reducing monthly food spend

suki1964

Pollycat wrote: »

But do all shoppers do the same?

That was my point - how many people think "I fancy some steak, I'm in Lidl's so it must be a bargain" - but it maybe isn't (pricewise) when it's not on offer in comparison to a local butcher?

I'm not dissing the quality of meat in Aldi, Lidl or any of the supermarkets.

Totally agree.

I could possibly buy from another place cheaper, like my mum did the other week, and the steaks were like boot leather ( and believe me, I cooked thousands of steaks for a living so it weren't me :rotfl:)

But then steak is still a luxury item in my family


I think I need to get out more as I seem to know the prices of just about everything I tend to buy everywhere. I do tend to shop in lidl now as I like there is nothing to distract you and I can get in and out in 30 mins, but now and then I have to do a 40 mile round trip to a tesco that has an ethnic shopping aisle to get cheap rice, Indian spices, chappati flour, chick peas, lentils etc. This was that week and found that the tinned toms there were a whopping 6p a can cheaper then lidl. I stocked up and also nabbed a bargain on sunflower oil, coming in at half the price of lidl's


I'm certainly no brand snob or loyal shopper


I think for the price paid for those so called steaks was around the cost of braising steak. I got a 500gr slab this week for £3.35, added a bag of stew veg £1, drop of wine, a stock pot, flour and there was plenty for 3 adults and a portion in the freezer. Melted in the mouth

lessonlearned

I think I'm a bit like you, Suki. Maybe I need to get out more too because I am quite price savvy these days.

I am a very promiscuous shopper and I seem to be able to remember the prices for each shop quite easily. This means I know a bargain when I see one. As you say the discounters aren't always the cheapest.

The big boys are under pressure and they know it. They have been losing market share so there is some aggressive price cutting right now.

Good news for shoppers but I wonder how it affects farmers and producers.

There are several farm shops near me. Sometimes they are very reasonably priced, sometimes not, so although I would prefer to buy most of my meat and produce from them I do have to pick and choose and buy when on offer.

cyantist

I know this isn’t really particularly money saving suggesting you spend £10 on 2 meals but at the weekend I bought an M&S dine in for £10 thing and got 2 decent sized pieces of sirloin steak (rump was on the offer, you got more of it, but it was sold out), plus a side and dessert and wine.

I quite often buy a bottle of wine to take to friends’ houses or have when people come round and would think it good if I got a decent bottle for £6, so I feel I was only paying £4 for everything else.

If you ever buy/drink wine it’s not bad value.

lessonlearned

Oddly enough I bought a M&S meal deal this week - pork medallions. They are lovely. And reasonable quality wine too.

In fact I need to restock on wine for a forthcoming family celebration so I will probably take advantage of the meal deals over the next few weeks.

This week I bought quite a bit of meat from there - they do quite good offers and of course if you go at the right time for YS bargains, then you do even better.

In fact we are having YS fish tonight.

suki1964

lessonlearned wrote: »

I think I'm a bit like you, Suki. Maybe I need to get out more too because I am quite price savvy these days.

I am a very promiscuous shopper and I seem to be able to remember the prices for each shop quite easily. This means I know a bargain when I see one. As you say the discounters aren't always the cheapest.

The big boys are under pressure and they know it. They have been losing market share so there is some aggressive price cutting right now.

Good news for shoppers but I wonder how it affects farmers and producers.

There are several farm shops near me. Sometimes they are very reasonably priced, sometimes not, so although I would prefer to buy most of my meat and produce from them I do have to pick and choose and buy when on offer.

We have our own hens and grow as much veg as we can. When I have to buy veg or eggs, it's from the roadside. Local farms selling excess that the supermarkets won't take. Means we are very traditional with our veg, but it's fresh, tasty and local.

Meat I will only buy NI. I was in sainsburys just before Christmas and wanted bacon. The whole aisle was Danish bacon. I went without

My whole week menu plan is based on what's on special or what I can pick up ys. Belly of pork has featured a lot these past few weeks, and cooked Chinese style doesn't feel like we are eating cheap at all

When I was in tesco last week I noticed all the new ranges ( so called farms supplied) and had a look at them and was lucky to find Kent apples for 70p a kilo Tiny but so sweet and ripe. They were beside the same farm logo bags of imported South African Granny Smiths :eek: I don't think tescos have fully cleaned their act up, you still have to look very carefully at both price and country of origin

I also noticed they had extended their range of offal, cow hearts, cow liver, sheep hearts- I shall be hunting out some old reciepes and pick some up next time I have to go that distance again

The only time I pay for a meal deal is for the roast chicken. £10, bottle of wine, a chicken that will feed 3 of us 3 times ( including soup) and the bonus of a side and dessert, that to me is a bargain

The pasta/pizza ones, well tbh I make nicer ( we have a wood fired pizza oven in the garden) and the smaller meat portions deals, won't stretch as far

But they are still value for money for the wine alone

lessonlearned

No I don't go for the pizza/rice/pasta meal deals either.

I wait until they have nice meat, a whole chicken or a small gammon joint. For the desserts I try and choose something I'm not very good at making so this week DS2 enjoyed tucking into profiteroles......

suki1964

lessonlearned wrote: »

No I don't go for the pizza/rice/pasta meal deals either.

I wait until they have nice meat, a whole chicken or a small gammon joint. For the desserts I try and choose something I'm not very good at making so this week DS2 enjoyed tucking into profiteroles......

Mmmmm profiteroles


I became a dab hand at those having had to make 6 dozen for valentines last year

Me and DH got very sickly on the mishaps lol

Feral_Moon

lessonlearned wrote: »

Feral Moon - you are clearly a very knowledgable and experienced cook.

You are right there are a lot of people who can't cook and don't even know where to start. I know from trying to teach my son to cook that a lot of recipe books and tv chefs do assume their audience has some prior knowledge or skill. Not always so.

Perhaps you could do some online demonstrations and share your knowledge.

Who knows you could go viral and make your fortune.......:rotfl:

Great idea, and one I'd love to attempt if only I had the confidence to do it. Look at the Lean-in-15 guy, he's become rather famous through doing something very simple. I could do something similar but I couldn't cope the exposure/media appearances etc.

Maybe I should write a cook book for adults that have never been taught how to cook? I could do that. I know JO has done something similar (possibly Ministry of Food) and one of my boys bought his book but still found it challenging in places.

But there seems to be a real problem nationwide with adults who don't know how to cook even simple meals. Or what sort of ingredients they need to buy and how to build a store cupboard.

The son I mentioned earlier thinks you have to throw away all unused ingredients after each cooking session and buy fresh for the next one, including staple store cupboard ingredients that last months, if not years. So frustrating!

So I'm fully aware of how MH issues can impact on not just the ability to cook but also in long term planning and acquisition of ingredients to build a cook's store cupboard.

I'm going to give this more thought. Thanks for the vote of confidence though :beer: :A

Feral_Moon

Pollycat wrote: »

Your bargain wouldn't have looked so great for me with the petrol money on top of the cost of the steaks.
I walked to Lidl. :rotfl:

Was the £13 per kg an offer price or is that the standard price?

Well, neither would it be for me if I had to travel especially to buy it as my nearest Aldi is a 40 mile round trip. Nearest Lidl is even further away! Hence why I haven't stepped foot in a Lidl store since 1996, the last time I lived nearby to one.

But I happened to be passing by an Aldi yesterday and we fancied steak for dinner, washed down with their lovely Malbec wine (£5 a bottle) which is one the best we've ever tasted and beats the one we usually pay £12 for in Waitrose.

Regardless, I'm surprised that Lidl was so expensive as even the premium (Specially Selected) sirloin at Aldi is less than £18/kg. and neither were on offer so these are standard prices. I actually prefer rump steak, which is even cheaper still.

Pollycat

Feral_Moon wrote: »

But there seems to be a real problem nationwide with adults who don't know how to cook even simple meals. Or what sort of ingredients they need to buy and how to build a store cupboard.

And I think it's only going to get worse.
We seem to be in 2nd or even 3rd generation of 'I've no idea what to do with a potato - unless it comes already processed and is out of the freezer'.

Feral_Moon wrote: »

Regardless, I'm surprised that Lidl was so expensive as even the premium (Specially Selected) sirloin at Aldi is less than £18/kg. and neither were on offer so these are standard prices. I actually prefer rump steak, which is even cheaper still.

Me too. I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't looked in the local butcher and noted the prices as a result of this thread.