What Am I Doing Wrong

Little_Miss_Saver

Hello :hello:

I was having a similar problem a few weeks ago until I came on here and was given some excellent advice by the kind people on here.

Although its early days I've found shopping at Aldi's especially for my fruit, veg and bread to be alot cheaper than Tesco's. I've started looking around other supermarkets to compare prices and dropped lucky in somerfields on Saturday and brought £25 worth of meat that had just been "yellow stickered" to £10 and this went straight in the freezer and will last a couple of weeks.

I have alot of fruit smoothies and found that buying frozen fruit is cheaper than fresh. I've also started buying tinned fruit after some advice from here!!

I also meal plan weekly and do a shopping list which I stick to (although there are times I may buy something I don't need if it is BOGOF ie toilet roll)

I've also joined the Grocery challenge this month after keeping my receipts for the previous month which was a shocking £295 for me and DS :eek: . I aiming for £180 this month and so far I'm doing well and on target.

Good Luck and let us know how you get on.

LMS xx

competitionscafe

Justie wrote: »

if you want authentic Italian then get a proper brand of dried pasta, unless they make it themselves most Italians used good quality dried pasta anyway.

That's true - De Cecco is a decent brand for example, but I think the cheapest dried pasta (like Tesco value for example) is false economy - tastes crap and the sauce does not stick to it so you end up with a pool of sauce in the bottom of your plate and the pasta on top.

wurley

Easiest place to start would be replace all the branded goods with tesco own.... Buy only one kind to try each week and then if they don't like something its no big loss. Also if you see a BOGOF offer on one of your usual shopping items buy tons!!

My hubby was terrible when we first met. £100 per week on himself.... Soon put a stop to that.!

Last stock up was on loo roll..... 10 packs! saving us over £10 and didn't have to change from our favourite 'charmin' (tried Tesco's ones and they didn't like them)

Keen_Saver

LIDL often have Half Price events on their Fruit & Veg, we find the quality of it's good too and even at normal price it's still a bit cheaper than the likes of Tesco's on most items.

~~H~~_4

welshie1973 wrote: »

*
- 1 + Tesco 4 Homebake Half Baguettes 1.20
*

I noticed when I did my shopping in Tesco last week, that it was cheaper to buy 2x 2 baguettes than the 4 pack. In fact, I often see this 'mistake' in Tesco ... or is it a deliberate ploy, cos most peeps dont check? Hmmm :undecided

chardonnay_2

welshie1973 wrote: »

do my shopping at Tesco as its on my route home from work - for the top up throughout the week use the local corner shop

my shooping usually:

*
- 2 + Bold Crushed Silk Powder 10 Wash/950g (try tescos own brand)
5.00
*
- 1 + Huggies Pull Upscarry Pack Boy Large 15 (tescos own?) 4.98 *
- 1 + Tesco Luxury Soft Toilet Tissue White 12 Roll 4.36 (try the next level down ie tesco and squeeze the rools to make them last longer)
*
- 1 + Mr Muscle All Purpose Cleaner Frozen Lime & Vinegar 750ml 1.98 (try stardrops and add white vinegar)
*
- 1 + Mr Muscle Shower Shine 500ml 1.28
*
- 1 + Mr Muscle Window Cleaner Spray 500ml 1.35 (both of these could just be done with homemade white vinegar sprays)
*
- 1 + Kelloggs Rice Krispies Multigrain 350g 1.32
*
- 1 + Kelloggs Rice Krispies 450g 1.89
*
- 1 + All Butter Croissant 6 Pack 0.99
*
- 1 + Tesco 4 Homebake Half Baguettes 1.20
*
- 1 + Tesco Cornish Ice Cream 2 Litres 1.35
*
- 1 + Birds Eye Steamfresh Broccoli Sweetcorn Peas & Rice 680g 1.98
*
- 1 + Birds Eye Garden Peas 907g 1.49 (tesco finest are £1 at the moment and they are lush) *
- 1 + Mccain Homefries 1.5kg 1.75 (tesco?)
*
- 1 + Green Giant Niblets No Added Sugar Sweetcorn 198g 0.47 (tesco or value?)
*
- 1 + Princes Tuna Chunks In Brine 4x185g 3.18 these are on offer at tesco at the moment
*
- 1 + Tesco Fusilli Pasta Twists 1kg 0.62
*
- 5 + Tesco Italian Chopped Tomatoes & Garlic 400g 2.35
*
- 2 + Diet Coke 2 Ltr Bottle 2.92
*
- 2 + Tovali Orange Sugar Free Drink 1 Ltr 1.18
*
- 2 + Tesco Boil In The Bag Basmati Rice 4 X 125g 1.56
*
- 1 + Tesco Fresh Double Cream 284ml 0.59
*
- 1 + Tesco Smoked Thick Cut Back Bacon 250g try value and cut off the fat 1.99
*
- 2 + Tesco Fresh Egg Tagliatelle 500g 2.18
*
- 1 + Welsh Lamb 4/6 Prime Loin Chops 6.59
*
- 1 + Tesco Fresh Whole Chicken Large 2.20-3.00kg 3.88
*
- 1 + Beef Lean Braising Steak Medium 300g - 500g 2.89
*
- 1 + T Healthy Living Skinless Chicken Breast Fillets 580-800g 6.28
*
- 2 + Finest Ground Beef Mince 440g 4.88
*
- 2 + Tesco Finest Wiltshire Cured Ham 140g 3.98
*
- 2 + Flora Light Vegetable Low Fat Spread 500g 1.94
*
- 5 + Braces Xxx White Thick Bread 800g 4.40
*
- 1 + Tesco Healthy Eating Semi- Skimmed Milk 3.408ltr/6 Pints 1.68
*
- 2 + Nescafe Alta Rica Coffee 100g 5.96
*
- 1 + Really Welsh Leeks 500g 1.99
*
- 6 + Tesco Onions Loose Class 2 0.96
*
- 1 + Tesco Red Onions 3 Pack 1.17
*
- 1 + Finest Asparagus 125g 1.99
*
- 2 + Tesco Strawberries Class I 2.96
*
- 3 + A Bag of Red Seedless Grapes Class 1 Loose (approx. 500g - 650g per bag) 3.84
*
- 6 + William Pears (soft) Class 1 Loose 1.14
*
- 1 + Kids Easy Peeler600g Pack 1.49
*
- 1 + Satsumas Pack 1.48
*
- 1 + Closed Cup Mushrooms 500g 1.15
*
- 1 + Tesco Carrots 1 Kg Pack Class 1 0.68
*
- 1 + Really Welsh Cauliflower 0.74
*
- 1 + Tesco Swede Each Class 1 0.79
*
- 1 + Tesco Parsnips 500g 0.78
*
- 1 + Baking 2.5kg Pack Potatoes 1.69
*
- 2 + Maris Piper Potatoes 2.5kg Pack 3.56
*
- 2 + Charlotte Potatoes 1 Kg 2.56
*
- 10 Bananas Loose 1.50
*
15 Braeburn Apples Class 1 Loose 3.00

Guide price £123.91

done this online so you can see roughly what I buy each week

thanks

basically depending on how much you want to reduce the amount you spend try value productsif you don't like it, then try own brand etc. try value veg as see if it compares or go to a market to get cheaper veg/ fruit

mummysdragon

Try going to Aldi , Nettos or Lidils, alot of their own brand stuff is fab and so much cheaper.
Well known brands are often so much more and half the time you are paying for the name.
Try getting some of the veg fruit and salad from markets or better still farmers shops.
Coffee, try the finest range which is just as nice and alot cheaper.
You cured ham I get a joint of gammon from Nettos it is about £4, I pop it in a saucepan of water, bring to boil and simmer for about an hour or so, the weight of this is 1.2 kilos!!! Its the nicest ham in this world!!!
I also buy my chicken breasts from Nettos about £2.99 for 5.
Lamb ...buy a shoulder of lamb, which is a cheaper cut, pop this in slow cooker with water and 4 lamb stock cubes, cook for ages lol, let it cool, take out and rip apart, pull off the fat from the meat. pop the juices in fridge and remove the fat from top once settled. This will be the most tender lamb you will ever try and about half the price.
Own brand low fat spreads are just as nice too.
Chopped toms are about 25p a tin, just add your own garlic.
Bread look for own brands or ones where it says buy 2 get 1 free.
Bacon I buy mine from Nettos about 89p and its fine.


There are so many changes you could make here, cor I would love to take you out shopping!!! I would have a field day!!!
You need to pull yourself away from these expensive well known brands and give the shops own brands a try...remember if you don't like them you wont buy them again, but if you do think of how much money you will have saved.
Your frozen veg, believe me own brand are just as good.

I do alot of my own cooking and baking myself, I make my own bread, even butter..I have not bought any butter since beginning of March. I make my own pasta, soups etc., I am sure we have saved alot, although I never calculate howmuch per week we do spend as I know that I shop around and don't hold myself to one store....although to do this you have to have time.

Good luck, I am sure you will succeed, but you got to be brave and be prepared to try other shops / own brands.

debtworrier

Three_Dancing_Dragons wrote: »

Are you spending it all at the supermarket? These places are spending black holes. I have a similar problem spending around the same per week on ONE ( ). So far I haven't developed a meal plan but have recorded all my spending daily on an Excel spreadsheet I have set up. This shows I spend as much on my 'fast food' designation (includes prepared foods like sandwiches and hot dog at flicks) as I do on 'groceries'. My goal for next month is to spend 0, nada, nil, zero, zip, the-big-goose-egg on fast food. Of course that has also been my goal for the last TWO months .... :wall:

Going from whatever-you-spend-now on fast food to NIL in one go sounds like a bit of a big step to me; is there a way you can think of to break that down into smaller steps?

I found that carrying a little tupperware box with a couple of biscuits in it helped me to stop popping in to the newsagent near where I work.

mummysdragon

Right I have just returned back from a shop in Netto's this is what I bought

Carton orange juice 39p
Diet cola 21p
lemonade 21p
cif oxygel 50% free 99p
canderel; 100's tablet 99p
coffee whitener 59p
crab sticks 79p
pork sausages 4 packs reduced to 49p...going to freeze these
fresh sliced chicken...proper chicken its not processed slices lol 2.99
feta 99p
oven chips 53p
back bacon 83p
tinned carrots 25p
tin sweetcorn 18p
corned beef 78p
bertolli tomato basil pasta sauce 99p
tin chopped tomatoes 21p
marrowfat peas 21p
lowfat ambrosia rice pud 39p
tin mushy peas 21p
tin stew steak 74p
pack 4 branstone beans 99p
tinned tuna in brine 29p
12 large eggs 95p
large pack bananas 1.16
pack 4 very good kitchen roll 1.29
lux toilet roll x 12 2.99

Although I cook mostly from fresh, I helped my son and daughter in law out at the weekend and gave them some of my store cupboard food, as they are struggling this week.