How do I make the most of my food budget?

mrsraggle

This is my first post so apologies if I'm in the wrong place!

Next year I go on maternity leave for 9 months and drop about £800 a month in salary so I need to start making the most of my food budget. We currently buy online using mysupermarket and spend £60-70 (using the downshift whenever I can bear it!).

I want to make sure we spend no more than £200 per month on groceries. Do you find buying at butchers/farm shops more cost effective than supermarkets? Do you find twice monthly shopping more cost effective? What tips do you have for me?

lolly_896

We shop on different days so this week was monday, next week tuesday, following week wednesday etc.

Always cook from scratch, no packets of anything

Bulk out meals - finely grate a carrot in to a spag bol/cottage pie etc

Use smartprice/value when you can or when asda do special offers on the better tinned tomatoes or heinz baked beans then stock up if you have space

Not too much if any at all fizzy drinks/biscuits/crisps this will also get rid of that baby weight

Always freeze down that last portion that i used to put in the bin for lunch the next day

Good luck with the baby x

lisa26_2

Have a look on the 'old style' board, there's loads of ideas on there of how to feed your family for less

nicksh

Agree with the previous posts, and would add that meal planning is the key.
I've found butchers *can* be much cheaper than supermarkets, and greengrocers can too - but watch for what's on offer (eat seasonal) & I've found farm shops are very good quality without being dearer than supermarkets, but it really does depend where you live.
Good luck with the baby!

geordie_joe

mrsraggle wrote: »

We currently buy online using mysupermarket and spend £60-70 (using the downshift whenever I can bear it!).

If you only shop online you will miss out on all the reduced items.

If you live close enough to any of the big supermarkets, try popping in at different times of the day and see what they are reducing.

jbreckmckye

There are lots of meals that can be bulked out with veg. As noted, carrots help stretch out a bolognese - likewise beans (in chili con carne, too, where beans can replace meat entirely). Augment it further with plenty of celery (celery's a classic part of a mirepoix anyway) and onion.

Make roast joints on Sunday. Yorkshires are a firm favourite, cheap to make an filling, and the leftovers are great for Monday meals. Beef makes a nice stroganoff (esp. the outer, drier bits); Chicken turns into a curry; Pork goes nicely with bubble and squeak (itself made from leftover Sunday veg).

Ultimately, my advice is to carefully choose what you buy so that you can exploit leftovers, and never have to throw food away. Curries are great, because you can make one out of practically anything, likewise soups. This Sunday, for instance, I bought a Tesco Value chicken, had my meal, made a green curry (add coconut milk, a little nam pla and garlic - sorted!), fried rice (using leftover rice) and a barbeque chicken pizza. Just plan and you'll never spend more than you need.

Queen_of_NO_MATTER_WHAT

If you can shop in more than one supermarket, I check Aldi and lidl online to see what the offers are on fruit and veg and also mysupermarket to see what asda and tesco offers are on, I always check my cupboards and freezer to see what I've got in before I then start making my list. I meal plan around what i've got in and what cheap veg is in aldi/lid, then make a list of other meals we are going to have, then I think about breakfasts and lunches, cleaning stuff. By only buying what I need and what I'm going to use I end up saving a fortune, I used to just go to the supermarket and throw things in the trolly a lot of it wouldn't get eaten and I didn't know what we were eating from one day to the next. Much more managable this way

LilacPixie

That was me a year ago. dropping to SMP and losing around 1k a month. As has been said before meal planning and bulking out is the key. I also bulk cook and freeze meals.

Has to be home cooked all the way, you would be surprised how easy and cost effective it is to make your own burgers and meatballs. I tend to make loads then freeze. I find that more time effective.

We tend to have 1-2 meals a week without meat or very little meat. Lidl/Aldi are good. tinned toms are about same price as tesco/asda basic brand but the quality IMO is far better.

Household stuff like loo roll I stock up on when on offer I use coupons whenever possible

We were down to £220 a month last year for 2 adults 2 cats a toddler and a newborn drinking formula. What is your family size?

Kimitatsu

Do you have a large freezer? If you have the room to keep one then I would invest in a large chest freezer as it will pay for itself in the first year. We have a 21cu ft freezer that we keep out in the garage - brilliant!

We have 2 adults, 2 children and lots of animals (I will come back to them in a minute lol) I bulk buy where possible, keeping an eye out for offers in local supermarkets (morrison, waitrose, M&S all have some really good offers - personally not a fan of tesco, I dont think their food is very good quality, Asda is the wrong side of town for me, but they are cheaper than the others) I bulk out meals using lentils, butter beans, veggies. I tend to find cheap subscriptions to magazines and then use the recipes with extra veg/lentils/beans etc in, so there is no comparison to what they have had before I keep my favourite recipes in a folder to do again.

Personally I do use the farm shops because they are close and once they get to know you, you always get a good deal, I regularly get a few quid knocked off the bill because I am a regular. I tend to buy meat in bulk where I can buying a lamb, half a pig or a fore of beef at a time. Most butchers will make up a freezer pack for you if you want to specify particularly what it is you want.

I use the discount shops such as B&M and Netto great for branded goods, Aldi and Lidl you need to know what you are buying, for me it can be a bit hit and miss but electrical stuff is brilliant from them.

If you are at home had you thought of growing any of your own stuff? I have had potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, salad leaves in this year, all in pots or on the window sill. When we ran out of potatoes our local animal feed store does a 56lb bag for £4.50 and they are gorgeous potatoes.

Animals - local feed merchant their own brand stuff, with pet mince from the butchers for a bit of added variety. After that there are mice in the garden :rotfl:

HTH - ask if anything I have said is unclear, I am currently typing around the cat who believes she needs a cuddle!!!

minerva_windsong

My general tips for keeping my food budget down when I was a student:

- Cook from scratch as much as possible.
- Bulk cook and freeze meals. This was an absolute godsend on those nights when I got in from uni, cold and knackered, and could just whack stuff in the oven.
- Value or own brand as much as possible. Most things can be tarted up with extra ingredients to make them taste better, and in stuff like sauces you don't even notice it.
- Use coupons and take advantage of special offers on things you usually buy wherever possible.

CouponWoman

I find its great to go the supermarket about 2 hours or so before closing time to get the reduced bargains

My nearest Tesco is not a 24 hour opener so on a Sunday when they shut at 4.00 pm I might go around 1.30pm

or in the week when they close at 8.00pm I might go at 6.30-7.00pm

My recent Tesco bargains - 2 gammon joints reduced from £4+ to 50p, lamb chops reduced to 50p, cheese reduced to 10p, milk 10p, lots of veg reduced to 10p or 20p a bag.

I went to Asda for something one evening and they were reducing things, got a fresh chicken for 40p and a tray of chicken breasts for 40p as well as a few other bits.

Also use coupons where possible by checking the printable coupon thread, doing this has saved me a fortune this year.

Good luck with the baby

I have had some real bargains, recent ones