In dire need of help... or a kick up the bum

mrsinvisible

Hi hope you don't mind me sticking my beak in, wishing you success. You might do well to visit Greying Pilgrims thread, 'Living on next to naught ,is that the key'. Super thrifty meals, piccys posted, recipes linked, helpful advice given, friendly unscary site.

jenwiss

Try making your own burgers, they will be bigger therefor fill you up more.
Make your own pastry, yes it's more work but think of the extra calories you will burn off
Don't buy ready prepared veg, it is often more expensive. You can get cheap bags of frozen veg which means no wastage and it's cheaper and easier when in a hurry.

Where do you do your shopping, we have a new aldi and since shopping there our shopping is 1/3 of the price.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

tomtombeanie wrote: »

Just a thought on your barney bears - I work in a school so I know them well - if you have a spare 20 mins you can throw together some fairy cakes or easy biscuits, your little ones might enjoy helping and you will get so much more for your £1. Great to freeze and helps get kids into both baking and saving money, explain you can save pennies by making your own "barney" treats. A girl called jack has a few nice ideas for simple baking that she uses to treat her own small boy.

You have taken the main step already by deciding that things need to change, good luck

We usually bake on a sunday and they eat them first but for some reason they love these bears... they don't get sweets etc so I don't mind them having them but thanks

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

£1land

X2 Barny bears £2
X3 Microwave tubs £3
X2 bottles of cola (I know!) £2

Total £7

Tesco
X24 cans dog food (on offer) 10.00
Rabbit Food 2.59
X2 Kidney beans 0.30
X2 tins chopped toms 0.68
12 Hot dog rolls (On offer, now in freezer) 0.66
Hovis bread 1.00
X2 bags Quorn style mince 3.00
X1 bag of Parsnips 0.49
X2 Swede 0.48
Bag of salad 1.00
X2 baking potatoes 0.59
Value Yogurt 0.45
Foxes biscuits 1.00
Milk 1.00
Cleaning spray 1.00


Total £24.24

We then was naughty and went back to Tesco and got:

Spaghetti 0.20
2.5kg Potatoes 0.20
Veg soup mix 0.13
X2 Bag of carrots 0.16
Grapes 0.20
Corn on the cob 0.10
X2 punnets of blueberries 0.40
X2 full Swedes 0.20

Total: 1.59

And today I’ve bought:

X2 choc ices (for work) £2.00

So this week’s shopping was a total of £34.83

I’d usually spend around double that!

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

Oh, I also meal planned for 2 weeks and I've put loads of stuff In the freezer (2 portions of home made pie - doubled recipe last night and made an extra) there 3 portions of fish from the other night, a chilli con carne lurking in the back etc


I think i'm getting the hang of this!

Gigervamp

Looks like you got a bargain at Tescos with the fruit and veg!

rainbowfairydust

OP - do you have a home bargains/ B & M near you? The spices are 89p to a £1 for a tube/tub.

Do you have a local market? Fruit & veg is ALWAYS cheaper than supermarkets and much better quality.

OOPOS491

Hi - I noticed you bought a 'bag of salad'. I would definitely ditch that. Buy a lettuce - iceberg are really good at the mo - fresh, crisp, sweet. OK so you need to wash it but hey, it takes seconds. I just keep my washed lettuce in the salad spinner and it keeps fine as I use it fairly quickly. So - one iceberg lettuce = approx. 45p will do many many salads as opposed to the bagged stuff which I used to buy but found it went soggy straight away.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

OOPOS491 wrote: »

Hi - I noticed you bought a 'bag of salad'. I would definitely ditch that. Buy a lettuce - iceberg are really good at the mo - fresh, crisp, sweet. OK so you need to wash it but hey, it takes seconds. I just keep my washed lettuce in the salad spinner and it keeps fine as I use it fairly quickly. So - one iceberg lettuce = approx. 45p will do many many salads as opposed to the bagged stuff which I used to buy but found it went soggy straight away.

Ah see I find it the other way round - my lettuce goes horrible after a few days where as the bags last a while...


I've started putting kitchen towel at the bottom of my fridge drawer to soak up any water but its still happening...


Maybe I'm storing / doing something wrong?

OOPOS491

Oops - meant to say also - Aldi cleaning stuff is great. Spray bottle of anti-bac cleaner 59p, I think bathroom cleaner and shower sprays are same price and honestly every bit as good as expensive stuff. I also use their dishwasher tabs at 3.99 - every bit as good as leading brands. Same goes for soap powder - I cannot see any difference in my wash since I swapped. I think their cling film is the best out there - it never tangles up and you actually get to use every last bit of it.