Shopping and money management..

Purple_kitten

So much good advice I am not sure what I can add I have learnt so much from these boards.
Food planning has been a big thing for controlling our spend (2 adults, and various animals), we work out at about an average of 35 per week now, but we have a freezer stock and basics cupboard for things like sauces pasta tinned things. We have down shifted on brands on a lot of things, apart from heniz beans:rotfl:!
It may sound daft but a big difference for us was washing powder, I do a fair amount of washing for animals and us, we switched to Kirkland (Costco own brand).
Definitely list everything down and see where it goes to begin with.

Annie_99

I have just done my first online shop (took forever!) and bought:
Tinned tomatoes x 9 tins
3kg of Fusilli and 3 kg of Penne
Branston Beans x 9
Strawberry jam for toast
Corned Beef for hash
Shreddies and Weetabix both Giant boxes
Bisto, mayo and Salad dressings
Butter, Marg and Eggs
2x 6pt Milk
Apples, Bananas, Grapes
3 packs stir fry veg
Red and normal onions
Cassarole veg to chuck in slow cooker for stew
4 packs of sandwich meat
2 x 750g mince, for shepherds pie, chilli, spag bolognese etc
Salmon fillets and Breaded fish filllets
Chips
Pork chops
Stewing Beef
Frozen veg and berries
Bleach, shampoo, toilet roll, toothpaste
Baking ingredients
It came to £120 and I feel i shopped well and we will have a lot of meals for me to make. Ive got some jars of curry and stir fry sauces and rice and cous cous etc already in.. Ive printed list off and ill use it as a guide while im out shopping in case i forget what i have in..
Ill see how i go doing it this way!

-taff

salad dressings are just oil and vinegar with mustard or various other bits - cheaper to make yourself
3 packs of stir fry veg? should have just bought the veg whole and chopped it yourself, it's only beansprouts, mushrooms, a little bit of water chestnut and some small sweetcorn. You can buy more of that chepaer whole.
red onions are only really for eating in salads, which are out of season, normal onions will do just as well unless you are eating them raw.
chips? just buy a massive bag [ about 6 quid I think] of potatoes from a garden center or similar and make your own - they have the added advantage of being real potatoes not extruded gunk.

krlyr

I agree that more savings could be made, but no one becomes an OS expert overnight though! I think if you've saved even a bit of money compared to usual OP, you're on the right track - and being able to save more in the future is a good goal.

gayleygoo

I haven't read all the posts so apologies if I'm repeating...

If you think £500 is excessive then try writing down every purchase (keep your recipets until you've written them down) and finding out what you're spending too much money on. When I started doing it I split it up into something like "meat....fruit and veg...store-cupboard...ready-meals...snacks...toiletries etc" at the end of the month I knew I'd spent a lot of snacky things and frozen food and not much on fruit and veg! I could then set budgets for those and plan the shopping better. Don't expect to be able to your spending in half in one go - aim to reduce a little each month until you're happy with what you're spending.

I've really slipped up recently and probably there's been £400 spent this month on two adults and two small children... but DH has bought steak a few times and ingredients for a big curry but that's okay, I didn't pay for those!

It's probably been suggested already, but get your sons to cook - it will benefit them to learn and also contribute to the household. My OH doesn't know much about cooking but has made some fantastic meals by using online recipes and youtube videos!

Maybe at the weekend you could make a big batch of something as a "ready meal" for the week. Stew, casseroles, chilli etc will keep in the fridge for a few days and your boys can zap them in the microwave. Do you bake? HM baked things are cheap to make and will help keep your family away from food in the fridge that you've planned for a meal!

I've been meaning to try this one myself, haven't got round to it yet... you could keep all your food money for the week/fortnight/month in cash somewhere safe in the house. If you have planned meals, made a shopping list etc, you shouldn't need to do too many top up shops but having a limited amount of cash left will stop you buying unnecessary items when you just want to buy milk. If you end up with any leftover at the end of the month, treat yourself for your hard work coming in under budget, or save up for something. Although we're getting near *that* time of year again, so it might be helpful to stock up on christmassy food and HIDE IT away from your family, so you don't have to blow the budget entirely in December!

Prothet_of_Doom

At one time, we had a £50 weekly shop budget, which meant,
a) Serious planning was needed.
b) Serious Cruelty was needed.

I did the shopping because my wife could not complete a lap of the supermarket due to ME(Chronic Fatigue)

By serious cruelty, I would go shopping with the list, and if I bought anything not on the list, my wife would send me back to get a refund. Standing at customer service returning 'luxuries' like an extra tin of beans is a Cruel leason.

I was eventually allowed to bulk buy, providing that in the week that we used the second item, the shopping budget was reduced by that.

The other way of doing it is use cash. Take £100 in cash ONLY. and No cards.
Keep a subtotal of the things you have in your trolley, as you go along. If you get to the til and find that you've over spent, put something back. You'll have to as you've only got cash.

Or......Here's an idea..Empower the other adults .

Set each adult a target of making one eveining meal, 2 courses, twice a week, for say £6 (£1.50 Each)..and at the end of each week score them.

or let each of the adults provide all the shopping for one whole week, with a budget of say £80, and let the others score how well they all ate.

Prothet_of_Doom

Annie_99 wrote: »

I have just done my first online shop (took forever!) and bought:
Tinned tomatoes x 9 tins
3kg of Fusilli and 3 kg of Penne
Branston Beans x 9
Strawberry jam for toast
Corned Beef for hash
Shreddies and Weetabix both Giant boxes
Bisto, mayo and Salad dressings
Butter, Marg and Eggs
2x 6pt Milk
Apples, Bananas, Grapes
3 packs stir fry veg
Red and normal onions
Cassarole veg to chuck in slow cooker for stew
4 packs of sandwich meat
2 x 750g mince, for shepherds pie, chilli, spag bolognese etc
Salmon fillets and Breaded fish filllets
Chips
Pork chops
Stewing Beef
Frozen veg and berries
Bleach, shampoo, toilet roll, toothpaste
Baking ingredients
It came to £120 and I feel i shopped well and we will have a lot of meals for me to make. Ive got some jars of curry and stir fry sauces and rice and cous cous etc already in.. Ive printed list off and ill use it as a guide while im out shopping in case i forget what i have in..
Ill see how i go doing it this way!

Okay I think There's £10 you might be able to save next time. Value Beans.
Own brand cereals.
Make your own potatoe Wedges.
Replace Pork Chops with Sausages (unless on offer..Our Local Butcher had Big ones, for £1 Each....they were £2 in waitrose)

I'm also betting that there is money to be saved in the 'sundries' cleaning materials - I buy all this stuff in bulk when on offer.

Butterfly_Brain

I got Branston beans in B&M for £1.39 for 4 tins this week a bit more expensive than basic ones approx 35p a tin rounded up, but you get more beans, the sauce is thicker and they are much nicer. Sometimes the basic lines are a false economy.
I keep a good store cupboard taht I have built up over the years, so I always have flour etc, I just replace it when i open a packet, thereby keeping the stock intact.
I only use cash and always do a meal plan then write a list.
We spend between £30/ £40 a week on mainly fresh stuff, that includes extra bits for DD who is a vegetarian. But we also get most of our meat in bulk from our local butcher once a month so that is an extra £50/£60 a month depending on what we buy which is usually cheap cuts such as ham hocks, pigs cheeks, chicken legs, mince, stewing lamb/beef etc. It is better quality than the supermarkets so we don't use as much in a meal.
We do buy the super six in Aldi, but we also buy veg from the market or local greengrocer, plus we grow a lot of our own fruit and veg.
On Saturday MIL gave us a carrier bag full of Bramley's, a carrier full of Russets and a load of tomatoes, I gave her spinach, cabbage, and a butternut squash.
So I would say on average we spend £300/£400 a month for four or five adults depending how often DD's BF stays over which is usually a couple of days a week.