OS Shopping

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

I've been looking at my budget recently and wondered if there was a way to OS my weekly shop

At the moment i meal plan (only ever for dinners as we take left overs for lunch) and my shopping is around £30 (at tesco)

I check with Mysupermarket to see if i can down grade labels etc and save money. I''m not so good at finding coupons!

I always check the reduced racks for things that are on my list and never impluse buy

But is there anything else i could be doing? I dont want to grow my own veg (We actually stopped doing this last year as we no longer have space)

Thanks!

EstherH

Have a look on the food shopping and grocery board at the second purse challenge. I have recently started this and think it is great.

Also, add loads of veg chopped up small, plus some oats or lentils to mince dishes to bulk it out. I make a basic mince with these that can then be frozen in portions and made into shepherds pie, topping for jacket potatoes, add tomatoes and herbs for bolognaise, add kidney beans etc for chilli. I can get loads out of 500g of mince or double, triple up and you have loads if you have a slow cooker or large enough pan.

Rubber chicken is a great one. Roast one day, salad another and left overs with pasta or stir fried. Then make stock for soup from the carcus and add some soup pulse mix and any veg you have around. If you add some potato too it is really thick. I have started doing this and maybe serving it with a Smartprice garlic bread and that does the two of us for a main meal.
HTH. Esther x

LondonDreamer

Is your £30 for everything, or just dinners? How many for? Although even for just a couple, I think this is a pretty good budget already if it's for everything.

Would you make any savings by changing shops? I personally don't find Aldi/Lidl cheaper for what I buy but loads of other people swear by them.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel wrote: »

I always check the reduced racks for things that are on my list and never impluse buy

This is what jumped out at me. I agree with not impulse buying, but do you substitute at all? As an example, you have beef mince on your list but there's pork or quorn mince reduced which would be cheaper. Would you buy it instead, or still go and get beef?

I tend to shop around the offers and reductions, rather than sticking strictly to a list. So my shopping list will say "meat x 3" so I know I need 3 meals worth of meat (ETA: by meat I mean protein - so this can also be fish or veggie products depending on the offers) but I won't decide exactly what that is until I'm in the store.

joedenise

LondonDreamer wrote: »

I tend to shop around the offers and reductions, rather than sticking strictly to a list. So my shopping list will say "meat x 3" so I know I need 3 meals worth of meat (ETA: by meat I mean protein - so this can also be fish or veggie products depending on the offers) but I won't decide exactly what that is until I'm in the store.

This is a good idea - probably better than actual meal planning. Might give that a try myself.

Denise

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

Hm it depends on what I need for the house but generally it’saround £30 (Some time less – some times more but it averages around £30)

I’ve been doing thisfor a few months now and only once has it been higher than £40 (Which was theweek I bulk brought baby wipes for DD2 and some other bits and bobs)

Budget is for 4 people but not every night (it makes approx13 dinners over a week)

I eat at home 7 nights a week and eat left over’s for lunch@ work

X2 DD’s eats at home 4 days a week (they have school dinnersand tea at afterschool club 3 days)

OH comes over x2 nights a week for his tea

If there is any left it gets put in the freezer for a daywhen I can’t be bothered to cook!

It never even occurred to me to look at quorn etc! (D’OH!) thanks! Shall remember that when i goshopping this week J

I tend to do the “petrol” run when shopping and there isn’t areasonably priced one near the Lidl’s – There is an Asda nearby but from the moneysupermarket it tends to be more expensive than Tesco for what I buy.

This week was a REALLY cheap week. This is what we had this week:

Chicken Madras (Bulk buy chicken from local farm as itscheaper so didn’t need to buy that, already had rice and sauce in) needed: Naan bread

Fishcake, chips and beans: (Fishcakes were already infreezer) needed: Potatoes and baked beans

Sunday roast: needed: beef joint(Everything else already in)

Chicken fajitas with salad: (Had chicken in already, extrawill be used for curry. Had wraps last week so had some in as well as onions) needed: peppers and salad

Sausage casserole: (Sausages already in freezer, alreadyhave onions) needed: a packet mix (and already had potatoes on my list)

Chicken curry: (Use chicken left over’s, already have rice in) needed:curry paste

Spag bol: Everything is already in for this

Next week will be more expensive although i know i havechicken, mince and pork in the freezer so will just make meals around them.
Once freezer is empty I will bulk buy chicken and minceagain and plan around those.