SOA for a family who are trying to cut back

bargainbetty

TryingToCutBack wrote: »

Hello,

I've already started cooking in batches and freezing meals, and mostly we cook from scratch. We probably have a bung-it-in-the-oven meal (pizza +chips etc) once a fortnight and a takeaway once a month so we can cut back there. However I haven't found that batch cooking saves us money - am I doing it wrong???? It does save a lot of hassle on an evening!

Really do need to meal plan - we do waste food and often look in the fridge on an evening and say "hmm what's for tea?"

It depends on how you are batch cooking. Do you bulk out meals with pulses and veg etc? I buy one pack of mince, add onions, courgette, carrots, a few handfuls of lentils and mushrooms, two scoops of passata and I've got enough meat ragu for two four-portion lasagnes (8 meals) or half a ton of Spag Bol. The veg and pulses more than triple the quantity of the ragu for a lot less than the cost of two more packs of meat.

Do a full inventory of your stock cupboards and then design a meal plan around your ingredients - try to use up everything you have rather than write a menu and buy for it, IYSWIM. Don't be afraid to substitute stuff either. I had a cracking Singapore Rabbit Soup last month, because I'd run out of chicken and I needed to use up the sauce.

If you have old veg in the fridge, throw it into soups and stews rather than toss it, and use the links on the Old Style boards to find some great cheap recipes!

Good luck

TryingToCutBack_2

Oh I missed addressing some of amyloofoo's points (Baby woke up from her nap!)

With regards to selling stuff on ebay and on facebook - yes I very much want to do this, I have loads in the loft to get rid of. However I've had no success flogging stuff on ebay or when my item actually sells (rarely!), it goes for the minimum bid - so 99p or whatever. I've never sold on facebook - I didn't know you could! Do you have any tips to increase my earnings?

'other travel' is combined of my bus fares during the week and DH's train tickets to far flung places to attend meetings/interviews as he is looking towards starting his own business in the future in order to increase our income

'other child related expenses' is the cost of the baby group we attend

I had free prescriptions etc for a year after the birth. Now both myself and DH pay NHS medical charges - are you sure we would be exempt if on tax credits?? We only get child tax credits, not the working tax credit

I was surprised when I saw how much we spend on presents - we have a budget of £10 for each person. and £100 for DD. I think our families are too big - time to start annoying some of them so they stop speaking to us maybe

The entertainment is mainly eating out - something we love doing, but will have to cut back on

TryingToCutBack_2

McKneff wrote: »

When you buy house insurance, check the difference between buying it direct and buying it through Quidco, you would be amazed how many companies up the prices through Quidco, to accommodate more than the cashback amount, its often a mind game.

When I did it, my house insurance was £258 through quidco with £20 back, when I rang them for a quote direct it was £220. See what I mean. I was saving more that way than the cash I was receiving through Quidco, I really dont bother with Quidco now.

That's useful to know - Thank you
sneaky insurance companies :mad:

TryingToCutBack_2

bargainbetty wrote: »

It depends on how you are batch cooking. Do you bulk out meals with pulses and veg etc? I buy one pack of mince, add onions, courgette, carrots, a few handfuls of lentils and mushrooms, two scoops of passata and I've got enough meat ragu for two four-portion lasagnes (8 meals) or half a ton of Spag Bol. The veg and pulses more than triple the quantity of the ragu for a lot less than the cost of two more packs of meat.

Do a full inventory of your stock cupboards and then design a meal plan around your ingredients - try to use up everything you have rather than write a menu and buy for it, IYSWIM. Don't be afraid to substitute stuff either. I had a cracking Singapore Rabbit Soup last month, because I'd run out of chicken and I needed to use up the sauce.

If you have old veg in the fridge, throw it into soups and stews rather than toss it, and use the links on the Old Style boards to find some great cheap recipes!

Good luck

Thanks for the advice.
Yes I bulk out mince with veg and lentils - but I'm only doubling how far the meat would go - I think I need to add more veg

Also I'd like to buy the more expensive ingredients (meat, fish...) when they are reduced in the supermarkets. We tend to shop at ASDA, does anyone know the best time/day to drop on their yellow stickered stuff?



Thank you so much everyone for all the advice so far, you're such a friendly helpful bunch:T

katsu

Pressies. I spend around £200 on 20 people and that is not at £10 each but a couple of perhaps £40 pressies and then some very cheap ones.

Use: sales - shop all year round so get bargain toys/books/dinner service/mugs/whatever in the sales and put in the loft until christmas/birthdays

Charity shops have lots of new and nearly new bits

Make things - like a framed handmade picture of baby handprints in coloured paint etc for nanna.