How I saved £££ a month.. and how to save more?

Hi all, new guy here!

I just want to go through all the steps I did to save my family hundreds of pounds per year by being savvy and getting rid of the stigma attached to buying "own brand" products.

A little history of how we used to food shop:
We live 30-40 seconds away from 3 takeaways, a small co-op, and 2 other local shops. Needless to say their prices are insane. We used to do our shopping pretty much daily at these shops. Occasionally we did a big shop at Sainsbury's but we would get so little for the money, it wasn't worth it. Takeaways were also around once a week!!!

So what I did...

Step 1:
I became interested in cooking! There was an initial outlay when it came to this however. I had to get a few extra pots and pans, and starting a herb and spice collection was one on the best things I ever did. Takeaways were cut down to once every couple of months.

Step 2:
I started to challenge myself with the price. At this point we were still shopping daily, but I was being more clever about it. I was saying to myself "A Jar of curry sauce is £1.29, rice is £0.80 per packet, Chicken £3.00. Total of £5.89 for 2 people" I could then price up how much it would cost if I shopped around and put a bit more effort in. Tinned tomatoes £0.29, 1 onion £0.20, Spices £0.30, uncooked rice £0.20, Chicken £2.00. Total of £3.19.
I would do this kind of thing for loads of meals. I would, not only work out the total price, but the price per serving. Counting every penny.

Step 3:
I treated monthly shopping like a military operation. I went on the internet and researched the best places to shop. I decided on 2 shops... Lidl and Tesco. These shops had the best value for items I buy the most. I switched to a lot of own brand products, and frozen rather than fresh. This would have gone down a lot worse with the wife and kids if I hadn't got so confident at cooking. I now know the best way to turn cheap ingredients into great meals. I also managed to to get hold of 2 chest freezers and put them in my shed. If you can do this, I urge you to do so.

Step 4:
I never stop looking for the best way to save money food shopping. I have recently added Heron Foods to my list of shops. I have set up an excel document with the prices in store of items that I buy. Tesco have their prices online but the others don't, so I have to do it myself. I go to Tesco last on my trip having looked on their website prior to leaving to see what offers they have. I print off and take the excel document with me so I can easily compare on the go.
Eg: If i am in Herons and i see they are selling grapes for £1.09 I can flick through and see what the general prices are at Lidl and Tesco. Which could stop me from buying them if they are cheaper in Lidl, or get me to buy them at that shop because they are cheaper there.

I am better suited to some for this type of shopping as I have a car, space for a total of 3 freezers, and a job where I can shop pretty much when it suites me.

If anyone has anymore tips of how I can make my way even cheaper, I'm all ears.

If anyone needs any recipes using "lesser" products, ask away!

Thanks for reading.
Liam.
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Comments

  • Thanks for sharing Liam! I was thinking about being more strategic with our grocery shopping, since I've realised recently that we're spending £50-£70 more then to years ago, even though our situation didn't change AND we moved out of London!
    I like your idea of having a price list and shopping in different shops depending on where's cheaper.
    Do you find you have to update your list often or are the prices fairly stable?
  • B'sKitchen wrote: »
    Thanks for sharing Liam! I was thinking about being more strategic with our grocery shopping, since I've realised recently that we're spending £50-£70 more then to years ago, even though our situation didn't change AND we moved out of London!
    I like your idea of having a price list and shopping in different shops depending on where's cheaper.
    Do you find you have to update your list often or are the prices fairly stable?

    I usually update once a month if needed. Obviously having the list with me means I can mark any price changes on the paper and update when I get home.

    Generally most of the items stay the same price, although I expect them to increase in April.
  • I usually update once a month if needed. Obviously having the list with me means I can mark any price changes on the paper and update when I get home.

    Generally most of the items stay the same price, although I expect them to increase in April.
    I guess that makes sense.

    Would you be willing to share how your price list is set up, even if just a print screen? It would be quite helpful to visualise.
  • B'sKitchen wrote: »
    I guess that makes sense.

    Would you be willing to share how your price list is set up, even if just a print screen? It would be quite helpful to visualise.

    Will do. I want to finalize a few things first. Herons has just been added so I need to finish their section.

    Here is a snippet of how it's set up: (EDIT: I tried to post the below list spaced properly, but the forum doesn't seem to allow it.)

    Frozen Food Price
    Chicken Steaks (4) £1.75
    Prawns £3.50
    Chicken Pies £2.75
    Beef Burgers (8) £2.35
    Chips (1.5kg) £0.99
    Hotdogs (tins) £0.80
    Sausage (20) £1.29
    Chicken Nuggets (20) £3.00
    5 Cod Fillets (Fresh) £3.70
    Yorkshire Puddings £0.55
    Steak Pies (4) £2.00
    Fish Fingers (10) £1.75

    The above is obvisously frozen items. Each store I have sections for different types of items.
    It still needs a good amount of work, and some better formatting, but I will post the whole thing once it's better established.
  • Doc_N
    Doc_N Posts: 8,267
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    edited 26 February 2018 at 7:21AM
    Had you considered this excellent website for up to date pricing information from all the major supermarket chains:

    http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/


    Retailers
    Tesco
    Morrisons
    ASDA
    Sainsbury's
    Boots
    Superdrug
    Waitrose
    Ocado
    Aldi
    Lidl
    Poundland
    Iceland
    Marks & Spencer
    Amazon
    Poundstretcher
  • Chips I would peel a few spuds and cook them from scratch as was done in the years before frozen ones I still have a crinkle cutter that I have had since I got married in 1962.Yorkshire puds can be made from scratch with flour egg and milk with a dash of cold water added takes about five minutes and once cooked and cold can be frozen.
    a chicken cooked in a slow cooker with produce a great quantity of cooked chicken meat which will fall off the bone to be used in almost any chicken recipe.
    It helps I suppose that I have been cooking since the late 1950s and trial and error and having a Mum whom I watched streeetch out meagre rations in the late 1940s -50s. I am a real old fashioned cook and often look at stuff in the SM and think Mmmm I can make twice the amount for half the price and I utilise my freezer to the max

    JackieO xx
  • I would second JackieO with the meat in the slow cooker - even if you buy fresh/frozen pastry, making a pie yourself will work out a lot cheaper than buying premade ones.

    My partner is quite partial to my 'leftover pies' which is generally the spare from the sunday roast (or any meat reduction bargains) plus a few bulking veg and lots of extra thick gravy.
  • Pollycat
    Pollycat Posts: 34,579
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    I agree with JackieO & artyclarty.

    I never buy frozen chips.
    I do my own wedges - new potatoes, quartered and tossed in olive oil.
    I make my own pie fillings too. Easy-peasy in the slow cooker. And I know exactly what is in them.
    I also make my own burgers, adding herbs, mustard, horseradish or whatever takes my fancy. And I know exactly what is in them.

    I'd never buy cheap sausages - £1.29 for 20 is cheap. I only ever buy high meat content sausages. I find that if you buy decent quality sausages you don't need so many.
    I'll buy a couple of packs of 6 'Finest' or 'Taste the Difference' (or whatever the top range is) - when they are YS or on offer, open freeze them and we'll have 2 each. So 12 will do us 3 meals.

    But - I am retired and have the time to shop and the time (and inclination) to cook from scratch.

    I would question the nutrition value of some of the items in the original post.
  • Pollycat wrote: »
    I agree with JackieO & artyclarty.

    I never buy frozen chips.
    I do my own wedges - new potatoes, quartered and tossed in olive oil.
    I make my own pie fillings too. Easy-peasy in the slow cooker. And I know exactly what is in them.
    I also make my own burgers, adding herbs, mustard, horseradish or whatever takes my fancy. And I know exactly what is in them.

    I'd never buy cheap sausages - £1.29 for 20 is cheap. I only ever buy high meat content sausages. I find that if you buy decent quality sausages you don't need so many.
    I'll buy a couple of packs of 6 'Finest' or 'Taste the Difference' (or whatever the top range is) - when they are YS or on offer, open freeze them and we'll have 2 each. So 12 will do us 3 meals.

    But - I am retired and have the time to shop and the time (and inclination) to cook from scratch.

    I would question the nutrition value of some of the items in the original post.
    I'm in my 30s and have the same inclination :) I cook from scratch, because that's how I was raised, besides my husband and I love to cook, so it's not a big deal or time issue for us.

    The problem I'm facing is how do you save on groceries, but still get fairly good quality food.
  • Pollycat
    Pollycat Posts: 34,579
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    B'sKitchen wrote: »
    I'm in my 30s and have the same inclination :) I cook from scratch, because that's how I was raised, besides my husband and I love to cook, so it's not a big deal or time issue for us.

    The problem I'm facing is how do you save on groceries, but still get fairly good quality food.
    I batch cook.

    I'll buy 2 x 500gm of mince then split it into 3 portions instead of buying one pack and using it all.
    See my post above re sausages.

    I buy large pork and beef joints when they're on offer and cut them up myself and freeze. Much cheaper than buying one pack of stewing or braising beef.

    I menu plan, usually based on what I have in the freezer.
    So I buy a family pack of mushrooms and same of peppers and they'll get used in say - risotto, pasta dishes, slow cooker meals.
    I throw very little away. I know Jackie O is the Queen-of-no-waste. :)

    My plan is fluid depending on if I've bought some YS bargains.
    Or when Aldi have something I want on super6.
    I want to do brinjal curry but won't buy aubergine unless it's YS or super6.

    I don't pay full price for anything.
    If I see chopped tomatoes, tuna, loo rolls - absolutely everything - when it's on offer, I stock up.
    I have a lot of storage space.
    But I only buy things that I will use. Clever advertising gimmicks don't work on me.
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