Help me reduce our food bill

macpep1

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Now I find this to be a false economy because of the poor quality of the paper as you need to use quite a few squares to prevent it tearing. I buy Cushelle (24 rolls for £10) but it lasts forever (we use less than two rolls a week) as you only need to use 2-3 squares at a time as the paper is so thick

I am another Nicky Fan, I actually prefer it to $ndrex & I am limited to what agrees with my sesitive bits .

I am another Aldi fan, I do a 4-week meal planner, I get my meat from morrisons, toiletries from Home bargains & majority of things from Aldi, we prefer Aldi Titan Bars (mars bars) to the brand name, my fussy DH loves Walkers crisps but loves Aldi Smokey bacon as do the others etc. I budget £300/month for 2 adults, 2 children of 6 & 11 & a cat. After the 'main shop' I go to Aldi on a Sunday to get the fresh fruit/veg required for through the week. Lunchbox snacks of fruit & mini packs of biscuits ie jaffa cakes, animals, cookies etc can be bought for 75p from Iceland. I do have a chest freezer so I can batch cook quiches soups etc for lunches. I also get flour eggs etc from Aldi, my kids love scotch pancakes for brekkie at times so they can be whipped up & making batch of fairy cakes for lunchboxes. I do work from an excel meal planner, I can email you a copy if you want to PM me x

Shoey1610

Hi again!

I've spoken to DH and he is happy to try to bring our food bill down and go with it.
I've written down some of the ideas from here and as I went shopping a week ago, I would normally go today, but I have decided that as we have milk and bread, I won't go yet.
DD and I have plans to do some baking today after school for packed lunches. I'm going to sort a meal plan tonight. This is my current stores:

Fridge
2 yoghurts
1 portion of homemade soup
sausages (for tea tonight)
Box of teabags
2 small apple juice cartons
2 small orange juice cartons
fresh filled pasta
1/2 pack salted butter
1/2 pack unsalted butter (plan to use in baking today)
Margarine (running out)
12 Satsumas (!)
4 Apples
3 pts Milk
3 large bottles fizzy water
Strawberry Jam
Pickle
BBQ Table Sauce
Lingonberry sauce from Ikea (any way I can use this up?)
Lemon Juice
Small block cheddar
Extra virgin olive oil
10 eggs

Freezer
Frozen sweetcorn
frozen packet of ham
1 loaf frozen bread
2 lonely fishfingers
Bag frozen prawns
Brussel Sprouts
360g Diced Pork
500g Beef mince
250g x2 Beef mince
400g diced beef
2 x 1/2 bag of frozen chips
pot of frozen breadcrumbs
a billion ice lollies (I don't need anymore of those!)

Cupboards
Vegetable Suet
Honey
Cocoa
Icing sugar
Maple Syrup
Vanilla extract
Teeny bit of plain flour
Dark brown sugar
Light brown sugar
Orange blossom water (what can I use this for?)
3 cup a soups
Bread flour
Seeded bread mix
Marmite
Peanut butter
Yeast
1.5kg self raising
Billions of herbal teas
4 jars of mincemeat for next Christmas
Ikea meatball gravy
Shepherds pie mix
Sweet and Sour Stir Fry sauce
Egg noodles
250g mini pasta shells
smoked bacon and tomato stir in sauce
popping corn
sardines in Tom sauce
3 x tuna tins
4 x baked beans
Gravy
Jar of curry sauce
Jar of pasta sauce
tinned tomato soup
2 small spaghetti hoops
2 mushy peas
worcester sauce
crushed chillis
coriander
tumeric
cumin
cinnamon
nutmeg
chicken stock cubes
vegetable stock cubes
1 beef gravy melt
Baking powder
Oregano
teeny bit of risotto rice
11 snack bars
3 graze snack pots (these were free this week)
Dried Spaghetti
Rice
Oats
Coffee
Sugar
7 different breakfast cereals of varying amounts
A few potatoes

Any suggestions for using up the satsumas welcome!

At first glance, I would say I need bananas, milk, yoghurts, sandwich meat, kitchen towel, salad stuff, some washing up sponges, margarine, 3 large orange juices to go with breakfast, parsnips, carrots, frozen peas.

~Chameleon~

Ditch the orange juice and give them a satsuma each with breakfast. Far healthier

joedenise

macpep1 - have sent you a PM.

Denise

Pooky

Maybe look at weaning yourself off of kitcen towel and washing up sponges too. It all adds up.

I have a selection of old towles, tea towels, t-shirts etc that live in a box under the sink and can be used for anything you'd use kitchen towel for - just bung them in the wash.

I've stopped buying washing up sponges and have gone back to dish clothes, again they last far longer and get chucked in the wash on a daily basis.

Fizzy water? I cant stand the stuff personally, would you cut that out and go to tap water instead? I fill a jug each morning and shove it in the fridge so we've got nice cold water to use during the day, I drink a lot of water and this makes tap water far more palateble.

We spend around £80 per week for a family of 2 adults, 2 teens, 5 cats and a parrot - that £80 includes all cleaning, food, booze etc (toiletries I buy in bulk on a yearly basis so don't get included but wouldn't add much)

~Chameleon~

Pooky wrote: »

I've stopped buying washing up sponges and have gone back to dish clothes, again they last far longer and get chucked in the wash on a daily basis.

I use Tesco value microfibre cloths. A pack of 5 is around a £1 and same as you, they get bunged in the wash with the t-towels. Last for ages. Think I've only replaced a pack once this year so far

Shoey1610

I must be extravagant because I have dishcloths and microfibre cloths that I use and wash until they fall apart, and washing up sponges and kitchen towel!

I was just thinking about handwash, we use a lot of that. Perhaps I'll buy a couple of dispensers so I refill them - do you think I could use a big bottle of bubble bath, is it the same sort of thing?

~Chameleon~

Shoey1610 wrote: »

I was just thinking about handwash, we use a lot of that. Perhaps I'll buy a couple of dispensers so I refill them - do you think I could use a big bottle of bubble bath, is it the same sort of thing?

I tried that once but it dried out my hands so much I ended up spending more on hand moisturiser! I stick to handwash but always buy when on offer.

good_advice

Putting off the shopping as I want to keep the bill down a bit more .
We have food, just not everyones wants. I do not think it has hit home yet after the chat about spending less just what I shall be putting in the store trolley.
After some thought, ouch! I said I would go to Lidi if I have spelt that right? Trouble with that shop is in is in centre town and you have to carry or use the wheelie bag for your buys.

I start by looking at what I have @ home and then make lists.
Maybe I shall look at some cooking books for new idea's?
Keeping away from meat will help.

Tonight I am cooking cauliflower cheese, carrots and broccoli with a few potatoes. The veg will all be steamed. I love my steamer and use it often. Then just make a cheese sauce.

Shoey, I bought hand wash from Iceland last week. It is called Breez antibacterial moisturising hand wash. 650ml £1.
I use microfiber dish cloths and t.towels in the kitchen and wash them often.

meg72

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Are you serious? Is that just for one meal? I use just one chicken breast between two of us and we both eat a healthy highish protein diet.

Depends surely on the size of the chicken breast. I wouldnt think two was unreasonable between 3, especially if the OH was a big eater.