Needing Help.

ETanny

Hello everyone.
I am just looking for a bit of advice on how I could cut down my food shopping.
We have about a budget of 300 pounds a month. There is 2 adults and 1 child (3 years old) in our family.
We try and buy home brands when ever we can. Although there are somethings I don't really like to buy 'cheap' brands like washing powder, fabric softener and toothpaste.
My little girl also takes packed lunch to school (she goes twice a week)

I am open to any advice you could possibly share to help try and cut our shopping down!

Alison_Funnell

Have you got any old receipts? If so go through them with coloured markers - red for essentials, blue for cleaning stuff etc, yellow for treats or something like that. then you can see how much you spend on essentials and stuff.

Now be honest and write down everything you can remember that you have thrown out/wasted in the last week (or as much as you can remember).

Then look at how much removing the waste will save.

Could you use half the amount of your favourite detergents per wash?

What are you favourite meals, can you list them here so we can all try and help you save money.

ETanny

I have just asked my husband if he still has last months recipt and he dosent but i will be doing that when we go shopping next month. As we have been pretty short on money this month due it it being a long month because of Christmas (DH gets paid nearly a fortnight earlier then normal) so we have been very frugal and bought a lot of freezer stuff (i have hated it!) so we knew it would last. I don't like eating like that though. I love to cook healthy fresh homemade food. (I am also dieting - I am a WW member) Normally I end up throwing away vegetables and yoghurt's as they have gone off.
I am also terrible for doing too much rice and pasta. (we have started freezing the left over rice) I also end up throwing away half tins of beans/peas etc.
Favorite meals include...
Spaghetti Bolognas
Mince and Mash
Home made pies (chicken and beef)
Stir frys
Pasta bakes
We also sometimes like the odd convenience food when we are busy or too tired to cook like nuggets/burgers/chips etc.

charlies-aunt

Decide what are necessities and what are luxuries - good quality bread, meat, eggs and fish are worth paying a little extra for.. . . . . . ..but paying mega bucks for triple-qulited, shea butter enhanced, heavily advertised loo roll is a luxury!

Check out the labels - the cheaper varieties of big brand labels will still have the same -or even identical - basic ingredients. Start at the next price down from what you normally buy and keep dropping until you reach the 'Basic' own brand or Aldi or Lidl - you'll find that for most things, own label is pretty good . . . most brand preference is not because the big brand is better - its just a taste that you're used to :cool: . . . and the big brands will have spent big bucks persuading you that theirs is the best :rotfl:

Once you've hit the own brand - you can then start to explore the exciting worlds of Approved Foods, cooking from scratch. . . .and growing your own!

Good Luck! Keep checking the OS threads for a wealth of helpful ideas and tips

phizzimum

you'll get lots of tips on this forum, and it might seem a bit overwhelming. personally, I found it best to work on just one thing at a time rather than changing my shopping habits overnight.

try to get into a habit of using your leftovers though - the pasta or beans could be part of lunch for the next day, or even a snack for your daughter. if you have veg that you don't think you'll use you could make soup (and freeze it) or put some into your pie or spag bol (grated carrot can go into just about anything!)

check your fridge before you go shopping so that you don't buy things like yoghurts if no-one has eaten last week's.

I also find that drawing out a set amount of cash for the week helps to focus my spending. Some would go further and suggest taking only cash to the supermarket and leaving your cards behind!

Sorry, I've overwhelmed you with ideas myself haven't I? keep posting and let us know how you get on.

Rhealea

I've just started posting on here too. My weekly budget is £100.38!! for 2 adults and 3 children.

We've been spending way more than that over the recent weeks so I've properly started the grocery challenge in January. I was going to put it off until February but I've decided new year, new start.

We didn't shop very well at the beginning of the month so now, with one week left until the end of the month we've got £41.42 left, and that's for a full shop next weekend!

I went throught last weeks online shop and highlighted necesitites - packed lunch things for school, etc and up to now for next week I've spent around £25.00.

Shopping online definietly saves money - the only thing I will say is write down when you find something you need otherwise you will forget it when it comes to doing the shop! The £3.00 delivery charge had definietly been worth the money I've saved by not going to the shop!

Good luck!

Mumof2_2

What I find helpful is to meal plan for the week so that I know exactly what I need and then stick rigidly to it - it's so easy to sling extras into the trolley when you're at the supermarket! I actually now shop online which is so easy; I'm not distracted by magazines, chocolates etc and I'd say our budget has definitely dropped to how it used to be.

Good luck and keep posting!

xrjtg

ETanny wrote: »

last months receipt

I think I'd find it very difficult to shop for a month's worth of food at a time. I don't know how easy it would be for you to buy less, more often, but you might have a better of idea of what you need for the week ahead than for the next 30 days, and you could buy accordingly.

lil_me

Rather than what you buy, maybe a typical list of meals you'd have each week?

Luxuries you like, maybe use less. This can be done with washing powders/conditioners etc you can use 1/4 of the amount described in most cases, if not less. That means every bottle lasts 4 times as long £1 stores do a lot of named brand toothpastes

Less meat and more veg usually helps as does bulking meals out with cheaper ingredients
Wet foods like stuff in a sauce etc are often cheaper than dry like something grilled/veg/chips
Assess what you have, meal plan then buy to suit
If like me you prefer going to shops, put a budget in your purse, you'll spend less it's weird but works

To answer these

I am also terrible for doing too much rice and pasta. (we have started freezing the left over rice) I also end up throwing away half tins of beans/peas etc. - freeze them all!!! Cook less rice and pasta, even if it's a bit less each time, measure it in a cup/mug so you know for next time
Favorite meals include...
Spaghetti Bolognas - add veg, lentils ...grated carrot is one of my fave tricks, in fact grated anthing, cook it for long enough and nobody notices ....
Mince and Mash - same applies as with spag bol, even those left over beans and peas drained off
Home made pies (chicken and beef) - extra veg/smaller pies
Stir frys - loads of veg
Pasta bakes - not too bad, reduce meat and add veg if you can

FREEZE ALL LEFT OVERS THAT ARE SAFE TO DO SO!!!

ubamother

it might be helpful to separate the actual food from the other items you buy - an extraordinary amount of money can go on cleaning products, cloths, shampoo, loo roll etc. If you have one near you, shops like Home bargains, Wilkinsons, B & M Bargains usually have better prices on branded goods like washing powder. We find it worth doing a monthly shop of these types of products rather than going to the supermarket. Many people find that it's not the main meals that add a lot of extra to the shopping bill - but the bits you 'like' to have in for snacks - nice cheese and biscuits, yoghurts, crisps etc. I'm rubbish at meal planning, and others who are brilliant will advise I'm sure, but I do plan in leftovers - so Monday supper is usually 'Sunday Lunch soup' with hm bread for example. It might be worth you writing down for a whole week exactly who eats what when so you can see where any waste might be coming from, and any unecessary expense.

GreyQueen

Your budget for 2 adults and 1 small child looks a bit high to me but it's hard to advise without seeing receipts. I agree with the others who have posted. I'm wondering if non-food items are sneaking into your trolley? It's easy to scoop up a few extras when on auto-pilot. You can get excellent deals on the best branded toiletries and home cleaning products in the poundstores/ 99p type stores. Mine have got 2 large tubes of extra-whitening BigBrand (can't remember which) toothpaste for £1, 2 Imp Leather deodorants for £1 etc etc. I'd frisk your lists for disposables like wipes and kitchen roll , unhealthies like cola, unnecesary premium things like loo paper (follow Martin's advice and down brand a level until you find what works for you). If you can only shop once a month, and only at one store, you limit your ability to pick up bargains, both regular sales cycles and "whoopsies". I guess you must do some top-up shopping for fresh veg, fruit, bread and milk between times? Perhaps you need to shop around different stores, depending on how much time you can spare and what shops are available. I do a Mr T every weekday as I walk past it's door on my way from work for discount items, dive into Lidl on my way to the allotment and nip into independant greengrocers/ the market, but I'm a free agent (and dead promiscious in my shopping habits). My total housekeeping spend is £50 a month for one adult and that's food, cleaning stuff, loo paper etc. I'm eating well, too.;)