reducing grocery bill

Warriorsith

I would prefer to use a market or local shops but there's hardly any around my area, there are two Tescos and a Co-op within a mile of our house and a Sainsburys within 3 miles.
I think we spend between £180-£250 per month thats 2 adults and a 30 month old on groceries my OH decides what we'll be eating as shes following some healthy eating plan thats she gets from the net so most of it is fresh stuff which goes off within a very short time I think thats due to the packaging by the supermarkets and how they date stuff, I ate an apple yesterday (09/06) which going by sainsburys labelling had to be used before the 4th June and it perfectly fine. I don't agree with posted above stating ADSA is a cheap place to go as on the off chance we go to one we spend well over £100 and don't seem to get much in return.

There needs to be a change in this country of how we shop and bring back smaller businesses to stop the supermarkets having such a monopoly and the government should do more to enforce this. The Quality and taste of food from Butchers and other shops seems to be far better than Supermarkets.

Okay little rant over now........relax.

lynzpower

Completley agree warriorsith

My local butchers does a freezer pack for £20 with pounds of mince, 8 chicken quarters, frying steak, about 30 sausages, and 8 pork loin chops 8 lamb chops.

Sadly we cant use most of it now due to OHs cholestrol, but shopping around is a great idea, again, this brings the focus back to prices. We will be trying to use lidl for a few bits as well.

I happily go out of my way to go to farmfoods where somethings are way cheaper than tescos, but cant get all I need under one roof etc.

If you have a car, then much easier

Queenie

gazza975526570 wrote:

... We get the childs meals on budget - meals about 90 pence which last for 2 meals when added with some veg etc.

Not quite sure what you mean by that - are you buying special pre-packed things? I would feed a 20mth old the same foods we would be eating and I also used to freeze ahead foods for us and our children.

If you eat a lot of chicken and pork, you can cut your food costs by rethinking in what 'form' you eat them and what portion size you are eating.

One chicken can feed a family of 4 for at least 3 meals with the carcass being used to make a chunky chicken broth/soup and stock.

Minced meat for chilli's, spag bol can be eked out with veggies and I often do half meat and half soya mince. (Soya mince is roughly 60p a pack and reconstitutes to about 800g equivalent of minced meat). The soya mince will take on the flavour of the meat/meal you are making.

Eggs can be a meal and is cheaper than chicken or pork. In this weather a tasty omelette with salad and a crusty roll makes a pleasant meal to sit down to.

Clothing - very tempting to see and buy ad hoc. Wiser still to have a seperate clothing budget. You can gauge how much you have spent on clothing by going over past receipts. If you plan your clothing purchases, you empower yourself and put control of your £'s back into your own pocket. A 20mth old could be dressed very well from charity shops too, at that age, children don't wear out clothes, simply out grow them so only invest in something really special for those times when it's really needed! For daily stuff, charity shop bargains can make a huge difference to the clothing bill. When you buy clothes makes a difference too. Earlier this year I bought a load of clothes in the sales - £500 worth of clothes for £100 for two boys (10 & 12). Quality stuff, bought in bigger sizes ... all ready for this coming Autumn/Winter. Last summer, I bought clothes for *this* summer, all in the sales.

Most of what I would recommend has already been mentioned in previous posts but definately "shop at home" first! My dh used to buy stuff simply out of habit without knowing or realising that there was already a stack of it at home.

I'm very fortunate that I have several farm shops to choose from around here and it is much cheaper to go there than Asda, Tesco, Co-op, Sainsbury's (unless it's the reduced counter ) Lidl or Aldi.

Once you find a good butcher, stick to it! Cheaper cuts of meat can be cooked up beautifully in a slow cooker - which will merrily cook away while you are both at work, so you can come home to a lovely cooked meal with little effort.

Wishing you all the very best in your challenge to reduce your supermarket expenses. You'll do well simply because you've acknowledged there is an issue and you're addressing it so, well done for that :T

Finally, try not to be overwhelmed by all the advice and take things in stages. Rome wasn't built in a day either

gazza975526570

UPDATE*****

well its a few weeks since my original post and thought even if only for my own benefit id update as follows:

original monthly asda bill around £650 WELL last two weeks ive spent a total of £120 which in the past would have been around £325 so im well chuffed!!

So firstly thanks for all the above usefull posts.

i did it by:
- dropping a big monthly shop this on its own could have been £150+ in the past
- i now do online shopping, less impulsive buys. I also use a £10 off code from another thread which even with delivery saves me £4 a week - that on its own is over £200 a year!!!
- bought some smart price brands - stuff like frozen veg, cat litter and odd random things.
- planned meals more - this has helped a lot
- now take pasta for lunch to work or take a tin of beans and simply buy a jacket spud as for lunches at times id spend £3 a day
- breakfast at home every day - no more bacon sarnies at work!!!
- go to her nans every sunday - ever little helps!!!!- bought cheaper cuts of meat, turkey instead of chicken and pork rib eye steaks - only £2.50 for 4 and miles nicer than pork chops/steaks etc
we tried buying fruit/veg local but there is only one in our village and miles more expensive so still buying from asda
So all in all im well chuffed and on track for maybe £250 shopping bill this month - a £400 saving WOW thats nearly 5 grand a year!!!

Gotta stick to this..........

Greenwellies_2

Well done, it's amazing to see the changes isn't it.

I have managed to save £400 from last month and I have already put aside another £400 from this month (this month started yesterday 23rd)

You wait until you can see the money you don't need to use building up - it's really additctive.

Good luck

GW

Oh, the smart price peas (frozen) are not that nice

newleaf

Well done!

Emmzi

round of applause!!!!

tired any cheapbeer yet?

We had a lidl beer tasting day -one can of each... at least half were AWFUL but the nice ones are also nice and cheap!

Mrs_Sparkle

Wow, you've made a fantastic change in a short time- well done. I must admit that grocery shopping is my own personal weak point- along with clothes shopping... and since Tesco do some very nice clothes the 2 weaknesses combined can be lethal. I have listened to everyone on here and only now buy BOGOFs, reduced + cheaper cuts of meat, e.g. chicken thighs not breasts. I generally buy less and throw less out. My 2 spoilt kitty cats have gone onto dry food that I can buy in huge sacks rather than the pouches they used to get, and hubby and I have developed a liking for Tesco's south african red wine at £2.90 a bottle instead of spending £5 a time.

We are still spending more than I'd like but we're probably down to around £250 a month now. Just need to wean hubby off his meat + BBQ products...

Coupon-mad

I have read this thread with interest as we are a family of six and I am always trying to save food-shopping money.

Don't think you've yet had anyone recommending always carrying a stash of money-off coupons? I see the OP still shops instore at Asda sometimes, and most Asda stores will take off around 10% off your bill for any coupons they stock the item for (some stores will even let you use any amount).

This is without buying the item stated on the coupon. I stress that this is a recognised policy at Asda, Tesco (and Waitrose but a bit too expensive for me unless I can pay all in coupons!). If you ask at you branch's customer services first, they will confirm what their policy is.

Then start building up a stash of money-off vouchers. Tesco has Chicago Town pizzas on BOGOF at the mo, costs you £1.66 for 4 pizzas BUT make sure you find those with £1 of coupons attached to each box. Then you have £2 in money-off coupons for a £1.66 spend, and you can use these next time (but NOT against pizzas if you don't want to).

You can get £2.79 worth of coupons in Real People Magazine this week. Buy one copy first, this weekend, at 30p. Cut out the coupons quick which include TWO each for 30p off Real People mag, then go back and buy two free ones. Cut out those coupons and buy more free ones etc. and you will have lots of coupons to offset against ANY shopping, original cost just 30p.

Every morning on MSE there is a Newspaper thread, telling you of any vouchers in which rags. The point of this is so that you can go and buy multiple copies just to get the vouchers, if they are worth much more than the paper. For instance, the Mail on Sunday a few weeks ago had Coupons worth about £6.50 (paper cost £1-something).

Here's yesterday's Newspaper thread which also mentions the money to be saved by spending an initial 30p then getting free copies of Real People:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=216661

Happy shopping! :T

gazza975526570

Emmzi wrote:

round of applause!!!!

tired any cheapbeer yet?

We had a lidl beer tasting day -one can of each... at least half were AWFUL but the nice ones are also nice and cheap!

well as long as no one i know finds out.....
i did buy some asda lager (hangs head in shame!!!)
but it was awfull!! YUK!!
it had the same alochol content as shandy or something similar so unfortunately im having to stick with tried ans tested lager.

in fact thats a good point is there any good cheap lager out there other than brands? I normally try to but like two cases for £16 but wondered if there is anything cheaper out there?