Confused about low weekly shop

lushkat

I have read about how many Os'ers manage to spend very little on their weeky shop. I try very hard to spend wisely and often make use of the many tips and hints here on MSE with the aim of reducing my bills.

Today however I was in Somerfield and the lady in front of me bought a large pack of wafer thin ham, a smallish bunch of grapes and a cheap TV magazine. That came to about £4.00.

I thought to myself "how does anyone manage to do a weekly shop of £10-20 when just a bit of ham and some grapes and a cheap TV mag comes to four quid? How do you afford fruit and veg? Meat? Cereals? I just seem to be missing something here?

I would love to spend more economically and have good healthy food in the house? Am I missing the point?

Sorry if this repeats previous posts but I just cant seem to get it somehow.

liz545

One of the big things is knowing what/where to buy. Do you have a local market? You'd probably be able to get the same amount of grapes for half the price. Also, there's things like deciding whether you need the TV mag, could you not check the listings and read the gossip online, or using teletext? Most of it comes with practice, and also planning in advance.
Keep going, you'll get there!

melancholly

and also remember that it's often an average weekly shop amount - when i buy meat i buy in bulk and put stuff in the freezer. that week will be much more expensive but over the month the total spend is kept down.

Sarahsaver

THis week I have so far got Organic veg delivery £11.50, (new potatoes, salad, watercress, mushrooms, broccoli, chard, sweet potato, carrots, onions, garlic, sweetcorn) will last ages.
About 4lb bananas from market £1
Chicken from sainsbury's £2.99, prawns£1.49 and sausages 49p though the last 3 were free as they were from cashing in my nectar vouchers:)
I will top up on fruit in the week and also have to get milk.
Already have cereals but when I get them it's economy muesli, porridge and wheat biscuits (cheapo weetabix subsitute)

Hope this helps.

Penny-Pincher!!

Hiya

With us, its about meal planning and buying only what we need really.

We spend on average £30pw and this includes washing powder, coffee, tea etc. We buy decent bread when reduced to 10p a loaf and freeze. We go to the supermarket late in the evening and buy decent quality meat/fish/poultry products yellow stickered and base meals around them. Generally buy organic/free range or the best range for not alot at all. Huge organic beef joints reduced from £15 to £3, Free range chickens £1...blah blah blah.

I buy cheddars and hams when on special and freeze the excess.

Also, most meat/poulty/fish items will usually be used for more than one meal. If cooking a shepards pie, we will make a double portion and freeze one for the follwing week. This goes with most meals. A roast chicken will do the roast and a pie or two, or curry etc.

HTH

PP
xx

Julieboo

Hi,
I find similar to above timing and knowing where to shop. I place an online order from asda/tesco maybe twice a month. I always check MSE for vouchers and this month I've had £20 off my orders with asda. In this I buy the value range food (and household items) that I like. Usually large bag of pasta, rice, tinned spaghetti, eggs, milk, margarine, cheese etc and bulk buy any good offers. I buy value bacon 'bits' oppose to bacon (unless we really want that bacon butty), with this I make bacon 'lobby, a bacon/onion/mushroom/potato fry up which uses up all my leftovers usually on a Sat morning-throw anything in. The kids also use the bacon bits with grated cheese to make snack 'toasties'.
I go to the shops last thing at night (9/10) once a week and late Sunday afternoon then I stock up on the cut priced food-i./e whole pork loin 22p, fish 10p I then fill my freezer with this to use through the month.
I usually pick up a cheap chicken at the weekend which I cook Sunday, do a roast with for Sunday and then make a chicken curry for Monday night. There is also chicken left for sandwiches.
Potatoes I only ever buy the large sacks 12.5kg from either tescos £3.19 or local farm. this bag will do so many meals, baked potatoes, mash (mix with swede/carrot/cheese/cabbage) for variation. You can make meat and potato pies/pasties or lobby/hot pot if you buy a cheap bag of lean mince and keep in freezer. There is a million and one thing you can do with tatties.
Veg-local farm or market is always cheapest but if I can't get to them, I've found Morrisions is good, there are always specials on the veg/fruit-just buy whats on offer.
As for meat I try to buy reduced and freeze and when chicken/beef is on special deals I buy in bulk. I used to be aterrible spender on food and I still do have the occasional indulgence shop at M&S as I did last week but my shopping bill is now less than £200 for 5 people with occasional indulgence where before I could spend £150 just in one shop each week...gulp:eek: I know terrible!.

patchwork_cat

On this topic - which supermarkets do people find mark down the most and when?

angchris

i find its all about being able to have the hindsight to buy for the future, lets face it you are always going to have to eat! when i find anything that is being sold cheap/reduced i stock up:D if its veggies reduced i will buy the lot put what i will use for the week in the fridge then make something with the rest of it maybe a soup or blanche and freeze the rest for a later date. i bought 6 large chickens a few weeks ago for 75p each, 1 i cooked the others i froze. things like toilet rolls are always on offer bogof i have a stack up to my ceiling in the bathroom i sometimes have some quite odd meals because its been reduced down to 10p i find some way to use it:rolleyes: my oh will never let me forget the "pak choi soup pie" i once made by frying bacon bits pak choi (10p)a bit of onion a tin of campbells condensed mushroom soup mixed up with mash on top and grated cheese on top of that, was actually very nice and fed enough for 6 people!!
just thinking twice before you buy something really helps your budget and also meal planning out of your freezer/cupboards. this month i have made jams and pickles for the year for next to nothing as mum had a glut of apples in the garden and we went blackberry picking i also now have a years supply of apple pies etc frozen ready to cook.

Dolly_Smith

patchwork_cat wrote:

On this topic - which supermarkets do people find mark down the most and when?

I tend to shop in Sainsbury's as it's particularly convenient for me. They always have bogof deals and the like. The trick is to be quite open-minded about what you buy. If you shop by habit you're probably spending more than you need. Fruit and veg is really expensive at supermarkets - buy all loose stuff rather than packaged if you can't get to a greengrocer. You can buy four broccoli florets all prettily packaged up for £2 but a massive head of broccoli can be 50p!

Sainsbury's have quite a big reduced section aswell - always pays to go in the evenings, particularly for bread and other fresh goods.

Iona_Penny

Definitely try and use a market for fruit and veg. I now routinely plan a trip to my local small market on a Friday and reckon to spend up to £10 a week there ( I am not as clever at budgeting as others, but still reckon my shopping/planning is improving and my spend going down) Yesterday I got for £9: a huge pineapple, 6 apples, 5 peaches, 3 red peppers (£1) which are 69p each in the supermarket, green seedless grapes and 1lb of cherries(£1) 1lb of mushrooms and a cucumber I think that's it (have some own grown veg at the moment) any fruit that isn't eaten in a few days I will make into a fruit salad.
I also found that as I am now a 'regular' I get the odd pence knocked off sometimes or extra for the same money and a young lad to help carry it to the car!
p.s nectarines too!

susank

I find this thread interesting but some of us cannot get to the supermarkets so easily - I for one live 20 miles from my nearest large centre (Elgin) with the price cuts but even then they are not as cheap as is mentioned here. I would have to take in 40 mile round trip petrol which is a lot at the moment. This means most of us cannot get these bargains so our shopping bill will not be as cheap for us as those with short travel distances to many supermarkets. I have locally a co-op - its not very big but can get some good offers and reductions but not very often and many things not what I buy - beef mince - well I dont like beef mince from the supermarket and prefer to buy it from the butcher as steak mince so it can be more expensive than some people on here say. I am just posting this to make others feel better as I cannot get these bargains either and my bills are higher although I do try my best!.