What do you think??

Danni1979

Hi all,first time posting but i've been reading your tips for a while.I am desperate to save money especially on food bills,theres me and my OH 3 dogs and i spend £100 every 2 weeks which i think is way too much.Anyway the question i want to ask is this...When you go shopping do you just restock or let your cupboards and freezer get empty.
The reason i ask is because i have 2 freezers and my food is spaced out over 3 cupboards and they never even get close to getting empty.
I seem to have so much food that i dont know wat to do with
I have oceons of soups which never get eaten,Pilchards and loads of other stuff.
Should i let my food storage run down?
Any advice much appreciated.
Hugs
xx

HariboJunkie

Hi dannii and welcome to Old Style. :hello:

Why don't you try the storecupboard challenge? I did this when I realised I was just topping up my cupboards all the time. Only buy necessities like milk, eggs and bread for a week and try to be inventive with what you've got. You'll be amazed how much you can make and you'll discover all sorts of new recipes.;)

Most of the time I buy the same sort of things week in week out like pulses, pasta, tins etc as well as the usual fruit, veg and meat. because I can't resist bargains and bogofs sometimes it piles up so once in a while I do the storecupboard challenge to clear the decks a bit. I do like a well stocked larder though and always try to keep some baking essentials and my spices stocked up in case of emergency.

I've just tried to give you a link to the Storcupboard challenge but can't so you can find it in the sticky at the top of Old style entitled "read me first"

LilMissEmmylou

i run pretty empty before i buy more, although i do keep some items in large numbers if i bought a lot on offer, eg. rice, soup etc.

Pink.

Hi Danni,

Welcome to MSE. :hello:

If you click here it will take you straight to the Store cupboard challenge thread. It's quite long and will take some time to read, but as Haribo has said, it should help.

Pink

Danni1979

Hi Guys thanks for that,it looks really interesting and i think i'll give it a go.
Hugs
xx

belfastgirl23

It's worth going through your cupboards and checking what is coming close to expiry/recently expired and focusing on that first if you have a lot of stuff. Helps you not to feel overwhelmed. The other thing is to look at the stuff you've never used (pilchards!) and do a search on here or on cookery sites and have a go at using it up. I used to have packed store cupboards - they're still full but as the others say, full with BOGOFs of stuff I do use regularly. I also sometimes come close to running out of things which I never did before.

Hapless_2

Usually the first shop of the month is the most expensive, that is when I fill the freezer and the cupboards. The rest of the month is the perishables and topping up the cupboard where needed.

newlywed

I used to continually re-stock the cupboards and spent a fortune on "just in case". Now I meal plan and try to only buy things needed for that and things that will be used that month.

At first I started to panic about having hardly anything in the cupboard but then checked my meal plan and realised we had everything we needed for the week. You do get used to it.

So now at the start of the month I restock the tins I know we will use during the month and try to do two weeks meal plan at a time (going through the meat/fish in the freezer first as I like to try and use it all withing a month or two). Then I do a bigger shop for that and if I see any meat on offer and know we will need some later in the month, I will get that and put it in the freezer for the next meal plan.

pinkshoes

I always plan my meals for the week, write a shopping list of everything I need, then only buy the things on the list. It's much cheaper cooking everything from scratch, as pre-packaged meals are rather expensive.

I save margerine tubs, then cook 6 portions of something; 2 to eat, 2 for us to take to work for lunch the next day, then freeze the other 2 portions for a lazy "I don't wanna cook" day. I only have a small freezer, but it's mostly filled with stuff I've cooked.

workinmummy

Danni,

With regards to the 3 dogs, what dog food do you buy?
I have three dogs and i buy Asdas own dry dog food £10.98 for 15kgs bag.
They do do some cheaper ones, but this one has the sqidgey meaty chunks in - rather like Bakers - that my dogs like. This 15kgs bag seems to last about 3 weeks.

If i don't buy big bags, i end up spending a fortune on little bags or boxes that only last 2-3days.