Help, big money cut = watching the pennies but how??

mouseymousey99

Write a shopping list to use when you go shopping. If you buy a huge bag of pasta (around £2) you can get loads of meals out of it. (Or get a pasta machine).
Try to get your 5 fruit & veg every day.
Don't think every meal needs meat - try to space it out.
Buy the best you can.
Markets are great.BOGOF's etc etc are usually a waste of time.
If you can try to get a storecupboard going - herbs & spices make all the difference.
As said it really isnt so bad - you'll be amazed at how much you can save!!!
Best wishes...

JillD_2

Just wanted to reiterate the benefits of meal planning. I do this off and on and am always amazed at how much it helps reduce grocery expenditure every time I do it.
I am doing the August Grocery Challenge http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=513573 - basically choose your grocery budget and monitor it over the month. Couple of days ago I was stresing because at first glance my fridge only had eggs in that could be used to make "a meal" but on closer inspection of said fridge, and freezer, and cupboards, I was able to write down 5 days worth of planned lunches and dinner (see meal plans thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=519687 meaning I don't need to go shopping til Friday now. I am planning then to shop for enough stuff til I get paid (20th) and this should enable me to come in on budget. If I hadn't written down a meal plan I would have gone shopping today and spent a good £60 I reckon.

When I started reigning in the grocery spending we consistently started saving well over £100 a month. When my husband was in charge earlier this year when I was ill, it went AWOL and one month we (he) actually spent double the budget. Thats £500 instead of £250 for a family of 4 :eek: He also went to Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose whereas I stick religiously to Asda.

I also wanted to suggest looking on the Debt Free Wannabe board, those guys are great for suggesting what other areas you can cut down in.

Good luck

Nutty_Tart

Hi, just wanted to agree with everyone about meal planning - there are 3 of us (me & 2x kids). I now have a weekly budget of £50 - this is for food, petrol and extras (got school trousers for DS last week - 1x pair of shoes planned for this week!) Any £2 coins go in the pot, 50p's in the jam jar, 20p and under in the piggy bank (too many challenges going on! :rolleyes: ) I always pay cash, if I don't have the cash I can't have it - simple as that! I shop around for everything - car insurance due soon and aim to batter that down by at least £50 (via quidco of course! lol)! I switched to energy saving light bulbs (were on offer at 39p in morrisons). Clean with stardrops, halved the amount of washing powder and fabric softener i use and also wash at 30 degrees, went on to a water meter (saved over £20/month with that one alone!). Changed energy suppliers - there are loads of ways to cut down - did you get a chance to read the dfw board? I have had loads of ideas from that board as well as this one. I have saved soo much money thanks to the lovely people on this site, if I didn't have all the debts to pay off, i'd be rich! :rotfl:

Nutty_Tart

Duplicate post - sorry

GreenNinja

torbrex wrote: »

Look out for the reduced items at start/end of trading day in supermarkets, I do a shop on Wednesday evening and there are always loads of things close to or at sell/use by date in the cool counters. If you were to see in my freezer I dont think you would find anything that I have paid full price for.
The reason I shop on Wed is because a member of staff told me that Thursday is one of the big days in the week where the fresh stuff gets put on the cooler shelfs, Sat morning 15 mins after they open is also a good time.

Picking your time and your store is an art form I reckon!

My big Sainsburys in Hedge End is feast or famine regards reduced items, whereas the smaller one in Fareham where I work has loads of reduced stuff most lunchtimes when I pop in.