to ask how i can cut our food cost?

[pimsandlemonade]

I've seen posts about people managing with a food shop under £100 per week and I just want to know how?? What's the secret?
Do you only buy unbranded value stuff? Offers?

Our food shop is about £200 per week, i usually go to Tesco twice a week, roughly £100 per shop, sometimes less, sometimes more. I don't buy any ready meals, make all meals from scratch but i do mainly Tesco finest or organic. We are 3 adults, 1 pre-schooler , 1 baby.
I'm open to ideas how to cut the cost but without compromising much on the quality.

I do like the idea of a budget.
I find it difficult to plan ahead for the whole week, usually i plan 2-3-4 days . By then we usually run out of milk of bread of something elso so have to go to the shop anyway.

I think I could try doing a big shop at Tesco once a week and a second shop at Aldi, plus trying a budget

I think chicken today, lasagne tomorrow

Also our freezer has been overtaken by ice cream... I've got an ice cream maker and have been trying different flavours. It's great tastes so much better than most ice creams from the shop. But not sure it's cheaper

One other thing: go to Aldi first, then Tesco/wherever. I.e. see what you can find for less in Aldi before picking up remaining bits at the more expensive shop. Otherwise speaking from experience you see things you need in Tesco and think, Oh, how much more expensive could they be here anyway?

Planning for the week is hard and I was against until I tried it and realise that actually it works well. Yes we have to top up milk and bread but I expect that. You waste less food too.

The fact that you're in the position of having two meals that need to be eaten today really shows you how poor, or non-existent meal planning is costing you! (Freezer to either chicken or lasagne by the way.)

Plan ALL your meals for one week. Breakfast lunch and supper. List ingredients for all. Check what you have in already and only purchase the ingredients you actually need. List toiletries and drinks if needed, and snacks if you snack.

Don't throw anything away - freeze it to use next week.

I bet just by doing that, not even changing your eating habits, you'll be saving.

What are you buying and what do you do with leftovers?

Buying chicken breasts and fresh fruit juice is much more expensing than buying a whole chicken (or even a pack of thighs and drumsticks in Tesco) and buy juice in unrefrigerated cartons.

Learn how to butcher a chicken. It's really easy. If you can take off the breasts and legs you'll save a fortune on the price of buying the bits plus you'll have all the meat on the carcass.

Fwiw I never meal plan or take a list. I buy whatever is on offer and avoid expensive ready meals, cut mince with lentils (healthier and cheaper), eat veggie a few times a week and avoid convenience foods because they are £££.

I think buying organic is great if you can afford it but if you are looking to save money then thats where it is going!

I spend £40 a week for me and dd 10yo and thats for everything. Plan a few cheaper meals i.e. jacket potatoes, pasta bake, spag bol every week and only have the meat/ fish dishes once or twice.

For things like the drinks/ snacks/ pack lunch fillers Lidls and aldi will be so much cheaper than Tescos.

I admit I've not been great at freezing food. I don't know why I have this misconception that it won't be as good after it's been frozen. I need to start doing that.
Probably start with eating some ice cream ...to make space obviously

I waste money on biscuits, cheese, ham, pre packed salad, individual servings of yoghurt, wine and crisps.

Most of that I don't have to buy and I can buy giant pots of yoghurt (cheaper and better for the environment).

We get a weekly organic veg box and get our milk delivered with it too. I don't buy groceries or meat from there any more (too expensive) but they're good value for organic fruit, veg and milk.

i buy all my meat from Musclefood online now. One delivery a month, everything separated into batches in freezer and saves a fortune on supermarket. 5kg chicken breasts from Asda are £42 on the buy 2 packs for £7 deal, same amount is £19 on the constant offer then have on musclefood of buy 2.5kg and get 2.5kg free. And the chicken is so much better, bigger, not pumped with water and tastes much nicer. If i run out and grab a pack from the supermarket my OH knows without seeing the packet that its not from musclefood!
worth a try anyway, were 2 adults and spend £30 a week at Aldi on everything else ( i meal plan too and cook from scratch every day, both big gym goers so eat alot of food, not small portions) and then approx £60 a month on meat delivery. So £180 month with toiletries on top.

4 chicken breasts is LOADS of meat for three adults and a very small child. I would make wraps, or a pie, or a special fried rice with two of them, and put hte other two in the freezer.

I am also a huge fan of the reduced to clear section, haven't paid full price for meat or fish in months.

I'd be making a curry with the chicken now.
Then you can let it cool and eat it tomorrow if you want the lasagna tonight.

Freeze the lasagne (assuming its been in the fridge)
and eat the chicken

If you want to carry on buying organic meat you probably need to reduce the amount you buy and put less meat in each meal - use it as a flavouring rather than the main component, or eat a lot more meat free meals than you are currently doing.

Alternatively you could use cheaper cuts of meat - chicken breasts are more expensive as thighs or drum sticks for example. Have you compared prices with Tesco and other supermarkets or online suppliers like Abel & Cole?

Also look for discount codes and special offers. You can often buy half a lamb for less than the price of buying all the cuts separately, but you would need to eat all that ice cream first. Second the suggestion of an online box scheme.

Meal planning is definitely the way to go. I hate it too but has to be done! We sit down on Friday evenings and plan meals for week ahead, then do an online shop. Milk is delivered and pick up bread midweek. We usually have one/two meat free days and have leftovers one/two days. I work shifts so if I make stew/curry I'll usually freeze a portion for my next run of nights. We spend about £60 most weeks (2 adults + a toddler) and once a month or so need household stuff so more expensive.

movingon where do you get your veg box delivered from please? Been meaning to look into costs.

OP, I think meal planning is your best option. And freezing leftovers. I would also recommend a fortnightly / monthly visit to home bargains to stock up on toiletries. It's very cheap there.

I use Abel and Cole but I have friends who swear by Riverford.

I probably have a free box code somewhere... I'll look.

Most of the meat from musclefood is imported and likely to be lower welfare than UK standards, which are pretty crap anyway at the standard end of the market.

The fact that most of their chicken doesn't even have the red tractor symbol and they don't really make the provenance of their meat clear suggests that it isn't really worth shouting about.

How long would you wiser people say a cooked meat dish (such as lasagne or curry ) can last in the fridge?

4 chicken breasts should be making curry for at least 2 meals for your family, perhaps more. Maybe make a chicken curry (I would use thighs as cheaper and tastier) and a vegetable or pulse curry and serve half and freeze half for another day.

I buy predominantly organic and I still manage to feed a family of 4 on 100 pounds a week.

First - how much meat are you eating? 4 chicken breasts in one meal for a family your size feels like a lot to me. We buy a small chicken (1.2kg) and it will feed the whole family for 2/3 meals with the carcass making stock for soup and having leftovers for sandwiches, etc. The same with a joint of pork, beef or lamb.

If I shop in the supermarket, I don't go in with a formal meal plan. Instead I go in knowing how many people I need to feed for how many meals that week and which meals are going to be main meals vs lighter meals. I also know what I have in the house already in the way of perishables. The first thing I do is go and look at the meat, fish and dairy. I look at what's on special offer or reduced and I buy enough for the meals we need. Then I go back and buy the appropriate fruit and veg to complete the meals. Once I have everything I need for the week I look at how much I have left from my budget. I have a list of things that I stock up on if I have spare budget (toilet roll, washing powder, fabric softener, sugar/vinegar for summer preserving, etc.) and I buy those ahead of time as and when I can.

OP, I think your biggest cost is obviously buying the finest range and organic - but even buying the best stuff at Aldi will be cheaper than elsewhere, especially if you're not fussed about buying online. Some of the things we do:

• Saving leftovers from dinner, use for kids lunches (or adults) the next day.
• Freeze anything I'm not going to use in next few days (eg. meat, bread, some veg etc) as it stops it expiring
• I only meal plan a few days ahead as the number of people eating often changes and I have to switch meals around. BUT, I base the meals on similar ingredients (eg. roast chicken one day, chicken soup made from homemade stock the next day)
• Bulk up the meal with cheaper ingredients, eg. if we're having people over for chilli, I won't buy much extra meat but I will add carrots and peppers to the chilli and serve garlic bread too. Lentils, beans and bread are great for this
• As PP have said, simpler and cheaper meals (eg. soup made from leftovers, jacket potatoes etc)
• Buy a slow cooker (between £10-30) and it will pay its way ten times over. Cheap cuts of meat such as pork shoulder, beef shin, chicken thighs and oxtail are absolutely delicious cooked slowly throughout the day and involve next to no effort.

I'm going to check out musclefood

I had somebody at the door recently offering hello fresh boxes, but it didn't seem like a good deal to me, and don't like to have recipes dictated to me, I'm a fussy eater so like to pick and choose and adapt recepies myself.

Does anyone still get milk delivered in glass bottles by a actual milkman- does that exist anymore?

Since you live near both Aldi and Tesco, go to Aldi first and do your main shop there, and top up from Tesco with whatever Aldi didn't have.

Simple changes make a lot of difference, more veg/potatoes/rice on the plate and you don't notice there's less meat or fish. Alternate higher-priced meals with cheap ones - if you had salmon steaks last week have fish fingers this week, that sort of thing. Try cheaper cuts of meat, they are usually tastier. For casseroles don't use stewing steak, use shin; and for chicken swap breasts for thighs.