Help with shopping

pauleyc

Hi there
I am desperately in need of help to make my shopping cost less. There is me and dp, ds1 11yrs and ds2 10months and currently expecting another baby. I decieded not to go back to work and so dp gives me money for food. Idealy i would like to spend around 35-40 pound a week and do buy the odd smart price item as it is. I really need help as i dont like tomatoes or onions so really restrict what i make so am desperate for some cheap and tasty meals. I have found that i dont really buy meat as its expensive but do eat meat. I find i have cut down on fruit and veg as it seems to go off quick so can i freeze things like that? Sorry for the moan but really need some help on cutting back. Any ideas would be so geatfully recieved. Thank you

barneydee_2

saving money.last months grocery challenge I went way over budget :mad: but was still not as bad as it used to be before my lbm:T. I used to spend about (I say about because I never kept a spending Diary)£600 per month. I have halved this but In August I want to Get it down to£200.Here are a few ideas that mite help
1) keep a spending Diary this helps you to see where your money gose,
2) Make friends with your freezer, you will be amazed at what you can freeze, bread, Cooked Jacket Spuds(I Learned this only today) and small left over portions of things Like spag bog, Chilli, Cottage pie, the list is endless this is handy for when you do not to want to cooking, also any veg that you buy prepair it all on day of purchase and freeze in portion size bags,so all you have to do is pull and cook when you need it and it dose not go of so no waste:D
3)Take stock of what is in your store cupboard/freezer/fridge before you go shopping and make list and stick to it.
4)Meal plan and only buy the ingredents you need.
5) don't take oh and kids shopping with you as I always find extra things in my troley when they are with me:mad:
6)start baking cookies, cakes the list is endless.
well good luck i'm sure some others will come along with some great tips


Dee

pauleyc

Thanks Dee for taking the time to reply. Will def try and do meal plans instead of thinking what can we have tonight.

mouseymousey99

Hello Pauleyc - What type of things do you like to eat? If you give us a rough idea and maybe an old shopping list we can go through and suggest things?

Another idea is to go down a brand. I'm doing a 'scientific experiement' with choko digestives this week - bought the Tesco ones and the Tesco Value ones just to see if their is a difference.

This months Good Housekeeping has a 'Feed a family of 4' for £35 article.

I use this website all the time :-
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/ as its full of information.

You can save a fair bit buying frozen veg (or just use whats in season). I keep frozen spinach, beans and broccoli in the freezer all the time.

I use a butchers who delivers and freeze his things (current offer is 25 Chicken breasts for £22) and freeze them. I use one chicken breast for a stir fry for two of us. I noticed how much I was giving the cats and cut back on the portions.

Some things you can save on, some things I just don't - I buy steak mince & always buy butter. (Preffer the taste and I can cook with it). Ditto Olive Oil but instead of a fancy bottle I buy Tesco's own.

You can grow salad leaves so easily in a growbag. I've managed to get through the summer so far without having to buy any. (Herbs etc etc too).

Frozen fruit - yes you can - have you tried Blueberries? I think some of the fruit is a bit expensive when you weigh it against fresh (and its all in season at the moment). Frozen raspberries aren't too bad in the winter if you add them to cereal or a Pavlova. Strawberries this year seem to have no taste (maybe just me)! Pineapples are £1 Bargain!!
I've rattled on way too much - best wishes

pauleyc

Thanks mouseymousey
My favourite thing is pototes in any form really so do get through a lot i suppose. So we have mash, corned beef hash etc in the week. I love fish but find that a tad expensive.
We have a couple of local butchers but (sounds silly) i dont know what weights of mince etc to ask for as they are diff to supermarket so dont know how much cheaper it would be lol. i do know the chicken is a good price.
We have sausages, fish fingers or frozen crumbed haddock in the week and maybe a carbonara or pasta bake too but we seem to have the same thing each week which is prob something thats bugging me.
Prob need to start having rice or something which isnt expensive.

Thanks again

lynzpower

I think - if you shop well - nothing needs to be expensive.

I go 4 chicken legs from the butchers for 99p the other day, froze them then coked them cy yesterday, marinaded. Then stripped the meat off the bones and had them in a spicy mexican sauce with rice and a tortilla each.

Do you like ketchup or any other tomato based things. i dont like actual tomatoes but OK with passata tinned tomatoes for sauces that kind of thing.

If you prefer white sauces theres
Mushroom sauces- bits of left over chicken ina mushroom sauce- chicken & mushroom lasagne! A filling for a jacket potato! A filling fora pie
Honey & Mustard- easy to make and great with chicken legs - can be cheap
A La king- we have turkey insted of chicken often cheaper, cagain, good with rice, pasta, or as a pie or pot filling.
redwinebased sauces, briliant with sausages ( freeze the end of a bottle of red in icecube tray)
MOroccan tagine?

What about stir-frys do you like them- the suaces can be really cheap and if you use noodles ( even 8p noodles are totally fine for this) you canhave a lot of food with a little or no meat.

Do you like pizzas?

pauleyc

Thanks Lynzpower
No i dont like tomato sauces (im such a pain):o but yes i like white/creamier sauces. However yes i do like pizza (i have to make myself not think about the sauce on it)

yep i like stir fry but when i make them it seems to cost me a fortune when i get the stuff (not sure why). I definately need to get creative and some of the things you have said sound interesting.

mouseymousey99

Hope this helps:-

450g/1lb Feeds 2-3 people
1.5kg/3.3lb feeds 6-7 people
2.5kg/5.5lb feeds 10 - 11 people
900g/2lb feeds 3-4 people
2kg/4.4lb feeds 8-9 people
4.5kg/10lb - feeds 18 - 19 people

Copied it from an old leaflet I kept.

Stir Fry - I like them too, used to buy those bags of stir fry veg thinking its only £1 - BUT - you can buy a whole cabbage for less than £1. Shove it through a food processor (or chop) with some carrot (maybe + mushroom/spring onions etc) and you can make for 1/2 the price.

Plus it keeps really well in the fridge. Add oil & vinegar and you have a salad!

pauleyc

Fantastic thanks :-)

lynzpower

pauleyc wrote: »

Thanks Lynzpower
No i dont like tomato sauces (im such a pain):o but yes i like white/creamier sauces. However yes i do like pizza (i have to make myself not think about the sauce on it)

yep i like stir fry but when i make them it seems to cost me a fortune when i get the stuff (not sure why). I definately need to get creative and some of the things you have said sound interesting.

Can you tell me if you were to make a stirfry what you would put in it- there seems to be a chasm in what is "expensive".

Im making one tonight and although it is just for 2 this is what we are having

Amoy strsaight to work noodles ( got these from home bargains for 19p for 2 packs so 10p) 10p
half a value onion - 4p ( i know you wont use these)
handful of value mushrooms sliced 15p
of morrisons chicken breast peices that I got for £1
stirfry sauce 29p ( home bargains again i think)
redpepper sliced from value bag 40p
half a courgette- 15p
handful of chilli cashews - bought large bag from pound shop about 10ps worth, max.
half bag of beansprouts 25p
Ive also got half a bag of sharwoods thai crackers to go with on the side that I got for 29p from Home bargains as well.

For two that is 2.50 We could easily be thriftier by only using half of the chicken pieces. NOt having the thai crackers, or even making the sauce ourselves.

Butterfly_Brain

Have you got a good library near you? I got the we'll eat again and post war cook books by margeurite patten I was so impressed I actually bought them.There are so many cheap meal ideas in there, because food wasn't easily available during the war, it has good hints and tips on being frugal.

A bag of 20 smart price sausages is only 99p and can stretch easily if you allow four sausages a meal and slice them so it looks like there is more meat than there actually is, put it with pasta and a nice sauce or make a tasty hotpot, sausage toad etc.
Mince is another great standby because again it is so versatile
Chicken thighs stripped can yield a lot of meat and chicken is the cheapest meat at the moment, you can make loads of meals from it.
Pilchards are cheap and tasty or try making your own fishcakes with Tuna
Veg from the market lasts a lot longer than from the supermarket
Try making your own pizza and bread.
Do you have an Aldi near you? they have great deals but they can be limited on food lines but the things that I have bought from there have been good quality.
Netto and Lidl are worth a try too.
Watch for reduced items in the meat department and freeze them, if you find fresh veg cheap freeze that too.
Have a look at some of these threads they may be helpful
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1129333&highlight=mbaz

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=20967&highlight=mbaz

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=481412&highlight=thrift+lady