I do not know where to shop, Help?

wendym

Thanks Carmine - sadly, no-one in my entire family works anywhere that qualifies.

Back to the OP:

I get all my cleaning etc stuff from Home Bargains or £land.
I try to get fruit and veg from markets - I have a daughter in Leicester, where I can currently get 6 large passionfuit for £1 - 89p each in Waitrose.
But I do shop in Waitrose too, buying special offers and reduced fresh items -yesterday I made a Thai curry from free-range organic turkey breast reduced from £4.99 to £1.77. It made 4 very generous adult portions.
The Thai paste came from Approved Foods - I can vouch for them, see :
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1501541

Although lots of people swear by rigid shopping lists to avoid temptation, I find I save more by going with an open mind and seeing what's on offer/reduced.

Off now to persuade my daughters or sons in law to change careers!

Bitsy_Beans

I vote for Sainsbury's Basic range. there is just soooooooo much in there. They sell 12 small bread rolls (baked instore I think as they are just like the others only slightly smaller) and they cost 35p. They taste fine, freeze well and are a bargain for that price. I find the quality better than Tesco's and the bonus is I can still buy stuff like Creme fraiche whilst I am shopping. Places like Lidl and Aldi I can't so it means another separate shop. Aldi are good for the super 6 (I bought 3 packs of peppers (3 in each pack) for £1.50, in most other supermarkets these would have cost the same for just 3 peppers!!! Have cut them up and frozen them. But the rest of the time I woudn't bother with Aldi. Their prices are the same as Sainsbury's Basics although I do bulk buy my meat from Costco. I rarely buy it from the supermarket now.

Natalie85

i went to aldi yesterday, found i spent half of what i used too, food ive tried seems ok, i still get my branded items elsewere like heinz beans, but because there isnt as much choice i felt i just bought what i needed which is much better for me, the meat seemed pretty reasonable too

Phudge

I know you are asking about which supermarket is the cheapest but have you considered other options?

Do you have a farmshop nearby or a greengrocer or market? Farmer's market? I switched from buying everything at the supermarket to buying fruit and veg at a farmshop and it is MUCH cheaper and the quality is excellent.

Another option as you are used to organic is a vegbox once a week - Riverford are good but there are many box schemes out there. You can then top this up with veg from the farmshop/ wherever.

Can you grow anything ? I don't have much space but I am growing herbs and lettuces and haven't had to buy any of those since the beginning of the season.

As for meat, we only eat free-range meat and eggs but I buy these from a butchers-come-farmshop . The chicken breats are HALF the price of free-range ones in the supermarket and the eggs £1 a half dozen less. I am learning to cook cheaper cuts of meat too.

Like you we used to eat everything organic but I have discovered that some things simply don't matter so get the basics on those (kitchen roll, tinned tomatoes etc) and get better quality where it matters to you.

Good luck with your new budget!

Jaydee36

This thread may give you some idea for what to cook.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1129333

Good Luck!!

Doubtful

Hi, in the same boat as you since Jan this year. Have become quite savvy at this! Farmfoods milk is £1 per 2.27 litres, 4 pts. Sainsubrys milk is on offer at the mo at 87p per 2.27 litres. We shop alot at Makro for basics, i.e toilet roll, kitchen roll, washing up liquid, washing powder & dishwasher tablets, but only when it's on offer in the Makro mail.

Our son is a vegetarian and we all eat veggie once or twice a week, saves on buying meat. Veggie stuff i.e quorn is cheaper at Farmoods & Iceland unless Tesco, Asda, etc have special offers on.

Always look at the reduced sections in your supermarket, you can always freeze things you know you will use.

Keep reading the threads on here, you will learn alot. Drop brands, you can always go back to them when you can afford to, if you still want to!

Above all, good luck with it, you will survive.

Chocmonster7

I think the main answer is that you need to shop around. If at all possible don't buy everything from one supermarket. I know that the only way I can make my money stretch to the stuff I like is to regularly buy from 4 supermarkets and local shops/markets too.

Don't close your mind to anything, experiment and don't look at it as money wasted if you find you don't like something - life is about finding things out.

For example I would never have guessed that Iceland of all places do decent toilet roll (4 for £1) or 6 Free Range Eggs for £1, that was until I tried them!

Fire_Fox

Asda is a lot cheaper than Tesco overall. Use MySupermarket to compare and check offers - note that whichever supermarket you start with will appear cheapest as it doesn't swap like for like. I agree with the others that it's best to rotate through a couple of different stores - perhaps Lidl and Aldi for the basics and Sainsbury and Asda for more interesting products.

I buy most of my cleaning products (Bio-D) online in 5 litre containers as I still like to use eco-friendly. For toiletries and extra bits of cleaning stuff I go to pound shops, Home Bargains and Bodycare which are MUCH cheaper than Boots. I buy everything in twos so I don't have to go to every shop, every week!

I try not to buy too many jars of cooking sauce, just containers or sachets of spice mixes so I can add my own tomatoes or coconut milk. If you have Asian stores near your home this is often the cheapest place to buy healthy basics such as Basmati rice, dried beans and lentils, spice mixes and dried fruit and nuts.

Lightbulbmoment_2

~~Diane~~ wrote: »

Also try doing your shop online that way you won't be tempted with impulse buys

TBH I have tried this in the past and then always been given old stock, which I find is a waste of money on its own, especially if you cant freeze it!.

I want to buy good quality as food is energy and I do it around 5 times a day so it needs to be good stuff plus my daughter is growing, my husband works shifts and needs good quality food, I might be asking too much but why did they ever get rid of the little local shops!

RAS

A lot of this depends on your perception of good quality. A lot of the supermarket own brands are the quality brand in a different package, perhaps with a little alteration but often with none.

It seems to me that the starting point is going to be a menu plan that takes into account OH shifts, so you know when he is going to be home to share, when you need to cook separate meals and when you can do something that one of you can heat up later.