starting to budget food shop

pinkskyatnight

quintwins wrote: »

I know you said you didn't want budget brands

I dont think i said anything like that??

far from it actually, we do most of our weekly shop in lidls, fruit, veg, household basics etc, we buy all our meat from the butchers my boyfriends garage does work on there delivery vans so we get a small discount and watever i cant get in lidls i go to sainsburys but i also try and go for the budget/cheaper brands if i can, there are some exceptions tho like heinz baked beans etc!! lol

for breakfast we have porridge oats, buy a big bag from sainsburys.
lunches i make a different soup every week and me and my other half share that.
and for dinners we have the usual stuff for 3 adults as my mum lives with us.
and we also have 2 catkins, they have royal canin fit 32 which we buy in the big 10kg bags.

but thank you for your post, every suggestions helps

pinkskyatnight

camNolliesMUMMY wrote: »

Mon- spag Bol (I buy tesco value 800g mince and use it all, then split in half for chilli by adding beans, kidney beans and chilli powder)
Tues- hm pasta bake and sfc steaks from Iceland
Wed- no cook day as its chilli just make the rice.
Thurs- sausage casserole
Fri- curry night recipes from the takeaway secret
Sat- hm doner kebabs courtesy of the takeaway secret agin
Sun- roast dinner using a whole chicken and then the rest gets turned into a stew or casserole for later.

thank you for sharing your meal plan, i am finding it so hard being wheat free as wheat products are so cheap and they really bulk out a meal like spag bol, lasagne, sausage casserole, curry and nan breads, kebabs with pitta breads etc!!! i just hope that my shopping budget isnt going to go up trying to find wheat alternatives!!

bhill83

little_miss_muppet_face wrote: »

I had this conversation with my husband last night,
We are a family of 4 (2 kids age 14 and 7) plus a dog,
Dog food / Treats etc cost around £15 a week,
I cannot get my food shopping, for less than £100 a week,
this includes the weeks when i need kitchen/toilet roll, washing liquids / comfort etc.
He said we could if we ate cheaply.. ie.. lidls etc. cheaper cuts of meat, more pulses / fillers and stuff.
Which i dont really like to do. I can be a bit of a food snob.. but i do try to get bargains also.. and shop around for BOGOF etc.

So i think your £300 is reasonable for 3..

I agree. I'm a bit of a food snob too, when it comes to meat and fish, etc - oh and loo roll! I just can't scrimp on loo roll, I hate the feel of cheap, papery loo roll! There are some things that you need to spend a bit of money on, which is why I'm not great at saving money... and am on this site!

quintwins

pinkskyatnight wrote: »

I dont think i said anything like that??

:rotfl: so you didn't i got it mixed up with the 2nd post.

camNolliesMUMMY i could have written your post myself we also use those makro chicken breasts (altho there £21 in our store and the local wholesale butcher does the exact same ones for £19), i also try to use my slow cooker, and my cleaning products are fairy, cream cleaner and bleach, i've had the same bottle of detol for 2 years because i only use it for the kitchen table.

Only branded stuff in this house is fairy washing up liquid, laundry liquid (bought in bulk at half price/bogof in makro around xmas time to last the year and because it smells so nice then i don't need fabric soften) and branston beans (bought on offer or from amazon)

camNolliesMUMMY

quintwins wrote: »

:rotfl: so you didn't i got it mixed up with the 2nd post.

camNolliesMUMMY i could have written your post myself we also use those makro chicken breasts (altho there £21 in our store and the local wholesale butcher does the exact same ones for £19), i also try to use my slow cooker, and my cleaning products are fairy, cream cleaner and bleach, i've had the same bottle of detol for 2 years because i only use it for the kitchen table.

Only branded stuff in this house is fairy washing up liquid, laundry liquid (bought in bulk at half price/bogof in makro around xmas time to last the year and because it smells so nice then i don't need fabric soften) and branston beans (bought on offer or from amazon)

In our makro they do a bag which is the one I mentioned in my post the next one up is the one you mentioned.
I don't know if its because its local produce that we have it? Who knows but it's cheaper than the supermarkets:T

quintwins

camNolliesMUMMY wrote: »

In our makro they do a bag which is the one I mentioned in my post the next one up is the one you mentioned.
I don't know if its because its local produce that we have it? Who knows but it's cheaper than the supermarkets:T

oh i've seen those bags of vacum packed ones before but they always seemed fatty to me that may be because there squished so it shows better, mine come in a black tray and you can get teh extact same tray locally (we did wonder if maybe the butchers supplied makro as they supply loads of local places) i'm more than happy with them and there sooooo much better than supermarket ones for the same money.

drummer_666

I think £300 a month for 3 adults is a lot.

I live on my own. I spend approx £75 a month for me plus 2 cats.
That would be about £60 for just me.

I get all my food and cleaning stuff in that too. And quite a lot of chocolate lol (mostly smart price milk choc its dead tasty).

Most of the stuff I get is smart price or asda's own. Except diet coke/pepsi (whatever's on offer) and some on offer stuff if it's cheaper or I feel like treating myself.

Most my meals -
Curry: Asda smart price chicken fillets & value rice & cheap sauce
Pasta: Asda smart price chicken fillets & value pasta. with tinned beans and tin tomatoes or chicken soup or pesto
Chicken & Wedges: Asda smart price chicken fillets & home made potato wedges n veg
Chilli: Asda smart price mince (from fridge - frozen stuff tastes yuck) & value rice
Pizza: £1 frozen one from asda

European_Citizen

I rarely buy chicken breasts: I don't find them tasty and they are too expensive. We buy a whole chicken, portion it and use it to make curries and other dishes. I also buy beef, pork etc when on offer, portion it and freeze it. I don't think it greatly affects the taste, especially if you slow-cook it.
I also usually cook meals that can be eaten over two days: can't be bothered to cook from scratch every day. Besides, some dishes do taste better the next day anyway.
I've been very disappointed recently with shop-bought sauces, soups, bread etc. Is it just me or there is just too much sugar in them? Also, I've not found any cheap ready meals that taste good so for me, eating on a budget means you have to rely on home-made stuff.

lushlifesaver

There's two of us, and we do one bulk shop at makro every couple of months and then I pick stuff up in our small town (Iceland mostly and Coop for some bits)

Meal plan:
Monday: chicken breast wrapped in bacon with jacket potato, baked beans and veggies
Tuesday: KFC - bf's after gym favourite
Wednesday: Spag bol
Thursday: chicken breast with rice and a veg sauce (and extra veggies for me)
Friday: Cottage pie
Saturday: Date night = take away/meal out (£15 max for both of us)
Sunday: chicken dinner (chicken breast, roasties, yorkshires, veg)

Every other week we will have gammon with jacket potatoes, baked beans and veg, and the Thursday meal varies.

Shopping lists:
Makro: chicken breasts (the black tray) Surf laundry detergent, comfort fabric conditioner, toilet rolls, lean beef mince, pasta, eggs, some other occassional buys but not much usually £50-60

ASDA/Iceland/market: Ragu bolognese sauce, mixed veg, bacon, potatoes, baked beans, fruit, crisps, choc bars for bf, butter, cheese (grated, portioned and frozen), smash, veg cuppa soups, dish soap, cleaning products (although with such a tiny house we don't finish bottles that quickly!), gravy powder, roasties, yorkshire puds, stock cubes, gammon if we fancy it (2 for £7 at ASDA) and any other necessaries £40 per month max

Actually we do even better than I thought! We eat the same things every week but it works for us and our meals out/take aways give us variety too

WantToBeSE

European_Citizen wrote: »

I rarely buy chicken breasts: I don't find them tasty and they are too expensive. We buy a whole chicken, portion it and use it to make curries and other dishes. I also buy beef, pork etc when on offer, portion it and freeze it. I don't think it greatly affects the taste, especially if you slow-cook it.
I also usually cook meals that can be eaten over two days: can't be bothered to cook from scratch every day. Besides, some dishes do taste better the next day anyway.
I've been very disappointed recently with shop-bought sauces, soups, bread etc. Is it just me or there is just too much sugar in them? Also, I've not found any cheap ready meals that taste good so for me, eating on a budget means you have to rely on home-made stuff.

This is exactly what i do too. I bought a big chicken from Lidl this week for £3.49 (approx) and i normally either portion it up and freeze, or i will cook it in a roast, then strip it, and there will be enough left over for 3 more meals (normally curry, stir fry and 1 other meal). Saves me a fortune from when i used to buy breasts at approx £5 a time!