Grocery Crisis - Please help !!!

MrsTinks

When you DO go shopping leave behind OH and any kids... have a shopping list and STICK TO IT! Don't deviate from the shopping list even once because once that first "not on the list" item hits the trolley then others WILL follow!
£200 and a full cupboard should be a doddle
If you want to make it easier then as I have suggested recently get 5 glass jars - one for each week and one marked "treats" I would put £40 in each jar - anything you don't spend in week 1 you can put in the "treat" jar. Anything that is a luxury - like renting a DVD at blockbuster etc can come out of the "Treat" jar and make sure OH isn't allowed to buy ANY PS3 games out if the treat money!!! He's had his treats for the next 6 months in buying the darned PS3 in the first place!!

daysieblue

I do plan to go shopping on my own - if only to stop DH putting "his" things in the trolley; like you say, he's had his treats for a while!!! I'm planning to have a really frugal month, just to show him that it can be done. He always argues that we don't buy anything unnecessary, but I think the receipt would tell a different story!

Ho hum. Well, to start, I took some braising steak out of the freezer last night, and I'm going to prepare a stew tonight to be cooked tomorrow for our dinner. It should feed all four of us, and I'm hoping it will leave a bit to stick back in the freezer. Just have to remember to get some suet for the dumplings!

Again, thanks to everyone who has posted, I'm very grateful for your tips :j

db xx

Yategirl

You can do this! We generally have a budget of £200/month for food... this includes toiletries, cleaning stuff, dog food/biscuits, nappies and wipes. Like a previous poster has said.. you have about 15/16 days of meals already so you are half-way there! Base the rest of your meals around cheap fillers - so potato based, pasta based, flour based (pizza etc) and then add meat or fish to that - this cuts down the amount of meat you need per person. So for example... we have pizza one night - I vary the toppings depending on whether I am flush or skint!; pasta another night - this could be with tuna or chorizo or mushroom or veggie based sauce for example, a potato based meal - could be HM chips with beans and egg or corned beef hash or even baked bean pie and so on....

Packed lunches - stick to the basics... sandwiches - cheese/cream cheese/peanut butter/marmite with maybe ham or chicken 1-2 days for a "treat". Make flapjack (porridge oats, golden syrup, sugar, butter) for a sweet pud and add fruit - value apples, bananas, pears are ususally cheap... vary with pots of tinned fruit (1 tin can be split between 4 - remember lunch is a light meal!).

breakfasts - limit the choice - toast and jam or peanut butter, porridge with rasins, weetabix or bran flakes for example - all filling breakfasts.

drinks - tea, coffee, limit fresh juice - maybe 1-2 glasses a day, 1-2 glasses squash per day and then water.

Fully agree that OH should have no treats for the rest of the month... bread and water!!!!!!!!!!!! lol!!

when you plan your meals... look at the overall menu for each day and check you have your "5 a day" .. if you can afford extra fruit or veg then it is a bonus!

hth

patentgirl

everyone has come with some great suggestions listen and learn wisely is the best advice I can give you I have halved my shopping since finding this site I used to spend about £600 per month (lot of this was takeaways and last minute buys and alcohol) still struggling with that one! but since taking everyones advice I now spend £70 pw this is for 2 adults and 2 teens but regularly have DD1 and partner and teens bf/gf over menu planning has worked for me, list planning and sticking to it, I enjoy saving now and couldnt go back to spending £600 we all eat really well I make most things from scratch and even enjoy baking again, with planning it doesnt take alot longer if at all.

Good luck

seraphina

I would be livid if my OH did that - if he gets hungry I'd tell him to go eat his PS3!

Anyway, I would be tempted to not go shopping for as long as possible. Go through your freezer stocks first - you mentioned that you had quite a good stock of frozen meals - and then your cupboard. If you put off shopping as long as possible, then you have to make as few meals as possible from the same money, IYSWIM.

fizzel81

i would say make sure you go shopping alone, what i can spend when i hve my kids/brother of sister with me and what i spend alone shocks me, i have started meal planning when i went shopping at the weeked i found i only brought what i needed with the exception of some fruit juice (but thats stoped me eating choclate)

also if you have cooked something and have some left freeze it

i used to spend easily 150.00 before i started comeing on here and that was per week, last saturday my spend was under 30.00 for me and 3 boys (but i have started using re-usable nappies)

you can do it, and goodluck, it is hard at first but does get easier

kevinwj

You can also add porridge oats to mince, stews and casseroles to pad them out. The oats soak up the juices and you don't know that they are in there.

Instead of using expensive kidney beans in chilli add a tin of baked beans.

If using calabrase or broccolli dont throw away the stalk, slice it and use that as well.

.

elona

If you make some home made pancakes or tortillas and stuff them with cheese, onions and bacon or peppers - that always goes down well here.

Try to have meat as a "flavouring" rather than a big lump.

Maybe a few vegetarian meals - bean,peppers and rice.

Macaroni cheese.

Cauli cheese with a baked potato?

Home made pizza- I can make a huge one for under a pound.

Rotate stuff you already have - a potato based meal, rice based one, pancake base, noodles etc.

Lucie_2

Can you take the PS3 back for a refund??? I flippin would, and point out that if he wants his children to be fed & clothed then he should refrain from such action in the future!

shelovestobuystuff

I honestly sat opened mouthed at this OP.If this had happened in my home somebody would be sleeping on the sofa.A PS3???and just before the easter hols when you need extra money for treats for the kids not less money!
Right, to feed your family for a month as cheaply as possible do the following:
* If your kids are old enough accept as many tea and sleepover invites as possible and let someone else feed them this month.Wait until you can afford it next month before returning the invitation.
*Look for any opening events or council events with FREE BUFFETS.Find these in the community section of the local press and take the whole family along to eat for free.
* If you do venture into a supermarket make the reduced cabinet your first port of call.Buy BOGOF offers as these still work with the reduced prices too.
Your freezer sounds pretty full but fill any remaining space with reduced cabinet buys.(I got 2 enormous turkey joints yesterday in tesco for 50p doing this, the original price was £7.70.Deboned them and cooked them yesterday.One stuffed and rolled for tea and one sliced for lunch sandwiches)
* Pasta is always a good cheap filler food.You already have plenty but for future ref. tesco do an enormous 3kg bag of penne or fusilli for £1.00.
*Use value chopped tomatoes instead of ready made pasta sauce.Add mixed herbs and garlic, maybe a splash of red wine if you have some left in a bottle.
*Look for flour based recipes.Anything you can make at home with value flour is going to cost pennies.Try toad in the hole, pancakes, pizza, flan.
good luck.I am sure you will manage well.