Have you changed your shopping/cooking habits because of the credit crunch?

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

Stopped the weekly drive to supermarket and now walk to local shops and market daily. Cuts down on waste and is much cheaper!

Same as Ormiran, less meat, more veg/lentils

Online shop (have done since leaving work tbh as it is easier to budget and there's always discount codes).

Buy fresh fruit/veg from grocers and meat from butchers.

Make all biscuits/cakes for the Ds's (including DS1's school lunchbox)instead of Organix stuff.

we've switched from actually going shopping to Internet shopping

My strategy is to get my DH to eat LESS. It is not working.

Less meat, more lentils. Always used to eat a much more veggie diet but got out of the habit. Shopping at Aldi/Lidl/Asda.

Meal planning and cheaper meals-liver and bacon casserole tonight

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.

No change at all here !! (not yet anyway!)

I meal plan now. No longer go to our fantastic, but really expensive, butcher's. Will be visiting Lidl soon...

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).

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.

and i bought lunchboxes so i dont have to buy expensive sandwich bags, which is also good for the environment, so double good

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...

NO! I lied .

I meal plan.

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.

I've started taking a packed lunch to work rather than buying it every day.

I have ditched buying organic apart from milk
esp after the whole fake organic eggs thing - you can't be sure you are getting organic anyway