How tight to pinch that penny?

MummyMoo

Just wondering, whilst doing my next weeks menu, how far do people on here go when it comes to getting the most use out of every penny? I mean, I LOVE the sneaky tricks thread on here somewhere, about squashing the toilet roll to stop your toilet training kids wasting half a roll on an unsucessful pee attempt! lol! (can you tell Im toilet training my daughter right now?!) But when I was putting prices next to each item I noticed that I round up a lot (like, 50p for a red pepper) which I know is due to being blind to money and spending for the last 13 years. But really i was wondering things like do you price up each meal per head? like, you buy a bag of saugages for £2 and there's 10 of them, do you allocate a price to each sausage then guage your weekly shopping list/predicted spend by this, for example?

Im on a high with my bipolar at the moment, so dont know if Im being to detailed or ambitious, or if it just makes good sense? Im £8500 in debt, single mum, unemployed. Personally I think it makes sense to be so tight, but my judgement is clouded.

justevi

I have never priced up meals per head but I do think the best way to save is to make extra and freeze some each time! This works best for small families.
I make soup which my family love, I vary it slightly by sometimes adding one or all of: butternut squash, parsnip and sweet potato. Basic is bacon, carrots, onions, leek, turnip and potato with seasoning and or veg stock cube. Either chop small or chop in food processor and boil. Great with a crusty roll and if you have kids, full of goodness. I make a pressure cooker full but tbh have never managed to freeze any as family descend like flies and son in law takes some home for his lunch at work next day lol When you consider what it costs to make and how many it will feed it has to be one of the healthiest and cheapest meals you can make.

VfM4meplse

I agree it's near-imposible to price a meal unless you are going to limit how much is eaten.

Clowance

I tend to price it approximately by the cost of the meat (or protein) portion of the meal, for example sausages work out at 1.08 for the four of us (with half a packet of Richmond frozen ones), veg and potatoes I buy the cheapest, yesterday bags of new potatoes and baking potatoes were £1 each in tesco. Carrots and frozen broccoli (quite a bit cheaper than fresh, gave up fresh when it shot up in price a year or so ago). Steak on the other hand would be £12 for the 4 of us so is a rare treat. The cost of the vegetable part of the meal stays fairly constant.
So a chicken would be about £4 and may or may not do sandwich fillings as well, but the bones make stock for minestrone the next day.

HTH