Help...how to reduce shopping budget!!

brummiebabe

Hi all

I used to be on this forum a lot..and was doing very well with my grocery challenge. However, I've fallen off the wagon recently and my spending has slowly increased.

I'm now on Maternity Leave (my DD was born 2 weeks ago!) and, with the extra expense of a baby have found I'm now spending £400 p/month!!! This is for me, DH, 2DS (aged 6 and 3) and DD. It does include all my cleaning/laundry products, nappies and baby milk aswell as packed lunches for 2 sons!! However, I'm after some ideas from all you experienced moneysavers as to how to reduce this as much as possible!

I'd also appreciate some ides of HM food that is quick, cheap and easy to make (I'm not the best cook!!) as you can imagine my time is limited! I do a meal plan but find it very difficult to think of new ideas!!!!

Any suggestions or help would be gratefully appreciated!!!!!!

Thanks all!:A

moggins

Make sure you make a list and stick to it. It's the impulse buying that really breaks a budget and get back to that meal planning making the best use of any leftovers.

I always keep plenty of pasta in the house as I've found I can knock up a pasta sauce using virtually anything in the pantry.

tryhard_2

hello
this is the menu planning thread
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=23385

maybe you could make a list of stuff in cupboard/fridge/freezer and post it here. then others can give you menu ideas

glendam

Nothing to help your budget but can I say how beutiful Grace is.

Glenda

brummiebabe

Sorry not responded earlier - my how these babies get in the way of any decent computer time!!!!!!

Thanks for the links and ideas (and for the compliments re: Grace - I think she's beautiful, but I know I'm ever so slightly biased!)

When I get chance, I'll post a list of my storecupboard/freezer ingredients. One of my main problems is that my 2 DSs don't like anything made with mince or with a tomato sauce base. This rules out spag bol, lasagne, cottage pie, tomato sauce on pasta etc....they do love pasta though, so I would be interested in any other ideas for pasta sauces??

pickle

One of my favorite quick meals is to get a packet of sausages and put them into an oven tray and sprinkle with oil. Bake on about 200 deg. cel. until they are browned. Also I cut up potatoes into 1 inch cubes (leave the skin on) and sprinkle these with olive oil and rosemary and put in oven tray until brownish(15 mins) at same temp as sausages. When cooked serve with some sauerkraut or whatever else you prefer (b'beans, green beans etc). Almost no prep.

newlywed

Toad in the hole is quick and easy - I did it for the first time the other week and OH was impressed!

Some have mentioned using condensed soup to make pasta sauce - eg cream of mushroom, cream of chicken? Haven't tried it myself though but might be a good alternative to tomato base sauce.

cupid_s

what about pad thai? we made this last night took about 10 mins from scratch and to feed 6 people for lunch cost less than £2.

taplady

How about a Tuna Pasta bake - cheap and easy and you could use a cheesy sauce for it so your boys might eat it!