Meal Planned... From Scratch... But still £60?!?!

lindsaygalaxy

Hi
you're doing really well. I am going I try get our shopping bill down this year.

There is a good thread around about value products-which ones are good and which to avoid. I thinn the custard is rated as good on there. Also S tea bags.
I would recommend the squash. I buy it in lemon, orange and Blackcurrent, none of my kids or OH have noticed any different. It's around 35p a bottle.
Also, re the chicken, would it not be better to buy a chicken? With 1 chicken you could use the breasts for 1 meal, thighs and wings for another, then boil it up to make hm stock for your soup and add salt for the adults. You would probably have enough hockey bits if you picked it off to make an individual chicken pie.

Poppy9

Tesco everyday value hand soap at 38p is excellent. It has a lovely smell and is not harsh on the hands.

Butterfly_Brain

I do the majority of my shopping in Aldi, they are limited to what they stock with very few branded items, but we like most of their stuff.
I wouldn't pay for delivery because I am as tight as a mouse's squeak, it just adds to the cost of what you buy if you think about it, £5 every five days equates to £1 a day which is a whopping £365 a year :eek: just on delivery charges.
Building a stock cupboard doesn't have to cost the earth, a bag of plain flour and a bag of SR flour would cost £1.04, 1kg of basic LG rice is 40p, spaghetti 24p a packet etc just buy a few extra bits a week.
I rarely buy branded items unless they are on special offer.

Fruball

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

I do the majority of my shopping in Aldi, they are limited to what they stock with very few branded items, but we like most of their stuff.
I wouldn't pay for delivery because I am as tight as a mouse's squeak, it just adds to the cost of what you buy if you think about it, £5 every five days equates to £1 a day which is a whopping £365 a year :eek: just on delivery charges.
Building a stock cupboard doesn't have to cost the earth, a bag of plain flour and a bag of SR flour would cost £1.04, 1kg of basic LG rice is 40p, spaghetti 24p a packet etc just buy a few extra bits a week.
I rarely buy branded items unless they are on special offer.

Tight as a mouse's squeak :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I usually book a £3.50 slot and end up spending less online because I plan properly and am not tempted by things I spot whilst I am shopping, so for me, when you add in petrol, I think it is still cheaper to shop online which is what I intend to do more of this year. I am naughty when it comes to grabbing stuff on impulse!

However, I do intend to shop in Ald! more this year as we have been pleasantly surprised with the quality of what is there... I love the super 6 and would like to meal plan around that as much as possible

hereigoagain22

Unfortunately petrol to the nearest supermarket is around £7-8 for a round trip! I do visit family near the area once a week anyway but with the a 2 year old and 6 month old I honestly couldn't cope with doing the shopping as well! For the next shop I may ask Mum if she can watch the eldest for an hour and see if I can stick to a list! I doubt it though. Near my family we have an Aldi, a LIDL, Morrisons, Tesco, Farmfoods and Iceland. I wish there was a site that compared them all and showed you the cheapest places to buy each of the items as they are all walking distance from each other. Still be hard with the children though and I'm only planning on paying for the petrol to town once a fortnight so would have to do fortnightly shops. It's definitely something to think about though.

I would normally spend £3.50 on delivery every week so that's a huge £182 a year!!

Great tip on the squash!! Will get value from now on, it's just for OH anyway.

Honestly, it's never even come into my mind to use a whole chicken before - I wouldn't even know how to take it apart!! When I buy it would I pull/cut out the different parts and store them in freezer bags (or in the fridge if using same week)?

krlyr

For the mince (perhaps not now but for the future), if you shop at Tesco, keep an eye out - recently they've had half price offers on their steak mince every so often. It's a tad more than the everyday value but cheaper than the regular own brand. I buy several packs, cook into various things (bolognese, chili, burgers, etc) and freeze, but you could just portion it out and freeze straight away to make into meals at the time.
We've tried the everday value one and it is very fatty. I made HM burgers with it and my hands, the chopping board, bowl, etc. were all coated in fat and the burgers shrank a lot because the fat cooked off. What I did last time instead was buy several packs of the steak mince on offer and a couple of packs of the everyday value one and mixed them together. I put the everyday value one into the bologneses etc. rather than burgers so I could fry the fat off when I browned the mince. It tastes fine though

Fruball

hereigoagain22 wrote: »

Unfortunately petrol to the nearest supermarket is around £7-8 for a round trip! I do visit family near the area once a week anyway but with the a 2 year old and 6 month old I honestly couldn't cope with doing the shopping as well! For the next shop I may ask Mum if she can watch the eldest for an hour and see if I can stick to a list! I doubt it though. Near my family we have an Aldi, a LIDL, Morrisons, Tesco, Farmfoods and Iceland. I wish there was a site that compared them all and showed you the cheapest places to buy each of the items as they are all walking distance from each other. Still be hard with the children though and I'm only planning on paying for the petrol to town once a fortnight so would have to do fortnightly shops. It's definitely something to think about though.

I would normally spend £3.50 on delivery every week so that's a huge £182 a year!!

Great tip on the squash!! Will get value from now on, it's just for OH anyway.

Honestly, it's never even come into my mind to use a whole chicken before - I wouldn't even know how to take it apart!! When I buy it would I pull/cut out the different parts and store them in freezer bags (or in the fridge if using same week)?

I wouldn't like to take apart a raw chicken _pale_ so I roast mine (or cook in the SC) and then strip it once cooled (much easier to do when warm/cool than after being in the fridge). Then I bag it up into portions and bung in the freezer to be used in other things.

Butterfly_Brain

I went into Aldi this morning and got lots of reduced stuff 1.5 kg Maris piper potatoes 34p, 5 lemons 34p, bags of satsumas were 34p, mince pies 49p a large chicken for £2.82 a cheese board with cheeses for £3.99. A large joint of Gammon for £5.99, 800g Mince reduced to £1.99 and some other bits. I spent £30 and got a big trolley full of stuff.

Tommelise

Fruball wrote: »

I wouldn't like to take apart a raw chicken _pale_ so I roast mine (or cook in the SC) and then strip it once cooled (much easier to do when warm/cool than after being in the fridge). Then I bag it up into portions and bung in the freezer to be used in other things.

How to part a chicken :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW5BFvCmV7k

Its not that difficult, and you can use the chicken for different dishes.

OP when it comes to learning how to cook you will find a lot of usefull tips, recipes and videos on the internet. Just set your mind to learning a new thing, recipe or use a new ingredient each week.

kerri_gt

hereigoagain22 wrote: »

Honestly, it's never even come into my mind to use a whole chicken before - I wouldn't even know how to take it apart!! When I buy it would I pull/cut out the different parts and store them in freezer bags (or in the fridge if using same week)?

I've just 'butchered' a turkey i got reduced yesterday for £4.30 rather than £22 :eek: As I want to use it for batch cooking and freeze portions I had to butcher it raw and freeze raw to avoid re-freezing cooked meat. I must admit it's not for the squeemish (you do have to get a good old hold of the bird) and you need sharp knives and ideally a pair of poultry shears (on my list for next Xmas). But it is quite easy - identify the parts that you see in supermarkets (breast, winds, thighs etc) and it's a bit like desconstructing a jigsaw. Have a google and I'm sure there's some online videos.

On the subject of chickens, do you have any local farms / markets near you? I get 16 HUGE free range chicken breast from my local farmers market for £20. Free them in 2's for my and OH. They're really tasty and contain zero added water.

Also, if you have a local market, this can be a good option for fruit and veg, esp if you go later in the day and can be a bit more creative with what they are selling off that day.

On the subject of frozen bananas, I have 6 peeled and frozen in my freezer on the authority from a friend on here that they are fine when they defrost and don't turn black - apparently they make very nice banana style lollies for kids