Trying to reduce my grocery bill, any advice please

sitcom321

I am currently spending around £450 pm on food shopping that is for me OH and DD, I need to drasticaly reduce this down. i normally buy the following. OH is very fussy with food he will only eat fresh food doesnt like convenience foods, likes lots of fish/shellfish (very expensive) and take packed lunch with fruit and salad every day, as I do. i need to know if anyone has any good recipes for tasty healthy eating teas. I am hoping to bring my bill down by £100 per month if poss

tra_2

Hi. Do you buy everything from a supermarket? Are the fruit and veg shops/stalls cheaper?

the.fantastic.mrs.fox

I buy my tuna from home bargains or the like becuase it's cheaper. An independant fish seller is cheaper than the supermarket. Butchers are cheaper than supermarket as is the little veg shop round the corner (expect for soft fruit- usually the supermarket is cheaper). I've changed out river cobbler for cod- a very similar taste but half the cost.
I feel your pain. DH was brought up on sunday dinner and homecooked pies and it's spoilt him for anything else. Not that I mind- it's better for my waist line.
x

Seanymph

Farm shops are a godsend - everything is so much cheaper.

How about growing some of your salad stuffs? Or sprouting them?

sitcom321

I dont drive so I usually shop at the supermarket otherwise I am carrying bags all over or would have to make several trips to different shops for different things. OH as i said very fussy will not touch river cobbler after reading an article about it and there was a tv programme about it as well.

I do buy whoopsies from asda quite a bit as i tend to have a walk down there at night time and there is usually fish reduced

not really got the space to grow my own veg or salads I have no garden, though i could give tomatoes a go

Mistral001

Perhaps you need to get evrybody in the household involved and convince them that there are benifits in cutting down, like extra holidays and treats etc. cutting down from £450 to £100 is not going to be done with a few recipe tips I am afraid.

tessie_bear

hi...i dont think u can cut your bill by continuing to buy the same things if that makes sense....some things u could pehaps downshift like shell fish u could buy the value prawns

id sit down with the family and work out what is important and what could be downgraded...trying to down the bill by £100 in one month is a big ask it might be better to try and shave off a tenner or two a month

good luck

sitcom321

thanks I will see what i can do, no point asking family to help, i know they wouldnt that would be too much like hard work for them

Seanymph

Does your OH like vegetarian food?

daska

sitcom321 wrote: »

thanks I will see what i can do, no point asking family to help, i know they wouldnt that would be too much like hard work for them

Is there a specific event that has caused this need to downshift? Or is it that you've been spending beyond your means for too long? Either way, if your OH is the one largely responsible forcing up the foodbill by being fussy he NEEDS to be involved in discussing how you, as a family, can lower it. It may be that he doesn't realise just how much food prices have risen.

rinabean

You can't eat the same food for less money, I'm afraid. Fruit and salad will always be expensive. Don't bother growing tomatoes, it's too easy to lose them all to blight, and they can be very needy plants. Grow cut-and-come-again type salads, radishes, spring onions, herbs and so on. You can grow these the whole year round indoors, and for most of the year outside if you ever get a garden. They take only a few weeks to get to maturity, and if you can keep cutting some lettuce and herbs it really reduces the effort. Don't bother growing your basic romaine or iceberg or whatever lettuce in limited space, buy those and supplement it with the fancier leaves you can grow yourself for pennies.

Buy fruit that's in season, this is a great help. Though sometimes supermarkets run weird offers on things when no-one's buying, along with when there's a seasonal glut. Keep your eyes peeled and try not to get your heart set on specific items each week. Bananas are always cheap, even fairtrade and organic costs nothing next to fancier fruit. Frozen berries tend to be cheaper than fresh when they're not in season. I don't suppose you'd consider tinned fruit, perhaps just occasionally? Again, it costs very little, but of course the texture is all different. If you ever have smoothies or pies/crumbles you can use some tinned fruit to bulk out the fresh.

Some fresh veg is cheaper than the others. One of the worst examples is Kenyan mangetout and baby sweetcorn, you'd spend a fiver before you had enough for a family. Kales and cabbages are always cheaper. I know, they are really not glamorous, but there will be at least a few recipes all of you enjoy.

Vegetarian food is cheaper, too. Even Puy lentils are cheaper than seafood, and no-one would turn their nose up at them. Just a meal or two a week would make a difference.

If none of these suggestions appeal then there's my last tip. How much of that £450 makes it to your stomachs, and not the bin? If there's any food waste at all, that could really help you, and you wouldn't have to change the things you're eating, just how you eat them. There are lots of threads on here giving advice on how to use up that last bit of whatever.