Starting my MSE journey ...grocery budget tips welcome 😄

HippyMum

Hello
Been lurking a while so have decided to jump in.
Basically we have a large amount of credit card debt and are just entering into a DMP with stepchange and hoping to get clear of debt asap.
I already meal plan but wondered what other tips you guys had for feeding family cheaply. I cook from scratch and we eat meat but also lots of veggie meals and beans and pulses.
It's me, hubby, teenager and toddler, and one cat.
At present I buy one big shop online from MrS or MrM , have also tried MrT:p
This is a monthly shop but I then top it up with trips to Aldi for fresh stuff.
I'm thinking of looking on Aldi online to see what their super 6 meat and f and v are and meal planning around that, then going there for that and other things that tend to be cheaper there like cooked meat and cheese, cereal etc, then having order at one of the big supermarkets for rest of stuff.
I've not tried Aldi meat before though so not sure?
Any tips welcome . What do you all do re shopping?

HippyMum

Oh and I've seen Checkout Smart and Shopitize apps talked about and have downloaded them but not used them yet.
Has anyone else any experience of them?

candlelight_2013

Do you have a Lidl near to you. We have recently discovered it and their meat is beautiful and well presented. I know we couldn't do a week's shop there but we can buy many things.

Their breakfast cereals are good and cheaper than known brands, same with tomato sauce, chutneys, fruit juices etc.

Their toiletries are good, as are toilet rolls and kitchen rolls

I would suggest you bulk cook to save on gas or electricity, so instead of cooking a pack of minced beef buy a larger pack and freeze the rest once cooked. Like you we don't always have meat at every meal, and one of our favourites is scrambled eggs on toast, sprinkled with cheese and lightly grilled. I usually serve this with grilled tomato and brown sauce mmm.:)

The only sausages we like are cumberland, so when I see these on offer I buy them, and to bulk the meal out I serve that with yorkies, veg in season and onion gravy. At the moment there is so much lovely veg available which would enhance any meal.

Chicken is such a good stand by in the freezer because you can do so much with it, although Himself worries he might start sprouting feathers soon.

Good luck with your mission, as you already cook from scratch I think you are half way there anyway.

I am sure lots of posters will be along to give you ideas.

Candlelightx

FairyPrincessk

It sounds like you're on the right track. You'll find lots of different kinds of inspiration on the boards. You may want to try the grocery challenge, the £7/week or the Feed a Family for £20/week threads, or perhaps the Make Do, Mend and Minimize Threads all which take slightly different approaches but all with the same sorts of goals in mind.

I'd suggest costing out some of your favourite meals. I did this a few years ago and realized that some of our veggie meals cost more than meat meals! It may help you to get more balance in your meal planning and you might be surprised at just where your grocery money goes.

We do most of our shopping at Aldi with a few top ups from other stores. Honestly I don't think their meat is great quality, but I do think that it is value for money--what I mean is that if we can afford better then we go elsewhere (primarily to butcher shops) but if we can only stretch to SM meat then I think you get better prices for similar quality to other SM.

You mention buying cereals and pre-cooked meats both of which can really drive up your SM spend. It may be worth re-thinking what you buy as well as where you buy--what are you using the pre-cooked meats for? Could you either cook it yourself or come up with a substitute? Could you find a better value for breakfast than cereal?

Good luck!

HippyMum

Thanks for your replies.
I've wondered about buying joints of ham and cooking them as its better value and quality, however I think I would need a proper slicer to get the slices thin enough.
My teenager is autistic so very stuck in tight constraints with some foods as any change won't go down well.
Similar with cereals. I do make pancakes and French toast etc for breakfast too but cereal also gets eaten for breakfast or suppers.
I have a blendtec so am also looking at making my own nut butters and nut or oat milks for health and cost reasons

FairyPrincessk

In that case, give the Aldi and Lidle cereals ago--some of the own brands are very different from national but others are indistinguishable (some are even manufactured by the same companies, but not all so afraid it is trial and error). A few posters have meat slicers and may be able to advise on how economical they are/if the cheaper end ones are worth it. HTH.x

armyknife

Don't spend too little on food.

MallyGirl

Keep an eye out for whole chickens on offer. We often get them in 3 for £10 or half price. I then remove the breast and the legs for us and the dogs get the carcass and wings as they are fed raw. zero waste and you can often get a whole chicken for the price of 2 chicken breasts. If the dogs don't get the carcass I pop all the bones in the slow cooker with a few veg to make lovely stock for risotto.

MoneyMission2015

I have Shopitize and Checkoutsmart on my phone. To be honest I've had both for months now & have only earned around £8 because so many of the offers are often for things I don't buy. I do try to use it if there is an item on there that I would normally buy though. Just don't get caught in to a trap of buying a more expensive product just to get the money from the app. For example, there are often loaves of bread offering around 25p, but they are the more expensive brands anyway so you would probably save yourself more money buying supermarket own brand bread instead.


I second MallyGirl's advice about the whole chickens on offer. I recently got 3 for £10 in MrA. I cooked one to have a roast dinner and then used the rest of it for sandwiches the next day & curry in the evening, then I froze the other 2. You have to have room in your freezer though, so make sure you do before you buy them!

MumofIowans

I don't have any really great tips, but I would say that the freezer is your friend! Even for things that you don't think you can freeze. I freeze bananas that have gotten too ripe (chopped up) for smoothies, banana bread, pancakes etc and I also freeze tomatoes. The tomatoes won't hold up on their own when you take them out but you can easily throw them into pasta sauces or soup. I really hate throwing things away! I also keep a large freezer bag for all my veg ends - onion ends, carrot peelings, celery bits etc - and then whenever I have chicken bones I use these bit of veg to make the stock. It works really well. I also throw any cheese rinds in this bag and they add flavor to the stock. Which I then cook down and freeze in usable portions. Always tastes much better than an Ox0 cube!

esbm

Ditto freezing everything. I have tried aldi and Lidl meat and Lidl is much much better quality.
What do you do for lunches?