Help us reduce our grocery bill!

BadlyDrawnGirl_2

The biggest expense by far in our budget is groceries - we have been guilty in the past of "lazy shopping" and popping out to the corner store every time we needed something. We would also head off to Asda after every work day and buy whatever we fancied at the moment, regardless of how much it costs. It doesn't help that we both enjoy really nice meals and are sort of amateur foodies, plus my partner is an amazing cook. But, we desperately need to reduce our groceries bill.

One of the big problems is that my rugby-playing hubby is six foot, and claims he needs to eat a large helping of meat/protein every day or else he feels faint. Me, I could go without meat pretty much indefinitely, but there's no point in making two different meals every night. I've run into the problem in the past of trying to stick to a grocery budget, but eventually he comes up with the "Oh god hon, I'm soooooo hungry tonight, can't we just have a steak?" argument, and feel bad and cave in.

Does anyone have any tips for sticking to a food budget with a highly carnivorous spouse? I hate feeling like I'm feeding him gruel every night (especially since I'm much smaller than him, only 44kgs, and have a very small appetite, so it's not really fair) but at the same time, we HAVE to rein in our spending at the grocery store. Help!

catmiaow

My first tip would be make a list of what you usually use every week and stick to it, try and work out roughly what it will be so you can take enough cash for that but not so you buy things that are unnecessary.

Secondly why not get stuff that is supermarket own branded as that is usually much cheaper then normal stuff?

I sometimes find going late at night you can get bread and other bits reduced.

Why not get protein shakes for your partner so you don't always have to eat meat?

BadlyDrawnGirl_2

Unfortunately my partner is a real "meat and potatoes" type of guy, so I have a feeling he'd turn his nose up at the idea of liquid nourishment (with the exception of Guinness, of course, lol). :rolleyes:

We definitely are aiming to by mainly store-brand/basics range items this time around, although one thing that concerns us is the quality of basics meat cuts, i.e. the Sainsburys Basics/Asda Smart Price type things. Are we going to be asking for major food poisoning if we try, say, the budget pork chops or chicken legs? Perhaps I should post in the Basics Range thread...but if we could buy meat from the budget line we would be saving major money, since I think we're going to manage only two or three non-meat nights per week, at least at first.

We are also going to try meal planning, which hopefully will reduce our costs by making us buy only what's on the shopping list for that week. But it seems like an awful amount of organisation to try and plan seven meals which all use the same few ingredients! :undecided Any suggestions?

lexuslass

I have always been fussy about buying cheap cuts of meat, but I bought a slow cooker a few months ago and I love it! I use the Sainsburys basics meat (pork chops, lamb, chicken drumsticks etc etc) to cook in it and I can tell you, it's delicious... because it's cooked so long, the meat comes out really tender and it just falls off the bone!

I use it quite a lot during the week (I do still do buy the premium meat and chicken fillets for other meals - just not for every day). You could pick a slow cooker up quite cheaply at the moment in the sales (Argos do them for about a tenner!)

If you look on the old style moneysaving board (edit: link: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=43570&highlight=slow+cooker), there's a huge thread on there with loads of different meal ideas to cook in a slow cooker!

Hope this helps!!

lexuslass

This has just been posted on the freebies board too!! :T

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1809295

I shall be printing this off - hopefully it will help me get my shopping bill down a bit more too!!

BadlyDrawnGirl_2

Thanks for the advice! Yes, a slow cooker is definitely one of the few bits of "extra equipment" we're going to buy (we usually just make do with a frying pan and a stew pot, lol).

(WARNING: Long post ahead!)

...One other thing that I do want to invest a bit of money into in the beginning is getting a well-stocked cupboard together. I've found that in the past, our grocery bills are vastly reduced when we have a ready supply of the basics on hand, so that we only need to buy key ingredients during the week. I drew up a huge list today of the essential ingredients we use the most (rice/pasta, oils, spices, tinned veg, etc.) and the estimated total came out to just £36.46. This isn't including perishables like milk and eggs, of course, but I still think it's great considering how many items were on that list, and considering they'll be the backbone of our meals for the next several months or so. This is what we've agreed on (feel free to suggest any additions, deletions or changes!):

Cooking Essentials

Chicken OXO x 6 - £0.98
Beef OXO x 6 - £0.98
Vegetable OXO x 6 - £0.98
Cornstarch - £0.79
Rice - £0.73
Coconut cream UHT x 4 - £3.56
Pasta sauce - £0.36
Curry sauce - £0.07
Sweet and sour sauce - £0.28
White sugar - £0.93
Brown sugar - £0.99
Peanut butter - £0.69
Mayonnaise - £0.41
Honey - £0.68
Spaghetti - £0.69
Macaroni - £0.74
Penne - £0.74
Breadcrumbs - £0.91
Flour - £0.43
Yeast - £0.79

Subtotal: £16.73

Canned/Packaged Basics

Sweetcorn x 2 - £0.78
Peas - £0.16
Mushrooms x 2- £0.98
Carrots - £0.18
Red beans x 2 - £0.38
Tomatoes x 2 - £0.70
Pineapple x 2 - £0.36

Subtotal: £3.54

Herbs, Spices and Oils

Ketchup - £0.40
Mustard - £0.44
Olive oil - £3.98
Vegetable oil - £0.98
Salt - £0.69
Pepper - £1.48
Soy sauce - £0.78
Sesame oil - £1.24
Ginger powder - £0.79
Garlic powder - £0.61
Onion powder - £1.08
Rosemary - £0.58
Sage - £0.78
Garam Masala - £0.77
Chilli powder - £0.89
Bay leaves - £0.70

Subtotal: £16.19

GRAND TOTAL: £36.46

So based on this list of basics I will try to have on hand, I tried coming up with a sample meal plan for seven days and a shopping list that includes only the items we won't have immediately available. I came up with this:

Monday: Homemade Margherita Pizza
Tuesday: Chinese Honey-Soy Pork
Wednesday: Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Thursday: Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches
Friday: Red Thai Curry
Saturday: Fresh Pesto Pasta
Sunday: Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

The shopping list for the entire week, excluding the items we should already have on hand, comes to this (prices based on the Sainsburys Basics line, wherever possible):

Weekly shopping list:

Mozzarella - £0.47
Fresh Basil - £0.79
Diced Pork Shoulder x 2 - £4.00
Chicken - £2.39
Curry Paste - £1.24
Parmesan - £1.92
Pine Nuts - £1.75
Sliced Deli Cheese - £0.50
White Bread - £0.50
Canned Tomato Soup x 2 - £1.26

Weekly Total: £14.82

A few of those things aren't even dire necessities, like the curry paste or the tinned tomato soup (we do a mean homemade tomato soup, it just depends on what we have on hand, and/or how lazy we feel, haha). Also, things like the parmesan can be reused for later, and I can make a big batch of pesto and freeze it in little cubes.

We've decided to start out on a hopeful grocery budget of £150 per month, or £37.50 per week, so this falls well within that range.

...Now, if you've been patient enough to read this far, you're a saint! So tell me, does this all sound reasonable? Or do I have my head in the clouds?... :undecided

lexuslass

That's a really good idea and sounds perfectly feasible!!

I am sure if I sat down and done the same, then I could cut down on my grocery bill which is just awful.. we are a family of five - 2 adults, 3 children (aged 10, 2 and 1), so there are nappies etc that I have to buy but I MUST be able to spend a lot less than I do at the moment!!

Glamazon

My OH is similar due to his weight training! But he does drink protein shakes and eat the bars - the money comes out of his budget and he swears by them!

I tend to make big pots of chilli and bolgonese as he can't actually see the size of the meat and fill him up with kidney beans and tomatoes.

You could make a 500g pack of mince do about 6 meals if you bulk it out!

We do eat meat every night, I've just been diagnosed with Gestational diabetes so need meat as I can't have too much pasta/rice/bread/potatoes (all the stuff I love :rolleyes:). I buy the meat that's on offer in ASDA so got 12 chicken breasts for £10 - this does us 6 meals (1 breast each) which I bulk out with other stuff and we are always full.

The key is - meal plan, do your shopping around your meal plan and don't 'nip to ASDA for one thing' cos you'll end up spending a fortune!

Good Luck

BadlyDrawnGirl_2

Of course, none of the above includes any provision for breakfast or lunch, but we normally don't eat breakfast to begin with, and as for lunch, I'm perfectly happy with Basics soft cheese (I've had it before and I quite like it!) and cream crackers. OH is contented with sandwiches or leftovers.

I think our biggest downfall, aside from our nightly shopping trips, is the fact that so many of the dishes we cook have HUGE ingredient lists - we can get very extravagant in the kitchen, lol. So I've been looking up lots of three- and four-ingredient recipes to get our creative juices flowing.

ETA: I'm having a lot of luck at the moment with Epicurious.com - if you go into the Quick & Easy section, you can search by ingredient from there, so I'm trying to fill out my Beef/Pork/Chicken/Lamb options with relatively low-cost recipes. There really are a ton of great ideas!

It just occurred to me, is there any sort of "cheap and tasty recipe" repository on this site? If not, would anyone be interested in starting one with me?

mum26

Could you get your oh into eating porridge? That is so rib stickingly filling, lol!

Also, would he consider Ommelettes or other egg based things - fritatta etc as eggs are cheaper than meat?

Good luck! Yes there are tons of cheap recipes, the Old style section is brimming with them

lynzpower

Im noticing you are paying for herbs ( eg the basil) it would be a lot cheaper to be using a window box for these to have a fresh selection at all times. We dont ahve loads but over the years have had lime basil, basil, chives, tarrogon, mint and thyme & rosemary.