Top Tips for weekly shop??

sunshinesheli

Hi all! :wave:

My boyfriend and I are trying to reduce our outgoings as much as possible. I've had a look around and seen a lot of threads saying how much people spend per week, and lots of cheap recipe threads (which I am studying hard!!) but I just wondered if any of you had any top tips for how to make the weekly shop as moneysaving as possible given that we don't like to eat cheapy meat (which means we don't eat it often - tend to use soya / lentil for things like spag bol!) and would like to support local shops as much as possible - we have a lovely greengrocers nearby for example, but I don;t know if it is the cheapest option!

So yes, any advice would be greatly appreciated!! :beer:

pandora205

Lots of ways to cut down on spending... here are a few that work for me:

Shop in a small supermarket (in my case Aldi) and do it quickly when it is empty. Hours in a large Tesco cost a fortune!
Go down a brand and try own labels. If it's awful don't do it again: if not you've saved money.
Try to shop once a week and not 'top up' between times.
Buy fruit and veg in a local market - It's often cheaper and usually better quality.
Menu plan: do an inventory of your cupboards and build meals around them. Start with fresh stuff (veg in fridge, etc.)
Make soup - you can throw in stuff at the end of the week and freeze it in mugs/containers to reheat for packed lunches
Make your own - yoghurt (get and Easiyo yoghurt maker), bread (mixes are great but doing from scratch is cheaper) and wine (a big money saver and great fun)
Use a slow cooker - cheaper cuts of meat are delicious and it's lovely to come home to a hot casserole
Grow your own: I'm not much of a gardener but spuds are easy, as is lettuce, some herbs (rosemary, parsley and chives) and garlic
If you like spreadable butter make your own with sunflower oil in a food processor. It's lovely and much cheaper than Lurpak etc.
Join Costco if you can - bulk shopping for some things saves money and their meats are good
Get on friendly terms with your local butcher/greengrocer. Ask for tips, what's in season, etc.

That's a few of mine to be going on with...

but most of all - do not waste food! If you've bought it, eat it... Look on here for ideas.

GreyQueen

Hello Sunshineysheli and hello Pandora (excellent post btw).

I don't eat rubbish meat but I do lean towards cheaper cuts. It doesn't mean that they are in any way less safe or nutritious than the rest of the animal, just means Jo(e) Public doesn't favour them.

F'instance, if roast beef dinners are part of your repertoire, buy brisket rather than silverside or topside. Put your brisket in a lidded casserole pan, add about half a pint of water, cook slowly in the oven at Gas 2 or equivalent. Hoick it out to rest before carving and make a good rich gravy with a couple of stock cubes and a touch of flour. Food of the gods, according to my guests.

Brisket is much cheaper than silver or topside and in now way inferior if you let it cook slowly. Same is true of many other joints eg shin beef for casseroles.

You can get a brisket joint with change from £10 and that will serve 2 people for one day hot and one or two days as cold cuts, depending how hungry you are.

It's always good to look at "peasant-y" cuisines for your recipes as they will be hearty and economical. You don't want to be having to add lots of premium-priced ingredients or it'd soon be cheaper to eat at a restaurant.

I don't know how much time you can spend food shopping, or what kind of shops are within reasonable distance (I live in a city centre and am blessed for choices) but even if you can only do one store once a week, look for where they keep the "whoopsies". The late-date chilled stuff will have a spot in the fridge cabinet, they'll be spot on or near the bakery aisle, another place for fresh fruit and veg, another for canned and packaged good. Head for them first and then again quickly before you head to checkout in case they've been replenished. You sometimes come away empty-handed, you sometimes come away with modest discounts, and sometimes you'll get grin-from-ear-to-ear bargains at silly prices, only a few pence.

Definately check out independant shops like greengrocers, butchers and fishmongers as well as the local market. Indy traders have a hard time of it and are usually pretty competitive. Plus they're a fount of knowledge if you're contemplating cooking something new and not sure how the heck to do it. Indies sometimes sling a freebie into your order and if you become their regular customer, this is even more likely. You'll never get that at Sainsbugs or Mr T .;)

I'd suggest checking the smaller chains like Lidl, Aldi and Netto. Also, don't sneer at Iceland, as they have fresh food as well as frozen, tinned and packaged stuff and they are very comptetive. Right now, Iceland has 4-packs of Crosse and Blackwell baked beans for £1, which is about half the price other chains want for them.

Poundstores and 99p stores have food items too, often very keenly prices and sometimes v. famous brands. FarmFoods will sell you 2 loaves of sliced Hovis for £1.25 or 2 lots of 4-pints milk for £1.50.

If you have a car and drive thru rural areas, you can pick up bargain sacks of spuds, carrots and other goodies in season at farm gate and cottage gate sales, so keep your eyes peeled.

Unless you have a very small and utterly fixed weekly grocery budget, buy as many of some regularly used item when you see it on special offer, up to the limit you can store them. Milk and cheese can be frozen but a surprising number of people don't know this.

Get the stores' reward cards and work those points; they can add up usefully over time. My new p.js were Mr T vouchers + £2.

Definately look at the non-food items which are on the till receipt. You can live perfectly well without kitchen roll or wipes for any kind of surface. Just about anything can be cleaned with a squirt of washing-up liquid in hot soapy water. If you add soda crystals to the list for heavy duty greasies and perhaps a cream cleanser (Mr T's Basics at 32p is excellent btw) you should be able to clean just about anything. Oh, and loo roll; downscale until you hit the comfort zone.

Good grief, I've written a novel!!!!!!!!!!! Best of luck with your grocery adventures.

lucy*locket

Hi Sunshinesheli,

All of the above work for me! My food bills were £100+ a week 20 years ago! Now i spend an average £60-£70 a week (for 5 adults) by shopping carefully.

*I stock up on BOGOFs and half-price offers if it's something I'd use anyway, for example I've got 4 boxes of Yorkshire Teabags in my cupboard 'cos they had 100% extra free.
*I check my fridge to see what I can use in a meal before I go shopping and menu plan for the week.
*I rarely throw any food away, if it's near it's use by date then I freeze it if I can, or use it in a recipe and then freeze that
*Your local butcher can be as cheap as the supermarkets so worth using one if you can.
* if you're near several supermarkets it's worth visiting them all if you can to pick up any special offers in each (I know it takes time but I work full-time and still manage to do this)
*I agree Iceland are brilliant, they have lots of non-frozen foods at good prices. I don't buy much of their frozen foods TBH as I like to cook from scratch
*Look out for Grabbits on MSE, I've picked up loads of bargains thanks to the canny shoppers on here! Only on Friday I bought a pack of 56 Fairy dishwasher tabs for £3.50 ish instead of £12.95 ish from ASDA , I was looking out for them and got the last pack but wouldn't have known about it without MSE 'cos the shelf wasn't marked.
*I try and keep my store cupboard and freezer full, then every few weeks you can have a cheap week, buying just a few essentials.

Intersting thread, I'm obsessed with shopping around now for the best bargains and get a real buzz from keeping my spending down while still eating nice freshly cooked food.:)

Gill

shopndrop

I buy my meat, fish and fruit/veg in local independent shops and always buy what is in season. I always take the advice of the butcher/fishmonger as I find these to be an excellent source of advice.

suzybloo

IGood luck on changing your shopping habits, once you get into a routine it will be like second nature to you. Definately meal plan around what you have in the cupboard, then list the ingredients you need to buy for the week on a shopping list, I make my list out under the headings of butcher, fish shop etc then you dont impulse buy on things that are no use or wasted. Another tip is walk to the shops - that way you wont buy more than you can carry! I have started using cash also, and have a mental note of how much I will need in each shop. Keep all receipts and review them now and again to see how things are changing or are there cheaper things that you enjoy - it all takes a bit of work but you get nothing for nothing and it will pay dividends in the long run.

[Deleted User]

Try for a few NSD's if you can I so far this month haven't broken into my 'food purse' as I haven't gone near anywhere that I may be tempted to shop.I will have to stock up on a few neccessities at some point this week but I try to see how I can adapt what I have to save me going to buy only a couple of things.
E.G. my kitchen roll is going down but I have a fitted sheet that is past its best and very thin, and I have undone the frill around it and I am going to divide up into 1 foot square pieces and hem round to use as cloths for wiping up spills and cleaning with.Saves my buying kitchen and less landfill when it gets binned.Clean cotton cloth biodegrades better than filling up our land with uneccesary bits of paper .Adaptability is the key word.Even in recipes I adapt things.Last night I was at my friends for dinner and she was going to cook chicken and bacon pasta,at the last minute she discovered that she had run out of penne.She was pnicing but after a serch through her cupboards we found a packet of macaroni which we substitutes for the penne ,result one delicious meal and no extra expence of running to the corner shop to buy something.Its amazing what a little bit of ingenuity will come up with .another good thing to think of is 'Use up what I can first.Your store cupboards probably contain around £50.00 + of food just sitting there.You bought it to eat why not use what you have before you buy more.I have been doing that as much as possible this year and last month only spent around £60+ for a five week month of fresh food ect.True there is only me to feed but I still have food cupboards ith lots of food in and I am doing my best to 'work' them down a bit.Food is nor a decoration its bought to be eaten
Hope this helps a bit
Good Luck
JackieO xx

sunshinesheli

Oooh, fantastic, thank you everyone! Loads of great ideas here for us to try

I will make sure my boyfriend has a good look at this thread and we will keep you updated to how we go!

Any more fab ideas?

lauren_1

Biggest saving I found was to ban kids and OH's from shopping with me.

emiff6

JackieO wrote: »

Try for a few NSD's if you can I so far this month haven't broken into my 'food purse' as I haven't gone near anywhere that I may be tempted to shop.

JackieO has hit the nail right on the head there - shops, especially supermarkets, do their utmost to tempt us into spending more than we want to, with enticing displays and seemingly bargain offers. Check the prices of large and small packs - for instance, I find often Mr A will have a sign up on a big box of something saying "value pack", but when you work out the prices, two smaller packs totalling the same weight can be cheaper.
E.g. this week baking potatoes (variety 'Melody') were £1.37kg loose, but packs of 4 baking potatoes (same variety and weighing 1kg) were 50p each.

So:
Take a calculator with you for quick reckoning.

Go shopping with a list and stick to it unless something is an absolute rock bottom bargain and you KNOW you will use it.

Never go shopping when you are hungry, then you won't buy a snack to eat on the way home!

WiseOldBird_2

Another quick tip is to shop for the week, then try and last eight days on it. If you continue to do this then every 7 weeks you should have a spare week's housekeeping money!