Help me save on my shopping bill

startedsaving

Hi carlos700 - just a few comments, which I hope will be helpful - first of all, I do agree with those who have said ditch the jars of sauce - if you have a look at the ingredients lists, the greatest percentage ingredient is usually water, tomatoes, cheap ingredients in other words. It's not hard to make your own sauces if you find a reliable recipe. If you haven't got much money for cookbooks, try getting all the free supermarket magazines, which often have good budget recipes. Or look at the Sainsbury website, the recipe section is very good and has a section for budget recipes. Why not make a challenge of trying a new recipe every week? One of my favourites, especially for the summer, is go to Lidl when they have their veg half price and buy lots of tomatoes, courgettes, peppers, put some sunflower or olive oil, make big tray of roasted veg - mix with cooked pasta, grate cheese on top, bake. freeze remainder of roasted veg, or it will keep for a week in fridge. lovely with sausages as well. Good luck!

Firehorse

This may sound really daft, but one way I've cut back is to actually listen to the children re portion size. I come from a family where "feed them up" and "eat everything on the plate" is the norm. Then, straight after these HUGE meals, my mum would be offering crisps and stuff!

Anyway, I cook what I think people will eat. Anything left over, is either frozen into portions (kids go away alot and this makes sure I eat properly) or recycled into other meals.

The other thing I do, is grate and freeze the cheese and only use a cheese slicer. It lasts so much longer.

debtworrier

lynzpower wrote: »

One tip I found useful was to have a look on your old recuipts. Anything with a little star next to it ( tescos definately do this) they are the ones you pay vat on.

try to beat the taxman and only buy non vatable goods

I use creme fraiche, or cream for pasta sauces sometimes. Its much cheaper to buy a carton of cream at 40 odd p than a jar. If you get a book from the library or charity shop it would tell you how to make dishes, pasta dishes are very easy!

Also Grow your own veg, easy & cheap!

If you don't have a garden, or even a windowbox, you can still sprout beans - packed with vitamins and not going brown and wilty in the fridge if you forget them!

Three_Dancing_Dragons

Easy (low fat) and cheap casserole, bake chopped up beef [sometimes with mushrooms] with a can of undiluted campbells concentrated cream of mushroom soup, I use the 98% fat free can.

Using dry family size packet of cream of mushroom is also low cost basis for a casserole or other slow cooked meal. My mum does a killer Veal & Bacon casserole which is just the soup mix, half the amount of normal water, browned veal (or pork) pieces and sauted bacon and onion. Stick it in the oven for an hour or so (probably suitable for a slow cooker.) Australian tradition is using french onion dry soup mix, but that's a lot harder to find in the UK.

miss_somewhere_sunny

Hi....Have you got a lidl near you? They have amazingly cheap pasta, noodles, cheese, bacon, wine, organic veg, and regular veg! I drive 8 miles to my nearest one, and it still saves me money. Good luck