May 2011 Grocery Challenge

Aarons_mummy

dawn060861 wrote: »

This is one weeks shop at Asda (already have good selection of herbs/spices/store cupboard stuff)

2 white bread - lots of bread, have you tried making your own, buying reduced and freezing, buying a cheaper brand (if possible)
2 Brown bread
3 pkts scotch pancakes - could you make your own? So cheap and easy to do
2 packs part baked baguettes (2 pack) - is a bigger pack cheaper?
Flora light
4 cartons skimmed Milk
bag sugar - shop around these can be found cheaply in places like home bargains
tea bags - as above, or buy in offers to have a stock so you only buy when offers are on
Diet coke - Could you downbrand?
lime and lemon flavoured still water
blackcurrant no sugar squash
Pack Ham - buy a joint of gammon and slice yourself
Pack corned beef - would a tin be cheaper
pack of cooked chargrill chicken - use chicken leftovers instead perhaps?
pack of cheese strings - cheese cubes are just as effective
pack bacon - could you get this cheaper at a butchers/market?
Microwave sausage (as bacon)
6 eggs -
Joint beef - butchers, markets can often work out cheaper
Chicken breasts - could you buy a whole chicken for around the same price to get more meals out of.
Minted lamb steaks - butchers, market
minced beef (2 packs) - buthcers, market
Pasta bows - could you use tubes instead, only 9p a bag
Lloyd Grossman pasta sauce (2) on offer £1 each - cut this out!
Mature cheddar - buy on offer?
tin chopped tomatoes - use value brands exactly the same
2 tins sweetcorn - get a bag of value sweetcorn to add to dishes
Jar Helmans Mayonaise light
Fry light cooking spray - use a little less oil or make your own spray
Basmati rice - value brand
4 Muller Rice
4 Readymade jelly pots - buy a value jelly (6p) and you'll get the same or more amount of pots
Pack mixed flavour french fries
Pack cheese and onion crisps
Baking potatoes (big bag)
new potatoes
swede
carrots
lettuce
Tomatoes
Cucumber
red onions
spring onions
mushrooms
bananas
Apples
plums
oranges
strawberries

Check out the market for fruit and veg you could make a huge saving there. Buy in season to keep costs down, go blackberry picking with the wee one.

frozen chips
frozen yorkshire puddings - could you make your own?
Ice lollies - make your own, good activity to do with the little one and the initial outlay is £1 in 99p stores or a couple of pound elsewhere
frozen cheesecake - could you make your own?

toilet Roll - are you getting the best deal? Look out for offers and stock up when you can
kitchen roll - use old towels, teatowels etc to mop up spills to eliminate cost
foil - check out cheaper shops
fabric conditioner - use half recommended amount or cut out completely
Daz - use half recommended amount
air freshener - couple of cotton wool balls with essential oil on behind the radiators does the same trick.


The food varies from week to week as does the toiletries/cleaning products etc but my shopping bill is between £85-£100 a week
any ideas to get this bill down a bit, we have an Aldi,Iceland nearby and has a Morrisons,Asda,tesco etc nearby and also markets.

Dawn x

I think there's loads you can do to cut down on your bill. Definately check out your local market, you'll most likely find you can get a lot more fruit/veg for your money.

Butchers for the meat to see if it's cheaper, if not could you cut out one meat meal per week, use half mince and bulk out with oats/lentils, more filling/healthier and unnoticable.

Hope that helps a little

CherryPie

Another couple of quid today on courgettes for tonights dinner of fajitas. Quite disappointing as I could only find a packet of Discovery fajita mix when I got home, I much prefer the Old El Paso one. Not to worry, they were edible and it's the last packet used up. I'm sure I've saved someones recipe for their own fajita seasoning on here somewhere.......

I'll look for it before buying any more packets as I've got a shelf full of herbs & spices!!!

Good news today - Entered a comp on FB and I have won A YEARS SUPPLY OF TEABAGS

:j


This is good news for my Mum and sister, as I'm more of a coffee girl, but I'm chuffed all the same!!

Have a good weekend everyone

:beer:

Sue14

Just another £4 spent in Mr T's yesterday.

valk_scot

One thing I do notice is that you buy a great deal of meat for what's effectively two and a half people, portion wise. It looks like you're eating meat twice a day most days, which is a lot. I buy about half that for four of us. Might be worth checking your portion sizes too...a portion for an adult is 4-6 oz of meat. Also what you're buying is premium cuts a lot of the time. Given that meat is often the most expensive part of a meal this might be a good place to start cutting down and experimenting with cheaper cuts (chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts for example) and introducing a few more meatless meals. And how about fish? Tinned fish make good sandwich fillings and for baked potatoes...tuna mayo, tinned pink salmon (for fishcakes and sandwich fillings) and sardines on toast.They're all extremely good value for protein foods and it's recommended to eat a couple of portions of oily fish a week anyway.

I actually think you're quite light on the veg tbh. Are you following current nutritional thinking of 1/4 the plate for meat/protein, 1/4 for carbs, 1/2 for vegetables? More veg and smaller portions of meat will help cut the budget and it's better for you as well.

Bread...ever thought about a basic bread maker and making your own? You can make three decent loaves from a 70p bag of bread flour and that would soon cover the cost of a breadmaker. Tastes a lot better too.

And there's a lot of puddings and snacky stuff like the crisps, drinks and readymade pots. I don't mean you should cut these out completely but I can see that's where a lot of your money is going. I notice there's not much milk on the list given there's a child in the house. Five year olds should be getting full fat or semi-skimmed milk , one pint a day, so if she doesn't like milk, how about yoghurt and fruit for pudding? But it would be better if she drank more milk and less squash/coke etc, and it would be cheaper too. Milk is amazingly good value for money nutritionally and fills them up in a good way. And cereal and milk is a very good snack food that's also economical.

As to cleaning materials you'll save at least half if not more by going to the local ££ shop or B&M and buying there. Check out toiletries there as well. You can get a lot of the big brand names in the ££ shop, surprisingly enough.

Hippeechiq

pipersky wrote: »

Hello everyone - nice to hear that all is going well you're getting on a bit better Hippeechiq x

Thank you hun - that's very kind of you

LongTallSally I've had a reasonable week thanks A bit tired, as DDs physical problems appeared to be improving, but have nosedived again, and that's affecting her mental state, but that said, she's coping better than she would have done a few months ago, so I take heart from that
You seem to be doing a lot better at the challenge this last two months by the way - well done you :T Have you suddenly found a system that works for you?

guccigoo I'm sorry to hear you're feeling so down :grouphug: Really hope you're feeling brighter soon x

Welcome LittleMissMPB & RonniesMummy :hello:

Had a NSD yesterday and a small spend on Olive Spread today, bringing my new total to £195.19. Finding it hard this month as the cost of groceries are increasing in leaps and bounds. Anyone else finding this?

Spigs If you're reading this - well all miss you :kisses3:

Hardup_Hester

I buy a small piece of gammon from the local butcher, usually £4.99, slice it & it makes sandwiches for hubby's pack up (yes he will eat ham every day given the chance!) I can usually make 6 to 10 packs of sandwiches & 2 lots of gammon egg & chips from each joint plus a chicken ham & mushroom pie with the scraps.
Hugs Hester

Mrs_Money_Penny

Hi All Spent £65.81 in Mr S's yesterday was hoping for some wine on offer but it hadn't been delivered. Will look next week. Have a good weekend all.

pipersky

Total spends to date are now at £178.88 inc. a delivery from Mr A due on Sunday evening I have a feeling I have missed out a couple of small 'just nipping to the shop to get some milk' spends, but nothing major so feeling quite happy :j

Should be NSD day today...

CH27

I cook a large gammon joint (max £7) & it lasts us for days.
I make sandwiches with it for hubby & son's packed lunches & we get two or three main meals out of it too.

I do the same with a chicken. Amazing how far a chicken can go:rotfl:

OP you said in one of your posts that you buy a lot of branded stuff. Try dropping a brand.
Branded toilettries & cleaning products are so expensive.

I shop at Aldi a lot & find they are very good value.

Baileys_Babe

LittleMissMPB wrote: »

Is it wrong to be excited? I'd never realised it could be this easy to save money.

No not wrong at all, I find it one of my simple pleasures feeding my family healthy meals they enjoy for low cost so I have the money for other things we enjoy.