What's in your trolley?

Pooky

What sort of meals do you all like? If you tell us what you're making now and what you'd normally buy for it then I'm sure someone can advise how to cut the costs.

[Deleted User]

I agree without a doubt invest in a stick blender and a slow cooker saves pound in soup alone and a chicken cooked overnight in a slow cooker means you get every scrap of meat just falling off the bird and the remaining stock is an excellant base for soup,the only thing binned is the bones

VJsmum

Lilyplonk wrote: »

Please, if you do get a 'stick blender' remember to submerge the blades completely in your soup/liquid BEFORE switching the darn thing 'on' - unless you're really planning to pebbledash your kitchen walls sometime in the very near future.

I know, - I know that sounds such stupid, basic advice - BUT it's a mistake easily made - honest :doh:!

And if something gets stuck unplug it before removing item with your fingers. I nearly lost mine doing just that.:eek:

I don't always blend my soups, some I prefer much more chunky or I dice the veg really small.

My shopping trolley will have these every week

Squash
juice
fizzy flavoured water (i know, but I don't really drink alcohol much and do like to have something a bit different occasionally)
yogurt
bread
milk
soya milk - DS is intolerant to cows
ham / chicken for sarnies (I know that, too, but it doesn't seem to happen )

Meat I buy from the butchers
Veg I try to get from the farm shop
Washing liquids / powders, fabric softener, dishwasher tabs and washing up liquid I get when there is a deal on somewhere and I stock up for the year. E.g. Pesil big box powder was £8 instead of £20 a couple of weeks ago so I bought a year's worth.
Shampoo / conditioner I get from home bargains or Poundland for - guess what - a pound
Other things - store cupboard items I get when there is an offer of some kind and stock up. I have a zillion teabags at the moment as i drink Rooibos tea, which is more expensive but there are frequent deals so I buy lots.

But don't ask me why I spent nearly £200 around shops and supermarkets yesterday on food! (in fairness it is the first big shop we've done since before christmas and it will last a loooong while)

daizyboo

Hiya. This is a really interesting thread for me. I am looking to pay a few debts off and was hoping to do a weekly shop for 5 for roughly £40 per week for the next couple of months. I have all the store cupboard essentials but am struggling to come with ideas as husband won't eat tomatoes, cheese or anything remotely chilli-fied. He's a real meat and two veg man which can work out very expensive. And they have been spoilt and expect pudding every night. Any ideas?

BitterAndTwisted

joedenise wrote: »

Try the "cheap family meals" website. Was done by Weezl who used to post on the forum. A really healthy plan for around £100 a month for a family of 4.

Denise

Actually, the site is cheap-family-recipes.org

There are some truly delicious and CHEAP recipes on that site and you don't have to adopt the regime wholesale but just dip in and out as it suits. There could be recommendations on there that you could adapt or just substitute for your normal meals/dishes every now and then.

Same goes for the poster who asked for advice on feeding her meat&2Veg OH. One thing I would say about died-in-the-wool meat-eaters is that for health an adult needs about four ounces of protein a day, and that doesn't need to come from one source, so cut down on portion-size and try to move to much cheaper cuts before you resort to putting them on a solely vegetarian diet......

Lilyplonk

With my food trolley - I try my very best to meal plan, make a list and stick to it BUT - I build in a 'certain amount' of flexibility ..................

I am a dedicated 'whoopsie raider' and frequently get stuff to freeze for future use - have to double-check as not everything is 'suitable for freezing' though. I then mealplan around my whoopsies - even down to the veggies.

The £1 'stewpacks' sometimes get reduced down to around 67p - well worth buying even if you're not planning on using them immediately. I peel, dice, blanche and freeze them - sometimes as 'stewing veg' or sometimes just as the individual ingredients - depending on how many large freezer bags I've got in the drawer.

I also check on the 'damaged packaging' shelf - lots of stuff on there that's useful ................. my supermarket often has boxes of hair dye that have been bashed/opened by kids and I always seem to find one in a colour that I'm looking for at around £2.50 instead of the regular price of £5.11 :T. I buy one when I see it, even if my hair doesn't actually need doing - at least I've got it in for when the hairdresser does come. They also have bargains on toothpaste on there as well - with damaged boxes - nothing wrong with the tubes themselves - and it makes the really good stuff as cheap as supermarket own brand :j.

I've had to be a 'canny shopper' all my adult life (three children, now grown-up, but a lazy, idle, good-for-nothing ex-OH) even more so, now I'm retired. I have a couple of 'luxuries' in life - nothing extravagant, but I won't go without my annual 2wk caravan holiday in Scotland / my gym membership / Ancestry website membership - that I want to be able to continue to enjoy. With this in mind, I have to be able to reduce living costs somewhere else along the line

rachbc

my basic list is

bread (1 loaf, 8 rolls) £2
ham £1.50
other cold meat - salami, beef, etc £1.50
tuna 60p
salad £1
cucumber/peppers/ carrots £1-2
yog - 18 fromage frais plus plain greek £3
bananas 70p
apples 70p-£1
other fruit £1

This is packed lunches/ sardines for 4

Oats 75p
12 pints milk £3

With fresh or dried fruit, golden syrup this is breakfasts for 3

Dinners will be based on reduced/ bulk bought on offer meats from the freezer -this is prob about £10 a week sometimes more sometimes less.

All other stuff is bought on offer/ in bulk - so today I got a dozen bottles of syrup which will last a year for £6, last week I got enough DW tabs to last 3 months for £8. I prob spend about £50 on these sorts of things a month.

I spend about £250-300 a month too for 3 adult appetites and a 6 yo but we eat well on that - meat most meals, steak, king prawns, fresh fish, decent cheese

Sweetie83

Thanks to the advice I now have a hand blender on its way to me and have now downloaded several of the cheap family meals recipies to try and I reckon that will help me out loads! I'm so glad Lilyplonk you said that as I know thats the sort of thing I would do. 2 degrees but 0 common sense!!!

We like chicken and pasta recipes mostly as daughter is not a red meat eater although she likes mince. I should in theory have a lower food bill as these are cheap foods by all accounts. I feel proper motivated for tomorrows food shop. I won't let Tesco win!!

Lilyplonk

Sweetie83 wrote: »

..... I'm so glad Lilyplonk you said that as I know thats the sort of thing I would do. 2 degrees but 0 common sense!!! ..........

Sounds a bit like me - without the degrees . I went to Grammar School, while my sisters went to 'Secondary Modern'; they did cookery, I didn't ; they did shorthand/typing, I did Latin, Music and Sciences .

Mum always said that I got all the brains but my sisters got all the commonsense :rotfl:!!!

PS - I only found the 'whizzie-stick' trick after my first experience with mine :eek:.

suegoo

Hi Sweety83
Remember to let your soup cool down a bit before blending. My stick is a cheapy and the plastic around the blade softened and bent in very hot soup.