AIBU to be confused when people say it's cheaper to cook from scratch?

[Blueskiesandcherrypies]

(Sorry another 'weekly food shop post'....)

I just don't think it is! I struggle to get our weekly food shop below £140pw. That's for me, DH, ds9, dd7 and dd1 (and soon to be newborn ds). We all love our food, though I tear my hair out every week planning meals everyone will enjoy rather than refuse and sulk about tolerate, and cook from scratch (just things like spag Bol, curry, carbonara, puff pastry 'pizza', roasts...) but I often think blimey if I could just chuck a few ready meals in the trolley and loads of bits from the frozen section (burgers, nuggets, kievs!!) we'd be quids in! But then we wouldn't be eating so healthily and I wouldn't know exactly what we're all putting in our mouths.

Weekly food shop includes packed lunches, loads of fruit for snacks, cat food, household bits, nappies.... but not alcohol, that comes out of DH's 'own' pocket rather than our joint account even if it's wine for me. We never have leftovers so can't stretch a meal over 2 days (DCs have growing appetites).

I am green with envy when I see people saying they can feed a family of four for £50 a week! Just....how?!

And ok, before you ask, I have been shopping at ocado lately but I haven't seen a huge price diff than when I used sainsburys.

Please help me see where I'm going wrong!

Another thing that annoys me, particularly when politicians go on about how the poor should eat more beans, make stews with cheap meat, bulk buy, look for special offers and so on is that they forget that if you have a very limited budget you can't risk spending any of it on food your children might not eat. You also can't spend more on fuel to slow cook things. You might not have a car to get to a supermarket for the bulk buys and special offers, or the money up front to pay for them. The "poverty lifestyle" is very different from the well off person's lifestyle. It's not just about food.

I agree that you need a healthy size freezer. I buy all my meat and fish reduced and freeze it. I have been extremely lucky. I bought a chicken in sainsburys for 65 pence once and a beef joint for 2.65. However this is not a guaranteed method and it can get quite nasty in the scrum!
Farmfoods is brilliant for things like haddock and cod, chicken breasts etc.

There is a middle ground, though. You don't have to cut down to £50 a week, but you could make it cheaper than £140. Look at what you're buying and see what could be cheaper. Instead of multipack crisps,(if you have them) buy larger packs of own brand crisps and divide up. Just basic biscuits, large pots of yogurt and divide up. Also look at what you're cooking for meals - an omelette, or a jacket potato meal, a couple of times a week. Go down a brand/ price bracket, and if you like it, try going down again and see if there's much difference. Not everything has to be basic range, but much of it is ok and worth trying to see which ones you like.

Oh and sainsburys prices are way higher than Morrisons aldi lidl!

poster linney I have to say don't agree with that my slower cookers uses the same amount of electric as my kettle

Also I think people are a it snobby about basics my best mate reckons she buys anchor butter because the cheap stuff Tastes shit only for me to bake her 6 muffins yesterday's useing tesco value unsalted butter she text me last night saying they were yummy and her sister wants some

But I thought tesco value butter tasted awful

I agree about going down a brand. It's an easy way to cut costs without really noticing.
We don't have a big freezer, and we don't eat much meat.
We do use a lot of veg and fruit though and the cost is eye watering.
I must start baking more again...but tbh I dont find it that much cheaper. Just tastes nicer.

Btw...which is best iyo?
Aldi or lidl?

We spend about £65 per week for 2 adults and a toddler. It really is true, I'm not lying. We don't have the money to spend more.

We cook from scratch and eat well- spending less doesn't equal eating rubbish. This week we had...

Smoked salmon risotto
chorizo and spicy med veg
Sausage casserole
Pasta puttanesca
Salmon and cream linguine
Salmon stir fry
Chilli con carne and baked potatoes

We also drink about 3 bottles of wine a week and that is included in the budget. If we had more to spend we would have more snacks and treats in the house, and more meat in meals but I think we eat well for what we spend.

I prefer Aldi, lidl has a few branded products but is more expensive overall. Lidl also seems to have things they just don't stock in my local one like dishwasher tabs.

This is interesting. DP and I have just moved in together (no kids). Our kitchen is tiny with not a lot of storage space and no freezer, meaning that we can't ever take advantage of deals on meat/fish or have dirty freezer dinners on standby for the end of the month. Also we don't have a car and online delivery charges seems to be quite expensive in our area. I find myself going to the supermarket probably at least twice in the week and once at the weekend to stock up on fresh stuff. No Aldi but there is apparently a Lidl somewhere so I might try and find that tonight. We almost always cook from scratch and are discovering the delights of tinned veg

We spend on average £60 a week. We are 2 adults and a toddler.
I shop at tesco but wish we had a morrisons! We eat fairly normal meals, pretty much all including meat. We live on a budget therefore our meat is frozen and cheap. Again wish it wasn't but choices have to be made.
Also we can't afford lots of fruit so I focus on what DD needs and buy a little bit for us.
Nappies are no longer bought but when we were we got them from lidl along with the wipes and the cost was about £15 a month.
I tried doing a shop at lidl but couldn't find quite a lot of my basics and it actually didn't come out that much cheaper, although that was about 2 yrs ago so might try again.

My tips:-
Frozen veg is still good nutrition but often cheaper than fresh
Beans and pulses are your friend for stretching/bulking etc
A good spice cupboard - get these in bulk from an ethnic supermarket, not a big name shop. Most cities have one now. I get mine once a year as part of my birthday pressie from my family.
Basics range for the well, basics
Tinned fish (sardines, pilchards and mackerel) contain lots of great nutrition but are often cheaper than fresh to ensure your kids get their proper omega rations.
learn to make a good stock
A window box of fresh herbs makes value food taste gourmet.
beans or sardines on toast pack a lot of nutritional punch for their cost.
Buy fruit seasonally or grow your own (strawberries in Jan is never gonna be cheap!) Lidls or aldis weekly super six can help here.
homemade pizza on a friday/saturday night is fun & uses up leftovers + good for introducing new ingredients to fussy eaters.
Get your kids to learn to play hunt the yellow label as young as you can.
Cleaning products - you don't need 1/2 the stuff they market at you, nor do you need the brand names. Lidls laundry detergent is hard to beat for the filthy roll in the mud type of child, and basics washing powder will do for the rest of us.
You do not need meat at every meal - have a couple of veggie nights each week.
homemade hummous is still very cheap to make but fills up growing boys hollow legs

Where my budgeting falls down
OILY FISH - dear lord but this keeps shooting up in price every time I blink fresh or tinned or frozen!!!!!!
Bread - plastic bread is horrid at my breadmaker is in storage. Lidls seem best for this but you have to get there.

I can food shop for 6 - 2 adults, 4 dc - for around £50 a week. I use Tesco delivery saver and coupons plus fruit and veg shop at aldi to make sure I don't go over that budget. But that doesn't include me bulk buying nappies, wipes, cleaning products when they are on offer. Last time I bought nappies they were half price, so I took every box of the size my dts use off the shelf. But that was £41 on its own (with coupon for money off a £40 spend). I have to balance up my online shopping with shopping instore when I have coupons. I think people average it out when they talk of only spending x amount.

But ready meals are for convenience only. Dh and I had a meal deal the other week. £6 for two curries and two sides. We had the curries and I got chicken nugget sides for the dc for lunch the next day. They had mash and veg with those.

Our tesco bill used to be 120-40 per week. Switched to Aldi and now it's down to 60-80 and that's not economising that's including things like smoked salmon. Free range eggs are a quid for 6, amazing price!

There's 7 of us,we cook from scratch and spend half what you do.

It will always depend on where you shop,we use Asda and Lidl,we buy our meat from a butcher who offers free delivery and we get our fruit and veg from our local market.

You wouldn't believe the amount of money you could save by switching where you shop.A couple of years ago I was spending £170+ a week now I spend under £300 a month and that includes feeding several pets.

I can nearly fill a large chest freezer for £100 using our butchers it would equate to about 25 meals for all of us.

Comparing the supermarket to the market for fruit and vegetables I pay £20 on the market for what would cost me nearly £40 in the supermarket and I'd have more of each fruit and vegetable from the market as well.

We eat really well for what we spend there's always steak,chicken breasts,fresh prawns,fresh salmon,leg of lamb in the house.The children have a choice of several different things every morning for breakfast and for supper.We have a treat cupboard as well and two fruit bowls that are always full.
It makes me wonder what the hell I was doing before.

poster Bananapickle please try frozen fruit

My health visitor just told me about it I was a bit funny at first however dd is so much fruit and I was finding it was going of midweek and also the price was just to much so HV suggested fresh frozen fruit

I buy a massive bag put a bowl out of it very morning on the side and there defrosted by Lunch time

Wrt the comment about rank chicken breasts, that can happen in any shop. Plenty of times it's happened to me with meat from tesco and I've taken it back.

We are real foodies, there's no way I'd get cheaper food just because it's cheaper.

If you are used to a certain brand of coffee then switching brands will be hard at first. Dh drinks the ground coffee from Aldi and says it's no different. I don't like their instant hot choc so I stock up when I go to tesco. There's usually 2 our three options of each product, just like there is in tesco, you just have to try stuff out. The only things I don't like and buy from tesco now are baked beans, hot choc, stock cubes and custard.

It's worth going to Aldi if just for the loo roll, toothpaste, fruit and veg and things like bin liners and washing up liquid.

Aldi frozen blue berries and raspberries are excellent, especially stirred into yoghurt.

For the person who asked what washing powder I use: I use a big box from lidl and a (single) shot of powder for each wash unless very dirty (ie toddler had tomato sauce), that will get muddy/sticky clothes clean. The recommended amounts are vault more than you actually need. I'm pretty sure the boxes i'm using was bought in 2012 (non bio and colours).

"poster linney I have to say don't agree with that my slower cookers uses the same amount of electric as my kettle"

That was only one point in my text. And I'm not sure how much it would cost to keep a kettle on continuously for 8 hours, but presumably it's not insignificant?

I'm on my phone so it's hard to read back and I can't see the post about slow cooker/kettle so forgive me if I've got the wrong end of the stick but slow cookers use the same amount of electricity as a light bulb iirc. Kettles use an enormous amount. The two aren't comparable.

i use a smallish asda, and although the music annoys me, their lack of choice is good for me, no treats. if i want extras i go to tesco, or waitrose!
and if i spend £80 that is not good, 2 adults, 3 teens, and pets.
and i read on here that we dont need to eat that much protein, 70g per person , so for 5 of us 350g should be enough,
meat is expensive.

I think the initial outlay is moreas you do need herbs and spices etc when buying in one go it adds up. If you spread it out to refill its ok.
Also buying in bulk is a lot cheaper but you need the money and storage in the first place, I'm on a strict weekly budget with no storage so find myself buying smaller stuff like washing up powder weekly. On the whole it's a massive waste but without that initial money it's not doable

Another thing that I don't think has been mentioned yet is to check out Amazon for food. I buy pasta there, it's £12 for 12kg, cheaper than I've found in supermarkets.

You do have to bulk buy so need both the upfront funds and storage, but it all helps.

Some great tips on here... Check out Girl Called Jack blog and recipe book for more ideas too. She is inspirational.