Need to cut food budget, any ideas?

[kerfuffle]

My maternity pay has just stopped, but I want to stay at home with dd for another 6mnths if possible. I have been thinking of ways to cut my grocery budget. I am going to cut down on buying wine and other luxuries, but I am hoping for some advice on cheap meals. I am buying loads of fresh fruit and veg in a bid to be healthier but the grocery bill keeps going up and up. I've been looking in my ww cookbooks for some inspiration but often these recipes need many different ingredients which all add up.Any ideas?

[NomDePlume]

Generic brand items like beans, cereals etc.

[lunavix]

Shop online.

YOu feel worse about buying junk, plus particularly if you shop at tescos you can get £10, £15 pound vouchers off!

[tamula]

A simple yet effective budget trimmer is not to buy all your shopping in one supermarket but to buy fruit n veg off a stall, toiletries from a pound store - the same products but usually alot cheaper, if any nearby -

You cld still buy alcohol but perhaps cheapen your taste?!

Also look for 2 for one deals and specials. Tesco's does a price check online so look around before you buy and maybe buy in bulk?

[popsycal]

menu plan
tha is what i am going to do from next week when my matrnity money gets riubbish

[kerfuffle]

I didn't know you could get vouchers from Tescos. I have always been a bit reluctant to shop online because they usually charge for delivery.

[popsycal]

menu planninng site from peckarollover

[tamula]

I wouldnt recommend buying the 'cheap, store brand' stuff, as its usually full of the most amount of crap they can get away with legally!!

Making things from scratch is always a goodun too.

[lunavix]

kerfuffle - if you look under 'products' there's a few threads called 'tescos codes'

every week I get a minimum of £5 off, usually £10 or £15, which saves SO much money. It covers delivery costs, plus usually a bit of food, and you don't impulse spend.

Also if you shop online at iceland, they don't charge delivery.

[tamula]

I forget what thread its on but you can get money off vouchers here on MN from other MN'ers.

[kerfuffle]

I heard someone mention buying organic fruit and veg from a wholesaler in a previous thread, anyone else do this? I would love to do this but I'm not sure it is available to everyone.

[NomDePlume]

A lot of the cheap store brand stuff (beans, weetabix etc) is made by the same people as the big more expensive brands, tamula !

[mancmum]

I bought a couple of student cook books and they are great as they don't have huge lists of ingredients... definitely cook from scratch and look at shops like Lidl and Aldi - I find them a bit over processed but there are bargains to be had...

[tabitha]

You could have a look at this
There are lots of money saving ideas, including plenty on cutting down on your food shopping bills.

[tamula]

Most big stores have the own brand and their own 'cheap' brand, i'm referring to the store brand cheap stuff, they fix that slop themselves!

[kerfuffle]

Thanks lunavix, I will try that

[NomDePlume]

fair enough, tam.

[tamula]

[FLUM]

ring round all your friends, say 'we haven't seen you for ages!, would love to have you over for dinner but our dining table was accidentally set on fire by ds' they will feel sorry for you and invite you for dinner.

when there eat lots and it might last you most of the next day too!

when cooking for yourself. buy NO pre-prepared food. use LOTS of pasta & rice - v.v. cheap.
drink water bleaurgh

[Surfermum]

The advice I've seen time and time again on her (but have yet to put into practice!) is to plan your menus then only buy what you need for them.

If have an Asda near you, they will accept money off coupons for other stores. I got £10 off my bill this week with a Sainsbury's voucher. I never shop there but they send them to me as I have a Nectar Card.

Lidl's are good for certain things. I get my washing powder there and it's much cheaper than the well known brands and just as good.

[kerfuffle]

I don't generally buy much procesed stuff anyway (except once a week we have chinese from m&s- can't possibly give this up it's our saturday night treat), cook from scrastch all week and sundays. I was thinking of mincing leftover roast beef to have on mondays, any ideas where I can get a mincer from, do they still sell them anywhere? I remeber my mum doing this.

[SaintGeorge]

I alternate my shopping depending on which vouchers/coupons I have collected.

Last week it was a Tesco online shop as I had clubcard points + vouchers totalling £20. A £75 shopping basket was only £48 after vouchers and store offers were deducted.

This week it will be Asda as I have collected £25 of money off vouchers - I expect a minimum of £10 to be accepted, anything more will be a bonus.

[sweetmonkey]

Where do you all get yr vouchers from ?

[SaintGeorge]

Lakeland or Betterware for a mincer. Lakeland one has more blades I think but is slightly more expensive. Betterware one is £8.99.

[kerfuffle]

I will definitely try to find a Lidl nearby. Iknew I could count on y'all for some good advice, MN'ers are so resourceful!

[toomanypushchairs]

I would recommend shopping online aswell. With Ocado(waitrose). Although it sounds expensive, they save me money for two reasons. Firstly like lunavix says you feel worse about buying junk, and secondly unlike other supermarkets that deliver they bring you everything and dont send silly alternatives, so you don't actually have to go to the shops aswell,(to get what they don't bring!)