cut down food spend

lizzylou

Hi everyone,
I,m new to this but would like to tell you how i save money and make sure my children are eating good fresh veg. For a few pence i buy seeds and dig the garden not only do i get good food but get really fit aswell. x

belfastgirl23

Hi guys, just to let you know that this site
www.mysupermarket.co.uk
Is really useful for helping you cut down on your shopping costs. If you input your basic shopping items it will check across all 4 main supermarkets how much things cost and help you to decide where to shop. You can also eg export the basket across to whichever shop you choose to do an online shop. BUT crucially it will also offer you an option to downgrade your brand name goods. It's surprising what going to own brand cleaning stuff alone can save.

For me this was step 1. Step 2 was trying to think of ways to cut out on a lot of the cleaning stuff I was buying. So I bought a 5l jar of white vinegar and 2kg of bicarb of soda for £5.50. From about £10 - £15 a month on cleaning stuff I'm down to maybe £2.

Finally I started shopping in Lidl for certain goods which were a lot cheaper than in supermarkets or were better quality - we prefer their oatcakes (75p a pack compared to about £1 a pack) and their tinned tomatos (same price as tesco value but much better quality). But for me this is hard core since it involves doing an extra shop. So I've tried to substitute it for one of my small weekly shops.

Over the last year I've almost halved what we were spending by just paying attention. Oh and not just going to M&S for comfort food

MSHAWX

Hi Everyone,
This is the very first time I have replied to any of the threads but this is just to say I am now retired having sold a succesful business - so don't feel sorry for me. However, if this forum had been in operation 40yrs ago I would be so much better off than I am today. It hurts me to think of what I have squandered over the years. So take a tip from an 'oldie' - not that old, I did retire early - what you are doing will pay dividends in the long run and you will be so pleased with yourself for being in control.

a11waysindebt

Hi
Has any one compared this supermarket site products like for like.

By this I mean A brand onions at 50p a kilo compared to B brand onions at 79p for 2 kilos.

A brand items look cheaper because B brand does not do the Kilo onions.If you know what I mean.

moanymoany

liltoi - geddit - I think you are doing well. I spend about 150 on two of us. I do most things OS. I can't get to the really cheap shops easily, so I depend on Tesco. I do a monthly shop online and top up with fruit and milk for OH - I use value skimmed - it comes to about £150.

I'm sure it can be done more cheaply, but not for me. I've reached a balance that means I can live without feeling deprived. It has taken me a while to reach it and if I look back a year I spend about half what I did then.

I do make a menu plan now. I made two, one for January and one for February. I am going to recycle with tweaks. This does two things. It makes life much easier as far a decisions are made and it makes shopping easier.

moanymoany

MSHAWX wrote: »

Hi Everyone,
This is the very first time I have replied to any of the threads but this is just to say I am now retired having sold a succesful business - so don't feel sorry for me. However, if this forum had been in operation 40yrs ago I would be so much better off than I am today. It hurts me to think of what I have squandered over the years. So take a tip from an 'oldie' - not that old, I did retire early - what you are doing will pay dividends in the long run and you will be so pleased with yourself for being in control.

Oh boy - me too. Retirement seemed soooo far away and then - it is in two years. When I think what we have done in those two years I really and honestly believe we could have saved half a million over the last 40. I spread the word to my children - and anyone who will listen - but we all have to have our own lightbulb moment.

However, DH has a more pragmatic approach. He says what if we hadn't had our own lightbulb moment! True!

sammy_kaye18

Hi All
We are a family of 3 (me, my bf, my 3 1/2 year old, 3 terrapins and 1 6yr old small dog). We make do on £100 a month. It is hard work adn im lucky that my little one is in school so i have time to cook in the day, freeze things, i bake our bread/rolls by hand too and also make desserts/biscuits etc by hand too. I work 2 nigths a week and am fortunate that i work in a food coop so i get discounted veg adn we have a little local market which visits twice a week that i use. Any vouchers i get i eitehr keep or use on essentials liek milk etc.

Of our £100 we probably use about £10 on the pets - a big tub of food for the turtles costs us £4 and the dog gets a combination of cheap value mr t mixer, mixed with cheap value mr T complete dog food which costs me £2.61 and makes 6.5kg altogehter - plus he gets 8 tin of food (if its dented/reduced in wilko for 29p) so for the 4 animals its just under £9 in total.

Im also lucky (in a sense) that due to allergies i can only use baby shampoo so that cuts out alot of spend as we dont have lots of seperate shampoos int he house - we have head and shoulders for bf and johnsons baby for me and our son - bf and son also have short hair so use barely any. I shop around for this and see where its cheapest or on offer at the time, The only other thing we use then is deoderant. Washing powder is about £3.22 and that lasts us a fair while as i half the recommended amount and find it washes well enough. As for cleaners i sue stardrops, white vinegar and bicarb of soda and thats it. Washing up liquid if any is the 13p one form tesco - so for the other £10 our washing, personal health and cleaning etc is covered. Sanitary towels are always brought when they are on offer so im well stocked constantly with them - although i dont use many thanks to the pill.

Then we have £80 to spend on food which is split between tesco, iceland the local market and poundland with the odd few reduced things from the coop if they are bargains - liek i have 8 pouches of Ceaser dog food for 10p last night - thats like 1p each! and i didnt even use my discount card!!!!

Becky_2

Hi Lilmoi1985lm!

Just to let you know that I have now bought new ingriedients for my home made musli, it lasted 5 weeks. Not bad when it cost me around £7 to buy the ingriedients. Did you start to make your own musli as well?

Take care

Becky

lilmoi1985lm

hiya Becky!

I havent got there yet - planning too on my next shop - funny i seen this post today ive been thinking about going out to buy it the last few weeks and havent had a chance to go into town.

Definately going to and i'll tell you all about it! £7 for 5 weeks is pretty good, we get through quite a bit of cereal in our house i really need a kick up the ar3e and start doing this! at least i know exactly what will be in it.

first job for tomorrow i think!

mhe

I think you need to join the GROCERY CHALLENGE loke a did. We are a family of 5 and i think i was paying 400 - 500 pm on food!! I dont have that much debt but i want to get rid of what i do so this month i joined the \FEB grocery challenge. Most people redsuce their food spend bit by bit but i opted to reduce mine to £200 in one go:eek: . So far ive spent about £150 (not updated sig yet). The people on that thread have loads of ideas, suggestions and reciepes and are great people meaning that whilst mine really is a challenge for me - i could spend that in one supermarket visit in the past - i dont feel deprived at all atmoment!!! Hop over and ill see u there.:D