March grocery challenge

Lillibet_2

Julie

Try to anticipate in advance how much each item will cost (round up rather than down to allow a healthy margin for error) & check the total before you leave, if it is too high adjust your list before you go. Build in £5 for "forgotton or reduced" items.

HTH

halloweenqueen_2

What supermarket is it - it may be worth shopping elsewhere even if you do get a staff discount, if the prices are more than 10% more expensive than elsewhere you're not saving anything. Can you eat value bread, crisps and cereals?
have a look on the great disguised home brand thread - you could make some alterations there. I've just swapped from finish dishwasher tablets to LIdls on the advice of one of the threads and they are just as good if not better, thats a couple of £'s for a start. If you have got a Lidls near you its worth a visit, they do chocolate bars like Mars etc which are just as good but cheaper. i buy dark chocolate for cooking there as its half the price of anywhere else.
Its a good idea to post your receipt as I have learnt quite a bit from when people have posted theirs and the comments afterwards!

Julie14_2

I work and shop in sainsburys (to take advantage of the 10% staff
discount), I sometimes shop in Asda and have shopped online at iceland.

This week I bought:-
nappies, wipes, follow on milk for baby, drynites for my son
fruit, veg and salad stuff
2 packets of mince (2 for £3.00)
2 packets of 3 chicken fillets (£5.99 Bogof)
soups (3 tins for £1.00)
kitchen towel, tissues, shampoo, tooth paste
butterlicious
sandwich stuff (for school and work for my husband)
cheese
coleslaw
spahetti (basic range)
6 pints of milk
2 x bread (own brand)
cookies, coconut cake, kit kats, custard
squash, lemonade
vienetta
tin toms
cat food

Total bill £76.99
voucher - £ 1.00
discount - £ 7.69

Paid £68.30

where do most people shop? is my 10% discount worth it?
how can I reduce my bill and still have a few treats (biscuits etc)?
thanks for any advise

moggins

Ouch Julie, no it's definitely not worth it. All of those products can be bought for far less by shopping around a bit more.

Let's break it down a bit:

Nappies, Asda George ones are fabulous, as good as if not better than Pampers and about £9 for a box of 70+ depending on what size you use.

Wipes, always look around for the BOGOF's

Drynites £3.99 in Wilkinsons

Mince, I can get 2lb for £1.50 in my local butcher

Chicken fillets - currently 10 pieces for a fiver in Iceland on BOGOF

Soups, cheaper and nicer to homemake, but the value ranges are only about 20p each.

KItchen Towel, tissues, shampoo, toothpaste, shop around for the BOGOF's or Poundland. Superdrug currently has Tresemme on BOGOF, 2 huge bottles for £2.99

Butterlicious - Why? Some of the cheaper brands don't taste much different, use a cheap real butter for toast and a cheaper spread where it is going to be masked by a filling.

Sandwich stuff - depends on what fillings you are using

And that's only going through half the list, it requires a little more planning and forethought but yes it shows that you can make loads of savings here and there.

MATH

Week 2 Shop of the March Grocery Challenge and I've afforded Tesco my valued custom this week.

Budget is £40-45. Spent £38. The till girl was a bit snooty about vouchers, especially internet printed ones so I had to do quite a bit of flirting to get her to scan them through, my charm won her over:rolleyes: and I got £18 off:cool:
Total spend £20

foreverskint

hi julie

i know how you feel but the most expensive items on your list are the baby products. i find Lidls nappies and wipes excellent if you have a store near you or asda own brand very good. i just paid £5,20 in lidls for 50 nappies, £1.22 for wipes. i find that they are better than Huggies/pampers. Try making your own cakes, much nicer, you know that you're not feeding the children additives and you get much more for your money. again you would get loads more homemade coleslaw. really quick t make if you have a processor.

Try this for a lovely homemade cake that also includes fruit for the children.

6 oz S.R Flour
1 tsp baaking powder
6 oz sugar
6 Oz Butter or Marg
3 Eggs
2 apples chopped & peeled
tin of pear halves
hand full of walnuts or sultananas
1-s teaspoons mixed spice.

put all ingredients into bowl except for the fruits and nuts.

Mix with mixer/ processor or wooden spoon, stir in the apples and nuts/dried fruit.

Pour into a 9 x 11 inch tin. Arrange pear halves on top and bake at 160 c for about 1 hour.

This can also be sprinkled with chopped nuts mixed with sugar to make it extra special, but not so good for the teeth.

Delicious served hot or cold and especially nice with lidls walnut icecream.

crana999

I'd consider maybe cutting down on "treats" if you can - do you usually buy that amount of icecream, cakes, biccies etc every week? try to have fruit for treats more instead? - much healthier and better for you too. Value biscuits are usually fine.

Try cutting down on drinks eg lemonade and drinking more water instead. Sign up for all the coupons you can for nappies etc - Huggies and Pampers seem to send out loads, and samples too.

Try swapping some of the meat for vegetarian dishes - use pulses and grains.

Make sure you are buying value-for-money stuff in fruit/veg/salad - you didnt say exactly what you bought, but some general tips A lot of salad stuff is v. expensive at the moment, but root veg etc are quite cheap still (carrots, parsnips etc). Buy fruit in season - Sainsburys Basics apples are pretty good, the variety of apples they contain is quite random though! - avoid expensive, out of season/tropical fruits. Consider using a local market if you have one for fruit & veg - usually cheaper.

Cereal for your 5 yr old - what cereal do you buy.. Do they have cheaper alternatives? Could you get him to try porridge or similar? (Ususally cheaper and healthier too...most kids' cereals are awful for you!)

tiff

What brand were the nappies and wipes?
When you say chicken fillets do you mean chicken breasts?
What brand was the shampoo, kitchen towels, tissues and toothpaste? Own label shampoo is much cheaper than other makes and I've found it makes no difference to my hair.

If I was using your shopping list mine would go something like this

own label nappies and wipes
not sure what follow on milk is (I have kids aged 7 and 4 but didnt use formula)
value apples, pears, bananas, peppers or else buy the loose apples rather than packaged - try using local fruit and veg shop or local markets as they can be cheaper
2 packets of mince
Instead of chicken breasts I buy 2 whole chickens for £5 and you get a lot more meat to make other meals
I never buy tinned soup now, always make my own once a week and freeze it, you can do it while making the tea and stick it in the blender afterwards
I buy butter now as I was told Flora and the like arent so good for you
Value kitchen towel
own label tissues, shampoo and toothpaste
not sure what sandwich stuff you bought
value range mature cheddar is fine and only costs £4.08 per kg, the cheapest in the supermarket
coleslaw
own label spaghetti
6 pints milk
I buy reduced bread down to 20p or so and freeze it. I usually have plenty every week and have a variety of brown and white loaves
Make your own cookies and cake
use custard powder
I dont buy squash or lemonade as its really bad for kids, I used to use it though, I was brought up on it. Just invested in a Brita water filter and we have that every meal time, maybe add slices of lemon or lime
My daughter loves Viennetta but its just full of sugar, not thought of a way out of that one yet LOL
Tinned toms, value range
Cat food own label

You might think you dont have time to do that home cooking, but dont think my name is Mrs Beaton either! I have slowly taught myself to cook since Christmas and I think I'm doing quite well really. First of all I tended to stick to the same dishes every week, the ones that I can remember off hand but have added new recipes slowly and we have had some delicious cheap and healthy meals. I bought brisket today which is something Ive never bought but it was cheap and I'm going to put it in the slow cooker. I always buy eggs every week to make a good healthy cheap meal.

Well, thats what we do, it might not be for you but you might pick up on some items that you may be able to cut back on.

Good luck, lets us know how you get on next time.

halloweenqueen_2

My first advice would be to drop Sainsbury's - they are doing you no favours with the 10% discount.
Do you have a farm foods near you as you can get good deals on ice cream etc and the milk is 2X 4pints for £1.50. Freeze it if you need to.
What about getting your tissues and toiletries at poundland or a superdrug/supersaver, you will probably get a lot of offers on cleaning products, baby stuff etc there.
Look at the Boots bargain hunt for deals on baby stuff.
If you have got time to make more homemade food go for it - thats where most of the money saving comes in and you don't give the kids lots of hidden sugars and salts.
Happy shopping!

Janeryan

I'm not sure I totally agree with the dropping Sainsburys idea-As you work there Julie you are on the spot to bag all the bargains plus it is more time saving to shop whilst you sre there then to make seperate trips-if you are like me I count my time as money too.

I do virtually all my shopping at Sainsburys and am managing on £50.00 per week for 2 adults & a 14 yr boy(who eats as much as his Dad!)

I do agree that baby stuff is expensive(esp branded stuff) so the advice you have received about shopping aroung for them may be worth the extra time v savings but for general food shopping I'd see how you go for a couple of weeks after swapping your baby product purchases-you may find that's enough of a saving without dropping Sainsburys

PS Can you lobby then to bring back the "we will take any coupon as long as we sell the product" idea as this is my only gripe with them-they used to do it & then they stopped!!!