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Butter is £1.19 for 1/2LB in lidls, I buy two packs a week as wellBracelovers wrote: »I do buy 2 blocks of butter a week though. :eek::)
Cheese, check price per Kilo before buying. The special offer may not be the cheapest.
How comes so much milk?? 4 pints on tea and coffee seems a lot0 -
Sorry to hear about your job situation, hope it improves soon.
Chicken - have you tried buying chicken thighs instead of a whole one? Pork - slow roast shoulder? For your leftovers meals, could you add various pulses to stretch them a bit further? Cooking bacon, cheese, eggs can be cheap 'stretchers' too - if you're used to lots of meat I'd suggest using a little for flavour and making it go further with cheaper ingredients.
As regards veg, look out for special offers - there's just been a bit of a price war between lidl/aldi/tesco which might work out cheaper than the frozen ones. Which shops do you have access to? If there's an outdoor market nearby you might find veg cheap there, and the discounters farmfoods/heron/b&m/poundshops can be good value - try making a note of the prices you usually pay and have a wander round anywhere else that's nearby.
Julie.0 -
Bracelovers,
Home made pizzas/savoury flans? If you have plenty of ingredients in your baking cupboard perhaps you could make puff or shortcrust pastry - use a smear of tomato paste & then anything you like eg cooked onions, minced silverskin onions, chopped up bits of your roast meat, grated cheese. Can I also point you towards the ‘Love Food, Hate Waste’ thread. There are some great ideas on there!
My DH & I also use copious amounts of milk for tea/coffee!
I know you said you use beans to bulk out meals, but do you have any pulses like lentils etc? One tip, always grate your cheese it seems to go further - but do not ask me how :rotfl:
Good luck
MrsSDBe Kind. Stay Safe. Break the Chain. Save Lives.2024 Savings Pot Challenge: As a monthly amount, running total = £116.85
Jan £5; Feb £13; Mch £25; Apr £31:65; May £42.20; Jun £??; July £??; Aug £??; Sep £??; Oct £??; Nov £??; Dec £??. Grand Total £??0 -
OP
Maybe hop over to the Debt free wannabe board and post a SOA (statement of affairs).
You'll get lots of advice about cutting your expenditure in all areas, not just food.
You don't have to be in debt to post on there.
It's a very supportive board.0 -
LAUNDRY GLOOP
Grate a bar of cheap soap (own brand stuff). Add 4 litres of boiling water to it. Take off the heat and stir in half a cup of washing soda crystals. Once it's cooled down somewhat (takes a couple of hours or so) then decant into suitable containers.
I still make that myself to use instead of commercial detergent and it's much cheaper. I'm quite gobsmacked by how much packets of detergent are.
I have a huge preserving pan that I find the right size for that much liquid - but I'm guessing you could make shift with a couple of the largest saucepans you have instead.0 -
£10/week/person is easily doable if you open your purse and there's a few coins and that's your lot.
You can eat a varied diet for £10 and still feel you're getting treats and goodies.
Any more than that and you're making an active "choice" to spend more. This means that, somewhere, you're choosing to "overspend" by £30/week more than you need to.
Look at:
- the costs of individual items and if you can buy similar items cheaper
- is there any waste at all?
- portion sizes.
Cutting back is really a perpetual beady eye over what you've eaten, how much that actually cost you and the £value of any waste.
If you mentally set a budget of "£3/day between you" and compare that against the cost of each day's food you'll start to see what you are spending your money on and can then actively choose to stop buying that item, or source something different/cheaper. You can break that budget, but you have to be comparing what you spent with something.
e.g. I could have an organic baked potato, topped with cream, butter and chives.... or I can have a cheaper potato topped with 1/3rd of a tin of own brand baked beans.
Analyse, choose, decide, reduce.
e.g. I could buy a bag of Walkers crisps every day at the shop for 50p, or I could buy a six pack once a week for £1 and "go without" one day.
Know the cost of everything you put into your basket as you're putting it in - and think how adding that ingredient into your dishes might be making them more expensive than required ... and consider putting it back on the shelf. e.g. peppers in a chilli, do you really need them, they're a bit pricey.
Question, query and justify everything you pick up.0 -
Hi Bracelovers,
I'm finding it unclear from your list above how you're managing to hit £50 a week - we're a family of three with two cats and quite often manage to get our shop in at under £30. Why don't you take a snap of your receipt next time you go shopping for us to have a look and give you some ideas?
How long does the chicken last you? With some extra frozen veg to pad out and doing 'rubber chicken' you should be able to make it last 3-4 days e.g. roast on first day (slices of breast each), sandwiches on Monday with more breast, legs and wings lobbed in a curry with lentils for Mon dinner and Tues lunch, then boil up bones and scraps with more veggies for soup on Tues eve and Weds lunch.
Have you had a look at some of the recipes on this board? There are some reaaaally cheap ones. We also do beans on toast for supper once a week. Super cheap, filling, yummy and QUICK!0 -
You sound organised and up for cooking from scratch, so half way there.
If you and your partner both like soup, that is a cheap and filling way to get a lot of meals out of whatever veg are on offer. You can make it as spicy as you like; if you do like spicy food invest in a packet of chilli seeds and grow them on sunny windowsills and you can always make cheap meals more interesting. I hope you find the garden good stress relief too.They are an EYESORES!!!!0 -
Struggle to see how you hit £50 a week a Lidl.. especially with what you've said so far.
I do a shop every week at Aldi and for 2 of us its in the region of £35 every week, with no top up shops unless we have a change of plans (and more guests!)
we have a roast every week, but will buy fresh mince (1kg usually) and this will make about 4-5 meals. We bulk everything out with veg - have it maybe twice in a week and freeze the rest for another day.
decide on meals for the week, and only buy what you need for them. i thought my shop of £35 a week was too much, until i realised what the big supermarkets cost!
good luck, i know it can be daunting but the own brand items are just as tasty.0 -
I'm ashamed to admit I frequently get to £60/week in Lidl and I live on my own. It was nearly £90 this week as I struggled to resist the tent.Struggle to see how you hit £50 a week a Lidl.. especially with what you've said so far.
I don't do ready meals ( unless they are reduced to under £1) apart from the occasional frozen pizza
I also don't have breakfast or lunch most days- need to lose weight
I'm continually amazed by these posts of people who manage 3 meals a day for a whole family on less than I spend on myself.0
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