julicorn's journey

katsoocam · 14 August 2018 at 2:14AM

Hi Julicorn, I just make a list of all the things I have, one list for freezer, one for tins/packets, one for store cupboard stuff (this more for reference for recipes as I don't tend to stockpile mustard :rotfl:). I used squared paper or graph paper and half colour a box for each tin of beans, or chopped toms etc. When I use one I fully colour the square. It saves redoing the sheet every time you shop!
Re Aldi/Lidl they don't have every single thing you want. We find we go to Asda once a month or so for a few bits. There will be somethings you just cannot deal with, like Aldi have a fake Lurpak called norpak - it's yuck. I wait until Lurpak is on offer at Asda and stock up. It's never cheap, but I tried the downshift and I couldn't live with it. Ditto, my husband makes a really nice, great to freeze pasta sauce with Mathesons sausage and I never have found a suitable sub, so when it is on offer elsewhere I get a load and freeze them! Also - some things are a false economy - their shower gel barely froths so Mr Katsoocam just uses twice as much!
However all that said - I think part of the reason you spend less is the reduced choice? Plus as you will discover as you eat you purchases, they do have some lovely tasty stuff :j

julicorn · 14 August 2018 at 8:16AM

Thank you katsoocam! Like you say, I think it will take us a little while to figure out what's good to buy at Lidl/Aldi, but so far I'm already positively surprised with their crazy cheap soy milk (haven't tried it in coffee yet, but it tastes decent on cereal at least

). We seem to currently be operating on the slightly eclectic mix of 'mostly Tesco with a bit of Waitrose and a local Turkish/South Asian store and the occasional disappointing trip to Sainsbury's' (seriously, I swear we have the world's worst-stocked Sainsbury's here, they never have what I want!), so there's clearly some money to be saved

Thanks for the reply about your stock list as well, it's great to see you find it useful! I think this might become our project for today (day 2 of the week off

). I'd want it to be electronic though, so that I can check it at work / on the go, and find even excel a bit clumsy for that. I'll have a look whether I can find some sort of half decent app for it. We always have crazy amounts of ingredients at home (we cook and bake a lot), so it might get out of hand pretty quickly, but there's only one way to find out!

Off to buy a new clothes airer as well because Mr Julicorn's colleague drunkenly fell onto and broke our old one, but that's a story for another time... :rotfl:

greent · 14 August 2018 at 5:03PM

I have a freezer inventory, but not one for fridge/ cupboards. Mine's paper based, though.

I started out at A1di getting just a handful of things (there was a thread on here about what things are good to buy in A1di and L1dl) and sort of went from there. I can't get everything - there are some things not worth compromising on (PGT1ps teabags

) and some things which aren't as nice (A1di's own bbq sauce is just weird) However, we are fortunate that it is over the road from Tesc0, so we used to do most of our shopping in A1di and then go to Tesc0 for any preferred/ missing items. Tesco is my closest smkt (followed by A1di) but I also have a smallish A5da and Sainz (sadly in opposite directions) within a reasonable drive. I mix and match between all 4 of them depending upon what I need to get/ what offers are around (I currently have some £12 off £60 vouchers for Sainz, so will use a couple of those - but in a careful fashion)
x

julicorn · 14 August 2018 at 6:16PM

See, our closest supermarket is a Waitrose (if you don't count the Tesco and Sainsbury's local which are pretty much right on our doorstep). There's a big Tesco a short bus ride away, and pretty much all the other ones are a bit of a mission. Doable, but probably not all the time.

We didn't get round to doing the inventory today, even though I did find an app that I think is worth trying out (it's called Out of Milk or something like that, and looks fairly straightforward). I spent a big chunk of the afternoon making black bean falafels and a carrot, orange & ginger soup - yum! I'm feeling a little under the weather though, but hoping that I'll get over that pretty quickly. Mr Julicorn has gone to meet up with our film-making collective, but I'm sitting this meeting out tonight and just having a nice quiet evening.

greent · 14 August 2018 at 6:38PM

I love Waitrose - but am very glad I don't have one on my doorstep! We have 3 in Gloucestershire, but none of them are in the town I live in! I used to get deliveries from them, though

julicorn · 14 August 2018 at 8:12PM

I love Waitrose too, and am still adamant that it's not as expensive as people make it out to be - but then again, maybe I've been living so close to one for so long that I'm just blinded by the light :rotfl:
To be fair, when shopping for our garden party on Saturday, I saved almost £5 by shopping at Waitrose compared to Tesco, because they had 'essentials' like Pimm's and strawberries on offer.

Maybe that's the key, just keeping an eye on their offers (or only buy things there that you'd need for a 'British' garden party :rotfl: )

MrMFW · 14 August 2018 at 8:54PM

Hey Julicorn,

Thoroughly enjoyed reading your diary so far, when I work out how to subscribe on this mobile then I will!

julicorn · 14 August 2018 at 9:00PM

Thank you MrMFW, that really means a lot! :heart2:

greent · 15 August 2018 at 8:17AM

Oh - I do find Waitrose not too bad - especially when offer shopping - it's just I can get tempted by the lovely things in there which aren't on offer!

julicorn · 15 August 2018 at 8:39AM

Now that is very true! I mean, the sushi counter is dangerous enough as is, but now they've got a whole fixture just full of vegan pies, desserts and ready meals... :rotfl:

julicorn's journey

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