Month's worth of shopping - Any suggestions to improve?

honeythewitch

HappyMJ wrote: »

re: the olive oil. There is a one third bottle left after 4 weeks.

re: the washing liquid - It was on special it was cheaper getting 2 instead of a big one. re: the number of washes. The OH uses twice the recommended amount thinking that as the washing machine is full and the washing is soiled and therefore it requires more liquid. i.e you are only supposed to use a half a measuring cap to get the full number of washes as recommended on the front of pack but she is insisting the measuring cap must be full. It annoys me but she insists on using twice the amount. I will not be able to change that habit. The super concentrated was supposed to last 32 washes but it lasted only about 8 as the tiny amount recommended to use (it's only a little bit more than a tablespoon - 30ml) didn't look right to the OH for a full load of washing so she used the amount she normally used. Not buying that again. Thing is though the liquitabs average out at 35p/wash. The super concentrated liquid using 4 times the recommended amount is still cheaper at 25p/wash (£2 bottle divided by 8).

Re: the bread we buy 2 loaves per week. the 4th shop also has 1 M Signature Sunflower & Pumpkinseed Bloomer £1.00. I always buy whatever is £1 per 800g loaf.

re: the 10 slices of cheese for £1.50. It's total weight is 240g so £6.25/kg. Yes it's an expensive way of buying it but a 350g block of cheese cathedral city for example on offer at £2.00 (£5.70/kg) when that's purchased it doesn't quite get cut as thinly or evenly as the slices and therefore doesn't last as long as the slices. i.e whoever is having a slice might have 3 thickly cut slices to fit on a bit of bread rather than exactly 24 grams it will be much more. Morrison's own mature cheese is £1.75 for a 350g block so slightly cheaper. So yes I agree it's more expensive per kg but as it's evenly portioned out it should technically be cheaper per portion.

Now it just looks like I'm making excuses. It's hard changing other peoples habits and behaviours.

I always grate the cheese as soon as we get it so that we can use the exact amount needed, and it goes a lot further.

Do you think washing tablets would be better? The Aldi ones are very good.

HappyMJ

Pollycat wrote: »

Answers in your quote.

I always check the SEL. We do the shopping online at Morrisons and comparing prices on Mysupermarket. She'll add the items to the basket then I go through it and replace whatever she's picked with the cheaper per kg/ml items and adding the items she's missed from deals i.e 2 for £3 she might have only picked one at £2.

I'd love to change her habit of using too much liquid but some things just can't be changed. I won't be buying "super" concentrated liquid any more but normal liquid is now always concentrated anyway. I'd prefer the liquitabs as they perfectly portioned out for each wash but they end up much more expensive even when using twice the amount.

She has habits that I don't like such as prewashing the dishes "before" they go in the dishwasher. I don't understand why she does it. If I dare put a dirty plate in the dishwasher I'll get screamed at "it's got to be washed first!!!" and she'll pull it out and wash it herself then put it back in. I give up. Some arguments just aren't worth fighting so I leave her to it. I don't see the point of having a dishwasher full of clean dishes. If it breaks I will not be replacing it.

Pollycat

HappyMJ wrote: »

I always check the SEL. We do the shopping online at Morrisons and comparing prices on Mysupermarket. She'll add the items to the basket then I go through it and replace whatever she's picked with the cheaper per kg/ml items and adding the items she's missed from deals i.e 2 for £3 she might have only picked one at £2.

I'd love to change her habit of using too much liquid but some things just can't be changed. I won't be buying "super" concentrated liquid any more but normal liquid is now always concentrated anyway. I'd prefer the liquitabs as they perfectly portioned out for each wash but they end up much more expensive even when using twice the amount.

She has habits that I don't like such as prewashing the dishes "before" they go in the dishwasher. I don't understand why she does it. If I dare put a dirty plate in the dishwasher I'll get screamed at "it's got to be washed first!!!" and she'll pull it out and wash it herself then put it back in. I give up. Some arguments just aren't worth fighting so I leave her to it. I don't see the point of having a dishwasher full of clean dishes. If it breaks I will not be replacing it.

Does she ever read threads/posts on here?

HappyMJ

Pollycat wrote: »

Does she ever read threads/posts on here?

No. I show interesting posts to her and talk with her about some things that I see here but she will not read MSE forum posts on her own.

notanewuser

If you know someone with a Costco/makro card you could save a fortune on herbs and spices, oil, washing liquid etc.

Towser

I have been converted to mysupermarket and I even mostly shop from Aldi now. I have been looking at the food forums to try and get it lower.


I just wish there was some kind of spreadsheet with all the cheapest foods per gram to buy. I would make up recipes with the cheapest foods with a recipe finder. There must be a shopping list for this somewhere.

I have been trying to find out what people buy per month when they are being frugal. Their basic shopping list.

Big_Graeme

HappyMJ wrote: »

The OH uses twice the recommended amount thinking that as the washing machine is full and the washing is soiled and therefore it requires more liquid. i.e you are only supposed to use a half a measuring cap to get the full number of washes as recommended on the front of pack but she is insisting the measuring cap must be full. It annoys me but she insists on using twice the amount. I will not be able to change that habit.

Oh another bloke that does the shopping, cool. I've one of those OH too, nothing changed her habit so I now water down each bottle, saves a fortune.

honeythewitch wrote: »

I always grate the cheese as soon as we get it so that we can use the exact amount needed, and it goes a lot further.

I find it either dried out or went mouldy when I did that, even sealing it in a decent tub didn't help. Mr A and Mr T have some decent value brand mature cheddar at the moment, I'm usually a bit of a brand snob on me cheese but this stuff is top notch.

honeythewitch

Big_Graeme wrote: »

Oh another bloke that does the shopping, cool. I've one of those OH too, nothing changed her habit so I now water down each bottle, saves a fortune.



I find it either dried out or went mouldy when I did that, even sealing it in a decent tub didn't help. Mr A and Mr T have some decent value brand mature cheddar at the moment, I'm usually a bit of a brand snob on me cheese but this stuff is top notch.

Ours has never dried out. We keep it in a "lock and lock" thing, but it is probably because we eat it so fast.

notanewuser

honeythewitch wrote: »

Ours has never dried out. We keep it in a "lock and lock" thing, but it is probably because we eat it so fast.

Me too, and I grate 2kg at a time!!

Gigervamp

You can always freeze the grated cheese. It will defrost quickly as it's grated.