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

Rowan9

Your list looks good - full of healthy food! I just wondered about things like febreze - I've never bought it but have 2 fairly hairy dogs (hhhmmm...this is only relevant if it is for kind of room spray). Jars of stir fry - maybe make your own? But I also know that it is just good to quickly make up a meal sometimes after work.
Waiting to see what others say...
oh - I buy value toilet roll now and after a moan or 2 from Andrex man, my OH, he came round to the idea.

mophead

Hi again,
my thoughts are similar to wmf's, with regards to febreeze, to deoderize i sprinkle some bi-carb on my carpet over night and hoover in the morning which works a treat and also i have a saucer of bi-carb on the windowsill of my living room which i add a few drops of essential oils for scent.

1 kg Tesco Brown wholegrain rice
375g sharwoods noodles
4x Tesco stir fry sauce jars
1 x Linghams chilli sauce
1 kilo Tesco wholemeal flour
3 x Green tea bags
1 x Amoy soy sauce

If you can get to a chinese supermarket you would definatley save money on these items

Clare.x.

soappie

And what meals do you make with these Broke? You seem to be veggie. Is it always pasta based meals? I'm sure you could do cheaper meals using potatoes - pasta is really expensive these days!

Also, buying on line once a month, you will lose out on offers. This is one reason why I stopped buying online and do a weekly trawl. I see one sort of Tesco whitening toothpaste is on offer at the mo - 3 for £3.00 - saving £2.97 according to their website. This is how I get my toothpaste. I wait for a bogof offer and then buy 6 months supply at once (but that's only do-able if you have a bit of spare cash). I do the same for washing powders- I'll swap brands to make the most of the offers (though I refuse to buy Persil!) and loo rolls - Tesco's in store are doing 16 for the price of 12 packs which don't appear to be on the Tesco online store.

And I'm now a firm breadmaker convert. It saves space in the freezer, it tastes much better and works out about 40p per loaf.

razra

I would also suggest

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 change to smart price
10 x Tesco passata could you not buy tinned toms and blend them down into passata got to be cheaper
4 x Tesco value kidney beans
2 x Tesco butter beans
2 kilo bag Tesco frozen sweetcorn do they do a smart price version?
6 x Tesco value baked beans smart price?
1 x Amoy soy sauce does it need to be amoy or is shops own cheaper?
500g bag Tesco continental lentils would julian graves be cheaper?
1 kg Tesco Brown wholegrain rice
375g sharwoods noodles are shops own cheaper?
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 could you make your own?
1 x Linghams chilli sauce
1 kilo Tesco wholemeal flour
48g pack of fast action dried yeast
500g Dried mixed fruit smart price?
2 x 300 Hermasetas sweetener tablets would it be cheaper to buy a jar instead of tablets?
4 x 300g Kenco Rappor coffee could you change the brand and get a cheaper one?
3 x Green tea bags as above
2 x 1 kilo Tesco branflakes
1 kilo bag Tesco porridge oats smart price?
2 x 750g Tesco own brand shreddies
6 pack of polo mints ?? cant you use toothpaste LOL
40 pack of Tesco gel tabs (can't use powder. Could use a cheaper liquid though.)try using one tablet instead of two (dont use these so not sure how many you are told to use) or buy the liquid and use half the amount
1 x Tesco kitchen cleaner spray cant yu use a chaeper version thats not just for kitchens? ie watered down bleach is just as good but own brand is a lot cheaper than spray room specific
2 x Febreze aerosols do you really need these? Do a search on here for cheap alternatives
12 rolls Tesco toilet papercheck out pound shops they may be cheaper or buy this when on offer, eg I bought 12 rolls for £3 in the £1 shop and its andrex
1 x Tesco whitening toothpaste check out pound shops they may be cheaper
1 x Imperial leather shower gel could you try a cheaper brand?
2 x Tesco 2 in 1 shampoo check out pound shops they may be cheaper
1 x Tesco sensitive shaving gel check out pound shops they may be cheaper

Heres some of my suggestions hope they help

razra

I find by buying online I save as I dont see and get tempted by some of the supposed "offers" on things I wouldnt buy normally
However on the tesco website it does allow you to view all offers in one place.

and if you use http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/Home.aspx you can put everything in your basket and then compare the cost to the other stores to see which is cheaper and it will also give you suggestions on better value options based on what you have in your basket


also try looking in the supermarket in different sections, for example some people have commented that by looking in the special ethnic type sections you can find the same things cheaper than on the main shelves.

The one that springs to mind is cotton wool pads are more expensive in the beauty/toiletry section than they are in the baby section yet they are the same thing just packaged slightly different

for example I dont know what continental lentils are but Ive just done a search on lentils and it came up with these options and looking at it for a £1 more you can get 4 x as many lentils by buying the natco ones
http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/Shopping/FindProducts.aspx?Query=lentils&SortBy=3
but like I say I dont know if they are the same type or not

weezl74

razra wrote: »

6 pack of polo mints ?? cant you use toothpaste LOL

1 x Tesco kitchen cleaner spray cant yu use a chaeper version thats not just for kitchens? ie watered down bleach is just as good but own brand is a lot cheaper than spray room specific

1 x Tesco whitening toothpaste check out pound shops they may be cheaper

razra, I like your suggestions, also wanted to add: icing sugar sweets flavoured with a little peppermint essence are a tenth of the price of a polo mint.:eek:

kitchen cleaner spray, I've has a bottle of stardrops for 8 months now, was 68p, use it in a diluted spreay gun, and have cleaned kitchen and bathroon with it once or twice a week, still over half left!:j

Mix bicarb of soda with mormal cheapy toothpaste for the same effect. I used a washed out jar that has contained eye cream, mixed the two, and now dip the bristles in that before brushing.:o

Hope these help!;)

Weezl x

brokeinwales

hello again to all you very helpful people! (I am feeling better now, can you tell?) I wanted to thank ALL of you for these suggestions. I can't quite believe the effort you've all been to and I'm really more grateful than you can imagine!

And what meals do you make with these Broke? You seem to be veggie. Is it always pasta based meals? I'm sure you could do cheaper meals using potatoes - pasta is really expensive these days!

I do make a lot of pasta and rice based meals, a lot of stir fries (my b/f won't eat homemade stir-fry sauce - hence the jars- really resent those grr!). I'll have to have a nose around for potato-ey recipes (made a shepherds pie a few days ago using sweet potato mash, which was very nice.)

Apparently b/f's Mum has a breadmaker she doesn't use - so I've got my eye on that now!

We've also agreed to go for a weekly shop, rather than monthly - as it looks as if that's what most of you lot do.

RE: the febreeze - is there something old style that will work with laminate floors? Only I don't have carpets!

Mix bicarb of soda with mormal cheapy toothpaste for the same effect. I used a washed out jar that has contained eye cream, mixed the two, and now dip the bristles in that before brushing

loved that tip. Will try it when current tube runs out!

Willowx

Whole tinned tomatoes may be slight more expensive per tin but by weight you normally get more than the chopped ones. They are easy enough to chop with a sharp knife while still in the tin if you need them chopped.

ravylesley

brokeinwales wrote: »

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-Tesco do a value version of this and its really good
4 x Tesco value kidney beans
2 x Tesco butter beans -How about buying a 500g bag of dried beans and soaking and boiling them then they can be frozen in individual portions ready for use
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-couldnt you substitue this with value stock 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.

Personally along with the other suggestions I made to cut down your shopping bill I'd seriously consider buying a pasta maker as you eat loads of the stuff and you can freeze fresh pasta or buy a drying rack and it keeps for ages

Lesleyxx

mophead

RE: the febreeze - is there something old style that will work with laminate floors? Only I don't have carpets!

Hi i use a homemade version in a spray bottle 2 tablespoons of bi-carb, fill with warm water and about 10/15 drops of your favourite essential oils, i use 6 lavener, 5 bergamot and 4 ylang ylang.

Or you can use a oil burner, radiator humidifer.

I buy my oils at holland and barrets when they have their offers on and use them for all kinds of things.