How to reduce shopping bill please?

moneymaker2

mysupermarket.co.uk is my latest find.

It tells you where you can buy it cheaper out of the following stores: Sainsburys, Tesco, Occado and Asda. It also gives you cheaper alternatives and healthier alternatives.
It then takes your shopping trolley and puts it through to the relevant website so that you can order online.

My bills are currently over £200 per month for 2 adults, 1 5 year old and a 6 month old, so I am looking forward to reducing this a little month by month.

floss2

Not if you bake your own cookies / cakes, or do popcorn without butter for snacks.

Making from scratch is loads cheaper, better for you (coz you know what's gone into it) and usually leaves leftovers, either for a lunch or the freezer.

We have a really good leftovers habit - but we do eat some wierd combinations though! I can't say how much we spend a week, as we don't always shop economically, but sometimes the more expensive shopping will make a meal with 8 or more servings, so it isn't all bad!

Uniscots97

dancingfairy wrote: »

Bilmey what do you feed them on? Bread and dripping? Seriously though I think we could cut our food bill still more if we didn't buy sweets and treats and things though. We must spend a fortune on those non-essentials. Do you ever feel deprived living on such a tiny budget?

Its not a matter of feeling deprived. I always have a large bag of Tesco Value porridge oats in the cupboard which can be used to make:- flapjacks (if we want something sweet), porridge for breakfast or used in mince to make it go further. The flapjacks are pennies to make and I feel better knowing what's in the stuff I'm eating never mind saving money . If you want biscuits without having to make them yourself get the Value brands they are just as nice and if you don't want people to see stripey packaging take them out the wrappers and put them in a biscuit tin. A large packet of Bourbon biscuits (Value) cost 30p and I think are nicer than the more expensive ones.

RAS

Hi

One idea from Mel Bartholomew of Square foot gardening, for dealing with small amounts of left overs.

He suggest working out a few favourite recipes form left overs and then starting a box for each in the freezer. So say you like fried rice, each time you have a bit of left over corn, peas and chicken say, you add it to the stirfry box until you have enough for a meal. Or add layers of left-over veg to a tub that will turn into vegtable soup sometime in the next three weeks.

RAS

Another one

Learn planned cooking as well as planned eating.

Do one oven load which has stews, pasties, pies, cakes, baked potatoes and possible a roast etc in it at the same time and heat up later in the week or freeze some.

free-range

My hubby and I regulary buy meat direct from local farmers. We recently bought half a lamb for £25.00 which gave us several roasting joints, mince, chops, offal etc. I reckoned it to be at least 15 main meals.

We also bought a whole Venison (not everyones cup of tea) which was £25 also, and again gave us about 15 main meals.

I have to admit you do need a big freezer to keep it in, but in the long run it's way way cheaper than any butcher.

floss2

free-range wrote: »

We also bought a whole Venison (not everyones cup of tea) which was £25 also, and again gave us about 15 main meals.

Hope that wasn't one of those deer I heard about on Radio 2 this morning...lured to the side of the road with jam sandwiches, accidentally knocked over by a car, then spirited away by poachers?!

immoral_angeluk

floss2 wrote: »

Hope that wasn't one of those deer I heard about on Radio 2 this morning...lured to the side of the road with jam sandwiches, accidentally knocked over by a car, then spirited away by poachers?!

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Sorry I'm not laughing at the fact the poor deer died.. more the image of a hungry deer being lured with jam sandwiches!

free-range

floss2 wrote: »

Hope that wasn't one of those deer I heard about on Radio 2 this morning...lured to the side of the road with jam sandwiches, accidentally knocked over by a car, then spirited away by poachers?!

Oh deary me, I hadn't heard about that - no we bought our little blighter a few weeks ago so it wasn't me... Honest!

splishsplash

Try Lidl's for low *much-cheaper-than-Tesco* prices. That alone has halved my shopping bill, for everything excl meat, milk and eggs.
Watch the waste - gives you a good idea on how to guage your portion control when cooking and your meal planning.
Make meals (incl sauces) from scratch - it only takes a minute and is much healthier.
Switch to basic packed lunches - sandwich, piece of fruit and water. Homemade banana bread or carrot cake or buns as a treat.
Have a big pot of soup (homemade, of course!) on the go for winter lunches/after school snacks. Easy to make, tasty and nutritious.
I do not buy any yoghurts except plain - add fruit or berries of your choice to flavour, along with a little honey/maple syrup to sweeten if needed. (Have you checked the sugar content of the branded flavoured yoghurt products???)
Have a fruit bowl on the go with apples, bananas, easipeel oranges etc - kids will grab them if they're peckish. Grapes are a big favourite here, but so expensive, so only sometimes on the list.
Bruised fruit can be used in cakes or smoothies or to flavour yoghurt - no waste, remember!
Don't buy what you won't use, no matter how cheap!
Don't buy more than you will use within the sell-by date!
Price-check all items - there are huge differences in prices, and by shopping with this in mind, you can save significant amounts.
Good luck!