Whats wrong with my Shopping List??

redballoon_2

also you can make meatballs with mince meat.

Get mince, add one egg, any spice's or herbs. cook in sauce made from one tin of chopped tomatoes and spices/herbs. serve with spaghetti

freda

Whats wrong with my Shopping List??

anyway heres what we get

fresh
grapes Expensive! Get more in season fruit - satsumas are great at the moment. Apples are cheap too.
bananas Try the value ones, they are good even though they don't last as long. you can freeze them (out of their skins) for using in the future in things like puddings and milkshakes/smoothies.
onion
mushrooms
carrots
potatoes
Other cheap root veg include parsnip, courgette (just coming to the end of season), swede (lovely roasted), butternut squash (coming to end of season) etc.


fridge
cheese (value) Remember if you see any on offer, it sometimes works out cheaper than value for better quality cheese. Bulk buy, grate and freeze - fantastic to have in the freezer for a quick pizza topping, cheese on toast etc.
eggs (shops own - free range) Free range are more expensive, so you need to balance this with the budget priorities.
butter Marg is cheaper and healthier (esp the olive stuff)
yoghurts x 5 (muller lite vanilla which ben loves too) Expensive! (and full of sugar) Try getting a great big tub of yoghurt and decanting it into smaller pots for lunchboxes. You can add things like stewed apple, fresh fruit, frozen fruit etc to make it really tasty.

cupboard
frosted flakes (shops own)
rice krispies (shops own) Cheaper cereals are things like porrige - which you can spice up by adding dried fruit, stewed fruit, fresh fruit, cinnamon, sugar, even cocoa powder - and weetabix, which you can add fruit to as well.
sultanas (value ones)
sugar
juice x 2 ( 2 3ltr bottles for £2.90 - shops own) Squash instead?
custard x 1 (value one) Buy the powder and make your own. Last AGES
sponge pudding (shops own) Make your own. Easy peasy, esp in the microwave
chicken noodle soup sachet Soup is dead easy and quick to make, you literally just simmer whatever you want till its cooked, then blend.
beans x 1 (value ones)
Hot dogs x 2 (cheapest going) Personally, I'd not buy these as they are unhealthy and expensive. Maybe normal sausages instead, chopped up?
tea (value ones)

freezer
smiley faces (Bens) Mashed potato instead, cheaper and healthier
fish fingers x 2 (shops own)
pizza twin pack x 3 (quick and easy meal for bf after work - cant stand the stuff myself - these are the goodfellows ones with 2 small ones in a box not a twin pack of 2 large pizzas) Learn to make pizza dough - v.v.v.easy - and this is a fantastic way to make a healthy dinner that will use up lots of bits and bobs in the fridge.


other
dog food pack (6 tins - shops own)
dog biscuits (shops own)
nappies (value ones)
baby wipes (value ones) Buy value brand flannels and wash them instead?
baby shampoo (bf has nearly no hair and im allergic to alot of shampoo so just use baby shampoo)
toilet rolls (12pk value stuff)
washing powder (shops brand) Remember you can also use vinegar as fabric softener, it is great and makes things (esp towels) amazingly soft.

jcr16

i can't see anything major wrong with it , but i can't see how u can get enought meals out of that for 2 week's.

as for pizza's make ur own so much chepaer and more filling. so really yummy. yoghurts . i have 2 small childrena dn i buy the value fromage frias from tesco or morrisons and they love them if on offer then i will buy postman pats ones as a treat , but they dpn't tast any different.

what about buying a bag of mince , out of a 1.75kg bag of mince beef from tesco (costing 3.13 a bag ) i made enough chilli for 26 single portions. rice from tesco is 4kg for 1.81 ( cheapest i've found ) also pasta is 3kg for 1 pound. as a change i like chilli with pasta sometimes.

i found it so much easier to write a mela plan for 2 weeks sometimes than for a week.

when we had money trouble a couple years back. i had 100 pounds a month to feed 2 adults , 1 child ( still in nappies) and 3 cats. one cat was dying at the time so i had to also buy medicatine out of shopping budget which one month cost 25 pound. unfortunatly he dies a week later.

i found working to a shopping budget of so little quite fun tbh, as it made me think

if u want to pm me and see if i can give u any more help then please do. we have all been there at one point.

hazzie123

Farm Foods have an offer on their milk,2,2 litre cartons for £1.60.I buy 6 cartons every week and stick them in the freezer until needed.

Cazzdevil

sammy_kaye18 wrote:

pizza twin pack x 3 (quick and easy meal for bf after work - cant stand the stuff myself - these are the goodfellows ones with 2 small ones in a box not a twin pack of 2 large pizzas)

Seriously think about learning how to make dough yourself.

I've "acquired" a breadmaker from my mother and I worked out that making my own pizza base is about 15p for a 14" pizza (so it'd make about 2 or 3 little ones!).

Even putting the toppings on brings my 14" pizza to about 80p in total.

You can make up a batch of the bases and put the toppings on then freeze them so you have a little stash of them ready for the bf as and when. They're the nicest pizzas I've ever had too!!

liney

I see you are on a tight budget, so i would suggest you change you shopping time to mid week, late evening (or whenever your supermarket does its mark downs) and buy some fresh meat that way. You can also make lots of healthy meals with mince which is cheap - spag bol, chillie, meat balls - homemade burgers plus more. Also casseroles with cheap cuts of stewing steak or lamb shanks etc.

I imagine the comments you have had are about the lack of fresh produce and the processed food. Processed food has its place, but really isn't too good for you. It really is cheaper to buy fresh and cook from scratch as you can bulk meat out with pulses and veg, then freeze portions.

Try your market for fruit and veg to make sure you each get your 5 portions per day and try and buy things in season which are cheaper. Dont worry about grapes and pineapples - apples, oranges, pears, cabbage etc are all very cheap in comparison.

Pasta is healthy, especially wholemeal, and you can make very cheap sauce with tinned toms and garlic/herbs.

sammy_kaye18

Hi All,

Thanks for the comments. I appreciate the advice too.

Can i just add quickly though that ive forgotten to add that juice is actually squash!! Lol not pure stuff.

It is hard to find meals form these products but they are fillign meals and my LO is happy and not going to bed hungry.

have also been thinking about it and had a talk to my MIL and she has given me a few helpful tips too. Ive been on the tescos site this afternoon adn have come up with a different list taking in to account all the advice and tips that you have all given me and ive come up with this.

Ok.......

Fresh
onions - tesco loose - 42p
bananas - tesco value - 75p
mushrooms - tesco value - 250g - 58p
carrots - tesco value - 1kg - 68p
swede - tesco value - 300g - 49p
potatoes - tesco value - 5kg - £1.49

Fridge
cheese - small - 97p
eggs - box of 6 free range - 92p (bf unwilling to compromise here!)
butter - cant believe its not - BOGOF - 91p
yoghurts - tesco value fromage frais - 6pk - 44p
ham - tesco value cooked ham - 125g - 37p

Freezer
mince - Tesco value - 800g - £1.48
whole chicken - 1.2kg - £2.55
Pizza - Tescos value pizza bases - 2 in a pack - 99p
sausages - tescos value - 40 thin - £1.45
peas - tesco value - 1kg - 71p

Cupboard
Porridge - tescos value - 750g - £1.94
sultanas - tesco value - 500g - 41p
sugar - 750g - half spoon - 98p
squash - 2 x 3ltr - £2.90
tea - tescos value - 80 bags - 29p
beans - tesco value - 17p
custard - birds - 300g tin - 84p
tescos - self raising flour - 1.5kg - 46p (rather than sponge - can bake a sponge cake)
corned beef - 200g - tesco value - 79p
Sweetcorn - Tescos value - 17p

other
dog food - tescos own - 6kg - £5.98
nappies - tescos value - 20 - £1.48
wipes - tescos value - 80 - 89p
baby shampoo - johnsons baby - 500ml - £2.60
washing powder - tesco 2 in 1 - 3kg - £3.74
toilet rolls - tesco value - 12pk - £1.13


and all this brings me in at...................£39.66 - so even enough to give Ben a little treat if hes a good boy!!!!!!!!!

Thank you all for your help - im off to meal plan now!!!

Heth_2

Why don't you meal plan before doing the shopping list? While your list looks reasonable I can't see enough meals for 3 people for 2 weeks in there myself.

The porridge seems expensive. Is that for porridge oats? I buy sainsburys taste the difference oats and I'm sure they are about 75 p for 750g.
You could still make the pizza bases cheaper yourself if you wanted, and that really doesn't seem like enough fresh fruit and veg for 2 weeks, but maybe you have lots of dried/tinned fruit as well.

hazzie123

Personally the second shopping list is miles better.I could easierly get 2 weeks worth of meals out of that.

Dont forget that the smallest chickens can stretch along way.You should be able to get at LEAST 2 good meals from one small chuck.

You can also do loads of tastey meals from those 40 sausages.
Toad in the hole,
Sausage casserole,
Sausage beans and mash.

Can you also post your meal plan for the two weeks,might even give us lot some meal ideas?

tinkerbelluk

One thing - check the cheese as Tesco have cathedral city on offer at the moment and as it's stronger you may end up using less of it.