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: Have you changed your shopping/cooking habits because of the credit crunch?
(109 messages)
on shopping more generally - I saved £15 a month by pulling my finger out and changing my mobile phone contract to one that actually suited how I used it.
Last week I used potatoes that were practically taking root in the fridge. They were the creamiest spuds ever! and I didn't add anything to them! Normally, I'd have binned them.
I'm going to start shopping at 8pm in future too...heading for the reduced cabinet.
I'm digging at the back of my freezer and using stuff that has been there far too long. I've cut down on amounts I serve and if I think Dd 21months may not eat two weetabix(well ~ the basics equivalent), then I only put out 1 and give her more if she is still hungry. The bargain I set with Ds about these basic weetabix was that he could have 4 as they are slightly smaller...I've cut him down to three now. I often only have 2. I'm making home made soups again now and using up left overs with more conviction. Catering for my family on just £25 a week has done it for me. Not sure how long I can make the freezer contents last and once it's all gone, it'll get so much worse for us
The arguements have gone up in our house because I find myself berating DH when he has seconds of anything now..his seconds are another meal for me of the kids later on if put in the fridge.It used to be an argument about DH's health but was only light hearted.Now its a more serious argument about finances and making things stretch further
On the upside the credit crunch coupled with my ever expanding arse inspired me to do a month long detox in September, no booze, chocolate, crisps, low carbs and mostly eating salad, steamed veg and sometimes steamed fish or chicken.This saved me lots of money on food (and my daily Starbucks)and also have lost nearly a stone I feel much better and am going to keep it up (if not quite so stringently).(Also except last night when we went out and had a few too many..but that was a one off )
Yes, now we have a very careful planned menu in which we aim to get 3/4 or more meals from every meat purchase and never throw away anything from the veggie box.
Still go to our brilliant butcher as meat is better value over the whole week than Lidl - but I did check them out and they are only worth it if you want flashfry type meat - but see above
Mutton chops! a great bargain.
Making own cleaning products
Reusing foil and clingwrap, and freezer bags. No more wipes; much washing of dishcloths.
Much more mending/darning of uniforms.
All biscuits/puddings are now homemade and as freegan as possible -eg we've all been out in the hedgerows harvesting the haws, blackberries and crabapples
I make bread for us all, buy flour in sacks (cheaper that way)
At least two veg only meals every week, and many others where meat is almost a flavouring.
No eating out at all. Anywhere. No drinking out either, not even coffee.
No holidays for the forseeable
All this has cut the food and household bill by 30-40%
We've just moved back to London from the US and I am currently revelling in the delights of a British supermarket - so no, not much has changed for us (if anything we are buying more, as we're so excited about seeing British brands again).
We do a weekly shop at Sainsburys for the basics and heavy stuff, then I often pick up the protein part of that night's dinner from Waitrose on my way home.
I can't see us ever having veggie meals on a regular basis as we're both dedicated carnivores...and still plenty of wine being drunk here too.
This recession I have been mostly shopping at Aldi - it's fab. But do top-up shopping at Morrisons (it's near where I work) and the co-op corner shop at the bottom of the road.
still shopping at waitrose but have cut down hugely on brands - buying the basic own brand stuff instead; cut down meat - not in terms of regularity but quantity - packing it eg with lentils as per the OP. (pleasantly suprised at the meat-lentil hybrid spag bol. dds didn;t notice and it was very nice and healthier.), cutting the amount of organic but won't cut free-range. have always used bogofs and offers on non-perishables(mainly because I do the self-scanning thing and it bleeps at you to tell you about them)
given up on high-end dept store type toiletries and cosmetics (but was never that big on them and I think that's an age/coming to my senses thing)
cut down on cafe treats - we have two afternoons where one dd has a school club and the other doesn't - used to regularly spend a fiver on coffee for me and hot choc and cake for said dd. again I think that's down to coming to my senses - I always knew it was ridiculous and just the general atmosphere of prudence has made me stop taking the path of least resistance on that one.
We do still spend quite a lot on food in spite of being veggie and wasting very little, and I think it's all a question of balance: we still buy organic and get our main shop from our local wholefood shop (that delivers free of charge). We continue to drink organic milk - from the milkman. I know it would be cheaper to get milk from a supermarket and our fruit & veg eg from the market, but we've not stopped being concerned about pesticides and feel it's important to have food that tastes good. We also have no desire to see the wholefood shop go out of business, and we're keen to do our bit in helping the milkman keep going.
I always take a pack up to work (and dh does if he can be bothered to make it!), but the dc's continue to have school dinners - in spite of complaints about "mush". This is because neither of them is keen on sandwiches (whenever we go on holiday & have regular picnics they complain after a few days) and we both consider that we don't have the inclination to put our energies into making varied pack ups as well as a daily meal from scratch - except when we're eating up leftovers (eg today, when I eked out some leftover stir fry with the addition of some fresh sweetcorn, marrow, extra mushrooms and cucumber).
And we don't exactly plan menus but buy seasonal food, which tends to be cheaper and tastier, and use up what we've got so that by the end of the week we're often scraping the bottom of the barrel to put together a "sensible" meal.
It has to be said that we're eating out less too - and drinking less wine, which is a great shame...
Still shopping with Ocado but choosing bogofs and cheaper menus (we were pretty frugal anyhow). Taking packed lunch in to work now with marmite and cottage cheese featuring prominently <bleee> Contemplating fattening up dd for Christmas
Now I do take advantage of BOGOF offers, or 2 for £2 or whatever. Rather than have a set shopping list, I tend to shop by broad category and then look for things on offer. Then I'll build meals around them. Kind of meal planning in reverse. We hardly waste a thing so it does work. There's nothing wrong with BOGOF as long as you buy instead of something else and not aswell as.
Buying far more from Lidl, have cut shopping at Waitrose right down (although we still get fruit and veg from there - look for discounts though). I love Lidl for cleaning products, loo roll, squashes, dairy stuff.
Do a regular shop at Wilko's for pet food, cleaning stuff, tolietries etc. Rarely shop at Boots now; use Superdrug/ Bodycare/ Savers instead.
I still don't meal plan, as I just don't have the time (or the inclination tbh). Shop almost daily, therefore hardly any food waste.
don't fall for the bogof, because it aint necessarily something you would relaly want anyway. eggs from local suppliers - free range and loads cheaper.
definitely find i am wasting less. keep apples in the fridge. none are now thrown away.
we never have takeaways anyway. i always take a sarnie to work, as does dh and dc have packed lunches. home baking. search here for good advice on cheap meals
I agree it's not about the credit crunch (which still sounds like a bankers breakfast to me) . Personally in the last six months I've started to look seriously on wasted food and making sure we do use up the leftovers instead of chucking them - it's terrible that we throw away one in three bags of shopping as a nation.
I have a planned menu, which means we end up eating everything we've bought and have a near-empty fridge by the end of the week: so less waste.
I also go straight to the bargain aisles at supermarkets; shop at times of day when there are bargains to be had, and buy as much as poss from local greengrocers/ markets instead of overpriced Mr Sainsbury's .
I still buy lots of dark choc though - except that I buy it in bulk when they have lots of good reductions !!
I haven't read the whole thread so no doubt someone else has said this, but I'd like to remind the Press Association, the Conservative party and anyone else who continues to perpetuate the myth..
Rising food/fuel prices have nothing to do with the credit crunch. Unless you have already lost your job or you funded day to day living from credit cards, your rising bills are not caused by the credit crunch!!
But in answer to the question, we are cutting back on everything currently, but that's because I've taken a pay cut in return for a permanent job and our heating costs have gone through the roof just before winter - nowt to do with the credit crunch. We now have less than £200 a month to spend on our food, toiletries and household stuff and it's a challenge.
I have started planning an entire month's menus and then bulk buying online - I only buy vegetables and milk locally now, apart from the stuff I buy from the health food shop. This has less to do with the credit crunch (hasn't affected us at all yet TBH) but more a general feeling that there was too much wastage and not enough saving in our household economy generally.
Switched from Waitrose to Sainsburys. Tried Aldi once and it was dreadful, especially fruit and veg, so haven't gone back. Meal plan more. Never buy lunch, always make it. No coffees out.
Lidl sausages were a pleasant surprise, 95% pork and about 50p a pack cheaper than the finest/ extra special etc ones.
I also always buy my hotdogs from Lidl, the bockwurst in jars contain 85% pork compared to the rubbish in tins from the supermarket that are mostly mechanically recovered chicken.
Other stuff like cured meats and cheeses are good from there too. I also buy my orange juice cartons (5 for 89p) and bottles of water (6 for 109p) there for packed lunches.
Meal planning. Bulk cooking and freezing. Packed lunches. Also simpler teas midweek - scrambled eggs, mushrooms, soups, beans etc all in there somewhere. We prob only have meat once a week so I try and make it something decent however some weeks it will have to be chilli or shepherds pie as mince is cheaper. Try also to have fish once a week, usually white fish or prawns, as prawns are cheeeaaap-oh here (I don't feel bad gloating as they are the only cheap food thing we have really!). On a shopping day I'll go to the "eat it now before it shrivels" shelf and pick up something for tea that day and hopefully lunch next day too.
Am using lots of moresoup traditional recipes too, as they are good at bulking out basic ingredients with storecupboard stuff, and can usually be multiplied up to make extra for freezing eg crumbles, stews, casseroles, soups, hotpots, etc.
And any veg kicking around at the end of the week makes Mummy's Special Miscellaneous Soup.
Our average weekly spend on food/household was somewhere between £100 - £140. This last week I spent £35.71 (I kept receipts and checked them). On October 1st I got everything out of the kitchen cupboards and made a list of what was in the freezer and fridge and meal planned for every single meal this month bar two lunches (when we've got visitors coming to town and they might rather eat out than have lentil soup!). I have never ever meal planned before and generally we used to just eat what we fancied. This month we're not planning to buy any biscuits, cakes, crisps and snacks and sadly no ready meals and no alcohol.
Our income hasn't changed nor have our outgoings (we have no mortgage) so we're doing this really as an exercise in restraint. I know that sounds a bit hairshirt/martyrish and unnecessary, but anything could happen and we'd like to know that we can live frugally and sensibly (also, we might be able to save more for DS). This whole economic crisis seems less scary if it we know we can handle it IYKWIM. We're lucky that this isn't as essential for us to exist on a tight budget as it is for some people - at the moment.
Meal planning, less meat, no organic, cheap chicken (sorry Hugh). Dh has cheap and nasty beer and I only drink if I go out (just cannot face cheap vodka!). DD has always eaten well, never ready meals/chick nuggets etc.
Bulk out curries/chilli with veg. Use more mince beef if need meat, also stews/soups from leftovers.
Were doing more home grown but now we have moved we cannot.
I suppose really going back to how my mother used to feed 5 kids on 1 wage - and we are all very fit and healthy. Back to basics doesn't have to mean feeling hard done by - just spending more time in the kitchen. The only added pressure for me has been time.
Have rediscovered Morrisons Am eating cheap fish and have learned to fillet a sardine. Am buying organic veg only if for the kids. On Halloween, will be encouraging DS to demand cash instead of poxy haribo.
I've always been careful with my shopping. I don't buy sweets (just very occasional treats), alcohol (only when we are having visitors), never buy ready made food (I'm used to cooking from scratch). So nothing different.
The only thing that has changed is that I am buying less organic produce.
yes we have had to change our habits as I am still sticking to the same budget which does not go as far as it used to. Our costs have gone up across the board - food, fuel, etc etc and we have also come to the end of our mortgage fixed rate and remortgaged. In the meantime I am on maternity leave and our income has reduced.
I have always meal planned.
This week I did the first shop at Asda (on line). We were always Sainsbury's before. We get no organic food etc now,apart from organic meat and milk. Before we were almost totally organic.
Our meal plans now have less chicken (we never had alot of meat). There are more veggie meals.
I have started baking more such as muesli bars when I bought them before.
I did try some of the sainsbury's basic range, but didn't find it worth it (fruit went bad quicker, there were only 6 sheets on a kitchen roll etc )
Now get all cleaning bits from Aldi, including dishwashertabs, loo rolls, kitchen towels. Plus big bags of pasta, basmati rice, parmessan, sundried tomatoes, their version of Lurpak spreadable, and tinned tomatoes. I do this once a month.
Meal plan and batch cook, cook from scratch.
Weekly delivery from Sainsburys, with cereal fresh vegies, fruit etc.
Meat from fantastic local butcher but only 3 - 4 times a week.
Still buy organic / free range meat, cheese , milk and eggs, don't think I could change this.
Total monthly shopping bill down by about £100, per month, why didn't I do this earlier?
I'm going to change a few things because it's getting ridiculous.
Pack of organic butter is just over £1. Anchor spreadable is £2.26. That's what's annoying me this week.
I have been making pots of soup for Sunday lunch, to eat with bread and cheese. No more fancy meals. I am enjoying not sepdning so much time cooking as well.
I have stopped our weekly Ocado delivery. I was just so cross that they raised their delivery charges just as the credit crunch hit. It can be up to £8 to get a good delivery slot and that is just rude when they charge so much for their food already.
I now brave Sainsburys each weekend and I look out for offers more than I did before.
I noticed yesterday in ASDA ( where I now shope more often than before) that it was FULL, like Xmas eve, on a Sunday afternoon in Ocotber, when I can usually pop in and out in five mins. Visit Waitrose only for forgotten essentials now, not full shop, and have not been to Sainsburys for yonks. Buy much less in the way of processed food now, or 'whim' buys like guacolome for no specifc meal that used to end up in the bin past sell-by-date. till only buy organic meat, but from a friend's farm, not the supermarket, and the organic milk for the Dc will be that last thing to go...
We have ditched the supermarket, apart from once a month to stock up on things like washing powder. Otherwise, shopping more locally. And much less cooking - we are much more likely to have a sandwich or eggs on toast (eggs from our chickens) than we were, rather than a 'cooked' meal. Also not putting on the heating, can't buy ds2 any shoes till next month, not eating out, not buying ANYTHING that isn't essential.
Not really,we are lucky we are still doing Waitrose and Sainsburys, not eating out as much but so far that is about it.
But to quote DH, food is a hard habit to crack.
I will tell you what is a very worthy excercise, make a list. Try to stick to it,when you get to the checkout, put through all the things that were not on the list first, then get them to do a sub-total you will be shocked at how much the extras add up to. We did this after DS was born and we were totally skint.
I have changed a lot of things, although the changes aren't actually necessary at the moment - but I'm fearful for the future. As a self employed market researcher, I don't know if clients are going to carry on commissioning research, or if this is one of the first things that they will cut.
And DH works for a division of RBS, that they are trying to sell, (which has been going on for a fair while now), so he is also not entirely sure about his future. And as we're older (49 and 50) than many on this board we also have to consider how employable we might be.
I have stopped shopping online with Ocado. They introduced a delivery fee and, when I realised that my weekly shop was easily reaching £200 I decided it was time to stop. I now meal plan and have gone back to Sainsbury (no Lidl/Aldi/Netto convenient to me otherwise I would be going there!). I am experimenting with Basics foods, and am (mostly) very impressed with the quality. Today I bought Basics salmon fillets - the same as the TAste the Difference ones in every way except that the sizes of the pieces are more random. Responsibly sourced and RSPCA freedom food - but £1.50 cheaper per pack.
We eat more vegetarian meals and when I buy meat I stick to cheaper (but still tasty) cuts. I used to regularly buy free range chicken breasts, pork fillet and fillet steak, but that's a real rarity these days.
I try not to nip out for a few bits and pieces - which always ends up costing another £30!
My weekly shop is now usually around £40-50 cheaper than it was - although occasionally I splurge on various impulse bits.
Things we haven't changed - Friday night is takeaway night, and we go out for dinner on Sunday evening.
We haven't. We had already cut back a few years ago so we could renovate our house. We finished that in the summer, so now woth prices rising, we are doing okay because we are no longer spending at B and Q. Also, DH's student loan just finished so that has helped.
I still internet shop from ocado but I do meal plan and only buy what we need. Have reduced my food bills by about £50. I never go to starbucks, there isnt one near anyway and have given up gym memberships in favour of walking up the Derbyshire hills and mucking out 2 horses every morning. Just as good a workout as the gym but a lot smellier .
Yes. It has all changed. Used to use Morrisons, now use Lidl every week. We have less snacks/treats. The meals are made of whatever is cheapest which is not always the healthiest option.
Still shop at Waitrose, but are making conscious efforts to menu-plan better, and do a bit of nose to tail eating! But not really, food will be the last thing to go for us.
Yes - it's had a big impact on our weekly budget as our mortgage and gas and electricity has gone up so much that we're much worse off than a year ago - worked out that we have nothing left over at all after bills and get more into debt each month. [scared face]
meal plan every week now. Meat - down to once a week, sometimes twice. Fish - used to eat it every week but now it's more like once a month. Buy value brands of tinned tomatoes, beans etc. No longer buy organic / fair trade etc - whatever is cheapest. Cut out treats. No school dinners and packed lunch scaled back to sandwich and an apple. No longer buy cartons of juice for packed lunches - instead refill a small bottle.
Still shop at Waitrose and Ocado. However, as DH isn't a meat eater we don't eat a very expensive diet - organic mince for 50 meatballs for the children isn't going to break the bank. Whenever I look on the supermarket comparison site to see if I could shop cheaper elsewhere, the supermarkets they list are either the same price as Waitrose or don't stock similar goods. If Lidl sell Puy lentils I might be tempted to go there, but I'm not going to be swayed by offers on frozen pizza and soft drinks and biscuits because I don't buy them anyway.
we have changed things - but more to cut waste. so have started meal planning that cut out £30 per week have just meal planned and internet shopped combined and that cut another £20 so we are now £50 per week better off. I will not give up going to the local butchers.
- we are down to meat (still freerange, lovingly reared, etc) 3x a week, and I am generally using cheaper cuts - leftovers get recycled into future meals (soup quite often, as I work and am not always wildly creative) - of our veggie meals, at least 1 main meal per week is vegan for adults (not for the sprogs, though - I'm not nutritionally aware enough to come up with a balanced vegan meal for two toddlers)
Possible future changes as things worsen: - abandoning Ocado for cheaper grocery delivery (unless DH or I are downsized, in which case we'll delivery will go out the window in favour of Aldi/Lidl) - more vegan food for adults, but no dietary change for children - abandoning freerange/organic meat & eggs and farmhouse cheeses as an absolute last resort
Things that haven't changed: I've always mealplanned, cooked from scratch, and made use of leftovers. May have to look into planting courgettes in the window boxes, though.
see i can buy a large pizza for 99p from tesco - this feeds two adults - with a few chips.
i am failing to see how i could make it cheaper - even if iwere inclined to do so.
baking your own bread cant be cheaper than buying a mid range brand.
i haven't changed the cc hasn;t affected me - have noticed the price of food going up - pasta particularly. but it might be an extra £10 per week or something.
Got an allotment, but seems to be a bit of a money pit at the moment
Other than this, have been making more of an effort to make ingredients go further - if making veg pasta bake, will freeze half as we tend to eat what's in the casserole dish!
Buy things that are on offer and freeze...
Oh, and hang around friends houses around meal time and look hungry
I have started to shop twice a week so I don't waste as much. Buying fresh when I need it. I always menu plan so that helps. So spreading the cost more and making the shop last longer. Looking in the back of the cupboard and using up the tins and jars to complete meals. Not making do, but making it go further yes.
We eat less meat and cheaper fish. We buy less from Waitrose and more from local shops. We cut down on imported fruit and veg as they are more expensive. We bake our own bread and biscuits and make curries from scratch. We eat more pasta, eggs, and cut down on eating out.
Make most things from scratch - curries and home-amde naan bread, home-made pizzas etc. Also, if the oven's on for one thing, sausages for example, then cook everything else in the oven too, so veg wrapped in foil or roasted, potatoes in the oven etc.
definitely. I try to go to the shops less, meal plan more, look more closely, as "bargains" usually aren't, I look lower than eye level on shop shelves, have been buying cheaper bread, bulk buying pasta, stocking up on bogofs for staple foods like tinned tomatoes etc and trying to buy less meat. Has it made us eat more healthily? not yet
we meal plan and stick to it, more home baking cooking. Used fruit veg from the garden, used blackberries from the wild. Less meat. Only have a raost dinner every other week.
i have tried, bought fruit from sainsburys instead of m and s last week and dd and dh wont eat it.will buy items on offer from tesco.also m and s have started reducing items so will plan meal around what they have.
I meal plan sometimes. I have gone down a brand level in some things but refuse to ditch organic milk. I switched from organic to free range in eggs a while ago and now get a tray of eggs from the farm shop for £2 and a big bag of puds for £6. They have gone up from £5 in the last month. I don't buy biscuits and never bought cakes anyway. The kids are having some strange variation meals to use things up rather than having them go to waste.
I've started going to Aldi 3 weeks in 4. I still go to Asda in the 4th week to stock up on things that you can't get in Aldi. We'd already switched from Sainsbury's to Asda last year.
Not really, we have always had to be quite careful. I suppose our impulse buys have reduced a bit and dh is more willing to go without meat now it costs more but that's it really.
i am now meal planning more and using up more leftovers- eg tonight;s tea is home made chicken soup from yesterday's roast chicken- previously would have thrown carcas in bin. reason is more expensive food rather than less access to credit though.
Have been meal planning more and like lots of you work with what's on offer .I also try and buy reduced things if i know i'll use them in time. I have been buying loads more own brand things in Asda and am amazed at how good some of it is .Dp moans but can't actually tell the difference if i hide the fact.Have saved a fortune on things like cleaning products and toiletries. Another way i have saved money is by going without the kidies well apart from the baby but at 4 weeks she hasn't mastered pester power yet. I would quite easily go without meat but Dp doesn't consider a meal a meal without it iyswim.There are 5 of us (though baby not eating yet ) and i spend about 100 a week.God knows how much it'd be if i didn't watch the pennies.
The only shop that sells anything resembling food is a Premier attached to a petrol garage 4 miles away.
In the town, about 11 miles away, there's a small Co-op and a Somerfield.
We go over the loch once a month to a Lidl and a Tesco for basics and staples like rice, couscous, pasta and tinned foods like olives, mackerel and tomatoes, and dried pulses and soup mixes.
Otherwise, we get meat from the butcher, fish from a fishmonger or a van that comes through from Loch Fyne on Tuesdays and veg from the farmer's market on Wednesdays.
There is no internet delivery of food out here and only one restaurant, which is expensive and has limited opening hours, for miles, so all food has to be made at home - lots of cheese toasties and jacket tatties for a quickness when you can't be bothered.
We have quite a few kitchen gadgets, including an air popcorn maker and yoghurt maker, and they all get a lot of use.
Our diet has been about 80% veg for some time now, and snacks and sweets are baked or made here at home.
I never meal plan. Just don't see the point in it for us.
Instead we make sure teh cupboards are always stocked with the basic ingredients to spin out a quick meal.
I started making changes a while back when there was lots of talk of times becoming hard.. mostly because I wanted to pay off debts with interest rates.. I now
1 shop monthly in tesco ~£80, this includes all meat, milk and household goods for the month weekly trip to market for fruit and veg each week ~£6-8 I take lunches to work I eat out a lot less (from 1 or 2 times a week to 1-2 times a month)
We probably are eating healthier as I'm cooking & baking more and I have so much more time than I used to have.
Next month I plan to do my monthly shop online so hopefully reduce it even more
More meal planning. Was fairly skint before, but:- LIDL nappies when we buy sposies, less meat, no take out pizzas (which was an occasional treat), packed lunches for me using left over sunday roast rather than canteen at work More cheap stuff like pasta and potatoes and no expensive fish for a while. Might have to loose the milkman soon. And own brand in ASDA for everything.
We have changed where we shop from Tesco or Morrissons to Lidl and Aldi. We buy less crisps / sweets / 'posh' biscuits. I bulk out things such as curries with lentils and veg to make the meat go further. We hardly ever drink alcohol at home now (before we would buy a couple of bottles of wine a week). I buy less convenience food and make my own sauces etc. I buy less ready made baby food and make it mostly myself now (before I would have used 4 or 5 jars a week to save time).
We were pretty frugal anyway as I hate wasting food, we don't eat much meat as a family and I already grew some of our own vegetables.
The only big change is that our weekly organic fruit and veg box had to go, as the local place where it came from has gone out of business due to horrendous weather and ever-increasing costs .
Oh yes and the organc box went- only organic here now is for baby.
The box was good in that prices rose very slowly compared to the shops, but the boys treated them like a free for all and cold wolf the contents i about 20 minutes
We're eating much the same but I make more from scratch, which might please the jamie o brigade but we eat well and healthy anyway so just causes a rise in my workload!
did grow tomatoes but the mad neigbour poisoned them - will do again next year but hidden from her barmy view. Enjoyed doing it though and looking forward to planning next years crops.
On the not so good front I have had to cut back on a lot of the specialist foods ds1 needs to optimise his health- gluten free stuff etc, it's just so expensive!.
Mostly i've cut back on my stuff and I eat leftovers for lunch etc.
yes. i make some big bit of meat on sunday which goes into sandwiches for dh lunch during the week. i now make all of our bread rather than just occasionally and eat no meat at least twice a week.
Yes we have been buying a lot more own brand prducts.
Go to Lidl and Aldi too.
If I do an online shop I look for what is on offer and plan around that.
Never go to the supermarket to do a "top up" - if we run out of milk we buy it from the Spar so we save fuel and don't buy what we don't need whilst we are there.
i have stopped ordering from organic delivery (but have started purchasing at an organic grocer, the cost difference is i dont over order)
i dont go to starbucks as much - its a good reason to quit the high sugar useless drinks! but i still buy coffees at the bar at work, they are 1.75 as opposed to 2.70 at starbucks
i try to indulge less. i usually buy stuff to try or for fun, and now i stick to what i know we eat. i can for now still allow myself to purchase what i want and need, but the whole psychology of the credit crunch makes you more concsious of your unnecessary spending...
I tend to buy a bigger chicken or extra mince etc so i get 2 meals out of it.
An excellent discovery has been a small pork loin joint cut down into slices works out half the price of pork chops etc.
Ive reintroduced my children to simple teas like poached eggs etc.
I definitely shop around more for whats on offer and build our menus around that.
I buy cheaper bread for toast etc,buy my milk from an indian shop cos its 30p cheaper.
Im also budgeting a bit more carefully with cleaning products I use 1 cleaner for kitchen and bathroom,buy powder on offer and buy more 2 for 1 deals etc,i have also found an excellent quality loo roll at half the named brand price.
We are not quite on sardine curry but im watching it a tad.
yes we have and even the dogs have had to change from chappie to morrisons home brand dog food. Luckily it didnt give them the shits
I have also switched to lot of value brand stuff, like crisps, dishwasher tabs, toilet roll, pesto, ice cream. I go to the co-op aftr 6pm when I know their meat is vastly reduced and I put it in my freezer for the following week(s). I also know when morrisons reduces their fruit/veg and pop in at thoe times. Luckil I live in kent and we can get alot of fruit and veg cheap anyway.
I fee ashamed of myself for buying caged hen eggs thouh and I m not sure I will do it again. My friend knows someone who has a farm so she is going to get me some 'on the cheap' instead
We are eating less meat, meat free a couple of days and less meat in meat dishes iyswim. Also buying more own brand products, still seem to be spending a fortune at asda though
I've always grown my own veg but can't possibly put in enough work to be self sufficient all year round. I'm afraid organic stuff has totally bitten the dust (not that we could afford much anyway in the first place!) And we are drinking less wine
We've always eaten pretty healthily. But I now menu plan and when I get my freezer back up and running will be cooking in bulk and freezing more. And we are drinking less wine DH and I are eating less meat but I cannot persuade the boys to swap chicken for chickpeas
I feel much better and am going to keep it up (if not quite so stringently).(Also except last night when we went out and had a few too many..but that was a one off 
) 
on coffee for me and hot choc and cake for said dd. again I think that's down to coming to my senses - I always knew it was ridiculous and just the general atmosphere of prudence has made me stop taking the path of least resistance on that one. 
on cheap meals 
