how to reduce my food bill [merged]

Roobarb_73

Blooming heck! I am going to need to keep on here for tips, we are a family of 4 (2 kids of 4 and 1) and I am lucky if I can bring my shopping in at under £100 a week! But it includes lunches for me to take to work too at least.

Nicoll

One of my reasons for overspending on groceries is due to constant little trips to the supermarket to get fresh bread for DH sandwiches. He is fussy about not eating bread that is more than 2 days old or frozen bread so I go shopping at least twice a week to get this and of course it always ends up with other stuff that we "need".

Someone at work mentioned about his milkman and how he delivers more than just milk. The house opposite me has a milkman stop there regularly but I've never taken any notice because we don't use milk but I've had a look on the Dairy Crest website and they do things like bread and eggs and veggies etc too. I expect everyone here already knew this but I'm a bit slow!

Anyway ordered a loaf last night and it was duely delivered this morning. Think their prices are a bit more than the supermarket, though Kingsmill bread was on offer at £1 a loaf, so of course I took advantage of that but it's normally £1.47.

Our milkman delivers Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday so I'm hoping this will stop my little trips and ultimately save me money. I shall see how it goes anyway.

funkymonkey849

That's a good idea to stop you going all the way to the supermarket just for bread. Sounds like you need to stop DH being so fussy though! Nothing wrong with frozen bread. Just whip a loaf out of the freezer to defrost when he's not looking

I don't get people who go food shopping more than once a week though. Once a week is more than enough for me! I get really annoyed if I forget something and have to go again, usually I try and make do without it until the next weeks shop. Ugh just the thought of having to go food shopping is enough to have me desperatly rummaging in the bottom of the cupboards for something half edible to eat.

I have a breadmaker so I'm never without bread, and as long as there's some veggies in the fridge and some sort of carbs in the cupboard then I can usually rustle something up.

maman

I wish you luck but it's not for me. Agree with funkymonkey about 1 trip a week. I think if you're organised that's achievable(unless you have a fussy DH:rotfl:).

We used to have milk delivered as we live in a road with lots of elderly people and felt we might be helping. In the end we gave up, partly because of cost compared with shops and partly because they were so inefficient when it came to cancelling for holidays or because we had loads of milk. Ironically elderly people didn't use them - I think they're too canny to pay through the nose and always have UHT on standby.

JessikaSuddarth

Generally when someone goes to mall they purchase unnecessary things so I would prefer to make list and strictly stick to the list while shopping

BLT_2

Miss_Laid wrote: »

Isn't that good?? I spent £70-£80 a week for 2 of us and the cat

I used to do the same, then I reduced my bill to 15 pounds one week by eating the cat

Miss_Laid

BLT wrote: »

I used to do the same, then I reduced my bill to 15 pounds one week by eating the cat

Big fat thing he is would feed the 2 of us for a week

urchin

We have had a miilk man for about 6 months and it's fab. Ours delivers quite a bit - even compost for the garden! We tend to only go to the supermarket every 6 weeks or so now.

parsonswife8

We've had our milkman delivering for years and the eggs are to die for.
Plus, you can change your order online to increase or decrease anything and to cancel when you are away.
It works for us!:D

hannahO_2

Nicoll wrote: »

One of my reasons for overspending on groceries is due to constant little trips to the supermarket to get fresh bread for DH sandwiches. He is fussy about not eating bread that is more than 2 days old or frozen bread so I go shopping at least twice a week to get this and of course it always ends up with other stuff that we "need".

You may be right on the money there. Everytime I go to the supermarket I end up coming home with extra bits that was not on my list.

How about start baking your own bread. It's easier than you think and its very tasty!