Can't get cheap food /rationing

[Shipshop231]

I feel like the cheap brand/economy type food is much less available than it used to be a few years back. I used to be able to fill my cupboards with it when money was a little tight. But I have not been able to do that for a long time now.

I do the kids main meals.

But I have always allowed them to help themselves from the kitchen as well. But things are so expensive now I don't think I can allow that anymore so i was thinking about doing them a snack box type thing. I think it will be easier to do it for My younger kids. But harder for the older ones.

Popping corn, basic biscuits, seasonal fruit/bananas, basic pancake recipe with sugar, instant noodles (Ko-Lee is among the cheapest, or own brand, if that's of use), pasta with jarred sauce.

None of this is going to win awards nutritionally but if you are looking for cheap snacks this is what I'd suggest.

Pop a post on your local facebook page OP, I’m sure there’ll be someone happy to help you. As I say it’s done a lot round here and there’s always someone happy to help!

If you have a family of 5/6 are none of your children old enough to pull a basket and carry a bag each from shop to taxi?

I've lost you, what's only an hour and why?

Poundland and Home bargains are quite good on biscuits and sweets. Best biscuits though have to be Aldi groovy bars in the pink box. Worth every penny!

The value stuff is still (mainly) there, but all the big 4 supermarkets have re-branded it so it's no longer badged 'value', 'basic' etc. They've done it to make it look and feel like a brand (and to make people either feel better about buying it, or to make it feel more aspirational). What's annoying about it is they use different 'brands' across the store (whereas everything in the bottom tier used to be Tesco Value, now it's Eastmans in meat, Hearty food Co in pasta/sauces/ready meals, Stockwell and Co in 'groceries', Tesco Essential in household etc, etc)
That doesn't help if you're trying to hunt out the entry level stuff - it's making shoppers work harder. The vast majority is still there though.

Sorry I mean when shopping at Iceland on line the slot is only open for 1hr if I don't Check out within that hour you loose the delivery slot. Really struggle to do it within the hour. I might even email them

Another one who is going to suggest ocado ( before anybody exclaims they are expensive I'm budget queen having brought up three sons on very tight budget). You just need to know your prices, they have a lot of special offers and m & s cheap ranges, eg 6 mixed size eggs £1.30 which are great and not found anywhere else that sells them cheaper, m & s pasta 75p. Mixed packets of biscuits, the ones with custard creams, bourbons etc are cheap, this week 12 packs cheddars £2.75, nowhere else that price! Sorry beginning to sound like an advert😂

If you book 10pm delivery it's only 99p but I've found if mid week they often turn up early after ringing you to check your in as they can finish when done last delivery. They are also brilliant at giving you long dates so I get 16 pints of milk at a time (2 adult sons here).

I've not had an issue finding value biscuits
Value tortilla chips are good too and cheap to replace crisps

Oh I see. Can you do what you can in an hour then checkout, and then go back and edit the order to add stuff? Tbh an hour is a pretty decent amount of time to do an online shop, especially if it's just for some stuff for the junk cupboard!

Just seen your last post @Shipshop231 with ocado (I've tried all the others online) you can build the shopping list as you go along without picking a delivery slot so I just keep adding to it continually, doesn't time out its just there next time you go on it.......hope that makes sense🤔

Here

No honesty I'm really not posting on Facebook to ask for help of strangers.

And there's not a hope in hell of me taking any of my kids shopping that's total hell. Plus the taxi cost money so then there's no point in shopping cheaply if I'm them spending it on a taxi

I use Ocado and their own range is good but they also price match to Tesco so if Tesco would have been cheaper, they email a voucher for the difference to use on my next shop. It’s only happened 3 times in 11 months and the last was £3.25. Most I got was £5, but that tells me that every other week Ocado is cheaper than Tesco. (I have 3 teens and meals are healthy but they are not looking for carrot sticks to much in between 😂)

I also shop from Aldi and M&S, I never go in Asda,Tesco,or Sainsburys, they are just too expensive!

It wouldn't be just the junk stiff though. If I cam fond a supermarket that does the full range of cheap junk type food. Then I would do my main dinners etc there as well not just the junk. An hour does not feel long at all especially Well your juggling things about . I'm not sure is Iceland let's you ad stuff later. I know other supermarkets do . So maybe I have that wrong . I will look

But if you just did 1 aldi shop a month for all of your snacks then it would still be cheaper even with a taxi than doing 4 x Tesco snack shops.

Right just had a look and yes asda online do a just essential choc spread that you said they didn't. It's not labelled smart price any more but they do have a cheaper range for sure . I shop online get it delivered it may be that in shops you are not seeing the range but you can if uou look online

I pay 6.50 a month that's it to do online shop with asda and yiu can get stuff from asda plus you get rewards i have 67 pounds worth of asda rewards atm saved up

Sainsbury’s are pretty good for this as they price match Aldi and if you use the Nectar app you build up a little bit towards for Christmas each year.

e.g some of the prices for your info @Shipshop231

Crackers 55p
rice cakes £1.30
rich teas 45p
chocolate spread £1.15
Tortilla chips 57p
sainsburys cheerios 85p
5 x chocolate chip cake bars 75p
5 x jam mini rolls 75p
crumpets x 6 45p

Not sure if that’s helpful? :)

It's not once a month

I second Ocado and they may still give give big discounts to lure in new customers ie 30%/20% off first few shops over £40 or £60. Their food is good and have a no quibble refund policy. Morrisons do new customer discounts too from time to time.

Have a look at trolley.co.uk - also have an app. Really easy to compare prices as they show the price per 100g of each item.

Shipshop231 - if you're concerned about it taking longer than an hour once you've reserved your slot, you could have a look at the website, decide what you want, maybe make a list, and then when you go back in you can bung it all in a trolley (virtual) quite quickly.

But if it's like the other online supermarkets, you could start putting stuff in your trolley anyway and then only book a slot once you've got stuff in the trolley. You don't need to do the whole thing in a short space of time.

I know what you mean. People mean well but sometimes you just want a biscuit, not all the effort of making your own stuff - and that’s okay!

Ocado sell M&S and they price match branded stuff with Tesco. Really enjoying Ocados own range for basics like juice, bread etc.

I do understand the not being able to take the kids shopping. I’ve got one who can’t handle a supermarket. Total meltdown
Anyway I’ve been to asda today and got asda cheap spaghetti hoop less than 20p a can and we think they’re better than Heinz’s.
Sausage and beans less than 60p a tin and Heinz sausage and spaghetti 5 for £5
Club biscuits are 7 in a pack for £1. Asda squash is 95p and the nearest in taste to Robinsons
The cheap pizzas are good. Mine will only eat the little ones 55p each but the bigger ones are better value. The little ones do microwave though.
Hot dog sausages, cheap and they microwave.
The value yogurts and choc mousses are good
Tortilla chips are about 60p a bag, couldn’t find any cheap salsa today but they did have cheap grated cheese
Cream crackers, bourbons and custard creams are also cheap.
Yours might be a bit old for breadsticks but mine like them. The houmous wasn’t cheap though
I did go to the bakers for sausage rolls but you could get either ready to eat or frozen and cook a batch up to snack on same with chicken nuggets. Garlic bread is 37p
If you’ve an air fryer or gas oven hot snacks are easy for teenagers