Help me save money this month

smiler34

Hi all I am getting married on the 14th and I have quite a lot extra to pay out, due to a number of unexpected bills (and no savings due to 2 redundancies in 2 years) we are running quite short this month. I have a reasonably well stocked storecupboard but it is always the fresh meat that seems to cost me the most in shopping.
Some ideas for meals just from the storecupboard or with just veg added maybe?

Also I am currently spending £100 a week on food shopping (inc washing liquid, nappies, toilet roll) it is for my partner and I and three young kids. I feel this is quite high although god knows my trolley seems to be getting less and less full for that cost. Anyway back to the point, some help with reducing it please. I am already making a meal plan and shopping with a list, I am also gonna try the downshift challenge this week. Any other ideas?

Thanks

mummyroysof3

i cant really help as thats about how much i spend for 5 of us and pets.

if i needed to reduce it i would look at less snack food, using less meat and going to look for reduced items in an evening. do any of them help?

Butterfly_Brain

Firstly Congratulations for the 14th I hope your special day is one that both of you remember fondly x

Shopping in Aldi has saved me lots of money and they have great deals on meat such as four pork chops for £2.99 a small whole chicken is £2.59 and is the size of a medium one in Asda or the others (You can easily get three meals from this, I do for four of us), Mince is £2.49 for 800g (Again easily three meals) then you have the super six specials on fruit and veg , I know that you can't get everything in there, but I get that in Asda and find I need less and less in there now.

I find that buying a joint and roasting then slicing it, stretches one joint into three or four meals, freeze in meal sized portions and just reheat in gravy.

Find a friendly butcher who will give advice on cheap cuts of meat and how to prepare and cook it.

Use your local market and go half an hour before they close to pick up stuff that won't hold like strawberries, grapes, raspberries etc, I chat to a friendly stall holder every week and he always finds me a bargain (raspberries can be frozen to use in desserts)

Do a meal plan every week and write a list.
Take cash not cards, it stops impulse buying.
Check out deals on the internet before you go shopping.
Is your little one ready for potty training?
Try and buy a couple of extra bits such as flour, yeast, sugar, canned stuff etc so that you build up a store cupboard, mine has saved us no end of times.

I buy 2 x 9 rolls of toilet roll in Farmfoods for £4

Batch bake bread, cakes and cookies rather than buying them in, again they can be frozen.

Check out the complete cooking collection where you will find lots of cheap and healthy meal ideas.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=8736367#post8736367

Get yourself a savings tin and put whatever you have left in your purse/pocket at the end of the week, it really does mount up quickly.

HTH x

quintwins

as it's short term i would say do a list of everything (and i mean everything and the amount) you have inm you'd be surprised the meals some of the people on here can make with nothing.

congrates and enjoy your wedding

ubamother

I think £100 a week for five is pretty good going. However, if you want to trim a bit, it might be worth writing out your meal plan, then write your shopping list from that, and then have a good look at it to see if there is anything you're buying that could be easily made at home for less - things like bought biscuits can cheaply be swapped for oat-based all-in-one biscuits that are really easy to make and fine with the cheapest porridge oats. A couple of meat-free evening meals, if you don't already have these, can cut meat costs a bit - a good macaroni cheese or tomato pasta normally goes down well even with major carnivores. Breakfast cereals can add quite a lot to the price of your shopping if you're buying branded.

Perhaps you could post your usual types of meals, and people could 'pick' at them (in the nicest possible way) to maximise cost-savings.

ubamother

Another thought: shopping is often the easiest cost to notice eating at our money pots because the payment is made in one big lump. However, have you looked at other, smaller costs too? In the short term things like coffees at work, car journeys that at a pinch could be foot journeys, the odd children's comic or other treat can add tens of pounds to your weekly budget. I know you are looking short term at the moment, but in the longer term, really looking at home fuel costs can make quite remarkable differences to your budget.

SpottedLeopard_2

Hi, many congratulations on upcoming wedding

Re. post above, definitely agree on how easy it is to fritter money away when you're out! I've banned buying magazines unless there's something interesting in one that you can't access online - use library! No routine coffees/chocolate/water etc, make sure you're stocked up before you leave the house for food snacks! x

Toxic_Lemon

I think £100 is a lot!!!

On the Super Scrimpers show a while back, they had a family of 4/5 budget £50 for a week, which they achieved.

Here's what I would do. Large roast chicken on Sunday. Left overs Monday. Carcass of chicken turned into soup with veg and lentils for whenever. Mince turned into lasagne or pasta bakes or moussaka. Lentils and beans used as bulking in your favourite recipes. Always use a shopping list in shops. If its not on the list, you can't have it.

Ditch the cleaning fluids (you're only paying for advertising) and use Stardrops. Ditch washing powder/fabric conditioner and buy laundry balls, using Stardrops as a spot-cleaner. Ditch deodorant and use solid crystal deodorant.

Long-term, consider getting a family veg box. They cost £25 for a family but the real beauty is, you're not tempted by Supermarket bargains and I have saved a fortune by investing in one of these most weeks.

mummybearx

Risotto is one of my store cupboard favourites.

Risotto rice, veg stock cube and boiling water, chopped onion, a few herbs and that's literally all you need. Of course you can add in other chopped veg, I sometimes add frozen peas, sweetcorn, broadbeans, any veg I have in the freezer.

I serve that with either home made garlic bread (slice of bread spread with some butter, some olive oil, splash of garlic puree and maybe a dash of herbs, under the grill till it's toasted on top).

Sometimes I fry some sliced salami or chorizo, cut up into little pieces and sprinkle on top of cooked risotto for serving. That way I only use a little bit of meat, but it's all on the top so it looks more :rotfl:

mummybearx

Also soups, a great way of using a few cheap vegetables to feed lots of people.

Potato and leek, carrot and coriander, french onion soup, all really easy and really cheap to do. A few ingredients, ones that you can bulk buy cheaply and you can freeze portions once cooked x

mummyroysof3

Toxic_Lemon wrote: »

I think £100 is a lot!!!

On the Super Scrimpers show a while back, they had a family of 4/5 budget £50 for a week, which they achieved.

£100 would be alot if just for food but including everything else too i dont think is so bad..i admit i could save on that though if i tried hard