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Food/Recipes

Eat well for Less

28 replies

fromtheshires · 23/08/2018 10:46

This is a great programme on the telly and after looking at my shopping bill for this week after my DH went shopping I hit the roof.

Milkshakes at £1.35 for 330ml. He buys 4 of these a week
Artisan cola at £1.26 for 275ml. He buys 2 of these a week

I have raised the point of trying to swap things down for other brands including home brands and have been met with resistance and have had the following comebacks:

We have X thousand in the bank, we arent short of money
Its my weekly treat
Why arent you cutting your stuff back

I have tried swapping out things on small scale when things have ran out or I have done an Iceland frozen shop and need to get my order up. I have asked what the food is like the answer is always, its OK and its back to normal the following week becuase he probably doesnt like it and is just being polite .

Cuts I have already made:
Pasta now the supermarkets value brand as its dried pasta and i put herbs and seasoning in it anyway. He hasnt noticed
Buying frozen veg instead of fresh as its cheaper and no waste

What have you done to cut back / swap your foods and how successful was it when dealing with those who didnt want to swap out?

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serbska · 23/08/2018 12:57

Well does he have a point? If you can afford his milkshakes let him have them!

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overmydeadbody · 23/08/2018 13:01

Well if that's his drink of choice it's cheaper than beer or wineSmile

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abbsisspartacus · 23/08/2018 13:04

I'm with you just because you have money to waste doesn't mean you should waste money

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PurpleDaisies · 23/08/2018 13:04

It’s not exactly huge extravagance is it?

What’s your motivation for budgeting?

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PurpleDaisies · 23/08/2018 13:06

Even on Eat Well for Less people reject swaps they don’t want to make.

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PinkHeart5914 · 23/08/2018 13:12

I’m wth your dh if you can afford it why can’t he have it? If that’s how he wants to spend his money then why the hell not? What he is having as a little treat is hardly costly the earth and leaving you living on beans all week is it now

I don’t need wine, chocolate or nice crisps each week but I buy them because I can afford it, it’s my money and I want it 🤷🏻‍♀️

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Takfujimoto · 23/08/2018 13:13

Meal planning can help reduce your shopping costs, buying non branded items also helps and most of the time you can't tell the difference, not with everything but most.

But fgs just let the man have his milkshakes and cola, he's not living it large with vodka martinis and single malt whiskey!
Unless of course you can't afford it and you've had to stop having little luxuries as well.

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Ricekrispie22 · 23/08/2018 13:16

Frozen pizzas are much cheaper than fresh pizzas. Look at this example
www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/285363525
www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/297763575

The same applies to a lot of other things such as sausages, quiches, fish etc...:
www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/292916835
www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/266264084

I do a roast on Sunday with a large piece of meat and use that for meals later in the week such as stir fries and curries. I don't buy much other meat.
I bulk cook and freeze things. Apparently it works out cheaper.

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IWannaSeeHowItEnds · 23/08/2018 13:19

I think it's a bit mean to complain about him spending about £6.50 on something he values.

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LivingDeadGirlUK · 23/08/2018 13:29

We buy a lot of own brand food but I still have my cola and I also have it in cans instead of big bottles because I can :)

I do agree its a good show, but its about people shopping outside of their means and with no thought. Unless on a very tight budget everyone needs treats.

For us we tend to buy supermarket own or budget brand for anything that gets cooked, but then get something a bit nicer for things like chocolate and drinks.

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Clutterbugsmum · 23/08/2018 13:42

I think they only have people who have extreme shopping habits.

I don't know anyone in real life who shop like this. The one the other week where the mum and dad bought £180 ish of shopping then spent another £200 per week on takeaway's. Anyone can save money when shopping/take away's if the spend money like that. But if you are normal/average shopper it's much harder to cut back.

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serbska · 23/08/2018 14:03

I think the current series is crap anyway.

The people and habits are too extreme, and they agree to easily to the changes. It’s like it was never real in the first place.

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fromtheshires · 23/08/2018 15:08

Thanks to those who have come up with some suggestions.

I understand those who are saying if its his treat / wants the milkshakes or cola then let him have them, but this will be on top of costa coffee, starbucks, service station food etc etc that he buys which I also class as treats.

Im all for making no compromise on things, for example mayonnaise must be Hellmans but there is no willingness to compromise at all at his end given a choice. He wont even try unless its my week to shop and I buy alternatives.

He is one of these people who if they have £100 in their pocket, he must spend every single penny of that £100 and have nothing to show for it. He cant go into town without getting a coffee, even if its just to grab a form from the post office.

I am taking a substantial pay cut at the end of the year as I will be starting a new job. I need to reign things in now to lessen any blows to the savings and on top of that he wants a child which will then decrease savings and income further due to taking prolonged leave and children are expensive!

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Clutterbugsmum · 23/08/2018 15:44

I understand where you are coming from.

My dh was similar to your DH, with him it was buying lunch in the work canteen. He would say be it is only £5, and it was only when I said yes but that's £25 per week and £100 per month and say £1100 per year taking your holidays.

It was only when I started giving him the monthly and yearly figures he was able to see the greater cost if that makes sense, rather then just looking at the it's only £x per day.

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Butteredparsn1ps · 23/08/2018 15:47

I like the “price per” filter that Ocado has. Quite easy to sort, for example shampoo, based on the cheapest per 100 mls and then find the cheapest of the brands you like.

I agree with PP about the ridiculousness of the EWFL families being surprised by their usual food bills and reluctant to do any of the obvious towards making savings.

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Clutterbugsmum · 23/08/2018 15:54

With trying alternatives I started by buying a couple of alternatives to to try.

For example we tried Tesco spaghetti hoops, well I say we tried I open it and it spelt disgusting so we didn't even try it. Where as I swapped from Heinz tomato sauce to Tesco and the children prefer it as they say it more tomatoey. And as a bonus it normally around £1 per bottle that it bigger then the Heinz one.

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Clutterbugsmum · 23/08/2018 15:55

Smelt not spelt.

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fromtheshires · 23/08/2018 16:10

thats a great tool Butteredparsn1ps I wish all supermarkets had that tool but I guess it would then eat into their profits with all the dodgy offers they do to make stuff look cheap....

We could quite easily be on Eat Well for Less ourselves. I often ask why did you buy XYZ even though we will never eat it and the reply is it was on offer Hmm

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Clutterbugsmum · 23/08/2018 16:27

I often ask why did you buy XYZ even though we will never eat it and the reply is it was on offer So he just spending money and thinking he got a good deal because on offer, rather then thinking as to whether or not you will actually eat or use said item.

It sounds like he has to spend money rather then thinking about what you actually need.

Could you do a full budget of income and outgoing and how this is going to have to change once your income reduces so he can see figures in black and white.

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Lunde · 23/08/2018 23:59

My MIL was like this - she had to buy the top branded groceries from the top snobby store. She was insist that even branded items - think Lurpak butter or Robertson's jam tasted better from this posh shop than any other shop.

It seemed a shame that she was wasting her pension this way. But I didn't dare go full out for economy brands - So I invested in a carrier bag from posh shop and bought her list from Netto or Aldi and saved her 30-40% on her branded shopping each week and just smiled when she said I was lucky to have posh shop in town!.

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cdtaylornats · 24/08/2018 08:53

My sister watched this a couple of times and thinks the presenters are wildly extravagant. She does most of her shopping when the cheap - close to date items go out. Her general weekly food budget is less than £20.

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Fluffycloudland77 · 26/08/2018 17:18

Theres a frugal thread in the credit crunch section, or you can just lurk. Lots lurk.

I think you need to take the shopping off him and give him another job instead.

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PlainVanilla · 28/08/2018 11:59

I think people have missed the point about this programme. If you observe, most of the families spend large amounts of money on convenience food and takeaways because they are a) unable to cook and ignorant about food and nutrition, b) lazy, c) have pandered to their children so are lumbered with fussy eaters, d) lead "busy" lives with no time or e) have one or more family members with special dietary requirements
The families may or may not be spending a fortune on staples such as bread, butter, milk, cereal, jams, cheese etc. I strongly suspect these are where most swaps happen and, as you hear in the voice over at the end, there is x % acceptance of swapped items.
A lot of the broadcast is devoted to persuading people to cook from scratch.
I would also welcome it, if the presenters educated the families into sources of food other than supermarkets. Could save a lot of packaging, but it is not aimed at that kind of audience. the message is really crass, swap your brands for own brand, cook your own takeaways and you will save enough to take your millions of children to Disney, Florida (or similar).
If I have one pet peeve it is the sugary/cola-style drinks. I honestly do not know why anyone buys these, ever.

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Mugglemom · 30/08/2018 08:39

I really enjoy this show but it seems that they combine the shop using multiple different stores (this item from Tesco, this from Sainsburys, this from Aldi). And it's really difficult to shop like that! Found some good recipes through EWFL, the lamb and sweet potato slow cooker tagine was really nice, but I used chicken instead of lamb and premade couscous.

I do my main shop from Aldi, with a weekly trip to Tesco for the bits and pieces that you can't get in Aldi. It drives me crazy that you can't buy all veg loose. I find we spend a lot on food but I prefer to buy organic and higher welfare meat where I can. Still, always looking for where we can save a bit.

WRT your hubby, maybe try going in from a health angle instead of from a £ one? Those premade milkshakes are not very good for you and between 4 of those and 2 colas a week, that's a sugary drink every single day!

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Fluffycloudland77 · 30/08/2018 11:06

I think they use various shops so they aren't accused of favouritism. There's parity on basic prices, plain flour is 45p in Tesco/aldi/lidl.

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