Help with shopping

skint_spice

I shop weekly but put £10 in a jar in the kitchen for milk etc when I run out between shops - there's usually plenty left at the end of the month but stops me taking random tenners out and frittering it all away!

carlos700

Thanks for all the great replys there is some excellent advice.I think i will start shopping weekly from now on .I am just trying to think of meals i can put together then i can write a list.

I have done so well with looking on this website at cutting down our outgoing.I think everything we have now are the best possible deals that i can get.Shopping is the one thing that i need to get in order,if we can get the shopping bill down i will feel really pleased with myself and feel that we are actually making headway .

chardonnay_2

firstly you need to get to the money saving old style board. loads of great recipe tips, store cupboard challenge (using what you already have), grocery challenge (reducing your monthly spending) plus loads more.

secondly, only buy bogofs you will use/ usually use otherwise they are a waste of money. think 'have i bought these before, do i need them?', before you buy.

reduced meat section, we make a beeline for this and quite often then plan our meals round what we have got cheap. we tend to stick to what we would normally buy if it was full price or reduced meat. we don't tend to buy processed stuff just cos it's cheap as it would just sit in our freezer cos we never felt like having it as we normally cook from scratch.

do make a list, but try and base it around things you already have to make meals and be flexible with reduced bargains.

don't go up and down every aisle like my mil as this leads to impulse buys. only go to the aisle's that you know you need something from.

good luck

mioliere

You should be able to find Stardrops in most supermarkets, hardware stores and all those bargain shops like Pound shops, etc. It's in a clear glass bottle but the colour of the Stardrops is like amber nectar( !) a lovely rich golden colour which delivers what it promises! Good luck with your search for it - you'll find so many uses for it! My DH won't use anything else for cleaning the car - even the wheels - and he tells everyone he meets about it, too!

Storm

I'm another daily person - I make a list at the weekend of any staples I need like pasta, rice, bread, milk etc and get them. I pass an Aldi on my way home though, so if I've run out of anything or haven't got anything for my dinner I pop in then - especially for fruit & veg it means I'm not buying loads of stuff that then goes off before I get the chance to use it.

Becks_in_Debt

We do our shopping monthly, but after this month i am def doing it weekly, monthly is more convinient as working fulll time dont want to be shopping in my spare time or straight from work but we spent £230 at Tesco this month (go there to collect the points), and came away with loads missing off the shopping list. I spent hours in days leading up to the shop planning meals for the month, writing down everything that we needed, looked through all the cupboards, checked what toiletries & cleaning products we needed, although, we did get toilerties for our hols and suncream for the daughter (£12 4 suncream, typical but it is BOGOF now, and i wasnt even going to get stuff for the hols was leaving it til end of april) we still have got quite a bit in but think I agree with everyone on here, I am going to give it a go doing it weekly.
Asda do a huge Daz washing powder (I think) and it is only about £14 but this lasts us 3/4 mths and our washing machine is constantly on, plus they do huge bags of pasta for £1. Asda is brill for things like that, and if they bought in a collect points system I would do my big shop there more often.
I am doing well saving money in other places but in the food shopping area, i can never seem to get it right, I would also like to be able to order food on line for Iceland as there frozen stuff are a great bargain, and there chicken and mince go a long way

skintas_2

i buy long life milk cartoons of it so we have one a day, and powered milk from 99p store so saves me goin shop and spend ing more money

howskint?

Hi - not posted before but been lurking for yonks!!
I try to shop weekly but make it last 8 days - if you know what I mean! that way I never have to shop more than 4 times a month even if it's a 31 day month. Often by day 8 we're all eating different leftovers from the freezer or earlier in the week, but I find it helps us.
Cheers
howskint?

WiseOldBird_2

I'm another one who shops weekly at Asda. This is my system which I reckon has saved me £0000's over my 39+ years of marriage and 4 kids who have all now left home so only now me and hubby, but still use it.

1. Make a master list of all the meals you cook (I've always cooked from scratch but still include meals like fish fingers, etc).
2. I plan the meals for about a month ahead (my master list has 30+ meals), and write them in my organisder for the month ahead.
3. I shop on a Thursday and look at my organiser to see what I need for the week's meals, and put them on the list.
4. Add stuff for breakfasts (usually just cereals/toast).
5. Add stuff for lunch (usually beans, ham, cheese, salad stuff).

I always check out the 'whoopsies' (reduced) and buy what I can afford, and put them in the freezer.
Every few weeks I have a 'freezer' week where I plan the meals around my bargains already in the freezer.
I never hardly food shop in between because I buy enough bread, milk, veg to last the week. If you store the veg properly it keeps fresh. Bread goes in freezer.

I can still keep a bit 'flexible'. If I don't fancy what I have planned for Monday, say, but I do fancy what's scheduled for Thursday, I just swop around.

Not only does this sytem save you money, but it saves you time too as you always have in the house what you need to make the meal (no last minute dashes to the shop), and you don't waffle about in the supermarket being tempted by stuff you don't really need. Also you can plan 'quick' meals for the nights when you have to be out somewhere, etc. Hope this helps.

mioliere

Hi WiseOldBird! I have just started menu-planning a week at a time but I do like your idea of doing it monthly so I'm going to start doing that. It sounded a bit ambitious but if you find it works then, obviously, it does. I love the idea of having the whole month planned out! Like you, I'm just down to DH and me, our youngest having left home just before Christmas. I find my food and cleaning materials cost quite a bit less since DS2 left - all 6'4", sports mad and huge appetite - his wife is only just realising what she's taken on! The recipe index on here is brilliant for ideas. I always shop in my local Co-op because it is never as frantic as the larger supermarkets, the staff are great, they don't have too many temptations to overspend, they have reintroduced the divi scheme, their meat comes from their own farms, they are anti-blood sports, their wholemeal bread is better than the well-known brands and their carrier bags start to biodegrade within eighteen months and disappear completely after three years plus they sell bags-for-life - 10p each - which carry ideas for your five-a-day and they'll replace those free when they wear out! My local Co-op is so well-organised that I can do my big weekly shop within forty minutes and I never get stressed even at Christmas! My local Sainsbury's drives me mad within five minutes of setting foot inside! The whole store has been revamped and was reopened with great excitement but it is so disorganised that my first experience of a big shop there put me off for life and I'm not the only one! Anyway, happy shopping and meal-planning! I enjoyed reading your post!