could you take a look at my shopping list

moneysavinmonkey

I always shop in the local shops first and then finish getting anything left on my list at Tesco. My butcher is usually cheaper for things like mince, chicken, sausages and eggs ,and you get much better quality too.

If you find a good farm shop and buy seasonally fruit veg items can be half the price of tesco if not cheaper - and you can buy the amount you need rather than wasting money buying a pre-packaged bag of potatoes when you only needed a couple.

There are three farm shops near me, I found out about them by doing a search on the BBC Good Food Website....
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/local/

Stick you postcode into the ' find good food near you' and it will give you details on farmers markets, farm shops, butchers, pick you own - it's great!

thriftlady_2

sarah.l.smith22 wrote: »

Plum and chopped toms are a lot cheaper (think 29p?) in Netto or tesco,

The passata is 29p a carton in Tesco;) I find it much more useful then tinned tomatoes and puree because I like the smooth, thick texture. I don't buy tinned toms anymore just passata.

I would try out a farm shop too. The best savings are on potatoes -I notice you're paying £1.85 for spuds, I imagine that's quite a big bag but you can easily get a 25kilo sack for £5-£6 at a farmshop. Keep in a cool, dry place like the garage or a shed and they keep well -especially if you're eating them at least 4 times a week.

Why not replace some of the meat meals with pulses -lentil bolognese, bean chilli. Beans and lentils are much cheaper than meat -or use half the quantity of mince and make up the rest with lentils.

Finally, all your different breads; wraps, naan, pittas, baguettes all push your bill up -if you are serving pasta or rice you don't need bread as well. I think I'd have tuna pittas instead of wraps as the wraps are so much more expensive -they're often on BOGOF though, so wait till then and stock up-they freeze well.

You probably have the ingredients for white sauce already -there are recipes on this board, it's easy peasy. Lasagne sheets are more expensive than some other pasta shapes. Check the unit price next time your in a supermarket -spaghetti is usually the cheapest. You can make a lasagne-type dish with economy pasta shapes

Finally, ditch the fabric conditioner -I never use it, so didin't realise how expensive it was -blimey you could get a bottle of wine for that -almost

HTH:)

charleybabes

the comfort plus looks like ive put fabric softener down but its nappies!!!!

ive got to buy them as i just couldnt face potty training my 18mnth old just yet

i love the idea though about making your own soap powder i just didnt know this was possible before
my little one does get exma so we have to use non bio soap powder could i still make this ???

i looked on the link for a farm shop and there isnt one around here, i must look in the yellow pages and see whats near

so would you say i didnt need two packs of mince just the one to make all those meals.. thats not a lot of meat in there then is there :eek:

Tartan_Mum

Hi

I think all of these tips sound fab - I'm making some notes here myself!

I just wanted to add that before I found this site I'd never even thought about making white sauce myself. I'm no cook (and DH will vouch for that!) but the things I now make from scratch astound me. White sauce is one.
It's so easy I don't know why I thought it was hard.

Anyway, just wanted to say it all looks good and defo give the white sauce a bash - if I can do it (and I can!) then anyone can....

Go for it!
TM x

charleybabes

thanks for that love

im not known for my cooking at all and normally leave H to do it all .. which results in lots of little trips to asda most evenings and dear food..
so ive got to take it all in hand and actually do somthing about the mess we are in

i will have a go at the white sauce and its saving me 80p

does anyone ever buy the bags of frozen mince. ive always been a bit unsure of it myself but i have looked on the website and its a lot cheaper.. just not sure what it would taste like and if it would be healthy???

patentgirl

Hi Charleybabes
What a good thread getting lots of ideas, I would agree your mince is dear you can find alot cheaper than that for 2 packs in Nettos, Aldis even Tescos have cheaper, same with Tuna I stock up when bogof I think Tescos have got Tuna on offer at moment, Milk is slightly cheaper in Nettos/Aldis or Iceland same as veg the quality is fine and will be alot cheaper, do you have a market near you I get fresh veg and fruit from mine at half your prices
hope this helps good luck

G-G_4

Your meal plan sounds great, maybe you could make more with potatoes? Mash, roasts, boiled, chips etc.. they are very cheap and so this would help if you make another meal plan with different meals.

As for mince, I get mine from Tesco for £74p a packet, and that serves 2 people, they do a double size one for £1.40 that will serve 4, and they arn't the cheapest packs by far. Also with spag bol, I tend to put in loads of onions, mushrooms, even carrots! lol - OH is quite picky and he loves it, and it bulks it out loads!

Also, what about making your own pizza for the family? I love making them, I should think your kids might be able to get involved with it (depending on their age).. and they taste lovely. You can make your own, or Tescos do a packet with two mixes in, feed a family of 4 easily, you just add water (and the topping ingredients) the packet costs about 48p! It's well cheap!

Have fun, and don't worry if you don't get it perfect this week, next week you will know more and shop accordingly..

Gem x

r.mac_2

Hiya - what a great thread. You sound very motivated which is great. I have been trying to be more OS for a few years now and have some really 'interesting' meals and experiments under my belt!

Your shopping list looks ok to me - with the suggestions above you shouldn't be paying over the odds. It is a little trial and error at the start. The main thing is to try - so try value tinned tomatoes and the cheapest passata you can find and then decide if you can use them. For example i buy the cheapest tinned tomatoes, but cannot stand the cheaper baked beans.

re: lasagne, we had this last night. I make it with half the normal amount of mince, add a handful of soya mince (lasts ages, when mixed with mince you can't tell the difference and bulks it out cheaply while being good for you!) and also added some grated carrot and corgette. While the cost comes out roughly the same this way, I get almost double the mixture so make one to cook and one to freeze meaning I can have a 'ready meal' in the freezer for another day.

if you don't get to grips with deliah's white sauce there is a cheats version which is milk with a little cornflour added - I saw it on a tv programme in the autum and it works.

Hope that you enjoy your trip - you have inspired me to clean out my freezer. let us know how you get on x

jcr16

the bags i mentioned are frozen. and they are great. i generally only buy frozen. unless the fresh steak mince is on offer and works out cheaper or i am planning on making my own meat balls or burgers. because for some reason i do not like defrosting mince first then using it. maybe i just odd , lol.

Herbaholic

charleybabes wrote: »

does anyone ever buy the bags of frozen mince. ive always been a bit unsure of it myself but i have looked on the website and its a lot cheaper.. just not sure what it would taste like and if it would be healthy???

Hi Charleybabes

We buy the frozen lean steak mince from Asda and the frozen Healthy Living Lean Mince from Tesco. Hardly any fat, so no waste that way, if you're worried there isn't a lot of meat, then bulk your sauce based out adding more veg, finely diced carrots can go in with a bolognese or a chilli, peppers, mushrooms and tinned beans (I actually add a cheap tin of baked beans to my chilli as well as a tin of smart price kidney beans.

Herby