February grocery challenge

crana999

nabowla wrote:

I'm doing quite well so far on switching to own brands (dishwasher tablets, washing powder etc) and buying special offers. However, I'm really struggling to keep the meat/fish and fresh fruit/veg bill down. I live in quite an affluent area where the weekly 'market' is a trendy, organic farmers' market (with trendy prices!). There aren't any cheap veggie shops or butchers about locally, either.

I do look out for stuff that's marked 'reduced to clear' in the supermarket but there's very little available (probably because everyone's just like I used to be, and wouldn't touch it with a bargepole!).

Has anyone got any brainwaves about how I could cut back the cost without cutting back the quantity? I don't have a car so travelling long distances is out of the question!

Hi, I;m in a similar situation, although our market is a bit better than yours. I guess the best answer for you is probably:

1) Cut down on total meat & fish - use more cheap protein sources like pulses and TVP.

2) Figure out where you get the most "bang for your buck" regarding fruit & veg. This usually varies from supermarket to supermarket, but carrots, for example, are usually one of the cheapest veg. Cabbages are also usually cheap.

In sainsburys, bags of economy apples work out well (I think it is 61p or thereabuots for 1.5kg). Look at the unit price (should be on the shelf) and figure out what gets you more fruit/veg for your money! (Remember that for things like bananas where you can't eat the whole weight you buy, the effective price per unit is higher - if that makes sense!)

Also look at tinned/frozen veg: these can work out fairly cheap, for example economy frozen peas and economy tomatoes.

Look out for seasonal fruit/veg prices: buying things in season is often cheaper.

Make more use of these things that are cheaper per weight and cut down on the more expensive things. You will learn many ways of dealing with carrots

One last thing is that you can swap things around e.g. fruit is often more expensive than veg and you do get sick of having economy apples all the time - but carrot sticks are sweet and crunchy and a nice change either in a packed lunch or for a pudding sometimes (yes I know that sounds a bit odd!) or snack.

Remember that pulses (dried or tinned) can count towards one of your portions of fruit & veg for the day so by swapping from meat to pulses you are getting one of your vegetables in too.

Austin_Allegro

I usually manage to keep the weekly shop to between £10 and £15 which includes toiletries and cleaning products. The main points to remember are:

Watch the meat consumption - this is the biggest expense - have chicken, bacon, sausages etc rather than prime cuts

Buy economy items whenever possible. Involves a bit of trial and error - most are as good as the branded items but some aren't.

Treat alcohol as a luxury item outside your food bill and don't have wine with your meal, wait until afterwards as if you're full you'll drink less.

Use markets whenever possible especially for fruit and veg

Keep toiletries/cleaning products to a minimum - use bleach, sodium bicarb and vinegar.

'Shop around' in your cupboard - try to use up all the odd tins, packets etc in your cupboard rather than buy new stuff.

Lelly

My daughter reckons tesco value beans are the best

loafer_2

tiff wrote:

Hi Loafer, the coupons I used were those Sainsburys ones that were around over Christmas, they were out of date on the 15th Jan but the girl still took them no problem. I have loads more, just wish I'd used them but lately they've been saying they dont take Sainsburys coupons so I just chanced it with a few.

Thanks for the links above, I havent used printed ones yet. Asda have a sign on the customer service desk saying they dont take internet coupons, so Tesco are my only hope, like I said they have got strict lately so we shall see.

Saturday shopping with a young student or two on the tills, they don't even blink at the vouchers. Personaly I'd rather use internt ones than other supermarket ones.

L.

Lelly

One great idea with pasta sauce, just takes 15 mins..Put Passata or tinned tomatoes in a pyrex container (NOT PLASTIC it melts!) with a good splodge of olive oil and seasoning, put in the microwave for 10 minutes . In the meantime cook your pasta, fry any veg you want to add in a veyr little olive oil ...mushrooms, peppers, courgettes etc.asparagus is good too add garlic puree or chopped garlic, add to the tomato sauce and mix with the pasta. Fresh basil is good added at the last minute. Leave the tomatoes a couple of minutes before taking the lid off as they have been frying fiercly in there, this tastes great as it is, for non veggies add a little fried bacon preferably smoked and diced..serve with grated cheese and salad.. enjoy

chrisico

On the subject of tinned tomatoes, I always put them into the blender with one grated carrot , whizz them up and use that in pasta sauce. Adds extra sweetness, bulks up the sauce, and gets vegetables down the necks of fussy children painlessly!!

tiff

Thats a great tip Chrisico.

On the subject of tomatoes, last week I bought some squishy tomatoes from the veg shop for 20p a bag. I put them in the oven, drizzled them with oil and sliced garlic and roasted until soft. Then put in the processor to make a sauce and I've frozen it until I want to use it with pasta. Tastes delicious! (I read this tip on here somewhere.)

I've done so much cooking since I joined this forum, my husband wants to know whats wrong with me!

Janeryan

Well as it's 1 Feb today I think I will give this a go too.

Dinner tonight is chicken breast in white wine sauce for hubby(who will be home late due to Marathon training run) wqhich I have defrosted from freezer having cooked it last week and for me & son age 14 meatballs in tomoato sauce and noodles(again from freezer and storecupboard) I wonder if I can get to the weekend without buying anything-it's difficult as hubby is eating me out of house & home due to all the running!!

spidystrider

crana - I used to buy wholemeal bread all the time but the kids got bored of it, so it's maybe time to re-introduce it. I never have tried the wholemeal pasta though.
You're idea of contacting Quorn is a good one but I have already done this using all my relations addresses and they finally stopped sending vouchers out. I don't blame them, I was taking advantage, but I buy so much of the stuff I thought I'd make the most of the savings. I'm not sure if there is a thread on here anywhere about where to get regular money-off vouchers from companies ( not internet ). I find King Of Shaves brilliant for vouchers, although I think they only scan in Asda.

shrek101

Do you have a frozen food shop like Heron, they are really cheap? I think they are based mainly in North of England. Its a cheap version of Iceland.

We spent yesterday about £8 and got 3 shopping backs of food. Including 2X6(includes 6 free so thats 12 in a bag, so 24 in total) of McCoys Spice crisps @ £1. I thought that was a real bargain but my wife always in there couple times a week and you can get some really cheap stuff all in date.