Eat Well for Less...Live on MSE

ani*fan

Margaret_ wrote: »

Keeping receipts is a good idea- as it is you know how much you are spending (which is a good start) but not what you're spending it on. Avoiding branded items is probably the quickest and easiest way to save so I'd start there.

I'm also a vegetarian and you seem to use a lot more quorn than I do (just going on the meals you've mentioned) I know it's good for protein but it's not cheap and I'm wondering if a couple of quorn-free days a week might cut some money off your food bill.

Good luck!

Yes, I need to keep receipts and make sure OH does too. Good plan. We like keeping it simple but this is going to have to involve some changes.

The brand thing is more of a problem than I thought. OH just likes Doritos, own brand doesn't cut it. The soya milk in coffee is essential for me but actually, I seem to be able to manage powdered milk better than fresh, maybe I should try that? Is it cheaper? Other brands, I don't know but I need to be on red alert.

We do eat a lot of quorn. I love it. It tastes like mushroom and I love that too. I'll think of a couple quorn free recipes. I tried to persuade OH to have beans on toast one night but that didn't go down too well.

Thank you. :A

ani*fan

Gigervamp wrote: »

There's a recipe on the forum for hobnobs. Do a search for Twinks hobnobs

I will do. Thanks.

Anyone got a favourite biscuit recipe they want to share?

ani*fan

C_J wrote: »

When I had an elderly cat, I used to pre-soak some of the cat biscuits with a little warm water for her. They still stayed fresh enough to graze on all day without going off.

Wow this is brilliant, I didn't even come close to thinking about that. Do you need to pre soak in boiling water and let it cool, or was warm ok? I was wondering what to do with the rest of his dried food because the pouches is a recent development.

Thanks. :A

C_J

ani*fan wrote: »

I just googled Aldi and am embarrassed to say there is one just at the other side of the retail park where we already go.

Is frozen or fresh veg cheaper, or does it not matter?

Thanks for this. :A

I use a mixture of the two, although I also grow a lot of fruit and veg of my own too.

I tend to check what the Aldi "super 6" offers are and incorporate those into my menu planning, plus (if the offers are very good and the items are freezable) I will buy extra to prepare and freeze.

For instance they recently had huge cauliflowers at 49p each so I bought three and turned them into several dishes of cauliflower cheese for the freezer (a godsend when I've had a busy day at work and want something quick and easy for supper). They also had bags of mixed chillis for 29p so I got a whole load of those, diced them up and froze them for adding to chillis/casseroles/stir fries in the future.

Aldi don't have a very big range of frozen veg - I think it's mostly peas, french beans or mixed veg but they are all less than £1 each for a 1kg bag, and of course there's no waste.

Their Quorn mince is £1.49 a bag.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Tip one. Don't take out £250. Only take out £175 this week. Reduce by £10 each week till it gets to £90. Sore ted.

ani*fan

Now that you all have me thinking about this, I've spotted another couple of areas I can cut back on.

My fruit eating is just silly. No-one needs a whole punnet of grapes and 5 bananas with their lunch. I'm going to reduce this to one punnet a week and one banana a day. Often it's not even because I'm hungry, I just want to eat something.

I made a mistake in my original post about OH and cleaning products. It's branded products we buy. For no reason, as far as I can see. This needs to change to own brand, and the cheapest there is.

I'll keep thinking.

ani*fan

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

Tip one. Don't take out £250. Only take out £175 this week. Reduce by £10 each week till it gets to £90. Sore ted.

Wow, it's £250 per month, not per week, or was that a typo on your part? Taking out less is a good idea though. I wish I had that much spare cash to play with...in my dreams.

My aim is to get it under £200 per month. I don't know if this is a bit too ambitious but I know others do it for much less. I still want to take out £250 so I'm not worried about depriving myself. Maybe I just need to bite the bullet. :cool:

Thanks for that. :A

suki1964

Have to recommend twinks hobnobs, they are delish and cheap and easy

Keeping a spend diary will really focus you on where you are spending

Cleaning products, I get by with a bottle of flash,a bottle of bleach and a bottle of fairy. Microfibre cloths for all cleaning and dusting jobs. They are the staples. Now and then I might need to buy something extra like oven cleaner, when I do it's from savers or B&M - a lot cheaper then supermarkets

I don't know enough about vegetarian meals to suggest changes. We do eat meat free once or twice a week, usually an egg night or veggie curry. I'd not use quorn , it's expensive. I even made a cheese and lentil load the other week which went down quite well ( well it went down ) The what are you having for dinner thread shows some lovely veggie ideas

Fruit can be expensive if you are used to eating loads of what you fancy when you fancy it. Try to buy seasonal and look at Aldis and lidls for their weekly specials on fruit and veg. I know this week lidl have caulis and carrots at 39p so we will be eating a lot of those this week

Try and meal plan and go shopping once a week if possible. Every time you grab a £20, you spend it. With a plan and a list, you buy what's on the list only.


Shopping in Aldi and Lidl takes very little time as they don't have huge aisles of things to tempt you. Takes me about 20 mins to go in get what I need and out again

Hope some of that helps

ani*fan

C_J wrote: »

I use a mixture of the two, although I also grow a lot of fruit and veg of my own too.

I tend to check what the Aldi "super 6" offers are and incorporate those into my menu planning, plus (if the offers are very good and the items are freezable) I will buy extra to prepare and freeze.

For instance they recently had huge cauliflowers at 49p each so I bought three and turned them into several dishes of cauliflower cheese for the freezer (a godsend when I've had a busy day at work and want something quick and easy for supper). They also had bags of mixed chillis for 29p so I got a whole load of those, diced them up and froze them for adding to chillis/casseroles/stir fries in the future.

Aldi don't have a very big range of frozen veg - I think it's mostly peas, french beans or mixed veg but they are all less than £1 each for a 1kg bag, and of course there's no waste.

Their Quorn mince is £1.49 a bag.

I used to grow my own veg too, unfortunately it's not possible where i live now. It was yummy though, at least what I was able to get before the rabbits and other little creatures had their share.

If I bought fresh veg and wanted to freeze it without cooking first, what could I do that with? And can you just chop it up and freeze it or do you need to par boil first?

That quorn price is way cheaper than As**. I'm definitely going there.

Bigjenny

If you register on this site, you can compare your shopping in most of the supermarkets, click on one item and it give you the prices in each shop, or you can do a whole list from one shop and it shows you the price comparisons.
http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/