Ideas to get my shopping budget down even more?

tam21

(Sorry in advance for the vv long post!)

OK, so over the past year I've gone from being a "buy it all ready done and to hell with what it costs" person to a fairly enlightened OSer :T (although I realise quite a few things on my list are still pre-made) but now we've had another baby and the budget is being squeezed even tighter, so I'm hoping that you lovely MSEers can help me shrink my shopping budget even more. I've read lots and lots of the threads on here and taken loads on board, but would really welcome any tips if I post my monthly shopping list and menu list! (The following is for 5 weeks)....


4 Milupa Aptamil Extra Hungry Milk 900g 31.80 (unfortunately buying this as I have to, have had problems this time with bf that I won't go into here but it has left us with this extra expense :mad: )

20 Pampers Baby Wipes Sensitive Refill 63 £23.00(usually get tesco value but these are bogof this month and are easier to use fewer of so work out as cheap for us while on offer)
4 Tesco Easy Fit Pants Junior 38 £27.92(appreciate it's not OS, but hopefully not an expense for much longer as soon as DS1 gets the hang of the potty!)
2 Colgate Advanced Whitening Toothpaste 100ml £2.27(bogof)
1 Tesco Luxury Soft Toilet Tissue White 4 Roll 964 Sheet £1.88
20 Hovis Best Of Both Medium White 800g £20.00(looking to get a breadmaker soon but need to find an affordable one!)
3 Willow Farm Barn Eggs Large Box Of 12 £7.65(DH resisting my idea of keeping chickens )
1 Discovery Flour Tortillas 320g £1.22
3 Tesco Value Curry Flavour Instant Noodles 65g £0.24
4 Tesco Value Chicken Flavour Instant Noodles 65g £0.32
3 Tesco Value Beans & Sausages567g £1.14
10 Tesco Value Orange Juice 1 Litre Carton £5.80
6 Tesco Malt Wheats 750g £8.04
1 Tesco Bicarbonate Of Soda 200g £0.41
1 Billingtons Demerara Sugar 500g £0.60
3 Tesco Value Green Pesto 190g £2.97
1 Miscellaneous Corned Beef 340g £1.18
1 Tesco Dried Oregano 14g £0.62
2 Tesco Value Spaghetti 500g £0.46
5 Tesco Value Chopped Tomatoes 400g £1.05
21 Tesco Value Baked Beans In Tomt/Sauce 420g £4.20
1 Tesco 12 Beef Burgers & Seasoning 681g £2.49
2 Youngs 20 100% Fillet Fish Fingers 500g £2.98(whatever happened to tesco value fish fingers? )
1 Tesco Value White Fish Fillets 800g £1.95
1 Tesco Value Peas 900g £0.98
2 Tesco Thin & Crispy Oven 2kg £2.78
15 Tesco Whole Milk 568ml/1 Pint £6.30 (Buy the smaller bottles even though slightly more expensive as it means DS1 can help himself and not spill it all :rotfl: )
15 Tesco Healthy Eating Semi- Skimmed Milk 1.136ltr/2 Pints £12.00
1 Tesco Value 4 Cheese & Tom Pizza 760g £1.81
2 Tesco Value 10 Singles 170g £1.08
2 Tesco Value Processed Cheese Spread 150g £0.84
2 T Light Choices Extra Light Softcheese 250g £1.62
1 Tesco Value Unsalted Butter 250g £0.85
1 Healthy Living Diced Lamb 307g £4.42
1 Tesco Butter Me Up 1kg 1.72
2 Tesco Value White Full Flavour Cheese £6.56
8 Loose Carrots Class 1 £0.64
5 Cucumber Whole Each £2.25
5 Orange Peppers Loose Each Class 1 £3.40
15 Bananas Loose £1.80
50 Finest Apples Loose £13.00 (The only thing I ever buy "Finest" of as DH just won't eat the others :rolleyes: )
1 Tesco Cabbage Sweetheart Each £0.50
1 Baking 2.5kg Pack Potatoes £2.38
1 Swede Baby 300g £0.59
1 Tesco Value Tomatoes 500g £0.60
1 Value Lemons 500g £0.60 (looking to start buying fruit and veg in Lidl to see if this might make it cheaper)
Value Red Onions 750g 0.59
Also five whole small chickens which don't cost us anything as the in-laws buy us one each week

Obviously there are some things on here eg the frozen white fish, toothpaste etc that will last us more than one month, and some things that we have already from previous months left over, but these should pretty much cancel each other out.
So this totals £217.50, £130.63 of which is food, 86.87 of which is nappies, wipes, baby milk etc
Our month's menu will be ...

35 Main courses - 2 quesadillas + chips, 1 sausage bake, 2 shepherds pie, 5 lemon pasta, 2 fish + pasta bake, 5 tuna tomato pasta, 2 calzone, 5 egg, chips + beans, 2 tomato pasta, 1 corned beef hash, 2 sandwiches + chips, 1 lamb stew + dumplings, 2 pesto pasta, 2 cheesy rice, 1 chicken casserole, 1 colcannon + gravy
25 DH's lunches - 7 chicken sarnies, 8 chicken/BBQ sauce jackets, 4 pesto pasta, 6 jacket + beans
25 My/DS1's lunches - 10 cheese spread sarnies, 5 fish fingers and peas, 5 pizza, 5 beans on toast/beans and sausages
10 Whole family lunches at weekends - 5 burgers, 5 noodles
35 Breakfasts - 30 cereal/toast/OJ, 5 eggy bread on sundays!
Treats - HM flapjacks, krispie cakes or biscuits that I make with DS1

So, sorry again for the ridiculously long post, but any ideas?

mummytofour

Washable nappies and wipes.
Value egss
Thats as far as I have got now!

weezl74

tam21 wrote: »

(Sorry in advance for the vv long post!)

OK, so over the past year I've gone from being a "buy it all ready done and to hell with what it costs" person to a fairly enlightened OSer :T (although I realise quite a few things on my list are still pre-made) but now we've had another baby and the budget is being squeezed even tighter, so I'm hoping that you lovely MSEers can help me shrink my shopping budget even more. I've read lots and lots of the threads on here and taken loads on board, but would really welcome any tips if I post my monthly shopping list and menu list! (The following is for 5 weeks)....


4 Milupa Aptamil Extra Hungry Milk 900g 31.80 (unfortunately buying this as I have to, have had problems this time with bf that I won't go into here but it has left us with this extra expense :mad: )

20 Pampers Baby Wipes Sensitive Refill 63 £23.00(usually get tesco value but these are bogof this month and are easier to use fewer of so work out as cheap for us while on offer)
4 Tesco Easy Fit Pants Junior 38 £27.92(appreciate it's not OS, but hopefully not an expense for much longer as soon as DS1 gets the hang of the potty!)
2 Colgate Advanced Whitening Toothpaste 100ml £2.27(bogof) if own brand toothpaste is cheaper, put a blob of that and then dab the paste into bicarb of soda, it's a great tooth whitener, like arm and hammer brand!
1 Tesco Luxury Soft Toilet Tissue White 4 Roll 964 Sheet £1.88
20 Hovis Best Of Both Medium White 800g £20.00(looking to get a breadmaker soon but need to find an affordable one!)
3 Willow Farm Barn Eggs Large Box Of 12 £7.65(DH resisting my idea of keeping chickens )
1 Discovery Flour Tortillas 320g £1.22 Mrs Mcawbers tortilla recipe is great and you could freeze a whole batch and take out one at a time?
3 Tesco Value Curry Flavour Instant Noodles 65g £0.24
4 Tesco Value Chicken Flavour Instant Noodles 65g £0.32
3 Tesco Value Beans & Sausages567g £1.14
10 Tesco Value Orange Juice 1 Litre Carton £5.80
6 Tesco Malt Wheats 750g £8.04
1 Tesco Bicarbonate Of Soda 200g £0.41
1 Billingtons Demerara Sugar 500g £0.60
3 Tesco Value Green Pesto 190g £2.97
1 Miscellaneous Corned Beef 340g £1.18
1 Tesco Dried Oregano 14g £0.62 if this is something you use a lot of, could you grow a pot on your kitchen windowsill and snip some off each time?
2 Tesco Value Spaghetti 500g £0.46
5 Tesco Value Chopped Tomatoes 400g £1.05
21 Tesco Value Baked Beans In Tomt/Sauce 420g £4.20
1 Tesco 12 Beef Burgers & Seasoning 681g £2.49
2 Youngs 20 100% Fillet Fish Fingers 500g £2.98(whatever happened to tesco value fish fingers? ) Asda still do cheapy ones, 35p a pack!
1 Tesco Value White Fish Fillets 800g £1.95
1 Tesco Value Peas 900g £0.98 (do you like marrowfat peas, like mushy peas, these are 38p for 2 kg at the mo...)
2 Tesco Thin & Crispy Oven 2kg £2.78
15 Tesco Whole Milk 568ml/1 Pint £6.30 (Buy the smaller bottles even though slightly more expensive as it means DS1 can help himself and not spill it all :rotfl: ) keep all this months one pinters, wash them then decant in from a larger one and freeze individually?
15 Tesco Healthy Eating Semi- Skimmed Milk 1.136ltr/2 Pints £12.00
1 Tesco Value 4 Cheese & Tom Pizza 760g £1.81
2 Tesco Value 10 Singles 170g £1.08
2 Tesco Value Processed Cheese Spread 150g £0.84
2 T Light Choices Extra Light Softcheese 250g £1.62
1 Tesco Value Unsalted Butter 250g £0.85
1 Healthy Living Diced Lamb 307g £4.42
1 Tesco Butter Me Up 1kg 1.72
2 Tesco Value White Full Flavour Cheese £6.56
8 Loose Carrots Class 1 £0.64
5 Cucumber Whole Each £2.25
5 Orange Peppers Loose Each Class 1 £3.40
15 Bananas Loose £1.80
50 Finest Apples Loose £13.00 (The only thing I ever buy "Finest" of as DH just won't eat the others :rolleyes: ) does DH like any other fruit???! I'd be tempted to swap to oranges!
1 Tesco Cabbage Sweetheart Each £0.50
1 Baking 2.5kg Pack Potatoes £2.38
1 Swede Baby 300g £0.59
1 Tesco Value Tomatoes 500g £0.60
1 Value Lemons 500g £0.60 (looking to start buying fruit and veg in Lidl to see if this might make it cheaper) I think it is
Value Red Onions 750g 0.59
Also five whole small chickens which don't cost us anything as the in-laws buy us one each week bargain :money::money:

Obviously there are some things on here eg the frozen white fish, toothpaste etc that will last us more than one month, and some things that we have already from previous months left over, but these should pretty much cancel each other out.
So this totals £217.50, £130.63 of which is food, 86.87 of which is nappies, wipes, baby milk etc
Our month's menu will be ...

35 Main courses - 2 quesadillas + chips, 1 sausage bake, 2 shepherds pie, 5 lemon pasta, 2 fish + pasta bake, 5 tuna tomato pasta, 2 calzone, 5 egg, chips + beans, 2 tomato pasta, 1 corned beef hash, 2 sandwiches + chips, 1 lamb stew + dumplings, 2 pesto pasta, 2 cheesy rice, 1 chicken casserole, 1 colcannon + gravy
25 DH's lunches - 7 chicken sarnies, 8 chicken/BBQ sauce jackets, 4 pesto pasta, 6 jacket + beans
25 My/DS1's lunches - 10 cheese spread sarnies, 5 fish fingers and peas, 5 pizza, 5 beans on toast/beans and sausages
10 Whole family lunches at weekends - 5 burgers, 5 noodles
35 Breakfasts - 30 cereal/toast/OJ, 5 eggy bread on sundays!
Treats - HM flapjacks, krispie cakes or biscuits that I make with DS1

So, sorry again for the ridiculously long post, but any ideas?

Hiya, I put some thoughts in green, hope they help!!!

Love weezl x

shelley1977

asda do some malt crunchies(i think thats what there called) 2 for £2 as is some other cereal,i have saved load with the amount i go through.asdas little angels fragrance free baby wipe are nice and they are on offer 6 packs for £5

Pooky

tam21 wrote: »

(Sorry in advance for the vv long post!)

OK, so over the past year I've gone from being a "buy it all ready done and to hell with what it costs" person to a fairly enlightened OSer :T (although I realise quite a few things on my list are still pre-made) but now we've had another baby and the budget is being squeezed even tighter, so I'm hoping that you lovely MSEers can help me shrink my shopping budget even more. I've read lots and lots of the threads on here and taken loads on board, but would really welcome any tips if I post my monthly shopping list and menu list! (The following is for 5 weeks)....


4 Milupa Aptamil Extra Hungry Milk 900g 31.80 (unfortunately buying this as I have to, have had problems this time with bf that I won't go into here but it has left us with this extra expense :mad: ) Ask your health visitor if the milk is available cheaper at a local clinic....always used to be.

20 Pampers Baby Wipes Sensitive Refill 63 £23.00(usually get tesco value but these are bogof this month and are easier to use fewer of so work out as cheap for us while on offer) I used to use a couple of flannels and cotton wool in the house and only have wipes for going out - when I say flannels, they were actually old towels cut down and hemmed - served their purpose well.
4 Tesco Easy Fit Pants Junior 38 £27.92(appreciate it's not OS, but hopefully not an expense for much longer as soon as DS1 gets the hang of the potty!) Crack on with the potty training but use cheap nappies in the day maybe?
2 Colgate Advanced Whitening Toothpaste 100ml £2.27(bogof)
1 Tesco Luxury Soft Toilet Tissue White 4 Roll 964 Sheet £1.88 I always use the value stuff - squash the roll slightly and people don't use so much.
20 Hovis Best Of Both Medium White 800g £20.00(looking to get a breadmaker soon but need to find an affordable one!) Look at dropping to the shops own until you've got a breadmaker?
3 Willow Farm Barn Eggs Large Box Of 12 £7.65(DH resisting my idea of keeping chickens )
1 Discovery Flour Tortillas 320g £1.22 Shops own are normally cheaper and just as nice.
3 Tesco Value Curry Flavour Instant Noodles 65g £0.24
4 Tesco Value Chicken Flavour Instant Noodles 65g £0.32
3 Tesco Value Beans & Sausages567g £1.14
10 Tesco Value Orange Juice 1 Litre Carton £5.80
6 Tesco Malt Wheats 750g £8.04
1 Tesco Bicarbonate Of Soda 200g £0.41
1 Billingtons Demerara Sugar 500g £0.60
3 Tesco Value Green Pesto 190g £2.97
1 Miscellaneous Corned Beef 340g £1.18
1 Tesco Dried Oregano 14g £0.62
2 Tesco Value Spaghetti 500g £0.46
5 Tesco Value Chopped Tomatoes 400g £1.05
21 Tesco Value Baked Beans In Tomt/Sauce 420g £4.20
1 Tesco 12 Beef Burgers & Seasoning 681g £2.49 I make my own burgers - value mince (you need the fat content for burgers) and add some breadcrumbs and egg, some grated carrot and grated cheese. Wrap them in foil and freeze for the next week too.
2 Youngs 20 100% Fillet Fish Fingers 500g £2.98(whatever happened to tesco value fish fingers? )
1 Tesco Value White Fish Fillets 800g £1.95
1 Tesco Value Peas 900g £0.98
2 Tesco Thin & Crispy Oven 2kg £2.78 A large bag of potatoes would be better and make your own chips - cut into chip shape - par boil and then coat with oil and bung in the oven.
15 Tesco Whole Milk 568ml/1 Pint £6.30 (Buy the smaller bottles even though slightly more expensive as it means DS1 can help himself and not spill it all :rotfl: ) Save 1 smaller bottle and rinse it out - decant what he needs and save a few pence.
15 Tesco Healthy Eating Semi- Skimmed Milk 1.136ltr/2 Pints £12.00
1 Tesco Value 4 Cheese & Tom Pizza 760g £1.81 Make your own bases when you get your bread machine or use pitta breads as bases and use your own toppings - tastier and cheaper.
2 Tesco Value 10 Singles 170g £1.08
2 Tesco Value Processed Cheese Spread 150g £0.84
2 T Light Choices Extra Light Softcheese 250g £1.62
1 Tesco Value Unsalted Butter 250g £0.85
1 Healthy Living Diced Lamb 307g £4.42
1 Tesco Butter Me Up 1kg 1.72
2 Tesco Value White Full Flavour Cheese £6.56
8 Loose Carrots Class 1 £0.64
5 Cucumber Whole Each £2.25
5 Orange Peppers Loose Each Class 1 £3.40
15 Bananas Loose £1.80
50 Finest Apples Loose £13.00 (The only thing I ever buy "Finest" of as DH just won't eat the others :rolleyes: ) What variety of apples are they? I'm sure they do a non Finest version of the same variety.
1 Tesco Cabbage Sweetheart Each £0.50
1 Baking 2.5kg Pack Potatoes £2.38
1 Swede Baby 300g £0.59
1 Tesco Value Tomatoes 500g £0.60
1 Value Lemons 500g £0.60 (looking to start buying fruit and veg in Lidl to see if this might make it cheaper)
Value Red Onions 750g 0.59
Also five whole small chickens which don't cost us anything as the in-laws buy us one each week

Obviously there are some things on here eg the frozen white fish, toothpaste etc that will last us more than one month, and some things that we have already from previous months left over, but these should pretty much cancel each other out.
So this totals £217.50, £130.63 of which is food, 86.87 of which is nappies, wipes, baby milk etc
Our month's menu will be ...

35 Main courses - 2 quesadillas + chips, 1 sausage bake, 2 shepherds pie, 5 lemon pasta, 2 fish + pasta bake, 5 tuna tomato pasta, 2 calzone, 5 egg, chips + beans, 2 tomato pasta, 1 corned beef hash, 2 sandwiches + chips, 1 lamb stew + dumplings, 2 pesto pasta, 2 cheesy rice, 1 chicken casserole, 1 colcannon + gravy
25 DH's lunches - 7 chicken sarnies, 8 chicken/BBQ sauce jackets, 4 pesto pasta, 6 jacket + beans
25 My/DS1's lunches - 10 cheese spread sarnies, 5 fish fingers and peas, 5 pizza, 5 beans on toast/beans and sausages
10 Whole family lunches at weekends - 5 burgers, 5 noodles
35 Breakfasts - 30 cereal/toast/OJ, 5 eggy bread on sundays!
Treats - HM flapjacks, krispie cakes or biscuits that I make with DS1

So, sorry again for the ridiculously long post, but any ideas?

I've put some comments in red, but do pop along to Lidl/Aldi and check out what's cheaper for you.

£217 a month isn't that bad really but there are savings to be made.

Use your leftovers wisely and try and incorporate a free meal a week from them if you can, even if it means you're all eating something different.

Hope that helps

gunsandbanjos

Do you bulk up your shepherds pie or other mince dishes with lentils or oats? Its a great cheap way of getting an extra portion or 2 for the freezer as an extra meal.
Does OH need to know if they are not finest apples? Can you remove any evidence that they are value?
Big pot of veggie soup costs very little and is great for lunches.

Penelope_Penguin

Do you have a farm shop or market near you Far cheaper for fruit and veg.

I like to stock up on special offers and reduced items.

Do you eat many veggie meals? I've found that reducing our meat intake is great for both our health and my purse Give me a shout, and I'll point you to some great veggie recipe threads.

Penny. x

lil_me

Make your own tortillas, much nicer!
Refill milk bottles to save on money and the amount of plastic you need
Herbs are easy to grow in pots and smell nice too
Flannels and water are much cheaper and kinder for cleaning babies

Try other shops! Have you got a fruit and veg shop nearby? What about a farmfoods/herons/other discount freezer shop?

narabanekeater

On Saturday the pampers wipes were 99p in superdrug
Also is the baby milk a 1st milk or 6 month+ milk
If its a 6+ month milk you can get points on it at boots
You could do quite a big order online inc wipes and get them home delivered
I bet youd get 3000 points back on a £100 spend easily

lightisfading

do you have an aldi or lidl near you? they're much better for some things, ie tortillas are about 60p and are larger and don't fall apart like the old el paso ones good for low cost low fat wraps for lunch too.. ie filled with salad and some dressing. you also tend to get better quality for the same cost as supermarket 'basics' .. ie tinned toms are about 20p but taste like the premium brands, same with aldi pesto - 99p but the best i've found.

lidl would probably be cheaper for your fruit n veg, as you've mentioned

tam21

Thanks so much for all your replies! Have already knocked some money off the shopping list

mummytofour - My only concern with the value eggs was that I was assuming they were battery which I didn't want to buy, but not 100% sure if that's the case?

weezl - great ideas, thanks! Have just had a look for the marrowfat peas but I couldn't find them - are they in Tesco?

shelley - Cool - I will have a trip to Asda on my way past

pooky - briliant tips, thank you! What sort of amounts do you use for the burgers? (I'm not very intuitive when it comes to cooking :rolleyes: )

gunsandbanjos - Yeah I use loads of lentiles to bulk stuff out (just don't let DH know, he'd think that sounded a bit too veggie lol). I did try masquerading cheaper apples as finest ones but he must have some sort of supernatural apple sense as he wasn't fooled :rolleyes:

penelope - about half the stuff I cook is veggie but DH does like the meatier meals Any links to some good veggie recipe threads would be much appreciated though!

lil_me - Will try to make tortillas I think, gonna look for a recipe on here now. And I had been thinking of growing herbs in pots - do you grow them from seeds or buy them as plants (prob a daft question but I'm not known for my green fingers:D ), and where's a cheap place to get them? Hadn't even thought of using flannels instead of wipes so will def try that

narabanekeater - It's 1st milk, but will bear that in mind in a few months. Can you get tesco clubcard points on the 6+ milk or just Boots?