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Do I really spend to much on food?
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Ok... A couple of things spring to mind....
Where are you buying your dried fruit and nuts? Because if you buy them from the snack aisle they are much more expensive than if you buy them from the cooking aisle. I always have dried fruit in but always get them from the cooking aisle as they are the same thing just cheaper.
Here is a dilemma, I have been buying 500gm packs from the bakery aisle for £2 a bag. Now wifey Say's she is eating too much because the bag is big and open, she would like the small packs that have only 25-35gms in so she can take to work. These as everyone knows are much more expensive, from memory i get 3 bags for £1 on an offer ATM.
How to break down bulk bags for her into small snack portions and yet keep them easy to throw in a hand bag, lunch box etc?
Also I would perhaps try a brand challenge even for one shop try and go down a brand and see how much it will save.
Going to try this for sure, at least for a week or two, to see if I notice the difference in taste etc.
I would also say to try and do an online shop if you can. The problem with the supermarkets is they do things to make you want their extra "bargains" which means that although your normal shop may be fine... things seem to go into the trolley unintentionally. An online shop, at least for me is the best. My butchers are rubbish around me- High fat and coloured red!!! So I use an online butcher. Much better and I get it delivered
Not considered on-line butchers, will add to list to check out
I also found that when I was shopping weekly I was spending around the same as you. But since shopping monthly (for dry goods root veg which will last and meat which I freeze when it gets delivered) I found that my bill has dramatically reduced. And don't get me wrong food shopping was something I looked forward to! I think the reduction in bill has been because of the extras. I was also so worried about running out that I never really checked my cupboards and freezer and just bought fresh stuff the next week.
Good point, I could shop basics per month online.
This week for example I am still seeing the effects of this in my cupboard when I found seven tins of tomato soup. I only eat is sometimes so have no idea why I thought I needed any more, 2 big bags of pasta, 2 big bags of spaghetti....well you get the idea....
I still go out and buy my fruit and veg on a weekly basis but the shop is so low now I have got used to just going in and getting what I need. If i get more than that I now seem to get annoyed with myself.
I am very happy to say I have now reduced my food bill from £400 a month to £150 a month and that includes all cleaning products and cat stuff. I also have free range organic meat and free range eggs. My meals haven't changed but the way I shop and the way I save leftovers and bulk out meals have.
Thanks for the comments.We make our habits, then our habits make us0 -
zippychick wrote: »Exactly spot on correct. It is entirely up to you
For the people who feel inadequate looking at others budgets and spends - please don't. OS is about what works for you within your budget and lifestyle and circumstances. It is certainly not a competition.:A
South Africa trip - would the potential savings be attractive to your OH positioned as a way of getting closer to SA? As i said earlier, £150 mth = £1800 a year. You seem happy with her spends of £50 on carp, but that would really bother me to be honest! 2 spends of £50 a month = £1200 a year! :eek:
Not that happy with her spending £50 especially as she used the bill paying account meaning I have put more in there to cover it or go overdrawn, (Halifax bank then charge us £1 every day we are overdrawn, I just realized this and was :eek:) but Mehh, it's her life too and if she wants to buy crap sometimes then she can.
I'm probably making her out to be much worse than she is
Most of it was actually for Caitlin, and not real crap, things like mini weetabix, Innocent smoothie, oat biscuits, some crisps and some sports drinks, etc, etc.
Anyhow, at least I got her to understand that if she wants to buy extras she uses her own account or adds it to my shopping list from now on, that should help quite a lot.We make our habits, then our habits make us0 -
My Mum, who had very little money, always saw good quality food as an essential term of expenditure, even if she had to cut back on clothes, holidays etc to provide it. The older I get the more I feel that she was right about this, your health and well being is the most important thing.
There is a good deal of sense in that way of thinking IMO.We make our habits, then our habits make us0 -
I don't think they are cheaper.... it's just that the meat that you get lasts longer as the meat isn't pumped full of water salt and whatever else they want to throw at it.
My example is this...
I used to spend about £20 on meat in Tesco (their three for a tenner or whatever) a week. I would use it but really it didn't fill me up and didn't really taste all that good. I then ordered the same meats online from my butcher. It came to £30- so more expensive, but found that I was so full up on the meat and was using it differently and had more to reuse another day. For example a small portion of mince costs me £3.50 but from that yesterday I got three meals of four portions from it- a Lasagne, A chilli and a Sheppards pie. They were bulked out with lentils and veg but they still tasted "meaty" as it was me doing the bulking out and not the supermarket IYSWIM
So although I spend more in one go, I now actually spend less as it lasts so much longer. It's amazing that I can use 2 chicken thighs for two portions of curry rather than the four I would normall use as they don't shrink as the water evaporates.
Now, instead of an £80 bill of meat a month, £40 lasts me the month very well. I hope that makes sense...? I'm no good at explaining things
I know the risks of supermarket foods and I agree that the butchers meat tastes a little better but 3 pork chops for £9 odd quid is only going to last 2 meals max for the 2 of us whereas the £10 meal deal is a minimum of 8 meals...at those prices we can't afford to have the luxury of buying meat from our butcher.
As for it not filling us up it does for us....0 -
cooking-mama wrote: »is this £10 a week for an individual,or for a family?
Hiya,
It's for two a week. My shopping budget also includes all takeaways (which are minimal), cleaning products and stuff for the cats, but obviously not the meat budget unless they are very lucky lol.
Each dinner gives four greedy portions, the rest is either frozen or reused for lunches. My mince is 454 g of steak mince. I add to that to make a basic mincey thing lol 2 carrots, 2 celery sticks, 2 onions, garlic, 2 tins of tomatoes and some (about three handfuls) red lentils. This then is divided into three and used to make the meals I had said before. I found using the same amount of mince from the supermarket would fry down to very little... i think it is the fatty pieces of meat they use perhaps? Someone I know who used to be a butcher said they used to put bread in it to make it go further and then add blood to make it red again. Which I suppose shows the point that some butchers are a bit rubbish. Again with the chicken curry it's about adding bulk and I would say that lentils are your friend. As is potatoes. I shred the chicken through it or cut into small pieces. I don't have a morissons close enough to me to make a comparison, but certainly from the point of view of the big supermarkets near me, my butcher wins out every time.
I think perhaps I look at it the way Zippy does as I rarely have say a piece of meat and then some veg (i.e. a steak or chops) but will readily buy a joint of gammon say and will cut that down into two meals and loads of sandwich slices, or use mince or cheaper cuts which keep the cost down- thighs instead of breast for example. I'm lucky with joints like that that I have an electric slicer so the slices are much thinner than you could cut with a knife, so it goes a lot longer.
With a chicken again I can push that to three meals, perhaps four but again it's about using the meat as an intrinsic part of the meal and not as the meat bit next to the veg bit.Feb GC: £200 Spent: £190.790 -
Thanks for the comments.
RE the fruit thing... could you not bag it up in smaller bags? You can get little zip lock bags on ebay for about a few pounds which would do one portion of fruit or nuts. That's the way I do it usually. Or I stick them in a teeny tupperware dish.Feb GC: £200 Spent: £190.790 -
Hiya,
It's for two a week. My shopping budget also includes all takeaways (which are minimal), cleaning products and stuff for the cats, but obviously not the meat budget unless they are very lucky lol.
Each dinner gives four greedy portions, the rest is either frozen or reused for lunches. My mince is 454 g of steak mince. I add to that to make a basic mincey thing lol 2 carrots, 2 celery sticks, 2 onions, garlic, 2 tins of tomatoes and some (about three handfuls) red lentils. This then is divided into three and used to make the meals I had said before. I found using the same amount of mince from the supermarket would fry down to very little... i think it is the fatty pieces of meat they use perhaps? Someone I know who used to be a butcher said they used to put bread in it to make it go further and then add blood to make it red again. Which I suppose shows the point that some butchers are a bit rubbish. Again with the chicken curry it's about adding bulk and I would say that lentils are your friend. As is potatoes. I shred the chicken through it or cut into small pieces. I don't have a morissons close enough to me to make a comparison, but certainly from the point of view of the big supermarkets near me, my butcher wins out every time.
I think perhaps I look at it the way Zippy does as I rarely have say a piece of meat and then some veg (i.e. a steak or chops) but will readily buy a joint of gammon say and will cut that down into two meals and loads of sandwich slices. I'm lucky with joints like that that I have an electric slicer so the slices are much thinner than you could cut with a knife, so it goes a lot longer.
With a chicken again I can push that to three meals, perhaps four but again it's about using the meat as an intrinsic part of the meal and not as the meat bit next to the veg bit.
£40 a month and the includes a takeaway, phew can i live where you are....The cheapest take away if we could afford them is about £12 here...and £5 per person a week is amazing, even discounting the meat our fruit and veg budget would be getting close to that without anything else added to it...Our toilet rolls though on offer come to about £5 each time so I am curious what you do when you have to buy staples like toilet rolls does that just leave £5 in your budget for food say?0 -
No sorry I wrote that wrong. My budget is £150 a month...of that £40 is meat and the rest is well... everything elseFeb GC: £200 Spent: £190.790
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In fairness to Firefox, everything I have ever read in one of her posts has been grounded in 'proper' degree level science. Believe me, if I thought for one moment there was something non scientific/complete ballcocks coming from a posting, nice comment or my signature or not, I would say so!
Having a BSc in one specific subject in such varying circumstances would actually be less useful as it would be too restrictive for employment in so many related fields. In any case, a BSc would still need to be supplemented by the very same studies that Firefox has undertaken. CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development and is expected for any person working in a healthcare setting (as well as other professional careers).
I've never found her to be preachy - the most she has ever said is that the cat litter tray might be more agreeable if I reduced the amount of cheap nonsense I dole out to the moglets, which is 100% true. I can't imagine taking offence at something that sensible.I could dream to wide extremes, I could do or die: I could yawn and be withdrawn and watch the world go by.Yup you are officially Rock n Roll0 -
Going to start costing out my meals as well as calorie counting them, I will set up a spread sheet for this as the cost could change depending on how costly the ingredients are. The aim is to balance a week not just calorie and nutritionally wise but cost wise too.
I think it will be a big task but in the end worth it.
When I look at the recipes in my regular cooking arsenal, it is obvious that the ones that are based around, rice, pasta, spud etc, are going to be considerably less expensive than meat based meals. Gives me hope that once we are done with this lower carb diet, that the costs can be reduced further without altering things radically.
I do wish the rest of the family liked Lentils and pulses as they are a much better source of slower carbs, will see if I can start adding them to things as bulk filler.We make our habits, then our habits make us0
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