Need advice on fortnightly shop

janeawej

Try the website Fixtureferrets.co.uk that give you all the BOGOFs and special offers at the different supermarkets , I then pop in to stock up with BOGOFs ect when i am driving past.
Good luck

jcr16

i always make my own smoothies. i use 3 bananas , about hand full of strawberries , 2 kiwis and about half a lire of OJ. this give's me one for brekkie one for lunch and 1 each for the kiddies. ( hubby not keen on it ) i prob costs about £1 depending on how much the fruit and OJ costs.

Phatmouse

I read in the observer on saturday that the man who owns Innocent is trying to get the government to cut VAT at 17.5% off his product. Food has no VAT added on and he thinks smoothies should not too, his argument is that people would eat more fruit if smoothies were cheaper. He goes on to say it would obviously be better for the company too! so basically Innocent smoothies would no be 17.5% cheaper. Surley if people were going to eat more fruit they just would not because smoothies had gone from costing £3 to £2.50. The costs cannot be justified. Everything this man writes (he has a column) makes it sound like he is doing the world a fovour just being on it. Sactimounious tit boils my !!!!!!. How far do you think he flys his bananas?

carrottopsuk

crube wrote:

Up until recently, myself and my wife would get a fortnightly shop at Tesco.com for around £80 but for various reasons that has now risen to over £100. The main reasons are that we try to buy a lot of healthy stuff including Innocent(fruit smoothies) which we feel we just can't do without anymore despite it's hefty £3 price tag. Also the discount codes are harder to come by, in our last 2 shops we have only got £5 off each of them. Up until recently we would usually get at least £10 off.

We buy quite a lot of fruit and veg, but usually only a weeks worth of some things and get the rest at our local market. There are 3 of us in the house(myself, wife and 3-year old son), plus we have a cat that we of course buy food and litter for.

I would really appreciate some advice on how to cut it down - ideally we'd like to be spending around £80 per fortnight, but definitely no more than £100. It seems the more healthier stuff we buy, the more it costs. When buying a lot of ready meals/pizza etc we could comfortably get to £80 but of course we want a balanced diet. We are prepared for the work of cooking things from scratch and freezing it etc, I would just like some pointers and for you to share your experiences of how much you spend etc. Many thanks. :beer:

My aunt checks the Innocent cartons for the ingredients and makes her own smoothies.

tawnyowls

crube wrote:

Thanks for the reply :beer: Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, buying a smoothie maker. A few weeks ago we spent £30 on Innocent, which is way too much. My wife makes really good pizza, I can learn too I guess. Plus, that will make it more unlikely we will get takeaways. In a 2-week period we will usually get at least 2 takeaways, either Pizza or an Indian. Thanks again. :beer:

Don't need a smoothie maker - in fact, they can be a pain to clean, especially the tap bit. Just need a blender, preferably with glass jug. If there's one near you, Netto have a blender for £9.99 at the mo (https://www.netto.co.uk), but not clear if it's a glass one or not. If not, Argos' cheapest glass blender is £19.99. Might be able to get one cheaper elsewhere. I bought mine for £14.99 last time Lidl did them, and it's super! Picked up a dead cheap book on smoothies in a discount shop at the same time, and we've had them nearly every day since.

dumpy

I agree tawny owls a smoothie maker can be a pain to clear and then they become dust gatherers in the kitchen but a normal blender can do smoothies and a whole lot more and it's easier to clean out.

I throw everything in randomly and just blend away.

Hardup_Hester

I make lumpies rather than smoothies, I make them in my food processor.
Hester

COOLTRIKERCHICK

my boys were allways nagging me to buy smoothies in the supermarket... and i feel that they are ott...for what your getting...

so one night the kids decided to make their own... its a croos beteween a smoothie and a milk shake..... tinned strawberries.. in juice... milk..ice cream.... and any other fruit they decide to chuck in... and then use the blender to mix it all up.... ok.... its got a concventional smoothie.... but its far cheaper.....and its keeping the kids happy...

what i am trying to get at... alot of companies have now jumped on the 5 bits a fruit/veg aday thing.. healthy eating... and organic... band wagon...
and charging a premium price for it...... but ...you can do it for a fraction of the price..........

good luck with your shopping budget......i love these type threads...as i learn so much from them.....


take care.....:o

Wickedkitten

tawnyowls wrote:

Don't need a smoothie maker - in fact, they can be a pain to clean, especially the tap bit. Just need a blender, preferably with glass jug. If there's one near you, Netto have a blender for £9.99 at the mo (https://www.netto.co.uk), but not clear if it's a glass one or not. If not, Argos' cheapest glass blender is £19.99. Might be able to get one cheaper elsewhere. I bought mine for £14.99 last time Lidl did them, and it's super! Picked up a dead cheap book on smoothies in a discount shop at the same time, and we've had them nearly every day since.

I just use my hand blender, way way quicker to clean.

chloe99_2

it's a bit of a tricky one and I just wanted to suggest another way of looking at it -

I think smoothies are really expensive (innocent is £3 for one litre) BUT this is 4 servings, and the carton says that each glass is equiv to daily dose of fruit and veg (I think I've got that right, but correct me if I'm wrong). When I was looking at costs of fruit it was average say 20p-25p per portion, so 5 portions a day would cost approx £1 to £1.50, but the smoothie providing 5 portions would only cost you 75p (and less on offer).

I agree £3 a carton is really extravagant but if a family drink a glass each a day then they are getting their daily dose of fruit for less than it would cost to buy fresh fuit PLUS plenty of people just won't eat that amount of fruit, and some people won't fruit or veg at all (especially small fussy children!!)

Also, I read that orange *juice* etc doesn't really count as a fruit portion, or some people allow one glass a day to count towards your fruit and veg, whereas a bought smoothie is mostly pureed fruit.

If family members are getting their daily fruit and veg then I couldn't really justify buting smoothies, except maybe one box in a month as a treat (which would last about one day in my house)

PS - I don't normally buy smoothies and I'm not married to the head of Innocent either !