Trying to reduce my grocery bill, any advice please

quintwins

tbh i don't think the op's oh is being unfair he wants to eat healthy and is willing to provide her extra money inorder to do so.

however that doesn't mean you can't cut back abit if you feel the need, i agree you need to keep an eye on waste or portion control, have added a few coments

sitcom321 wrote: »

Average weekly shop and meal planner

meals for the week
Lamb hotpot - we don't eat lamb but is it possible to get a cheaper cut
Pork stew - pork shoulder is lovely if cooked in the slow cooker, i can get 8 dinners worth for £10 if i buy when half price and there are 5 of us
Spag bol- good cheap meal but it could be worth making double and freezing for another week
Salmon- salmon is expensive but you can buy cut offs very cheap, what about a nice creamy salmon pasta?
Finny haddock- whats finny haddock? can you swap this out for cod/plaice or a cheaper fish?
Pork chops- buy on offer (lidl usually have pork chops/loins on offer) or do a pork shoulder in the slow cooker
Chicken curry- frozen chicken breasts are fine for curry again i'd try to make double for the next week

shopping for the week plus the meat above
Vegetables
Baby potatoess
Big potatoess- can you buy a big sack? we can buy a 25kg sack for £6 it lasts us 3 weeks and there still nice and firm and not sprouting
Carrots- nothing wrong with value carrots, if you don't think you can use a whole bag chop/grate and freeze them i do this alot as seem to always be able to get reduced carrots
Onions- again nothings wrong with value onions and they keep for ages
Mushrooms- do you use these alot? frozen might be better or you can freeze fresh ones if yours gonna use them in a casarole/curry
Leeks-depending on whats what you use this for celery can be just as good
Parsnips
Sweet potato
Red/green peppers-sometimes frozen can be better value depends on what your using them for, frozen taste the same but have less crunch
Fruit
7 large oranges
Pack of tangerines
2 bunches of bananas
(apples are cheap to give you varitey, tinned fruit is good as a back up value tinned pineapple is a big hit here)

Cupboard foods - weekly
Tinned chopped toms- value are fine but not always cheapest-check offers
Tinned plum toms- same as above
Beans-iceland do beans at 4 tins for £1 there abit watery tho, we prefer branstons i never pay for 25p per tin
Peas- frozen value sweetcorn is better value for weight
Sweetcorn same as peas above
Pasta value is ok but tesco's discount brand is nicer cooks quicker and isn't much dearer
Crisps value ready salted is nice enough and if there not nice branded ones they tend to eat less (thats true for my hunsband as he loves cheese and onion crisp sandwichs but not my kids they love the value crisps)
Biscuits- value custard creams are the nicest i've tasted, so far i prefer all value/basic biccys
Tinned salmon- poundland sell tinned salmon as this can be expensive, depending what your using it for tuna could be cheaper-poundland sell 3 tins of tuna for £1

Cupboard foods ad hoc
Tea
Coffee
Sugar
Pepper
Salt
Gravy grans
Stock cubes
(all the above are regularly on offer so stock up if you can, value tea bags and coffee aren't bad but then i don't like eitehr very string)

Fridge foods - weekly
Milk
Butter
Squash -value orange squash isn't bad or you can usually get squash on offer, poundland sometimes has 3litre bottle sof squash for £1)
Ham/turkey- if you have a slicer it could be cheaper to cook and ham and slice it you can get a value one
Pack of frozen mixed fruit
Onken vanilla yoghurt
Tomatoes
Eggs

Fridge foods ad hoc
Cheese- as a rule we never pay over £ per block as there always on offer
Sandwich fillers- you can make your own
Bacon- if your cooking with this cooking bacon is fab
Sausage



Misc foods - weekly
Fizzy drinks
Beer
Wine these are all quite expensive look out for offers
Chocolate
Bread

PolkaDotsAndLace

Looking at that list I'd suspect a lot of your money goes on meat - does it all get used up in one week or does some of it stay in the freezer/fridge for meals the next week? I think introducing a vegetarian meal (even if it's pasta + sauce) one or two nights a week and trying to make the meat go further might help a lot (eg I always used to use two chicken breasts for the two of us - now I only use one in thing like curries, fajitas and don't notice the difference, as well as bulking out minces and stews with oats and lentils)

I'd also spend the next few weeks keeping a really strict eye on what you're wasting by throwing away - writing it down if need be. You'd be surprised how much it can add up to, which you'd knock off your bill with some canny shopping.

hotcookie101

sitcom321 wrote: »

would it not be a bit greasy if done like this fussy OH doesnt like greasy!!!

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

If you do the chicken in the SC then the meat will fall off the bones, saving you a job

Raw chicken thighs are REALLY easy to take off the bone yourself (and skin if that's there too) Just use a sharp knife to work your way round the bone-chicken thigh fillets and the bones go in the freezer for stock Thigh fillets have more taste than breast I think, and skinless only marginally more fat (imho)

If you cook on the bone until falls off, it might be a bit fatty if you leave the skin on, so either take it off before you start, or let it cool and skim the fat off the top.

phizzimum

Thanks for posting yr menus sitcom 123.

For me, the spag Bol and curry would be my starting point. Can I ask how much meat you would normally use in each?

Do you ever cook with lentils? Don't be scared of them - they're super healthy, full of lean protein and very easy to cook - you just will need to cook things a bit longer. If I were you I would use the same amount of meat but bulk out the curry with red lentils, a couple of cubed spuds and an extra tin of toms. Bulk out the spag Bol with lentils, oats and extra tomatoes. Don't forget you will need more liquid (water or stock) and longer cooking time.

Then freeze half for next week. I find it better to put the extra in the freezer while I'm serving up. It's out of site out of mind then! If you don't think you have enough to be able to halve it just freeze one portion and add to it next week. As yr DH seems a little resistant you don't want to push things too far too quickly. If you try changing just one meal at a time you can gradually build on that.

phizzimum

Re lunches- do you like hummus? It's very cheap and simple to make. You can use a tin of chick peas or it's even cheaper with dried chick peas ( soaked and cooked of course!). I make a big batch of hummus and freeze in smaller pots.

Have you tried value loo roll (not for lunch...although it would be filling). If you think the family will complain, buy a small packet and see if anyone notices, maybe alternating with your usual brand.

Do you buy liquid soap? Refilling the soap dispensers with cheap shampoo or bubble bath works out much cheaper

Apologies if you already do these things! They're just little ways I shave off a quid here and there from my grocery bill.

linzmac_2

£350 should definitely be possible. I try to stick to £300 per month for 2 adults, 2 young children, 2 cats, and a dog, including all toiletries/cleaning products etc. We eat meat at least once a day (and only buy good quality), fresh fish at least once a week and really feel that we eat VERY well.

We don't really eat any snacks, except occasionally a homemade cake or biscuit and sometimes I buy some crisps (normally the big bag of hand cooked from Aldi for 99p) for a Saturday night. I try to concentrate on making meals as nutrient dense and filling as possible so we don't need to eat between meals, as I think buying snack things can really add up.

Fruit-wise, at the moment I only buy apples, bananas, satsumas and blueberries (not in season, I know but my boys absolutely love them so I compromise on these!) and shop around for the best deals on them. I do also buy some frozen berries to have with yogurt and I buy a 1kg tub of Lidl's greek style for £1.55, which is much cheaper (and better for them) than any of the 'kiddy' ones you can buy and can be used for other things too (with curry/as a replacement for sour cream etc).

Meal planning is key and I always try to have leftovers where I can that can be used for lunch the next day or bulked out and frozen for another meal. For example this week we had a slow cooker beef stew with mash and cabbage and I kept a small portion back then added more onion, a couple of green peppers, tin of tomatoes and tin of value kidney beans and spices and now have two meals worth of chilli in the freezer for another time. I also kept back some mash and cabbage and we had that the next night made into bubble and squeak cakes, with fried eggs and beans.

It has taken me a while to get to this stage though so try to just take it a step at a time...make small changes and over time you should see a big difference.

Oh, meant to say, my boys absolutely LOVE prawns and will eat a massive plateful with garlic butter for tea but I like to buy the raw king/tiger ones so they are not cheap. MrS nearly always have them on offer for half price though so I only buy them then. Same with salmon, I only buy wild caught but just wait until I see a good deal and put some in the freezer.

Hope this helps a bit...good luck!

kitkat83

Aldi is definately the cheapest place to shop for groceries but will be hard for you if you don't drive & there isn't one nearby.
Trying bulking out your meals for example I put about 4 medium sized grated carrots & 1 grated onion into bolognese & the taste is delicious, this almost doubles the quantity allowing half to be put in the freezer for another time.
We also used to have chicken & mushroom risotto but i decided one day to cut out the chicken & you would hardly notice the difference. This allows the chicken to be used for another meal, curry/casserole etc.
Another bulking out tip is to put pearl barley into a beef casserole in the slow cooker if you have one, don't forget to add extra stock!
Always try & save any extra portions for the freezer to save on waste! Hope this helps.

S-I_am

For us meal planning has definitely been the key for us. My husband and I, until a few months ago, used to spend £400 a month on food. And some months we'd even go over budget :eek:

Now we're spending £250 a month and 4x a year we do a £120 challenge, on which we try to live on £120 for the whole month, including toiletries and laundry products.

Our incentive is that we're saving for an extension.

By meal planning and only buying what we need for that week, we've reduced our food waste to virtually nothing and we're saying lots of money too

Meal planning does take time, but it is, in my opinion worth it. Maybe to start of its worth just having a few menus that you rotate and build up from that.

All the best.

Sx

Skint_yet_Again

kitkat83 wrote: »

...Trying bulking out your meals for example I put about 4 medium sized grated carrots & 1 grated onion into bolognese & the taste is delicious, this almost doubles the quantity allowing half to be put in the freezer for another time.

Thanks kitkat83, I never thought about using carrots ....am gonna try this

Triggles

My father used to make what was fondly known in our house as "garbage pail chili" as he literally tossed any veg he could find into it. It was a brilliant way to clean out the fridge, and always tasted wonderful.

The rubber chicken stuff is really good. We make our roast chicken, then take all the extra meat off it, use it for curry, chicken pie, sweet and sour chicken, and then use the carcass to make chicken stock for soup. We actually don't use chicken meat in the soup anymore. I decided awhile ago to just put veg in the soup and not the actual chicken meat, and DH never even noticed the change. Between veg and dumplings, the soup is filling already without the meat, which is better being used in other meals. And any meal that you use the meat chopped up (spag bol, casseroles, curry, pies, etc) you can practically halve the amount of meat you use and bulk it up with veg and whatever else you have handy. That alone will save you money.

On your menu, look at what you can buy as basics (smart price, whatever the cheapest option is at the particular store you shop at). We buy a LOT of basics items, and haven't noticed any less quality. As long as you are watching sales, so if a brand item dips below the basics item in price, you'll carve quite a bit off your expense as well.

We tend to buy roasts and use the leftovers for the next day's meal. Roast pork, sweet and sour pork. Roast chicken, curry or chicken pie. Roast beef, beef curry or beef stew. Gammon, cheesy potato soup with ham in it. I agree with the other poster that said put aside some while you're dishing it up, so it doesn't either get forgotten or wasted.