Food budget reducing tips

samnbaz

would def say keep at the feeding your baby what your eating point, it makes a massive difference and is alot better for your baby and cuts down on the risk of ending up with a fussy eater in the future, try small bits of plain things first and if your struggling either speak to your health visitor or your local childrens center and they may well be able to refere you to a community nutrionist/ dietition for help, making things from scratch instead of using jars of sweet and sour or curry etc is alot cheaper, seasonal veg, using ribs etc for stews(i was on maternity leave with my dd3 but they made me redundant at the end of it my dd is lactose intollerant and i was a community nutriton educator so i really do appreciate where your coming from x)

PolkaDotsAndLace

The simplest things I've done to reduce my food budget:

1) Meal plan - means we only buy what we need, and then we can decide if we want a treat or not
2) Joining the Grocery Challenge - having a budget means you really think about what you're buying, works well with the mealplanning as well
3) Downshifting -on some things it means I'm using A*da Smartprice which I wasn't before, or supermarket's own when I used to buy branded
4) Plan when you shop - whether weekly/fortnightly/monthly suits you better, I think it helps to do one larger shop and reduce small shops during the week.
5) Be really strict at using leftovers and things nearly at their useby date!

It's difficult, and I'm only in my first month of doing it properly (after kind of testing the water) but I've really noticed the difference in how I shop, and I'm not nipping to the corner shop every day and spending £5.

monnagran

Hi ya,
My love, you have a baby so why are you worrying about cleaning? If it really bothers you do the kitchen timer trick. Find the thing that is getting on your nerves most - say - the kitchen worktops. You set the timer for 10 or 15 minutes and clear as much as you can, cleaning as you go, before the timer goes off. When you get another 10 minutes you carry on from where you left off. It works. Also I endorse Stardrops, it does most things, and if you can afford some vinegar as well, (the cheapest you can find) there isn't much else you will ever need. Look on the Stardrops thread.

Only use half the recommended amount of anything, Washing powder, shampoo etc. You probably won't know the difference but if you do just increase it a bit.
Try the Value or Basic range of goods. Most are absolutely fine some are soso but try it.
Pick up tips from this forum, eg squash loo rolls so that it's impossible to pull off too much. There is a fantastic thread called something like 'One Liners - quick tips' can't remember it off hand but something like that.
As to losing baby weight.........I am in my 70s and still trying to lose the weight, and I adopted my children! don't want to depress you or anything:rotfl:

Hardup_Hester

Try to find a local butcher they are often cheaper then the supermarket for meal.
Stretch your meat as far as possible, I made cottage pie last night with a very small amount of meat, I added grated onion, leeks (reduced to 7p) & carrot, a handful of oats, a few mushrooms & half a tin of baked beans that was lurking in the fridge.
Rubber chicken is also a good idea.
There are also loads of recipes on here http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/
Hester

squeaky

Three step program with almost instant results...

The Grocery Challenge sticky. Currently... December 2011 - Grocery Challenge

Weekly Menu Planning. Currently... Meal Plans WB 12th December 2011

And also... Don't throw food away challenge

Lots and lots of tips and support in those threads. Good luck

mummysaver

Loads of good advice above!

My suggestion would be start with meal planning, that way you use what you buy rather than looking at lots of odd bits and wondering what on earth you can make from them!

As for baby food, not sure why shop stuff should be easier on reflux than homemade, other that it seems a lot more blended and wetter - perhaps you could blend hm stuff into submission and add more water or milk to make it gloopier? More like a thick soup? Even if it's only one meal a day that is hm you would save a bit, but if it doesn't work, don't beat yourself up, a happy mum and babe are more important, so long as she eats and thrives is what matters!

Can't do much about baby milk, she needs that lol!

Dog food - internet can be brilliant for hunting down the same stuff for less! My friend is a vet nurse and always orders stuff on line for her animals! Depending on where you live there may be somewhere that delivers, we have a farm shop that does animal feed, and it works out far cheaper than vets!

Cleaning stuff here is stardrops for almost everything, even just discovered it does a pretty fine job in the dishwasher! I use bleach in the utility where the dog sleeps, as he is a messy stinky hound and it needs a damned good dose to disinfect it! The only other stuff I have to have is loo cleaner with limescale remover in, quick squirt and ten mins later a swish round with the loo brush and all is clean and shiny again! With a baby you have plenty to occupy you though, so don't worry too much about it!

Losing weight is hard when you're tired and looking after a tiny! Walking and pushing a buggy are good tho, as is dragging the dog out, but I'm sure you do those anyway! Foodwise have a look at the slimming thread on here, and veg needn't be pricy if you stock up from aldi and lidl, and frozen veg are fine too and usually much cheaper!

There was a really good post on the grocery challenge thread the other day with some brilliant advice, think it was going to be added at the start of the thread, so worth a look there.

If you need more tips, post what you like to eat, and I'm sure peeps will help you meal plan and get started

narabanekeater

Hi from another Mum to a relux baby. Well im on my 2nd with reflux. Ive found that an sligtly spicey,acidic food will come up. Things like carrot and spuds dont. Also if your going to stay with jars heinz tins are much cheaper. If you dodnt mind me asking what milk is your little one on. Feel free to message me should you wish to chat.

camNolliesMUMMY

use your sc if you have one? if not they are just £9 in tesco and worth the investment or ask for one for crimbo..it costs the same as running a light bulb instead of turning your cooker on which will help you save on energy.

Cleaning stuff- use a an empty spray bottle and purchase star drops you dont need alot and then fill the rest with water or buy a cheap disinfectant and fill with water it will last a hell of a lot longer, i have'nt bought flash or cif for 6 months as i still have half a bottle of star drops left (i think its 90p in home bargains for a tall bottle and disinfectant zaflora is about 50p for a little bottle but its X3 stronger and goes futher).

With the washing you dont really need to use the full amount it tells you on the pack, i save my ds milk measure sppon thing they give you and put one scoop of washing powder in my machine for not so dirty clothes, it still does the job and i always put my washing machine on timesaver mode so it doesnt run as long.


Food- do a weekly menu or 2 week menu and then go through your cupboards and note what you will need to make them items and this will then be your shopping list and if its not on the list dont buy it unless you really need too.


good luckxxx

culpepper

I used to always make home made baby food.
When my son was little it was baby rice and something or smoothly mashed potato +,apple+,if you have ever tasted teh jar varieties,they are almost flavourless .
Sometimes I would make our own meal and not add any spices or seasonings until it was cooked, then put a small amount aside to blend before adding anything extra to our own portions.
We had a stick blender which coped with near enough everything.

camNolliesMUMMY

forgot to add freeze leftovers especially when uve made a chilli,spag,casserole etc box them and freeze it saves another day of cooking for the following week or for oh to take to work with himx