Hello i'm new here. Can I make a cheeky request?

brokeinwales

Hiya,
I've lurked here before a little bit, and I like to think I do have some old style principles. I always cook from scratch and I freeze my leftovers.
I've just come from my first post on the debt-free board because someone said you people might be able to help me cut my shopping bill.
I was going to post my entire shopping list and ask for advice but that might be a bit much! If so - could someone give me some more general advice on cutting back?
Thanks ever so much for anything you can offer

soappie

Hello Broke and welcome :hello:

Have just read your post on the DFW board. Putting your shopping list up could help. Also. let us know what meals etc. you make from them. I'm sure we'll be able to help you reduce your shopping bill.

Olliebeak

Check out the 'grocery challenge' but remember that some of them on there have been cutting back for ages and it comes as second nature for them now -
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=824645

The 'downshift challenge' - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/cheap-supermarket-shopping

Mealplanning (weekly/monthly) helps as well because you only buy what you need and NOT what you fancy! - though mine is rather flexible as I like to be able to 'bargain spot' while shopping - but everything is bought 'with a meal in mind'! -
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=864383

Good Luck with your efforts

mophead

Hi there,

This is only my second post on here as i tend to lurk too (having a 2 year old at home tends to keep me busy). I too was a poster on the Debt Free Board and i am proud to say after being on a DMP for four years we will be debt free as from July this year any way back to the original question here is what i do.

I always check the price per weight or quantity rather than whats the item is.

I never shop on a empty stomach.

only buy things on offer that are not perishable, and i only buy offer that i would use on a regular basis. i used to buy lods of bogof's but end up throughing the free one away false economy.

When i shop i tend to look at the bottom shelves this is where they keep the cheaper priced products and a lot of them are just a good as the brands, i have slowly weaned my family off brands and have saved ££££'s

I buy a lot of condiments, spices, herbs,exotics and fish chinese supermartket
i go once a month there is a big difference in price.

Cleaning product's,like others on here i have cut down on all the fancy products and my cleaning cupboard consists of:

Ecover Washing Powder which i only use half the recomended amount with a tablespoon of wasing soda and i have wash balls in my machine too. I have three boys age range 15 to 2 years and it deals with most stubborn stains anything that need any extra help gets a rub with a bar of Fairy soap.

Washing soda, Ecover washing up liquid, White vinegar, a Bar of Fairy Soap, Tea Tree oil, Lavender Oil, and Bi-Carb.

I Buy my fruit and veg every other day especially in summer it cuts down on waste.

Hope this helps i have learnt so much from lurking on this board even though i would say i was OS before (learnt a lot from my gran) you can still pick up some great tip on here.

Thanks everyone:j

Clare.x.

mophead

just noticed all my spelling mistakes :embarasse

blueneleh

I find mealplanning fantastic as mentioned above as I write a list of what i need when going shopping and don't deviate from that.
I tend meal plan for a month and then do one 'big' shop at the beginning of the month getting all the meat and freezable items and then do a small 'weekly shop' to get any veg and perishables I need.
It is also good to do a cupboard inventory as you'll be surprised how much you have in your cupboard (esp how many of the same thing you have and things that are coming up to their sell by date!) which you can throw together to make a meal.

HTH

Pink.

Hi brokeinwales,

Welcome to Old Style :hello:

Have a look at Martin's Budget Planner, that should help you to find out if/where you are overspending and give you ideas on how you could cut back. There is also his article on Supermarket Shopping which has lots of hints and tips on saving money on groceries.

Meal planning is a good way to save money. To get some ideas and help with this, have a look in

The Complete Menu Plans Collection



Also there are lots of ideas for cheap meals on these threads:

Cheapest recipes???

Meal for two for 50p. Suggestions?

The Cheapest Healthy Meal Ever!

Feed 6 for £1.62

Cheapest meal

Your Cheapest Evening Meal.

cheap, easy family meals


As olliebeak has already mentioned, each month on Old Style there is a Grocery Challenge that you are very welcome to join and you'll get lots of encouragement and support from others there trying to cut back on grocery shopping.

Good luck with cutting back.

Pink

brokeinwales

Thankyou. Thanks for being so nice as well!
at the moment I do my main shop online - is that a really bad way of doing it? I'll check out the challenges too.
Meal planning is tricky for me because of unreliable shift work. anyway - if anyone has nothing better to do this is my most recent shopping list (not including the veg shop which I do weekly. Meant to feed 2 of us for just over a month:

Tesco Value Peas
6 x Realeat veggiemince
Pack of quorn sausages
2kg of Tesco Olive Spread
4 x 500g McLellands Strong Cheddar (on offer)
6 x Quorn chicken style pieces
5 x Tesco medium sliced wholemeal loaf
3 x Heinz Big Soup
11 x Tesco chopped tomatoes
10 x Tesco passata
4 x Tesco value kidney beans
2 x Tesco butter beans
2 kilo bag Tesco frozen sweetcorn
6 x Tesco value baked beans
1 x Amoy soy sauce
500g bag Tesco continental lentils
1 kg Tesco Brown wholegrain rice
375g sharwoods noodles
1 pack Tesco wholewheat spaghetti
4 500g packs Tesco wholewheat penne
1 pack Tesco value lasagne sheets
2 x 12 Oxo cubes
4x Tesco stir fry sauce jars
1 x Linghams chilli sauce
1 kilo Tesco wholemeal flour
48g pack of fast action dried yeast
500g Dried mixed fruit
2 x 300 Hermasetas sweetener tablets
4 x 300g Kenco Rappor coffee
3 x Green tea bags
2 x 1 kilo Tesco branflakes
1 kilo bag Tesco porridge oats
2 x 750g Tesco own brand shreddies
6 pack of polo mints
40 pack of Tesco gel tabs (can't use powder. Could use a cheaper liquid though.)
1 x Tesco kitchen cleaner spray
2 x Febreze aerosols
12 rolls Tesco toilet paper
1 x Tesco whitening toothpaste
1 x Imperial leather shower gel
2 x Tesco 2 in 1 shampoo
1 x Tesco sensitive shaving gel

Phew. That took ages. If anyone reads even part of it I'll be most impressed.

brokeinwales

Supermarket Shopping

and I just wanted to say that this article is really good!

blueneleh

Hi,

Just a couple of thoughts - how about using a breadmaker and making your own bread? A lot of OSer's on here use them and wouldn't be without them now. It is initially a bit of an investment but will save money in the long run.
Also, how about making your own soups instead of buying them? You can also make a large amount and freeze any you don't use.

brokeinwales

blueneleh wrote: »

Hi,

Just a couple of thoughts - how about using a breadmaker and making your own bread? A lot of OSer's on here use them and wouldn't be without them now. It is initially a bit of an investment but will save money in the long run.
Also, how about making your own soups instead of buying them? You can also make a large amount and freeze any you don't use.

Actually I do make soups - I just get a couple of tins in in-case we're caught short (which happens now and then!).
Do breadmakers really save money? I've always held off in the past because I wasn't convinced but maybe it is worth a go?