to iceland/farmfoods to fill it up as cheaply as possible

busy_mom_2

Try a bulk freezer shop in farmfoods they seem to have some good prices, i do an asda shop every two weeks and do find them quite good, some of their smart price range is quite good. Try their bolognaise sauce with smart price mince works out to about £2.00 for a family of 4. If your not a fan of hot curry my kids love their curry cooking sauce, 7p per jar just add some chicken and I also put in mushrooms and peas, it's a chinese type curry sauce taste.

busy_mom_2

I also use home bargains, amazing what they sell, toiletries, cleaning stuff and quite a lot of food and drink.
i have never been overly keen on aldi find it a bit hit and miss.

Lightbulbmoment_2

I was really proud of myself for cutting down that much but now I feel like Ive gone and bought a load of dodgy goods which is more of a waste, we'll see I suppose.

staffie1

Can vouch for Sainsbury's own brands being economical but generally good. Tesco's aren't too bad either.

I would draw the line at the jar of curry 'sauce' at Asda for 7p though. I can't help thinking all you're getting with that is a jar of chemicals and god knows what other junk. I mean, come on, 7p? How can they make anything approaching decent for that? It's important to get best value when you're on a tight budget, but you must put decent food inside you or you'll become ill. Just my twopenneth worth.;)

Lightbulbmoment_2

Totally agree on that one, I make that a three pennies worth!

1carminestocky

Can't vouch for the Asda one but it's absolutely clear from observing the ingredients of the 7p Sainsbug jar of curry that it is heavily subsidised by the retailer. The post below was in response to a poster who had suggested that she would stick with Sharwoods sauce as that sort of must be 'better' for you. The results are slightly surprising.


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=22483307&postcount=12


There's absolutely nowt wrong with the Sainsburys one. Plus it's unusually low fat for such a sauce. I do sympathise with the sentiment, though....ours stayed in the cupboard for weeks before I persuaded my wife to do anything with it, lol.

Lightbulbmoment_2

Cool, im guessing sainsburys is a winner which is good as thats the closest yey!