Budget Shopping List

no.1swimmum

I haven't made for a couple of weeks but my pizza base is 500g bread flour (shops own brand about £1) 2 sachets fast acting yeast ( again shops own brand) 2 teaspoon sugar, 2 tbspoon olive oil (optional) warm water, just mix to a soft dough, knead roll and use. I stopped using passatta as I find it too runny so just use Tom pur!e. I can also recommend sainsburys basic grated mozzarella, have tried others but prefer this one.

Towser

I have made all the suggestions you have said with the help of mysupermarket.com. There you can easily find the prices and trade down ect.

I have gone with Asda as the difference in price was only £2 compared to Aldi. The £2 is well worth the extra spend for convenience of having to shop online and have it delivered.

With all the hype in the news of the big four bringing their prices down to compete with the discounters hopefully £2 will become nil or minus.

I will still go into Aldi and Lidl for top up shops.

I want to shop online for this years reduction changing habit because I can easily control how much I spend so my target is to save another £1000 of the food bill for this year.

Poddly

Ready made coleslaw can be full of strange ingredients, cheaper to make your own using red or white cabbage (around 50p), a carrot or two, an apple and maybe an onion if you like, grate and mix with mayo/ yogurt/ creme fraiche/salad cream...whatever you have. Easier if you have a machine to do the grating.

I always use chicken thighs instead of breast and make our own pizza bases.

Towser

My next area to focus on is where I buy our food to reduce our food bill. Is there a cheaper way of doing it than going to Aldi?
I am guessing you will say the market and pound shops? I may have to stick to Aldi as I like the one stop shopping experience for convenience.

cheerfulness4

If you prefer to do the one shop then perhaps you already have your answer in post 13.

I do save lots by shopping in various different places but then I have the time and have developed the determination not to overspend in these different places. I stick closely to a list when shopping around.

I keep a small budget for extras during each month because sometimes there are real bargains that would help that I hadn't known were available so I can take advantage of these.

You're taking a very sensible approach to changing your shopping habits gradually. Well done you!

FairyPrincessk

Well done!

If you want to continue with one stop shop or switch to deliveries then I think your next viable option to bring the bill down more is to look at the types of meals you're eating. You eat a fair amount of meat, so trying for more meatless meals might be one way to go. Another that many people find helpful is one night is a soup/pudding or jacket spud/salad night. You might also try costing your favourite meals and dividing them into cheap/more costly. Aim for fewer costly meals/per month and try to expand your list of cheaper meals.

TiredTrophy

Do you have a decent local butcher? Where we used to live in England the local butcher did heavily discounted larger packs of minced beef, chicken pieces, bacon offcuts etc 5kg which were quality meat. We then divided them up for the freezer either before or after batch cooking. Rice and onions are better value from an Asian , Indian or Turkish ('ethnic') store and fantastic for beans, oils and spices. Just plan in a trip every six weeks? With six children and periods of unemployment, i relied on the goodwill of the butcher and market stall holders to give me value in return for loyality.....and they are super folk.
meal planning saves money and prevents waste.
Grow your own rhubarb.....even in a container on a balcony or be nice to a neighbour with an allotment.
My trick was to take the list on saturday at 7am to the butcher, then the market, in to the supermarket for the rest, home by 8 for coffee.....for a family of 8 by bicycle!...no space for impulse buys...once a month my next door neighbour got me the toilet rolls and a sack of potatoes if the ones from the allotment were finished.
my lifestyle is completely different now!
no kids at home, different country....but i still use the more interesting shops and now buy veg directly from growers as only have a tiny veg bed.
While i understand wanting to get value for money, check the quality of what you eat.....some value products contain fillers, some value meat has more water....this is not value for money!

Butterfly_Brain

I save a lot by using my local butcher for meat and the market for veg, I also use a local farm that does pork that is exquisite and not a lot of difference in price with the supermarkups and the bacon, doesn't shrink either, we also get potato's, veg, fruit eggs and coal from another farm and none of it is wrapped in plastic, and again it works out reasonably.

We do shop in Aldi, but their super six can be hit or miss in quality.

We also grow our own fruit and veg which really helps to save money, with the added bonus of trying different varieties that you can't buy in the shops.

Even better if you buy heritage seeds because you reuse your own seed every year!

Towser

My big spends have been (I am guessing other peoples too):

meat, which I shall have to get from the market our butcher local one is not so cheap.

toilet paper, wash powder, wine, o/j which I have been getting from Aldi

coffee, checking the price on mysupermarket.com and buying from the cheapest place.

Spendless

Is the 12 pack of crisps a weekly item? When I was younger (I'm in my late 40s) crisps were a party food, rather than in a daily lunchbox. Admittedly this is a strange concept to my kids! You could cut them out and replace them with some home baked goods for packed lunches.