new challenge - grocery

chardonnay_2

well you'd all be proud of me, we went to supermarket with a list and only bought essentials, spent more than i hope to spend on a weekly basis, but had to get spices etc, also bought 2 lots of toilet roll as on special offer. all in all did very well.

we have been good and have been takin things out the night before, so hopefully should have a very cheap few months ;D

Lucie_2

This is just the thread I needed to inspire me again!

A few months ago I was doing really well & managing just one weekly shop, but it seems to have crept up to 2/3 visits a week again.
My main problem is lack of inspiration for meals - there are days when I look in the fridge or freezer & cannot imagine a meal from the contents. So I go shopping....
I did get really good at meal planning, so I really need to start that again.

Lillibet_2

Don't know if this migh tbe to @nal for some, I really can't balme you if it is, but I keep a inventory of everything in my freezer & plan my meals from that. I always know if I have a chicken to roast on a sunday & can plan another 2 or 3 meals the following nights with leftovers, I know if I have an abundance of quiche to use up, in which case it's one a week with chips/salad/jacket spuds etc, I know if I have enough beef to make beef wellington or only enough for a stir fry. Then when I plan my weeks meals I just cross off what I am intending to use from the inventory & plan my shopping list accordingley (salad to go with the quiche, beanshoots for the stirfry, parsnips for the roast etc). I buy special offers & reduced items on the fortnightly shop (yes, I really do go only fortnightly!) and add then to the freezer & the list to be used at a later date. I also try to cook if not double then at least one extra portion which goes into the freezer (and onto the list) as a homemade "ready meal".
At any one time I usually have the next 2 weeks worth of meals planned (if anyone looked in my diary they'd kill themselves laughing) and a faily full freezer in case of emergencies etc. If we ever don't eat that nights planned meal for whatever reason , if it's already defrosting then we have it the following night & add the planned meal back to the list, or if we haven't got as far as getting it out of the freezer then we just go on with the meal plan and add the missed meal back to the list for another time.
You do have to be fairly good about getting things out to defrost but this soon becomes habit : I just check the meal plan & go too the freezer when I am cooking each night & get stuff out for the following night.
I don't know if I have explained this very well, I hope you can understand my ramblings?
HTH

Magentasue

I think you do have to be somewhat organised. I don't plan in such detail but I make a list of seven meals and write make my shopping list with the things I need. Then I add six lots of fresh veg/salad - for example, brocolli, a cabbage, some carrots ... There's always one day when we end up egg, chips and beans or I'll use frozen peas.

The brocolli always gets used on shopping day. I always have a sack of potatoes, a big bag of rice and a big bag of pasta. Being veggie, always have two big blocks of cheddar two, one being used, one ready and Ihave hens in the garden so always have eggs.

Things is I'm still spending £75+ forsix of us every week. Hopefully, my coversion to Lidl's will help there - spent £50 yesterday but that included £10 Christmas stuff. Reckon I saved more than a fiver so has to be worth persevering with.

Chipps

Wow, Lillibet, you are so organised!
I go through phases where I plan menus, know whats in the freezer & plan round it ... and then something throws everything off track & I go back to wondering whats for dinner at 4 o clock in the afternoon, when it's too late to defrost a chicken or whatever.
It has been interesting reading this thread, because I know I can be organised & cut grocery bill right down - but consistently fail to do it, so have needed this reminder to get organised again.

Someone was talking about freezing milk. A while ago we switched to skimmed UHT milk. Apart from the fact that it is very cheap, you can also buy a months worth or more & it is always ready to serve (unlike frozen milk when you forget to take it out of the freezer)
It is only good to substitute if you are used to skimmed milk, though, because the other sorts of UHT milk have a funny taste, which is presumably the fat in them. I did the costings once, & UHT milk (the value variety) is cheaper than reconstituted value skimmed milk powder.

Magentasue

No, no, no! Can't be doing with UHT milk! Yuck, frozen milk's fine but not long-life cos as you say semi-skimmed tastes horrible. But, I thought it was more expensive than fresh milk ???, or is this because you can buy the skimmed in mulipacks?

Chipps

No, I don't buy the multipacks, tesco's value UHT milk is cheaper than the multipacks of UHT (Lidl & Aldi are about the same price, too.) But we had already switched to skimmed milk & were used to that before going over to UHT.
Costwise, longlife milk is 32p a litre, and fresh milk just over £1.50 for 6 pints (which is a bit less than 3 litres, I think).

Lillibet_2

Been using Tesco value longlife skimmed milk for 10 years, we never run out & it doesn't take up valuable freezer space. Tastes fine to me, mind you, we are not big milk drinkers..... :P

halloweenqueen_2

My tip - don't go shopping with the other half and kids!
I usually go to Netto - timed it to perfection the other Saturday = they brought out two trolleys of reduced meat so I had a trolley full of beef, chops, chickens, turkey breat, pork roasts etc etc for £45 and filled my freezer, I did that back in May and it kept me going until September - that how much i got! If I go to Tesco with the family - there is the odd argument over a dvd etc, it was ok when i used to get about £40 worth of shopping for pennies when they took every voucher going!
I also go to cash and carry and get nets of onions etc and boxes of burgers and big bags of mccains potato thingies, there are four of us and once my freezer is filled up (usually on the cheap!) I don't spend any more than £10 a week at the shops - I buy the huge bags of basmati rice at Netto - I used to buy tilda and its not that much difference, we have a dessert every night, you can get carte dor at netto for 99p, but i usually make the dessert - american websites are great for easy to make stuff, we also have rice puddings and things.
I used to have a part time job and buy convenience foods which didn't come up to scratch and I worried about the health issues involved with them - I then realised I was spending my wages on these foods, I gave up my job and went to war on our finances, went back to old fashioned cooking - found I quite enjoyed it and we have some good stuff - i pick up cook books at boot fairs and charity shops! I'm now at home for the kids all the time and we have an excellent diet. I sell stuff on ebay from time to time and sometimes get a job delivery leaflets and things and its great. It was actually costing me money to work as I didn't bother really looking at the price of things just the time factor.

christmas_donkey

My biggest saving was buying my groceries online. On Friday I compose my shopping list, listing all the things we are going to need throughout the week. I then spend twice as much time going though, chucking stuff off the list as they are 'wants' and not needs or stock. I have just started buying the biggest sizes of everything if its cheaper to do so. (I have been reluctant to do up until now, because storage space is sadly lacking in my kitchen)

I have signed up to Pinecone research and periodically get luncheon vouchers in payment for a survey. I also have about £12 in Pampers and Huggies nappy vouchers sitting waiting for me to use. I will probably go to Asda nearer christmas and put them to good use.

I also got paid for a series of surveys I did last week. £9 went straight into my bank account. (Unfortunately, I dont even know the name of the website off hand as I dont keep it bookmarked - I just get a text on my phone and go to my inbox and the email asking me to join the survey is there). If this thread is still up when I get my next survey I will provide you a link. Then of course theres the usual R Points, and Big Hair, however I am not so successful with those as it takes ages to get anywhere.