My months shopping list

Sarahsaver

Well done black-saturn. Where's the harm in being frugal? I copped the flack for feeding my lot on £20 a week including toiletries/detergent etc. GO FOR IT!
Them that doubt either have 'issues' or don't need to save anyway and have no idea what it's like.

gentlepurr

just come back after being taken out for a meal, and very nice it was too.

would have posted re the profiteroles earlier, but its only a basic choux pastry recipe, then you put teaspoons of the mix on a baking tray in the oven, as normal.

xx

Chumana

flufff wrote:

10 meals?we dont eat meat everyday.We like pasta in tomatoe sauce with mozzarella,omelettes and cauliflour cheese.
Why does she need meat everyday?
I'm sure most of us have a chippy or takeout once a month that must be allowed.

I completely agree and if you'd read my earlier post you'll see I mentioned that but that I couldn't see anything like pasta, eggs, tuna, pulses etc on her list to make any other meals out of, only cheese. I wasn't criticising her or suggesting she ate meat every day, but was just asking what sort of meals she made for the other 20 days

AussieLass

I'm trying to convert pounds to dollars here :think: but that's really good BS. If that works for your family good on you. :T

If I was looking at that order I would probably ditch a few things, and add a bit more veggie, fruit, dairy & some lollies We're not big meat eaters, and meat is expensive so would save on that area. But this is what it's all about, adapting to your own tastes/needs. I hope it helps a lot of people.

Sarahsaver

We have oily fish mostly in the form of tinned tuna and sardines.
I would rarely buy any ready made cakes and never a dessert. We climbed up on the roof and got the plums off the neighbour's (overhanging) tree! Lovely crumble made by DS2.
No one should be criticising anyone we all can learn from one another.

Chipps

BS thanks for posting your shopping list. I have enjoyed reading your menu planners, too, & taken a few ideas from them! (not the fruit cobbler, of course, cos I already had that!!!!!!!)
Your particular list wouldn't work for my lot, as our tastes differ, but it is very interesting to be "nosey" in someone elses shopping bag!
For example, I buy bisto powder instead of gravy granules (although I used to buy them) because I am trying, in theory, to go for a low fat diet & the granules have fat in them. Also I find the powder lasts for ages, although it costs a little bit more to begin with, but I think it works out cheaper in the long run.
I used to buy value mince in the past, not from the supermarket but from our local butcher who had a permanent offer of buy 2lb, get 1lb free for 99p/lb, so 3lb mince for £1.98, but again with looking for lower fat content (and also having 2 kids leave home, which tends to make food bills cheaper!) I now buy the better quality mince at 4 lb for £5 in the same butcher. I found the cheaper mince was fine if you cooked the fat off first & poured it away.... not down the sink of course!
We do buy "posh" ice cream at times (I mean as opposed to value stuff) Morrisons are pretty good at having offers 2 for £3 or even £2.50 on those nice oval shaped ones with fancy flavours.
Not sure I could bring myself to go for processed peas, though! I guess they're an acquired taste... and I haven't acquired it!
Thanks again!

Littlemiss-lotsofdebt

Thanks BS for making such a helpful post. As always, I commend you for your strong menu planning skills and moneysaving!

I think the thing to remember is that BS has posted this in good faith as an example of how things can be done. IMHO I could not manage to feed the 2 of us on this budget but only because we prefer to spend a little bit more on certain things e.g. bread, toilet roll. These things to us are the things we like to spend a bit more on and account for this in our shopping budget and are our own personal choice. I do however, buy tons of value stuff e.g. tinned toms/sweetcorn, biscuits and try to bag lots of reduced things.

What works for one will not work for everyone, but getting an idea of how other people do things is always useful.

black-saturn

kessik wrote:

Hi BS
I'm intrigued by your posts on this thread. I'm quite new to MSE so I don't know your family make-up - by this I mean do you have two adults, a child and a dog or one adult, two children and a dog?

I'm one adult and two children aged 11 and 9.

kessik wrote:

Have you always been frugal or was it something you had to start doing and accustom yourself to (I mean did you go from M&S food to Tesco Value food and if so was it difficult?) Also, do you find a big difference between Value and regular food from Tesco?

I've always been frugal. I've never been very lucky in my employment status even though I have 7 A levels and a university degree. So budgeting and being frugal is something I have been doing naturally since I moved out of my parents at 18.

TBH I don't find much difference between value and regular food. The only things I won't buy from the value range are their coffee, their tuna fish and their frozen chicken portions (I've ever tried them but they look awful).

kessik wrote:

As I said I am a newbie here and thought I'd done pretty well to cover my week's menu plan for £61 by shopping at Morrisons and Somerfield. That's cooking everything from scratch and includes lunches, dinner and pudding and baking too. I have a husband, teenage daughter, two teenage sons and a cat and I think the lowest I will be able to get to is about £50 a week. I am trying some value brand stuff (this week cheese) and always get own brand beans, rice, pasta, flour etc but I once had Tesco value bread and thought it was the most dreadful thing I'd ever tasted, and I have a complex about Value meat as I am too worried about getting some gristle or tubules in it!!! Hence my £50 per week food spend!!! As others have said, your shopping list wouldn't suit my family but you are making it work for you so fair play to you!!!

I think your doing well to feed all those for £50 a week. Maybe you should post your own shopping list and menu plan?

black-saturn

wannabedebtfree wrote:

Do you sit and write the menu plan on a monthly basis, or do you have similar plans that you have on a rota system, and then add the occasional treat like the ice-creams and profiteroles?

I sit down and work out a menu plan for 1 week and then we eat the same thing 4 times over. So I know that whatever I buy for that menu has to be bought 4 times.

wannabedebtfree wrote:

people whining at you for spending £1.99!!!

Exactly, £1.99 It was worth it because they were better than anything I'd ever make and they went down really well

black-saturn

pandas66 wrote:

B-S's monthly menu plan has some good ideas but lacks an awful lot of good fresh food

Yes but didn't I say I go back for that so that it is fresh? If I bought a whole months worth of vegetables and fruit at the start of the month wouldn't it be off by the second week? In fact I'm going today to stock up on some.