Cutting down shopping budget further for family of 3

Jo_R_2

Hi all

Am looking for a little advice on my shopping budget. Started first month with £260, this month cut down to £220 and doing well. Tend to view it in terms of budget per week, ie for this month, budget of £55 per week but finding it doesn't always work out like that so the overall figure works better we find. Am buying for 2 adults and one two-year-old; one vegan (me) and one meat-eater, though he will eat anything I have, as does DD who is veggie. Usually do most/all of shop at Asda, though Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsburys all localish, and markets in town, and health food shops. On maternity leave on minimal wages for 6 months so need to cut down as much as possible.

I am at home now as have started my leave so eat a lot here, with DD most days, and boyfy. He works three shifts and usually takes a ready meal or prepared salad, though am working on this.

I am quite particular about certain elements of the shop; particularly prefer to buy wholemeal/granary where possible, avoid certain additives (nothing with sweeteners, no gelatine for me or DD as well as other obvious things), buy not-from-concentrate fresh juices, try to vary energy-giving foods to avoid wheat-based meals all the time, use mainly olive oil with sunflower here and there, and a variation between nuts/pulses/dairy/meat (depending on the meal recepient!) for the protein sources. For three of us I am hoping to look at something around £160-£180 per month, including household goods, but am not sure how realistic this is with the particular issues just mentioned.

Some sample meals from this weeks planner:

*Breakfasts:
all cereal (variety packs for DD, bran flakes and raisins for me),
toast (boyfy and DD, usually some best of both type bread and butter), and juice (fresh, not from concentrate, vary from week to week)

*Lunches:
jacket potatoes with cheese/hummus/beans and some kind of salad,
lentil dhal and naans (dried red lentils, fresh baby spinach, shop-bought naans)
home-made veggie/nut burgers (usually make and use half and freeze other half) with beans and waffles (shop own brand)
beans on toast
veg and rice soup (usually throw in whatever's lurking in cupboards, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, with a handful of lentils and dried brown rice) with rolls

*Dinners:
cous cous and chick peas (this one is what I eat when eating alone - Ainsley packet cous cous with half a tin of chick peas thrown in, rest of tin either gets used up in something else or thrown if not )
veg stir fry (dried egg noodles, shop own brand, with variety of veg - onion, carrots, mushrooms, sweetcorn from frozen, green beans from frozen)
macaroni cheese and tomato (dried macaroni with a tomatoey sauce made from tinned toms, and topped with cheese)

Most of family/coupley meals tend to be veggie-based, we also use vegemince and tofu every week, loads of tinned tomatoes and beans/pulses, dried red lentils, pasta with tomato sauce (homemade) at least once a week, veg chilli, sunday dinner, that sort of thing. Keep lots of frozen veggies. Have started making and freezing extra portions but freezer smaller than I would like so that's a little restrictive!

Also tend not to have desserts as such, but rather eat fruit, mostly fresh or occasionally tinned, or crumbles, and live bio yogurt for DD. Use very little cow's milk - instead use sweetened soya and get through around 2-3 cartons per week, though this is one thing boyfy won't have and prefer's cow's milk, but hardly ever has it as we don't drink tea/coffee as a rule.

I can see some potential areas to work on already - any suggestions muchly welcomed!

:j

Spendless

The only thing that stands out to me is the variety cereals for 2 year old. Would it work out cheaper to have a large box of cereal in for her?

Chipps

Do you have space to grow a few salads over the summer period while you are home? Lettuce etc in a grow-bag, or tomatoes, cucumbers or radishes?

Re the freezer space, I find that for things like bolognaise sauce, chilli etc, that doesn't matter too much about its shape, if you freeze them in ziplock bags they make little flat packages & you can stack loads of them in a small space. Also they defrost quickly cos they are so thin & flat.

C_Ronaldo

do you not shop at lidl/aldi

Jo_R_2

Spendless wrote:

The only thing that stands out to me is the variety cereals for 2 year old. Would it work out cheaper to have a large box of cereal in for her?

Yep, you are right! We tried this this week with some halfway healthy multigrain hoops and she wouldn't touch them because they weren't coated in sugar/chocolate! The irony is she hardly ever eats sugary/chocolatey stuff at any other time... And even more ironic is that when we give her the not-so-sugary stuff like the cornflakes and rice crispies, she will eat those without any sugar - but only after all the "good" stuff has gone!

Jo_R_2

C_Ronaldo wrote:

do you not shop at lidl/aldi

Not at the mo no but I think there are a couple nearby so will check them out. Are they generally cheaper? Or any particular items I need to look out for that will be cheaper than supermarket shopping? What's the quality like?

Sorry lots of questions!:D

Pink.

Hi Jo,

Have a look at Martin's article on shopping at Aldi/Lidl/Netto for some ideas of what's worth buying.

Pink

ScoobieGirl

Jo_R wrote:

Are they generally cheaper? What's the quality like?

Yes, generally they are a lot cheaper and that is reflected in the quality.

I know there will be widely differing opinions on this one, but personally I find the quality very low, and I have concerns about how good/bad for you some of the food is, meat especially. (Not a problem for a vegan though)

Your menu sounds like you have done really well already. Don't cut down too much, food is SO important and so damn enjoyable.:D

Have you tried growing your own veg?
Can you borrow a Cash 'n' Carry card to buy the tinned tomatos & cereal in bulk?

garret1

I think some of the items are of much higher quality than the big uk supermarkets. So much of their produce comes from the continent where they value food quality much more than the uk in general. I would agree about the meat as i prefer to know its provenance but for tinned goods/jars its fine. I'm afraid i'm a carnivore but you wouldn't be interested in the quality of their cooked meat. The cleaning products are fine and they have alot of good cereals and breads.
have you tried porridge for breakfast? A little goes a long way. Or what about buying a juicer for drinks?
I have bought stardrops and microfibre cloths as per advice in OS and don't need any other cleaning products!!

misty

Jo_R wrote:

Hi all

Am looking for a little advice on my shopping budget. Started first month with £260, this month cut down to £220 and doing well. Tend to view it in terms of budget per week, ie for this month, budget of £55 per week but finding it doesn't always work out like that so the overall figure works better we find. Am buying for 2 adults and one two-year-old; one vegan (me) and one meat-eater, though he will eat anything I have, as does DD who is veggie. Usually do most/all of shop at Asda, though Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsburys all localish, and markets in town, and health food shops. On maternity leave on minimal wages for 6 months so need to cut down as much as possible.

I am at home now as have started my leave so eat a lot here, with DD most days, and boyfy. He works three shifts and usually takes a ready meal or prepared salad, though am working on this.

I am quite particular about certain elements of the shop; particularly prefer to buy wholemeal/granary where possible, avoid certain additives (nothing with sweeteners, no gelatine for me or DD as well as other obvious things), buy not-from-concentrate fresh juices, try to vary energy-giving foods to avoid wheat-based meals all the time, use mainly olive oil with sunflower here and there, and a variation between nuts/pulses/dairy/meat (depending on the meal recepient!) for the protein sources. For three of us I am hoping to look at something around £160-£180 per month, including household goods, but am not sure how realistic this is with the particular issues just mentioned.

Some sample meals from this weeks planner:

*Breakfasts:
all cereal (variety packs for DD, bran flakes and raisins for me),
toast (boyfy and DD, usually some best of both type bread and butter), and juice (fresh, not from concentrate, vary from week to week)

*Lunches:
jacket potatoes with cheese/hummus/beans and some kind of salad,
lentil dhal and naans (dried red lentils, fresh baby spinach, shop-bought naans)
home-made veggie/nut burgers (usually make and use half and freeze other half) with beans and waffles (shop own brand)
beans on toast
veg and rice soup (usually throw in whatever's lurking in cupboards, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, with a handful of lentils and dried brown rice) with rolls

*Dinners:
cous cous and chick peas (this one is what I eat when eating alone - Ainsley packet cous cous with half a tin of chick peas thrown in, rest of tin either gets used up in something else or thrown if not )
veg stir fry (dried egg noodles, shop own brand, with variety of veg - onion, carrots, mushrooms, sweetcorn from frozen, green beans from frozen)
macaroni cheese and tomato (dried macaroni with a tomatoey sauce made from tinned toms, and topped with cheese)

Most of family/coupley meals tend to be veggie-based, we also use vegemince and tofu every week, loads of tinned tomatoes and beans/pulses, dried red lentils, pasta with tomato sauce (homemade) at least once a week, veg chilli, sunday dinner, that sort of thing. Keep lots of frozen veggies. Have started making and freezing extra portions but freezer smaller than I would like so that's a little restrictive!

Also tend not to have desserts as such, but rather eat fruit, mostly fresh or occasionally tinned, or crumbles, and live bio yogurt for DD. Use very little cow's milk - instead use sweetened soya and get through around 2-3 cartons per week, though this is one thing boyfy won't have and prefer's cow's milk, but hardly ever has it as we don't drink tea/coffee as a rule.

I can see some potential areas to work on already - any suggestions muchly welcomed!

:j

Can't be much help i'm afraid as I spend an obscene amount of money on food - it's my main fall down re money saving. I do a "big" shop and then can't find anything to eat!!! Then buy more several times a week which really adds up. I'm taking myself in hand this month as it is bothering me a lot. I have a problem spending say £200 in one go but drip drab £20 a go and spend loads more. I also don't like touching bone( I know I'm wierd) so can't buy full chicken or chops etc. Will be having veggie 3 times a week hopefully. Your meals sound yum though and healthy. Would it be cheaper to buy plain couscous and then add your own spices rather than Ainsleys? His is gorgeous though and t akes minutes and i got mine from B&M which was cheap. If you need a taster let me know especially the lentil dhal.

Heth_2

A few ideas:
- could you make your own naan bread?
- when you say hummous do you make your own? This is really easy to do with a blender and must be better for you than some of the shop stuff, and also cheaper
- you could freeze leftover chickpeas, or keep in the fridge for a few days instead of throwing them away.
- Where do you buy chickpeas? In sainsburies we have a choice of sainsburies own, or the natco (?) ones in the ethnic section, and the latter are alot cheaper.
- The cereal seems an easy target, maybe your daughter could only have the special ones as a treat, a a big box for everyday?
- I've never tried Ainsley cous cous (though I might if everyone thinks it is so good...) but you could also try making your own.

Apart from that it all sounds really good, and if you want to have things like fresh juice, then obviously you will spend more than someone who is happy with an economy brand. We spend around 200 pounds a month for 2 of us (though we eat meat and fish as well) and there are some things, like all the fruit/veg we have, that I don't want to compromise on to save money.