Can I pick your brains????

Yategirl

Is it ok if I pick your brains for ideas please everyone? We seem to have got into a bit of mess.... dh's wages have just come in and gone straight out to cover our overdraft We have been decorating downstairs (big job and are just trying to finish the last room now) and despite saving hard to do the job, we didn't have enough money with all the "little bits".....

Dh has 2 jobs - just started the 2nd one so we should get a bit of money from that one next week plus we have CTC (which I think is going to go down) and CB. We are family of 4 - 2 adults and 2 children aged 4 and 1).

I cook the majority of our food from scratch - buy the odd curry sauce, buy baked beans, rice pudding, jam, peanut butter readymade and at the moment bread (breadmaker has broken and would be cheaper to buy a new one when we can afford). Any tinned basics - tomatoes/kidney beans/flour etc I buy Value. I make flapjack, any cakes as required and yoghurt. Have more or less finished frozen veg from allotment last year and waiting the new crop now. I spend £200 a month on food/bathroom bits/cleaning stuff (toilet bleach/cream cleaner/floor cleaner) and dog biscuits plus £16 every 6 weeks on dog food for 2 dogs.

Can I get this down at all?

Would it be worth my while buying a breadmaker now to make wholemeal bread rather than buying bread (4 loaves a week roughly at approx 60-80p each)

Currently I meal plan - breakfasts is toast (&jam) or shreddies; lunches tend to be sandwiches or soup if we have some, fruit and flapjack; snacks a mix of fruit/veg/biscuits depending on mood and a mix of meals (though tend to be cheap and include roasts for left over meat / stock for soup).

Would it be cheaper to encourage my boys to have porridge for breakfast (ds2 eats 1-2 bowls shreddies plus slice toast, ds1 2 slices toast and sometimes an apple or pear. I will eat toast/shreddies or porridge, dh only likes toast)

What are good for lunches - quick to make and portable if needed?

How else can I "claw back" outgoings? I switch lights/not used appliances off; heating is off now but was as low as we could manage with through the winter.

all advice appreciated! thank you!

Calephetos

Is that brand name Shreddies TM, or generic Shreddies? There's not much difference between named cereals and supermarket own but the price, I find, though I've not eaten much cereal lately - forgive me if I'm wrong!

It's getting a bit warm for porridge, IMO...

Yategirl

Tesco's own brand shreddies, agree about porridge though!

Penny-Pincher!!

Evening

We are quite fussy about bread too, but we have found an excellent way around this:D OH pops out to our local Asda/Sainsburys later in the evening and more often than not, comes home with the nicer loaves (Warburtons Granary/linseed/wholemeal, Kingsmill or their best of bread) for pennies. Think the most he pays is about 25p a loaf but normally 10-15p per loaf. He buys loads and we freeze them. Some of the loaves are £1.30 at regular price. Have one defrosting ATM (Warburtons Granary) yellow stickered at 15p. Personally only use the BM for pizza dough and like the fresh bread for breakie with jams or honey but not for sarnies.

Do you have an Aldi's near you? OH & I are really fussy about our baked beans when used on toast or as part of a breakie/brunch, but we have now been converted to Aldis baked beans at 15p a tin and there lovely...quite sweet but nice! Iceland have a 6 pack of Heinz beans ATM for £1-so OH grabbed to packets..which is mega cheap.

Soups-Im not very good at doing home made ones...well havent done many..lol, but we love Heinz tomato soup and Asda often have their Heinz on 3 tins for £1, we add a small amount of water to it and one tin stretches for both of us for a lunch with a roll and butter.

Going later in an evening to Asda or our local Sainsburys has saved us a fortune and OH makes sure he only purchases items that are freezable. Chickens for 20p, steak and joints...pennies also etc etc.

PP
xx

Yategirl

Thanks PP. Find it difficult to get to the supermarket in the evenings as dh works late shift and I am at home with the children and no car but perhaps I should try and go on his next night off for bread....

just can't work out where to cut down.. anywhere!

bobsa1

Have you tried stardrops? Bit of a funny question but at 60ish pence per bottle, lasts ages and can be used to clean most things, it is cheaper than most products.

Usual suggestion of only getting products like toothpaste on bogof.

I too shop late in the evening and it has slashed our bills!

Icemaiden

I too spend £200 per month for 4 of us, 2 adults, 2 kids, DS is 14 and his portions are adult size so really 3 adults and 1 child. I have tried several times to get below this amount without much luck so have decided this must be our comfort zone and as long as I don't go over I'm happy, If I manage to pick up any bargains during the month so much the better but we eat very healthy and very well off this amount without having to give up anything really. You sound like your doing everything you can and maybe its the same for you.