budgeting advice

Boblar_2

When I was a student I used to eat really well on 30 quid a week. Check out Martin's article on shopping first of all.

If you're a meat eater, forgo the chicken breasts for whole chickens and joint them yourself (there's a great video on the BBC Food website for this in the Techniques section), they work out cheaper and last a few days. Learn how to make anything with minced beef; chilli con carne, cottage pie, bolognaise and home-made burgers are all very cheap and filling. Don't buy brand name anything - Tesco's own brands are good enough (Martin's article will help you more on this point). Like everyone else has said, sit down before you go shopping (and after you've eaten or you'll be tempted by everything when you go!) and plan all your meals right down to your lunch box for every day. For dinner, plan to cook things that you can make in big batches (stews, curries, soups, chilli, cottage pie, etc) and freeze, buy some of those cheap plastic takeaway containers and bung them in the freezer when you're done. I was usually able to make 3 meals out of each and every one so I would cook 3 days of the week and then just grab one out of the freezer, microwave it and cook some rice/pasta to go with it.

Xbigman

I'm not into meal plans so I have a shopping list of things I buy regularly and I just top up on any I've used each weak.
Whether you do meal plans or some other method you must make out a shopping list and not shop ad hoc.

If you're budget is £30 a week and you spend £22 on the main shop you need to be aware of the remaing £8 of budget and stick to it. Certainly you can't have a budget of £30 a week and spend that in one go. When the budget runs out each week you need to be ruthless. If you've £3 left and you need £8 then you only spend £3. Going without or buying the really cheap crap is the penalty for being short.

What does your car do to the gallon? Work that out and keep a travel log. A notepad in the car to write journey details on will help work out if you are making unnescesary journeys.
You say you only use the car for work. Do you mean that literally? Do you use it when you do your shopping? I aim to use my car just for work plus one big shopping trip each month (when I refuel too). I walk to the shops the rest of the time. You need to plan ahead and avoid short trips in the car. You also need to plan ahead and leave on car trips 5 minutes earlier. Slow down and use less fuel.



X

sevenpounds03

thanks for all your replies, some really good answers, im going to investigate.

i find 30quid is ample as it is mostly just for me but its a matter of eeking it out. think im going to write a menu at work today then plan it on tesco to see how much it will cost, its the best way i can think of doing it

allydowd

The Old Style Forum is here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33

Bookmark it for later use!

allydowd

miggy wrote: »

If you eat out or buy a sandwich, what does that cost in comparison to bringing your own? Can you keep an emergency supply in a desk drawer or the glove box?

Only don't leave chocolate in your glove box, that can be disastrous! :eek:

annibee

Meal plans saved us a bundle of money and doing online grocery shopping means I only buy what I need without seeing other tempting offers!!!

As for petrol dont forget the price has gone up so what you want to spend and what you will have to spend may be conflicting. when we tried to work out our petrol budget I found keeping the receipts and working out how much I spent on an average month useful. So for two months I filled half a tank whenever it was empty and kept receipts then I worked out that was on average say £80 pm so my target was to not go over that.

I'll try and find the link on making your petrol last - So dont fill the car up - If you fill a full tank the petrol gets used more because of the weight, radio and air con will rinse petrol too so If possible keep them off and remove any unnecessary weight from boot like pushchairs when you've not got the kids etc and you'll really notice a difference. Also mind when tesco do their 5p off promo's

HTH [STRIKE](Ill go find that link now)[/STRIKE] - Link http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheaper-fuel

suzieq

I can't agree more with the previous posters about meal planning & shopping online - I'm a mare for picking up extra (read unneccessary) bits if I'm shopping in store, and even with del charge, it is definitely cheaper for me. Plus, you can search for deals (which are, of course, only bargains if you were going to buy them in the first place).

There's also a good cheap meals section on the Good To Know website.

allydowd wrote: »

Only don't leave chocolate in your glove box, that can be disastrous! :eek:

Unless it's a big bar of mint Aero - I did that on a scorcher of a day, then put it in the fridge when I realised. The next day it was a lovely thick lump of marbled-minty chocolate!! :T

miggy

These petrol tips sound useful - I'm not a driver so I can't contribute there but I'm aware that as a family we probably do too many short unplanned trips to save time and it's easy to do - however, if the car's just for work, is there any chance of sharing with someone? Even once a week would help.

Boblar wrote: »

If you're a meat eater, forgo the chicken breasts for whole chickens and joint them yourself (there's a great video on the BBC Food website for this in the Techniques section), they work out cheaper and last a few days.

Thanks for this: I must give it a try. I do buy whole chickens to roast then use up in sandwiches, casseroles, stock etc. but have hitherto been too squeamish to joint a raw chicken!

allydowd wrote: »

Only don't leave chocolate in your glove box, that can be disastrous! :eek:

:rotfl:

suzieq wrote: »

Unless it's a big bar of mint Aero - I did that on a scorcher of a day, then put it in the fridge when I realised. The next day it was a lovely thick lump of marbled-minty chocolate!! :T

Oh, that sounds niiiiicccceee...

foxgloves

It's really 'Old-style' in our house now.....meal planning is an absolute must for us, for keeping within food budget. We mostly have a roast dinner on Sundays, then I use the leftover meat to make two more days of main meals......maybe Chicken madras on the Monday & risotto or pasta bake on the Tuesday, as well 2 packed lunches worth of chicken sandwiches for partner and usually some soup or stock too. Shopping around also helps us......fruit & veg from the market works out cheaper for us and because it's loose, if you just want 2 chillies, or one apple, that's what they'll weigh out for you. All cooking is done from scratch in our house, even things like pizzas, and this really helps with rounding up any fresh ingredients that need using up. Use the freezer as a moneysaving tool......batch cook, using just one lot of energy, then freeze the extra portions for another week. If anything looks like it won't keep, don't waste it, can it be frozen? i.e I chop peppers or leftover ham or chillies, etc, & freeze to use when I make pizzas so that I don't end up paying for them then chucking them away. Loaves can be divided into two so you can freeze half rather than risk wasting it. And when shopping, it's helpful to remember that nothing is a bargain if it puts you over your budget.....the only winner then is the supermarket. Their life-goal is parting us from our money.....ours has to be to give them as little of it as possible!