Need to reduce shopping bill....Hi ladies,

[oliviarose]

Hi ladies,

I am needing help to reduce my shopping bill... We are a family of 4 (soon to be 5) and we could really do with cutting down to save us some money...

Now I don't spend a huge amount on shopping (maybe £70-£80 per week), but I still feel this is too much and we could cut it down a little..... I shop around to try and get the best deals (Morrison, Home Bargains and Aldi).... We also don't have many 'branded items' usually supermarkets own or value brand.... And I cook from scratch where I can....

What meals do you ladies cook and what brand of items/cuts of meat to you buy. What do you do about treats? What breakfast/lunches do you have...

I am really wanting to take the 12 months mat leave, so I really need to start putting money away now for when I am bringing in no money... We currently cannot cut any of our bills down, they are as low as we can get them... Should hopefully reduce some of the during the first few months of the new year...

Thanks ladies.....

 

[xcharx]

When I make lasagna I use sainsburys cheap pasta sauce as the red sauce & then make my own cheese sauce (butter,flour,milk & cheese) .
I use the sainsburys cheap pasta sauce in spaghetti bol aswell and add my own herbs & spices to give it flavour.
We do the same as you, the only brand stuff we buy is fairy washing up liquid, heinz beans,toothpaste, some cereal,detergent & powder and crisps

Cx

 

[kristel_]

It sounds like you do quite well with the food. What do you do about toiletries/t-roll/washing detergent/fabric conditioner/nappies/wipes/washing up liquid etc? Best thing to do with them is wait and buy in bulk, i mean loads, it won't go off, whenever one of the supermarkets have some excellent offers on. We've saved a fortune doing this! I think i last bought baby wipes around 6 or 7 months ago! and we've still got about 8 boxes of 9 packets!!

 

[lola_90]

Online shopping? At least that way you only buy exactly what you need and can keep an eye on spending!

I went shopping today and only took £10 with me and with that i managed to buy

4 loaves of bread
2 tins of tuna
1 jar of mayonnaise
12 pack of crisps
1 packet of spaghetti
2 packets of pasta
1 mozeralla
1 bar of chocolate
1 bottle of squash
1 bottle of coke
1 tube of toothpaste

Bit of a random list but was mostly stuff we needed! And i took a basket as well, I went for own brand or smart price versions.

For me if i go into the supermarket and only have have two things to buy i end up spending £30 on my card and coming out with 4 bags of stuff! So i have been recently just taking a basket and withdrawing cash and writing a list. Has definitely helped!

Meal plan as well, I look in the cupboards and freezer and fridge first to see what we have, then I think about what foods could go with that.

Dinners for us are normally things like, mushroom and chicken risotto, spaghetti and chilli prawns, pasta and meatballs, chicken katsu curry, shephards pie, chicken tikka in pitta bread with chips, turkey and spinach curry and rice, jerk chicken and rice, roast chicken, fish pie, homemade pizza etc

We hardly ever buy takeaway food or go out for dinner, maybe once every 2-3 months and this helps a lot. If we fancy a nice meal we sometimes do the dine in for two for £10 with m+s, or we buy a few things of the pre-marinated meat and do a bbq

Breakfast for us can be just toast, sometimes cereal or if really hungry scrambled eggs on toast, normally with a piece of fruit and a glass of juice.

Lunch is normally, sandwich with crisps and yoghurt, baked potato, pasta salad, soup etc

Since being pregnant i can easily eat a packet of biscuits in one go, so to save money i just buying the cheapest ones, same with chocolate, normally eat a bit less of it as it isn't as nice as galaxy!

Hope some of that helps!

 

[honey08]

i need to cut back aswell but dnt know where , i buy wipes/nappies on offer, own brand morrisons things / iceland for frozen stuff , we eat chicken dinners/ spag bol / fish and chips / tuna,pasta mayo / pizza / fish fingers and chips / burgers and chips .... we never ever get a take away but i still manage to spend £80 a wk on food shopping

whats cheap2make but a decent meal ? morrisons do a lasagne for 2 but big enough for 2adults 1child there £3 plus chips ... i think thts cheap dnt u ?x

edited ... dinner time we just have sarnies/jacket potato etc :/

i also cook all my babies meals frm dinners weve had x

 

[baby_mama87]

I definitely need to cut back lately! I'm spending around £50 a week for two of us as LO isn't even eating yet I found I spent less when I did a meal planner. I know it's really boring but if you write down what your cooking each night for dinner it definitely helps then I just worked out spare bits for Breakfast such as pack of bacon/Sasauges and something for OH packed lunch Cooked meat etc

Xx

 

[Redhead84]

Do you have a market near you?

We have one locally every Saturday. We made a deal with the fruit and veg man that we go down with a box and fill it with whatever we want for £7.

It gets us our entire lot of fruits and veg, and eggs, for the week and saves us quite a bit

 

[Lucasmum]

I like to go to Asda between 6-7pm there is always lots of reduced meat, we always buy reduced stuff, so long as it goes in the freezer its fine, we save a lot of money this way

 

[Foogirl]

For meat, buy bigger packs and split and freeze them or cook big batches and freeze those.

 

[RedRose]

Yes fruit and veg markets are great if you have one near you.

Also, get some decent 1 portion size tupperware boxes and freeze leftovers- then when you are low on stuff/money you should be able to bodge together something.

 

[maryp0ppins]

I shop around.
For instance this week im getting chicken breasts and salmon fillets from co-op,both are on half off offer.
Saimsburys has big boxes of laundry detergent on sale for £10 instead of £20 so im going to get one of those even tho we dont need it atm! I also collect necter points and use those when they add up. The first thing i do when i go into sainsburys is buy 1 item and go thru the self checkout and swipe my necter card,almost always get a voucher back for £8 off a £40 shop so go and use that right away to do the shop.

 

[Foogirl]

Oh, that's a great tip. It always annoys me when they give you a voucher off 30 quid of shopping when you've just bought 30 quid of shopping. Just take it off the 30 quid of shopping I've just bought!

 

[omfgski]

.

 

[oliviarose]

Thanks for all of the replies ladies... Sorry I haven't been back sooner, had a busy few days at work....

Thank you for all of your advice..... Alot of what you said I do.... I cook from scratch and only use supermarket and basic brands... Washing powders/conditioners/baby wipes/nappies I buy when on offer, so they don't come out of my weekly budget... I haven't bought washing powder since christmas, LOL.... I also never buy bread full price, me and my mum always go to sainsburys on a Sunday now to get bread and any other reduced bits...... I try to buy reduced stuff when I can, but I always seem to miss the bargains and it is hard to get to the supermarket too late as DS is usually in bed and DH is usually working till late.... But I get it when I can.. My freezer is nicely stocked up at the mo with lots of reduced meats though.... I should start going to the market to get my fruit and veg though, as when I go past when I am in town I am amazed at the price of some of the stuff... I also don't meal plan which I should really start doing... I do a rough meal plan in my head, but never put it down on paper... I also shoudl really write a shopping list, as I always get tempted with things once I am there.. OH always takes left overs for his lunch for work, so we can never put anything in the freezer for a spare meal.... I think I need to make a specific day for shopping too, I just shop whatever day I can (the joy of working different days each week!)...

Thanks again ladies, I have lots to think about and try and do now... I am going to go through the freezer and cupboards to see what we have and plan a meal plan around that....

Keep the ideas coming though ladies

 

[dizzydoll]

I 100% recommend meal planning!
Since we started that we've been saving loads of money.
I go through the freezer and cupboards on a Tuesday and see what we have. i plan as much as I can from what we already have and then go through offers in shops around from leaflets I've gotten.
I write out a strict shopping list then with what I need and what shops I need to go to and stick to it

We've managed to cut our bill right down by just doing that and we aren't wasting food at all either

 

[Blah11]

i spend about £100-150 !