HELP! Grocery Budget Shock!

Lillibet_2

Hi All

I have been around these boards for a long time now & thought I was pretty savvy:o However, I have just worked out this years monthly budget & decided to do it with a bit more detail than in the past. I have a £200 a month grocery budget, this also has to cover Spuds shoes, disposable nappies (please don't tell me about washables, we tried them for a year & I am ashamed to say that for various reasons they just don't work for us), dog food & several other relatively set costs. Taking into account setting something aside for 5 week months, I have £30 a week to feed 2 adults & 1 semi-picky 18 month old:eek:
I bake from scratch most of the time, make my own bread & cakes etc, use a slow cooker, batch bake etc, all the usual stuff to keep costs down. I have got back into the habit of meal planning & have a months worth planned & will draft my shopping lists based on this plan. I really really don't want to compromise on the quality of ingredients however, we eat organic cheap cuts of meat from our butcher (whose organic meat is chaper than supermarkets) & mostly organic fruit & veg, I would rather eat less meat/bulk out meals than compromise on quality I'm afraid:o We do use some value items (especially toilteries) & store cupboard groceries, but we still want the fresh stuff to be good quality.

I am honestly feeling thoroughly fed up with myself, I used to think I was so good at this sort of thing, but I know that realistically £30 isn't going to be enough.

I have tried looking online for cheaper sources of dog food (£23 a month) but it is all comming up much the same (Bakers complete : dog has sensitive tummy & this is the best value one we can get away with). I am already getting about the best deal I can on nappies. I don't have a Clarks reduced type outlet anywhere near me so am stuck paying £25+ a pair every 2 months in the high street.

Does anyone have any words of wisdom for me please?

Uniscots97

If your dog has a sensitive tum then you shouldn't be feeding it Baker's. I got my friend to switch her dogs (one of which had a sensitive tum) onto chicken and rice protein biscuit. They love it and have never been healthier. Its about 7 quid for 15Kg from the large petfood supermarkets.

lynzpower

Are you selling on Spuds shoes & clothes etc on ebay? Im sure he doesnt gt a great deal of wear out of them in 2 months Have you sold on the nappies?

I think the key is here that clothing especially for a growing kiddie should be a seperate budget really.

Do you grow any of your own veg? March is round the corner and is a good time to think about sowing- at the very least, salad leaves, tomoatoes etc can be done in pots & trays. this will save you a few quid and make sure everything is freshest as possible.

Any farm shops near you? I have shunned a lot of organic proiduce as by the time its been shipped from thailand or kenya, its nutritional value has to have diminsihed soimewhat, and is shocking for the environment. Also I buy a fair amount of frozen veg, no waste and often much more nutritionally viable than so called "fresh"

In terms of reducing meat, have a couple of veggie meals a week, Im doing feta & spinach crowns with jackets & corn cobs, a veggie curry, veg enchiladas etc. Dont forget the humble jacket beans & cheese or egg based dishes ( spanish omelettes for example) the egg marketing board has some good recipes too

Yategirl

dog food - have a look at "Gusto" sold by larger stores of Tesco at £5.50 for 10Kg. We have a dog with a sensitive tum and he is now thriving on this... our other dog also has it and she is really happy as well.

As for reducing food costs- I agree with growing some stuff at home - lots can be grown in pots or grow bags. We have saved so much money by growing our own (I am lucky as i have an allotment plus a small veg patch at home and I grow in pots) organic vegetables. Lynzpower has some good veggie meal suggestions and as the weather warms.. don't forget salads or roasted tomatoes with basil and olive oil and crusty bread (YUM! )

[Deleted User]

If you're doing as much as you can budget-wise, maybe you have to try and come up with ideas for bringing in more cash. Selling unused items on ebay as has been suggested. How about childminding (if you've already got little darlings, one more won't be that bad : )) - Early morning cleaning? Even Avon cosmetics etc can just lift the income (takes a while to get your round going but once you do, you'll have a regular small supplement to add to the budget. I made about £30 per three weeks for just two evenings in my street)

Good luck
Lesley

HariboJunkie

I swear by the big 3 Kilo bags of pasta from MrT for £1. You can make tonnes of meals with it and It lasts at least a month. Get creative with pasta sauces. Use tinned toms garlic and herbs or basic cheese. Will give you my recipes if you like. Also I don't stick rigidly to meal plans but nearly all our meat comes from the yellow label reduced bit. pad out mince based meals with 50% lentils. Buy fruit and veg half price from LIdl. I shop at Tesco first for reduced items then go to lidl for whatever I can get. anything I can't get I go back to tesco. Our budget is £50 per week but I know I could cut it back if I tried. i agree about selling on ebay. kids clothes sell really well.

Good luck.

Haribo x

little_miss_thrifty

Does your little one really grow out of her shoes every two months?
My DD is just a month older than yours, but to save the pennies, like you i won't compromise on quality of some items so she just gets one pair of shoes until she grows out of them. When she has gone up a size i choose a pair that will go with all of her outfits, whether she wears trousers, dresses or skirts. I bought her a pair of brown boots for the winter (in November i think) and she still has another month or so of wear in them (got her feet measured again yesterday).
Little ones grow out of stuff so fast (as you know!), how about just getting one good set to use all the time?

LearningToSave.

hiya hun.
i know people who have used this site for discounted clarks etc shoes http://www.shoesforkids.co.uk/ obviously you would need to take him to a clarks and get him measured to know his size but just tell them you will think about shoes or your mum is taking you shopping another day or something and leave without buying any!
another thing i have done when situation desperate it take my girls to be measured and leave then shop on ebay...i dont so much mind second hand shoes whilst they are so young as they arent in them long.

Lillibet_2

Thanks everyone, some good suggestions here.:T

The dog food needs to be high protein as he is a working dog but I will take a trip to Petcity (or whatever they are called nowdays) & have a look around & see if I can find anything of a similar composition for a better price, I have got lazy just buying it in tescos:o

I will try getting Spuds feet measured then looking online too, why didn't I think of that? (his last pair lasted 8 weeks to the day before I was struggling to get them on...lo & behold he measued almost exactly 1 size larger:rolleyes:). I do re-sell all his stuff, lately I am amassing for a car boot sale at the start of the season (less outlay than ebay fees;)), I usually put any money we make on "his" things straight into his bank account but this is silly if we are struggling to replace his outgrown stuff so I will re-direct it towards his shoe budget.

We have jacket potatos once a week & vegaterian a further 2 nights a week but it may be worth increasing this, plus pasta once a week. Will look at my meal plan & adjust as necessary when I tot up the weekly shopping list:T We don't have a Lidl or Aldi anywhere near us, or even a Asda so I'm stuck with local shops & tescos, who have pretty much the local monopoly:rolleyes::p

I am looking for an evening job but so far no luck, hubby isn't happy with me doing Avon or anything like that which involves being out & about, would prefer me to be based in a shop or resteraunt or something, TBH so would I but I know beggers can't be choosers:rolleyes:

Thank you to everyone for not suggesting that we switch to value meat...just don't think we could stomach it:o

Anythign else anyone can add?

You are all wonderful:T:A:T:A:T:A:T:A:T:A

Lillibet_2

[quote=little miss thrifty
Little ones grow out of stuff so fast (as you know!), how about just getting one good set to use all the time?[/quote]

At £28 for his last pair of shoes he does have just one pair at a time! And to make wellies last longer I bought his last pair one size to big & make him wear them with slipper socks over his usual socks! (wellies not so bad, only around £5 in Woolworths or cheaper still incharity shops if you get lucky;))

lynzpower

where abouts in Surrey are you lillibet? evening work in call centres are not bad for the money and not as late as say bar work or resturaunts?