Where should I shop this month for ultimate moneysaving?

beckseven

Hello-I love this board and find it so interesting and informative. Just a quick question for all you expert bargain shoppers. I have a very limited shopping budget this month (and every month really!). Where would you recommend I do my shops to really keep costs down? I normally shop at Asda but have a Lidl and a Netto nearbly-do you think I should do my big shop at the Lidl and the Netto this month?

angchris

:hello: hiya!! to keep costs down you have to cook your meals from scratch yourself and steer well clear of anything processed. im sure if you went into any of the shops you mentioned you could spend a fortune in any of them but you have to train yourself to think in a different mindset, bulk mince meals out with grated carrot/oats and red lentils (you really cant tell they are there) this gives you extra portions of a meal for pence.
if you are mega skint like me this/next month (car tax/mot/new tyres etc :rolleyes: ) then its worth doing the 7pm dash around the local supermarkets at reducing time, my local tesco seems to reduce food right down to silly prices like 29p for packs of sliced beef etc (i buy it all and freeze) yesterday evening due to extreme poverty we scouted out tescos/sainsburys and the coop going straight from one to another and came home with quite a substantial swag of reduced goodies to hopefully last till the 20th of next month when oh is paid again:j
learn to look at ingredients you already have in your cupboards to make something first before you go and spend more in the shops and if all else fails beg borrow or steal (ok maybe not steal ) from any source available or all of a sudden enjoy visiting your parents every other night so that they feed you :rotfl:

beckseven

Thanks for the advice angchris. Coincidentally my mum and dad are called Ang and Chris! I really enjoy cooking from scratch for my family so will enjoy the challange. I have been guilty recently of buying fresh stuffed pasta and sauces for me and my husband for a quick meal if pushed for time and this can cost up to a fiver!!!(hangs head in shame). I am definitely going to stop this and will scout around the supermarkets for the reduced stuff. Didn't think of freezing sliced meats..A good tip I got was to go to Waitrose (I would never normally shop there!) on a Sunday just before closing time because they massively reduce loads of lovely stuff. A couple of Sundays ago i popped in and they had little terracotta bowls of different types of tapas that were £3.19 each reduced to 29p. I got three and because they were buy two get one free it took £3.19 from my bill so I was in profit! Me and my DH sat there scoffing it before our bbq marvelling at the fact that someone would pay almost £10 for three little dishes!

donny-gal

Hi
My suggestion would be decide what you are going to cook for the next week, menu plan in other words, and write a list of what you need to buy to achieve the plan.
Enter this in www.mysupermarket.co.uk selecting Asda and then check out the differences it offers to replace brands with either cheaper brands and/or offers. It also shows what it would have cost at Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons. When finished print yourself a shopping list via it, it lists the prices.
Take this with you and go to Lidl, and see what you can get off your list checking that the price is lower than Asda (or its a bigger packet or a better quality your have to be flexible). Mark off what you have got, and then go on to Netto, and do the same, and on to Asda for what you cannot buy elsewhere, or is cheaper at Asda, some things will be. Yes, it is three shops, but eventually you will know what you can get from where, what you like from where, and if your Asda shop is mainly long-life/dry goods then you can do this fortnightly and monthly, or some shop on line to avoid being tempted;) when in store. (Or if Tesco was cheaper on the mysuppermarket option - home delivery from them. You can select two supermarkets and although the total saved will be given, individual items will be up and down.

When you get home put the prices paid from your till receipt against the printed shopping list, see what you have saved, and then you can tell if it is worth it.

Be prepared to try different things - some you will like and some you won't but keep trying.
Register on line at Lidl/Aldi/(I know Netto now have a sheet in store but don't know if they email one yet?) See when what you like is on offer.

Keep to your list.

If you have a local market and/or large car boot which has fresh fruit/veg stalls they may be cheaper, though Lidl's/Aldi is cheap. Be careful with "Farmers Markets" they can be specialist stalls, and though lovely quality, the price can be rather high.

This the theory not what I do btw:o , I did actually have a list this week, so baby steps for me.:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: . My usual supermarket these days is Aldi, with odd trips to Tesco/Asda now and again, and I use the local market (we have one with loads of choice), I just don't do the list!

Don't knock the parents idea either, Mum's always love feeding their kids no matter big they get, and if it means they see a bit more of you, then they will happily feed you, obviously you need to know their financial situation, but if I used to ring and say to MIL "Are you in if we call on the way home?" "Yes, would you like your tea?", Oh yes please would be my reply, she was a brilliant pastry cook, and her meat pies were to die for. We both worked full time and so time was short, and we could then give the parents the time it would have taken to prepared/cook/eat/clear up instead of a quick visit, and then we'll have to go to get food ready.

My Aldi shop was large this week cos our DS(23) is coming home on Sunday and so I shopped for him to take back with him, he is 200 miles from home working after leaving uni, so instead of the cooking I do food parcels for him. He likes the fresh and the long life stuffed pasta from Aldi, and their packet sauces. I also got himlarge bags of dried pasta as I know they are going up and they are his staple diet. He does cook from scratch often, but is doing some 12 hour days atm so quick and easy are necessary. Fortunately we can afford to do this, and it is probably cheaper than having him live at home!
DG

Pink.

Hi beckseven,

Donny-gal's post gives a lot of good advice.

I've moved your thread across to the Shop but Don't drop board to see if the shopping experts can give you more help.

It's also worth having a look at Martin's article to see if you can pick up some tips:

Supermarket Shopping: Halve your weekly bill by beating the system

Pink

Chocmonster7

If you can get to all three shops easily and without using more petrol/bus money etc. then I'd go to all and see which has good bargains. My Mum & I regularly shop at Aldi, Lidl & Morrisons as we like stuff from each and our money seems to go further than just buying everything from one place.

shopndrop

I am fortunate in that I have Sainsbury's. Tesco, Asda, Aldi, Morrisons & Lidl all close by. I write my shopping list then when I am driving past any of the supermarkets which I am inevitably going to do sometime during the week, I call in to see what they have on offer so actually shop in all of them using whatever is on offer in each.

Poppycat

I do most of my shopping in Morrison's I buy a lot of offers BOGOF and stock up. MY OH works ate Sainsbury's so we get whatever offers are there occasionally doing a weekly shop they dont have as bigger range as Morrison's so tend to shop at Morrison's.

I also do some shopping at Tesco's mainly because they stock more Vegetarian food and get the offers there too.

Aldi I look at the weekly offers online and shop there for offers I cant do a full weeks shopping there as they dont have a large range, but most of there stuff is great. My cat loves there cat food so I have to stock up, he is a fussy eater

We dont have a Asda, Netto etc

I do occasionally though stock to much and have some things going out of date so that's my one failing

I bought a large freezer a few months back so its always well stocked. I like the idea of having so much stock just as long as its in date to get a variety

beckseven

Wow thanks everyone for all your help. I have so many good ideas now thanks to everyone's kind advice. Here's to a mega cheap food shopping month!