My shopping bill keeps on going up and up!!!

rachbc

Markets are def the best bet for Fruit and Veg - I spend about £15 a week for a buggy full of f&v at the market which would cost me twice that at the supermarket

Fi27

moneypanicker wrote: »

I was thinking of getting a slow cooker but worry that i wouldn't use it. Are there any nice vegetarian meals you can cook in slow cooker? One of children doesn't like meat.

Thanks to everyone for input.

I would say a slow cooker would be a fab investment for you. Especially at the weekends when you want to spend time with the family. It so easy to bung a casserole, soup, mince, whole chicken, meatballs in sauce, anything really, in it in the morning. Put it on low, forget about it and enjoy your day then come 5ish put on a few tatties or pasta and your meal is ready with v little effort at all. It really frees up your time i find.

That's also my idea of batch cooking, every now and then, particularlly if i get some reduced meat or veg, i'll maybe make a chilli or bolognaise in the slow cooker and freeze it up in portion sizes ready to pull out when i

A. cant be bovered cooking :cool:
or
B. dont ave time to cook

Fi
x

OrkneyStar

OK NO-ONE THINKS YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD ABOUT THE BABY JARS (BUT THEY DO COST MORE)- OK ? .
As for the rest of the extra spending, it is probably a combination of increased prices and also that you are maybe working with your reduced store cupboard ?
Re the slow cooker, I don't find mine much use but many others swear by them- there is a slow cooker recipe thread somewhere on here. They do meat better than veggies from what I have experienced/heard from others though.
Regarding cheap meals, here are some suggestions which you might try (and not too long to do either!).
Homemade pizza(s)- let the kids choose what they want on their slice- serve with tattie salad (Lidl does a good ready made one!) and pasta salad (easy to make while pizza cooking).
Chilli- using mince and beans (any sort) along with whatever veg is on offer (eg peppers, tomatoes, carrots, peas etc)- serve with rice or quick HM wraps (can give you recipe if you like).
Chicken and chick pea curry- serve with rice or naan.
Also have you tried making sweet (eg raisin and cinammon) loaf in your BM ? Might get some use from it, and save you buying any treats (although I realise you don't buy that many anyway!).
Seeing how much it costs to feed so many mouths makes me glad we decided to stop at one baby! LOL
All the best,

missamoo

go to http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/
You shop as you would doing an online shop but it suggests cheaper options within that shop and you can also check how much your shopping would cost at other stores. I think it even has a Martin Lewis suggestion column! It is limited to Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys and Ocado but it is a useful tool. Esp as the price comparisons is per 100g say, not per pack.

If you don't want to shop online you can print out your shopping list, either for just one shop or for all of them. And because it gives a total you can just take that amount of money with you so you can't overspend.

Also slow cookers are bril and if one of your kids doesn't like meat do they mind food being cooked with meat? I make stew or curries in mine, and you could always scoop out the meat from the portion you give to the child who doesn't like meat.

Baby food jars - they are really useful and I know mums who only feed their kids from a jar. but i found mine were always sick afterwards!! anyway, what I did with both mine is make lots of meals with mashed potatoes and steamed veg and always make a bit extra - sausage and mash, chops and mash, toad in the hole and mash etc. Then after I'd dished everyones dinners up and mix up the mash and veg and either just mash it up or puree it depending on the stage of the baby and I bought a load of little pots and froze the portions up. Without a lot of extra hassle I could easily make 3 or 4 dinners for baby while making 1 of our dinners.

talulahbeige_2

Purpleclutterbuck wrote: »

. My hubby now takes allsorts to work for lunch (not the liquorice variety!!!) today for example he took leftover bolognaise, grated cheese, dried figs and nuts and a few pieces of choccy and a few prawn crackers! what a mixture but I can't remember the last time he took sarnies as he just seems to use up anything thats been already opened as I always keep a bit back !
.

I sometime do this with my OH and these are invariably the lunches he comes home and says that was an amazing lunch!

toolittletime

Hi MP! Just wanted to say I can so sympathise. I'm a part time working, mum of 3 - my youngest is 14months. Just wanted to say I would definitely get a slow cooker. In fact, I've got 2. Quite often we'll have a chicken roasting in one and rice pudding cooking in the other. Put them on first thing and dinner's cooked when we get home.

Like you we get thorugh loads of milk. I always get mine from either Farmfoods or Costco (6x2litres for approx £4.75) Also stock up at costco on meat, fishfingers, meatballs, sausages, bacon, squash and nappies. They often have voucher booklets with extra offers. Well worth having a look if you've got one near you. Sacks of spuds from a local farm are a must too. We manage on about £320 a month.

I also try to stretch my shopping an extra day or two so that even in a 31 day month I only go shopping 4 times.

You are doing really well and should be pleased with yourself!

Reverbe

rachbc wrote: »

Markets are def the best bet for Fruit and Veg - I spend about £15 a week for a buggy full of f&v at the market which would cost me twice that at the supermarket

Some markets maybe. we are not lucky enough to have a decent market tho we do have a fruit and veg stall in shopping centre some days a week. They are more expensive than supermarkets and also tend to give you stuff from behind the counter not the good stuff they have on display at the front. I do wish we were lucky enough to have butchers and markets etc.I am stunned we dont. We are quite a large town with a lot of shops and offices.

ginnyknit

Sadly they built a large MR T next to our market and lo and behold the market is sinking without trace. The veg on there was very good and kept much better than supermarket veg but the stall has changed hands 3 times in 6 months and the latest guy is fed up after a month's trading. Bolton has a fab market and late Saturday afternoon you can buy everything reduced so when I go to my Mums I try to nip on the market. Ive just been to Mr T's and am shocked how much our bill has crept up. Tomorrow see's the opening of an Aldi right near Mr T's so we will see how much I can find there cheaper.

OrkneyStar

Just commented on another thread how supermarkets have killed our butchers....seems they are doing the same to our farmers markets and greengrocers .

hermum

OOPs, Just lost my message, a similar one may come up in some random place.
Your odd jar of baby food probably doesn't cost any more than cheese & ham for the baby & isn't loaded with salt. Happy sleeping baby, happy Mummy. Don't beat yourself up about that, only you know what's best for your baby.
I always add beans, chick peas, lentils broth mix & basics stuffing mix to anything I can. Bulks meat out for much less.
Savoury roly poly with suet crust pastry, I use the veg one, as I prefer it. Uses a small amount of minced beef & is cheap. Suet pastry is a lot quicker than rubbing in the fat for pastry, & I find more filling than shortcrust. Although I do love ordinary pastry. Perhaps you could try making a vege stew with beans & pulses to use as a side dish looks more than a spoonful of carrots & swede etc.
Eat vegetarian once a week.
Slow cookers are brilliant as you can use cheaper cuts of meat, which are tastier anyway in my opinion. Chicken thighs are cheaper & tastier than breasts. If you don't like them, turkey's cheaper than chicken. The turkey legs are great value, at least 2 meals out of 1 leg if you make a soup, throw in some basics pasta towards the end of cooking & some grated cheese, lovely.
Basics sausages, I know not much meat content & lots of fat but sometimes needs must, I skin & mix up with again basics stuffing, made up. Use this for sausage plait, a huge pie. You can add apples, onions etc. Or for HM scotch eggs, for non meat eater, poor mans scotch eggs are made with mashed potato.
Other than bread flour I now use basics flour & have found no difference to how things turn out.
Good luck