where to shop on a tight budget?

rosie383

sarah222 wrote: »

tonight we are having home made mushroom soap for starter, a surprise lol

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Sorry, couldn't resist! I bet that will be a surprise! YUM

Elliesmum

sarah222 wrote: »

I went to Tesco last night as I said I always do on a Friday, got 4 trays of button mushrooms for 12p each, 2 bags of diced onions 8p (for both), 2 bags prepared savoy 15p each - these will easily do 2 meals per bag), 2 rosemary plants 13p each, 2 packs of 4 organic beetroot 26p each, bag of baby leaf lettuce 8p, 6 pack toms 10p, 4 baking apples for 25p, 1 pack streaky bacon for 54p and 4 porkchops for £1 - tonight we are having home made mushroom soap for starter, home made egg & bacon quiche and salad for main, then stewed apple and custard for desert. I try and meal plan in the week but the weekend is what I get on offer and therefore gives a change and a surprise lol

Tea sounds lovely - can we come

EM xx

Butterfly_Brain

Meal planning is a must and always write a list and take cash with you, this keeps you from buying extras, but saying that I always keep a spare £20 in my purse for reduced bargains which I put in the freezer, which helps when there is an unexpected outlay or higher bill.
I shop in Aldi as my main supermarket now, but I also use the butcher, local greengrocer and market. If you go to the market, just as it is about to close a lot of the stallholders sell off the fruit and veg that will not hold over the weekend. The butcher has more variety on cheaper cuts of meat and I always get a ham hock which is lovely and at £1 each feeds us amply.
B&M, 99p stores, home bargains and poundland have deals as well and all are worth a visit. Try to build up a store cupboard of dried and tinned foods in addition to freezer stocks as well. Many of us on the forum have been stockpiling to help buffer us from the cuts that are coming next year, it doesn't have to cost a lot a couple of pounds a week will soon build up an o/s store cupboard to be proud of.

GreenFairy

I'm going to add a note to check out your local Asian/Turkish/ethnic grocer. I only go about 3 times a year, but rice works out at much less than €1 per kilo in big bags (and that's for the fancy stuff). Spices and herbs are a fraction of the cost of supermarkets. Same with pulses, beans, curry pastes...if you have some storage space it can be the bargain of the year!

[Deleted User]

My DD has four children still living at home all lads with appetites to match and she found that by writing the meal menu out and sticking on the front of the fridge the whole family knew what was for dinner that night.Both her and her OH work full-time so I look after the boys before and after school and do a lot of the prepping for her for her
Her OH's wages went down a few months ago with 'reorganisation' and it was a case of take it or leave it so with a family and a mortgage you have to take what's on offer:( so they had to tighten their belts even more.She works out her menu plans on a Sunday depending on whats in the cupboards and freezer and then just 'topping'things up as they went along.Gone are the days of Andrex loo rolls and branded goods By trying different downgading of brands she knows what the ones are that the kids like and can save money that way.She has cut her food budget from over £200.00 per week for 6 of them to around £110 without feeling too much differance .She downgraded on so many things. DW tabs for example she now buys the 'Daisy' brand from tescos insted of Finish.The plates are still clean and she's saved some cash.She only shops twice a week now instead of virtually on the way home every other night.She has looked around to see what the best buys are on bread (they do a loaf and a half a day with packed lunches and breakfast toast ect) Iceland do two for £2.00 which saved her quite a bit over a week.She says now that even if they do get finacially better off she won't go back to buying branded stuff.I think you should be able to work things down a bit with a bit of careful planning
Menu plan definitely, and down-brand if you can Its amazing what you can save when you put your mind to it.I always buy loose veg not prepacked stuff as its always cheaper.Look out for bargains in store and try to find when the best time is for reduced items.After all its your hard cash your saving I always look to see what Aldi's fruit and veg offers are and if they have a good winter veg offer its worth buying it even if you only make a big pot of soup,very filling on cold winters days.

There is so much you can do to cut the bills a bit I only shop with cash and have a seperate food purse for food shopping I never use a card when shopping as its so easy to overspend.I have just stocked my cupboards to the brim and won't be going near a shop for the next few weeks as I have enough in the cupboards and fridge freezer to keep me going .Use what you have, and do a big list of what you have in store before you buy anything more.Why have food sitting on the shelf and spending more buying extra unless you have to.I bake all my own cakes and biscuits and anything I can't use straight away goes in the freezer.Treat your housekeeping as a business and cut costs by looking to see where you can make economies
Good luck and the best bit of advice is if you get stuck come on here and ask we will always answer your questions and no query is to daft to ask.We have all been there you know. OK mine was years ago back in the 1970s when mortgage rates hit 15% and there just seemed to much month left before the end of the month but I survived and so will you honey Its just adjusting your wants, to being your needs
JackieO xxx

louby40

Jackie you sound like a great mum and nanna! (Bit like my own)

Lou

theGrinch

The two of us (2 adults) get by on £40 a month for food. The key is a bit of forward food planning, minimal wastage, flexibility on brands and knowing when your local shops reduce down to pennies just to clear.

jollymummy

I buy all our food from Aldi and toiletries from Home Bargains these days, markets are great for cheap fruit and veg too.

SUESMITH_2

i prefer lidl myself, ours have loads of the special offer stuff in. if you get that stuff cheap at tesco i wish i lived near you - ours takes pence off and would rather see stuff binned than sold.

we're trying to eat out of our freezer at the mo so i have got more space for reduced xmas goodies

Edwardia

Two things I found helpful re: menu planning were (a) to make my store cupboard up based on what cropped up most in my favourite recipe books and (b) to use the ingredient search in the recipe sections on supermarket websites.

Personally the problem I have with YS is that a lot of it is sheer junk. As your baby is on prescription formula now you may find that when s/he is weaned you're having to buy free from and organic.ASDA has a great organic range, very well priced but my local store doesn't stock much of it

YS milk can be frozen, it can look yellow while frozen but when defrosted it should go back to white. Many people also freeze cream and I freeze YS cheese for cooking.

I used to shop quite a bit at ASDA before going organic in March. It's the cheapest place for Total Greek yogurt and it always used to come out ahead of Sainsbury's on mysupermarket for me.