How do you manage to spend so little?!

clairelg88

I've been following some of the threads on how to spend less, etc and have started to cook from scratch, use lentils etc but I don't know how you all manage to keep your weekly shopping so low!

I have just done an online shop at asda (i dont normally shop this way, just i usually share a lift with my mum but she's away at the mo) it still came to £40 so i dont know where i am going wrong. I dont buy any ready meals anymore and most of the stuff is value.

Here's what i got:
QtyProductPrice1Arla Fresh milk - 1 per cent£1.001
ASDA 8 Beef burgers£1.00
ASDA Apricots£1.88
ASDA Battered cod£2.00
ASDA Bran flakes£0.85
ASDA British Beef Mince£1.00
ASDA Broccoli£0.50
ASDA Carrots£0.50
ASDA Custard Doughnuts£0.50
ASDA Diced chicken breast£2.00
ASDA Fresh-for-a-week medium white loaf£0.82
ASDA Freshly frozen Mixed Vegetables£0.98
1ASDA Iceberg lettuce£0.50
1ASDA Low fat yogurts - peach, pineapple & mandarin£1.00
1ASDA Mix - pizza base£0.55
1ASDA Organic Organic dried split lentils - red£1.21
1ASDA Smartprice Apples£0.69
1ASDA Smartprice Bananas£1.26
2ASDA Smartprice Batter mix£0.16
1ASDA Smartprice Coco rice£0.66
1ASDA Smartprice Digestives£0.31
1ASDA Smartprice Eggs - minimum net weight£1.45
1ASDA Smartprice Fruit fromage frais£0.45
1ASDA Smartprice Pasta sauce - bolognese£0.36
1ASDA Smartprice Potatoes£1.36
1ASDA Smartprice Rich tea£0.25
1ASDA Smartprice Sausages - thick£0.48
1ASDA Smartprice Toilet tissue - white£1.26
1ASDA Smartprice White rolls£0.29
1ASDA Soft pitted prunes£0.90
1ASDA Stuffed chicken - sage and onion (please note that the price displayed is the price per kg)£2.490.6 kgASDA Tomatoes£0.41
1ASDA Tomato puree£0.78
1ASDA Wheat bisks£1.15
1ASDA Whole cucumber£0.70
1ASDA Yellow honeydew melon£1.00
1ASDA You'd butter believe it£0.85
1Bisto Gravy granules - chicken£0.70
1Chicago Town Edge to edge pizza - Californian cheese£1.00
1Oxo Chicken stock cubes£0.781Paxo Sage and onion stuffing£0.41
1Wall's Cornetto family 6 pack - classico£1.00
1Wyke Farm Rich & Creamy Mature Cheddar£2.00
1Yeo Valley Organic yogurt - strawberry£1.00

Any tips/ recipes would be most appreciated!!

thanks in advance

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PasturesNew

Go through your receipt and be honest as you look down:
- needed
- needed, but wanted to spend a bit extra than I could get away with
- didn't really need, but impulse bought and I'll use it
- completely splashed out and this is a luxury item

Most people confuse need with want.

I need a loaf of bread, could get a Tesco long-life one for 65p, or I could choose the one that's all nutty looking round the outside, costs £1.40 and has a shelf life of only 4 days so I will need to buy two of those in the next 10 days. £0.65, or £2.80. It all adds up.

Potatoes, I need baking potatoes, oh look I'll buy 3 ... at 3x the cost of the value bag of spuds.... so it's one "proper baking potato" at 3x the cost, or just bake more/smaller ones at a fraction of the cost.

Also, items you didn't really need... e.g. making a chilli, one pepper costs £0.70, or you can buy a pack of 3 for £1.20 .... or you can leave them out entirely and save £1.20.

It's attention to detail and price awareness that wins the day. Oh - and being tight helps.

clutterydrawer

for me it's a combination of various little tricks and techniques which I have adopted over time...mostly found on this forum!...I used to spend over £50 per week and have cut it down to £10-15 but it was a very gradual process, you can't do it all at once I still struggle to get it as low as lots of people on here though *le sigh*

Maybe you could state the kind of things you buy and what you cook with them and people could suggest some thrifty alternatives?

PasturesNew wrote: »

Also, items you didn't really need... e.g. making a chilli, one pepper costs £0.70, or you can buy a pack of 3 for £1.20 .... or you can leave them out entirely and save £1.20.

And stick a pinch of chili flakes in instead...the cost of which is negligible and won't make any difference to the flavour (in my opinion!)

It does all depend on what youre willing to cut out though.

Dr_DiNg_DoNg

I need a loaf of bread, could get a Tesco long-life one for 65p, or I could choose the one that's all nutty looking round the outside, costs £1.40 and has a shelf life of only 4 days so I will need to buy two of those in the next 10 days. £0.65, or £2.80. It all adds up.

but the lay off is your family are eating the rubbish chemicals that make the bread long life.

best to make your own

clairelg88

well we generally have cereal for breakfast, then lunch is usually just a ham or cheese sandwich.

the meals i planned for this week are spag bol, sheperds pie, roast chicken and veg, jacket potatos and salad, hm pizza and a curry or chicken casserole

we do have one or 2 things out the freezer aswell, usually once or twice a week

thanks for your ideas so far

PasturesNew

How many people is that feeding? For how long?

clairelg88

2 adults and 1 child - she's 3
its just for the week

clutterydrawer

How I would cut that down would be to get rid of the cereal and have porridge or perhaps musli instead, and to eat a lot less meat. Glad to see lentils on the list , I tend to use them heavily as a protein source to avoid buying cheese, eggs and meat. You don't need pizza base mix either, it only takes a minute to make some from flour. But as I said, it depends on your limits - there's no point making your life miserable by not enjoying your food, unless you literally don't have any money. There are also the old favourite tricks for getting the same amount of food for less money - buying stuff in bulk when on offer, shopping late in the day to get "yellow sticker" items, strategic use of coupons etc.

I'm not sure how Asda's other prices compare, but that tomato puree is shocking unless it's the biggest tube ever - it's 50p in morrisons and (last time I checked) about 40p in Aldi.

Doesn't look like a terrible list overall though, there's minimal processed stuff an plenty of fruit and veg. Could you consider making more meals based around rice, pasta, couscous and the like - they are pretty filling for minimal cash

Zazen999

Tip; what are you actually making, meal wise with that list?

Try it the other way round; menu plan and list the ingredients that you need and then shop. Don't buy it if it isn't on the list. Write down a months' worth of listed food, and also write down the extras that you get during that month; then look at the difference between your weekly shops here and a menu planned listed shop.

clairelg88

Zazen999 wrote: »

Tip; what are you actually making, meal wise with that list?

spag bol, sheperds pie, roast chicken and veg, jacket potatos and salad, hm pizza and a curry or chicken casserole

HariboJunkie

I have to say that it looks fine to me. Do you really NEED to reduce it?

Please try not to compare yourself to people on here. It's not a competition and there are always comparative factors going on like how many people, how big are the appetities, how many hours do you work outside the home, do you compromise on quality etc etc.

One thing I would mention would be to try to get the bulk of your fruit and veg from Lidl and/or Aldi. It's very cheap and I have never had a problem with quality.