Ridiculous food spend...

redfox

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enthusiasticsaver

I shop at Lidls mainly and try to stick to one main shop a week with a list and meal planner for the week. I do a top up shop mid week only for milk,bread fruit or veg/salad and take cash so I am not tempted to buy loads. I do one shop a month at Waitrose for things Lidl does not stock like gluten free bits for my son in law and that is the one I am sadly often tempted to go over budget on and I am tempted to cut this out or again take cash so I stick to my budget. Xxx

HappyMJ

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I shop at Lidls mainly and try to stick to one main shop a week with a list and meal planner for the week. I do a top up shop mid week only for milk,bread fruit or veg/salad and take cash so I am not tempted to buy loads. I do one shop a month at Waitrose for things Lidl does not stock like gluten free bits for my son in law and that is the one I am sadly often tempted to go over budget on and I am tempted to cut this out or again take cash so I stick to my budget. Xxx

Why are you topping up mid week?

I do an online fortnightly shop of around £50 and a weekly shop of around £10 which is just fresh fruit/veg. I also do a monthly shop of around £10 which consists of everything not available in the fortnightly or weekly shopping places. Mid week shops never occur. If you run out of milk then not enough milk was purchased in the weekly shop. Buy more next time. Most people don't like UHT milk but we did buy 6 litres of it 6 months ago and use it in an emergency for tea/coffee if there is no fresh milk left. There's one bottle left. Fresh milk freezes well so put a bottle in the freezer. Bread freezes very well so buy an extra loaf or two and freeze it.

june89

I switched to fruit that will last at least a week, and buy enough to get through. So things like bananas and fresh berries have been replaced with apples and citrus. I still use frozen berries for breakfast though. If I did need to top up bananas (still buy them for DH), I just duck in and out. Fruit is right by the door in my local supermarket so there's actually no other temptation between it and the checkouts.

For things like milk, if you can't stand UHT milk and have no room to freeze fresh, the filtered/treated milks (Cravendale, Lactofree, etc) typically have a longer shelf life. I know Lactofree is usually about three weeks. Might be a bit more expensive per bottle than the bog standard ones, but if it stops you going and spending £10+ on a top-up shop, the savings will offset.

katkin

Menu Plan.

This is the key. Write down all the meals and snacks your family eat and work backward wards from that.

If you can buy these ingredients cheaper, go for it. Down size brands, hit Aldi.

Then don't buy anything else. Refuse! It takes self control but this is the name of the game...

Once you've had a few goes at that - try a few meals a week that cost less, or stretch them adding a lot more veg, lentils etc to mince based dishes. Little baby steps here and there and the family may not notice.

Keep away from pre-packaged ready meals, packet snacks etc and try to integrate healthier alternatives. Again, baby steps - swapping things out for the costly stuff you've been buying.

There's loads of tips and threads in Old Style that will help. Welcome, it'll be great to see you posting.

Don't try everything at once and get overwhelmed, keep taking baby steps and getting the family on board.

And the best of luck!

LadyDee

june89 wrote: »

I switched to fruit that will last at least a week, and buy enough to get through. So things like bananas and fresh berries have been replaced with apples and citrus. I still use frozen berries for breakfast though. If I did need to top up bananas (still buy them for DH), I just duck in and out. Fruit is right by the door in my local supermarket so there's actually no other temptation between it and the checkouts.

For things like milk, if you can't stand UHT milk and have no room to freeze fresh, the filtered/treated milks (Cravendale, Lactofree, etc) typically have a longer shelf life. I know Lactofree is usually about three weeks. Might be a bit more expensive per bottle than the bog standard ones, but if it stops you going and spending £10+ on a top-up shop, the savings will offset.

I found out that bananas can be frozen. Peel, cut into halves, open freeze then place in a tub in freezer. I was amazed - never knew you could do that:o

HappyMJ

Some things I notice about friends doing shopping and they buy things that should be bought in bulk in small packets just enough to last just a few weeks. I buy basmati rice in huge 10kg sacks from a local Asian supermarket. It only costs £10. It lasts 6 months. My friends buy Tilda basmati rice in 500gram bags it lasts a week and costs £2.65 for each bag. Rice has a very long life span so why not buy the 10kg sack and keep it for 6 months. Their excuse is they don't have the space. My sack of rice is in the bedroom and I have another container of it in the kitchen. Even worse one of my friends buys precooked rice that goes in the microwave. Rice is very easy to cook once you get the hang of it. It takes about 15 minutes which is about the same time it takes to cook the remainder of the meal. It can also be kept warm for quite a lot longer in the steamer without overcooking and can be cooked and frozen in advance.

june89

LadyDee wrote: »

I found out that bananas can be frozen. Peel, cut into halves, open freeze then place in a tub in freezer. I was amazed - never knew you could do that:o

I've been freezing bananas for baking and smoothies for years, but they don't really survive thawing for just eating. Although this is more a visual/texture thing than anything else. Still taste fine!

They're also lovely pureed from frozen in a blender or food processor. They whip up to an almost ice cream like texture. :money:

pigpen

Don't do top up shops from supermarkets.. go to small greengrocer for fruit/veg. Go to a local Iceland/farmfoods type shop for milk/bread..

A 'top up' for us is about £125 ... I avoid those as much as possible!!


I freeze bananas for smooties, cakes, muffins, once they start going a bit brown no one will eat them.. peel and freeze.

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi

I actually think it takes a bit of practice working out how much you need to last a week or a fortnight so maybe you just need to persevere. Milk and bread are probably the only two things that I would top up but milk keeps for ages and both bread and milk can be frozen.

Apples keep for ages in the fridge, bananas can be bought green, oranges and satsumas should keep for a fair while. I keep all my veg in the fridge and buy frozen peas and beans.