New to this and feeling very stressed!

Bitsy_Beans

How do you normally do your shopping? Are you the sort of person who will go in just for milk and come out £20 lighter in your pocket? Can you do your shopping online and therefore avoid the temptation of picking up those extra items? Are you shopping several times a week or one large trip each week? Do you have an idea of what to buy or do you wander round the supermarket picking up whatever you see? I think how you shop can make a big different to your food bill (which is why supermarkets plan their stores in a particular order).

The biggest thing that helped me to cut down was to meal planning. I made a list of all the meals we like to eat and allocated one each day. A couple of things are repeated but I now have a 7 week meal planner. Check what I need to make those meals each week and only buy what's on the list.

How are you with downshifting a brand? I use a lot of Sainsbury's Basics range - I think they are really good (better than Tesco IMO) and consquently can be slighter better value.

Don't panic, we are all here to help you

debbsi

Mrs Bea - aww I feel for you xx

I have recently been cutting down my food bills, its hard to say exactly what i'm saving - but i am definatly saving!!

I have some spare time on my hands at the mo and so I thought i would sort my shopping habits out. So I write a meal plan for a month - I have fussy kids too but mine are older. Then I write the shopping list. I go to the local market and buy my meat and fish and freeze it. I go on mysupermarket and using the tesco section do my shopping list and write it all down with weights and prices (my printer broke). Then I go to aldi and if somethings cheaper there (even if its only a few pence - it all adds up). The rest I get at tesco and make most of there special offers. Some stuff I get from the local pound shops.

Then each week I get the fresh stuff and bread etc as my freezer is not that big.

I always include some cheap meals each week such as past or corn beef hash.

I am also growing some veg in my garden.

It will take me a while to suss it out properly but I'm getting better with practice. i am determined to stop giving mr tesco all my hard earned cash. We were spending on average £110 - £130 per week - 2 adults, 1 18 yr old and 1 13 yr old and 2 dogs. My plan is to spend around £150 on the monthly shop and then about £30 per week after that = around £270 - £300 per month, a saving of up to £220 per month thats £2640 per year!!!!

The_Thrilla

Hi Mrs Bea
As others have said, stay out of Tesco, (I've found that place expensive) and, as you are not going to change from Micawber to Scrooge in ten minutes, do your changing gradually. When you go shopping, use cash. Don't bring any form of plastic card. That way you can't overspend.

MrsRogers

Hi Mrs Bea

Firstly well done on your post... you have taken the first step. For food shopping try doing it online via http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/ it will give you a comparison of your shopping trolley from all the major supermarkets.. it also has a fab 'swap & save' option to give you cheaper alternatives. Its amazing how much you can shave off on the most random things. I find it keeps me on track.

Meal planning is a must - I have saved a fortune. There is a great book I found Good Housekeeping meals under a fiver... should be able to find on amazon used quite cheap.

Try and get the kids to help you in the kitchen.. if they are involved they will prob be more likely to eat what the make (Bubble & squeak cakes are always great fun to make)

Try growing some of your food if you can.. I haven't bought any veg or salads since April :-) Get the kids to help... Grow in any plastic tubs you have used (milk cartons, meat cartons, tins ... anything as long as its washed and has drainage holes) Bags for life are great for growing potatoes in

My advice is .. be open minded, give stuff ago & try to plan.

Good luck
Mrs Rogers

[Deleted User]

a little bit at a time and you'll soon get the hang of it .We have all been where you are dear and this time next year you will look back and say "did I really spend all that " Honest injun :):)

kezlou

Mrs bea congrats on your post that the first and hardest step on the ladder and guess what you did it, so give yourself a pat on the back:T:T:T

I know its stressful, but try and take a deep breath and exhale slowly. When i first started the grocery challenge i used to spend £400 + on a family of four + two cats, now i'm managed to get it down to £150 a month. Its hard and a total slog but its worth. I've been in tears myself so i know how you feel. Mine used to fussy and stil are if i let them but now my boys have learnt to eat whatever i give them.

so get yourself over to the grocery challenge and start off this month with £500. I know it sounds a lot, but aim high and try to beat it. Then next month try £450 and so on till your happy with your budget. That way you can't fail and anything below your target is amazing and fantastic.Even if it 1p who cares yuo beat it. Mrs M and others ont here will welcome you with open arms, theres plenty of recipes and tons of advice.

hth

kez x

rhiwfield

Mrs Bea, sorry you're feeling stressed.

Maybe a few tips that you can freely ignore as I'm a bloke (who also does the cooking)

The shopping bill is only one bit of your expenditure so it helps to look at all outgoings including

• do you need to pay Sky monthly or is freesat/freeview ok
• are you in control of leccy usage
• are you driving a small car or a gas guzzler
• and lots more

You'll probably find that the housekeeping is not the biggest outgoing and there may well be areas where real waste of money is happening. Tackle those first before even considering cutting essential spend. Yes, housekeeping spend does need to be controlled, but not to the exclusion of other expenditure and not to be targetted to the extent that you are totally stressed out.

FWIW we have a budget for all outgoings, and each item has to be justified. So BT has just had the chop on line rental as its uncompetitive. But we still had cottage pie tonight with mince bulked out with soya, onions, garlic and courgettes

Fizog

Don't panic Mrs Bea...lots of great advice from the posters above...when you shop do you buy wine? fizzy drinks? comics? magazines? sweets? crisps? clothes? easily done.....if you are trotting around the supermarket with the little ones...

1/ meal planning....VIP to know exactly what you are shopping for
2/ shopping............take a list do not buy anything not on it
3/ cut out the extras...newspapers you can read them online
comics kids don't need them other than as a treat when ill
books ...library
clothes......replace when worn
alchohol...a monthly treat
fizzy drinks, fruit juice, squash ...rot teeth, get kids drinking water
ice cream, crisps, sweets...again treat occassional
4/ have a look at the cook it yourself section on here..brill recipes don't buy ready made meals or sauces you can make everything from scratch...iff you work, get cooking at the weekend and get the kids to help.
5/ If something is on offer at the supermarket only buy it if you can afford to freeze it and have the money in the first place.
6/ Shop for the supermarket only brands where possible..most of the stuff is made by the big companies and repackaged.
7/ Write down in a book every penny you spend in the week...try this for a couple of weeks and look at exactly what you are buying....the costa coffee...the sandwich from M&S...newspaper....take away...ice creams on the way home from school..pack of chewing gum at the station.

Just a few suggestions but it is how I got my weekly spend down..assuming you don't smoke, if you do it's time to quit. If your little ones are fussy fussy eaters ( I have one) they get two meals nuggets, fish sticks they like then the cheapie spag bol, macaroni cheese, homemade pizza, fish pie you want to serve.
If they kick up serve a little to them and let them fill up on slices of bread and butter and fruit.

I always have stock cupboard standbys...corned beef, eggs, frozen chips, beans, piri piri sauce ( bought as a bog off) £1 pizzas frozen from iceland.

You can do this you just need to organise yourself and think ahead...you can look up the deals online at all the supermarkets... I must admit I buy garlic bread slices at iceland and pizzas for the freezer as they are cheaper and good value. Lidls for tinned tomatoes and oil if I'm passing. You'll find loads of help on here if you start trawling.. I am amazed at peoples resourcefulness and will...you will be one of them

Good luck

lauren_1

I used to lose £30 each time i popped in for milk, my habit breaker was money bags with £5 of change and just take 1 when you go to get milk. Usually i'l remember that i need bread or if i do see a true bargain i have some extra money.

ILGPink

I agree with all the above (meal planning, my supermarket (brill 4printing off shopping list after you done virtual shop also) ect)

I haven't been doing it long (and still want 2bring mine down more) but find that shopping around in different places really does make a diffrence. Mostly buy food from Lidl, Makro and Asda (very very rarely Mr T find it far to expensive) local butcher also good option 4me. Toiletries and cleaning prods again a mix of places manly Home Bargains and Makro.

I make everything from scratch even bread (takes a bit of effort and planning but honestly saves loads in long run).

I bulk out my meat to the hilt in recipes (more veg - find frozen ones great for bulking out casserol and they tend 2b cheaper also). I try and make 3meals a week that dont need meat - veg stirfry rice is a fave of ours and sooo simple 2make/prepare; thought this would b the hard thing as other half really is/was a big meat eater but even he has commented on not missing the meat!!!!!!!!!!!!

All in all it does take a bit of extra work but I can safely say its sooo worth it and you end up feeling in control. I deffo wouldn't of been able to do this without this site and following all the peoples advice on here. Oh just remeberd also a web page that has been done by some members (please 4give me cant remeber who - sure someone will b around in a bit who will know!! lol) www.cheap-family.recipes.org.uk. Basically they have recipes and meal plans for 4ppl at £100 for a whole month!

Anyhow enough of my going on and on; hope some of this has been of help. Hope you start feeling abit better about it all soon x