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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask how you save money grocery shopping?

56 replies

IDoDaChaCha · 24/07/2017 07:57

Been finding the price of groceries ridiculous recently. I'm a fan of yellow sticker food shopping in major supermarkets and the rest in budget (Aldi, B&M etc). Interested to know your strategies for saving money on food shopping? Are you an extreme couponer?

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Troubleinstore · 24/07/2017 13:28

Always compare price per kilo vs another brand...sometimes if on offer cheese can vary up to £4per kilo. Same with cereals if you're not bothered about brand. Bulk out one pot meals i.e. curry with chick peas and lentils..you only need a small amount of meat if that what takes your fancy. Don't buy crisps, buy a big bag of popcorn and make it yourself, much cheaper

Kursk · 24/07/2017 13:30

My solution was always to send DH his shopping was always cheaper and quicker than mine

Want2bSupermum · 24/07/2017 13:47

We meal plan for 6 days and make it stretch for 7. There is always something left over and this game enables you to save up a bit each week.

MollyHuaCha · 24/07/2017 13:52

Home made soup is so cheap and it can make a lovely meal with some fresh bread on the side.

senua · 25/07/2017 09:22

I said upthread "don't have preconceptions". It used to be that buying in bulk meant buying cheaper. I've found plenty of examples where buying the larger pack-size ended up more expensive in terms of £/weight than the smaller pack-size.Shock Supermarkets play games and you have to keep a close eye on them. Looking at you, Asda.

That reminds me of one spectacular trick they tried to play. Asda had an offer of "buy two, get third free". So if product A cost £2 and you bought three of them it didn't cost £6, it cost £4. I bought two lots of this type of bargain and, since I only bought a few things, I noticed what they did. I bought three A and three B; they were branded goods made by totally different manufacturers (not part of the same group), were totally different types of thing (forget what but something random like toothpaste and wine) and were different prices. You would expect that I would get a free A and a free B. But, no, they knocked two B off the price because they bundled all the six products together in the one LinkSave and 'gave away' two of the cheaper product. Tbf, they gave a refund when I complained but they shouldn't have that system in the first place.

TonicAndTonic · 25/07/2017 09:36

I said upthread "don't have preconceptions". It used to be that buying in bulk meant buying cheaper. I've found plenty of examples where buying the larger pack-size ended up more expensive in terms of £/weight than the smaller pack-size. Supermarkets play games and you have to keep a close eye on them. Looking at you, Asda

Tesco also play games with prices! I shop online and check the price per kilo or unit prices against other pack sizes and against other brands e.g. kitchen roll, sometimes a 4 pack is cheaper per 100 sheets, sometimes 8 pack or even the 2 packs! tomato ketchup is onther one, it really varies which sze bottle is cheapest per 100g. I use the midweek delivery saver, I think its £3.50 a month for unlimited deliveries Tues-Thurs.

I also use the freezer a lot, actually not so much for leftovers or batch cooking but for freezing meat bought on multibuys, and loads of different frozen veg. Frozen fruit is also good value.

Also I will try any 'basics' range item once. Some of them are awful, but many are fine.

Oh, and meal planning of course Smile

BeautyGoesToBenidorm · 25/07/2017 09:50

We do a lot of the things mentioned on here. I'm vegan, so dirt cheap to feed: I buy sacks of pulses, grains, nuts and seeds in bulk (multicultural shops are the best for this), and own brand/value frozen veg. I buy plant milks in bulk when they're on offer. I make my own beanburgers.

For omnivore DH and DCs, I buy meat in bulk from MuscleFood every couple of months. I do a lot of batch cooking with this, and pad out mince dishes with lentils or soya mince (you can get big bags of this in its dry form, much cheaper than stuff like Quorn).

I buy big bags of porridge oats instead of breakfast cereals - much, much cheaper, you can add whatever you want to it, and make granola/muesli out of it too.

I make my own bread, tortilla wraps, pizza bases and sweet treats (flapjacks and brownies cut into small squares are always good). I bulk buy tinned tomatoes and passata and make my own sauces.

We also bulk buy dishwasher tablets, toilet roll and washing powder - Amazon is good for this, and sometimes cash and carry places have bargains.

The only things we buy in the week are ordinary milk, salad, fruit, and any other fresh ingredients we might need.

It's worked out a lot cheaper this way, but I admit it takes a LOT of forward planning! I have a strict meal plan, and I stick to it - it's not always fun, but I do my best with it. Food shopping is so bloody expensive.

waitforitfdear · 25/07/2017 10:02

Shop at Aldis it's saved us a fortune and the food is top quality. Meal plan and shop alone without the kids.

IDoDaChaCha · 26/07/2017 18:55

JennyBlueWren I try to time it but it depends on the supermarket as they all have different mark down times. Some Tesco Finest stuff is still ridiculously expensive yellow stickered... Which I comment out loud as I'm rummaging Grin

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Jessiecat27 · 26/07/2017 20:24

I will happily eat the same meal all week for my dinner! I make 'burritos' quite often, value tinned tomatoes, value kidney beans, peppers, value rice, value block of cheese (I buy a large block and you can freeze if you don't use often) and of course the wraps themselves although you could make yourself? The cheese lasts me a month anyway for £3.50 but altogether the meal is about £2 for a full weeks worth!
Lentil curry - you can buy a huge bag of red split lentils cheap, value rice again and I buy makway curry (tin) which is usually £1 but seems to last forever. That's another meal I could live off all week! Try pinterest for cheap meal recipes! Also you can buy full fat milk, only use half the amount and water it down, I want to start doing this as we use lot of milk but oh doesn't believe you can't taste a difference!

Mammylamb · 26/07/2017 20:29
  • batch cook massive amounts of food.
  • lots of vegetarian food (pad out with lentils, beans, chickpeas)
  • meal plan for the week (including packed lunches)
Mammylamb · 26/07/2017 20:31

And it's been mentioned up thread. If we are skint I send dh to do the shopping as he sticks to the list!

DSHathawayGivesMeFannyGallops · 26/07/2017 20:40

Massive batch cooking and freezing, I also portion my veg and freeze as much as possible ASAP. Less waste as I'm not a veg eater really. Anything that does less well in a freezer has to be planned to fit the rest of my shopping for fast consumption.
Shop with a list and a calculator on your phone. If you watch your budget tot up as you shop, you get better at checking the maths on offers and being stricter with yourself. I have the odd slight budgeted blow out but I've found I've got better at planning what I eat and when I buy this way.

IDoDaChaCha · 29/07/2017 15:58

DSHathaway I do the phone calculator when I'm spending healthy start vouchers: make sure I spend right up to the amount. And my maths is crap Grin

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RortyCrankle · 29/07/2017 17:20

I'm currently watching Extreme Couponing on Quest Red - a woman just bought over $1,000 of stuff in the supermarket and after taking into account supermarket deals and using hundreds of coupons she mostly got from dumpsters, the final result was the supermarket paying her $140 Shock

IDoDaChaCha · 30/07/2017 11:39

Rorty that's amazing. I pick up receipts etc people have dropped (littered? *tsk) but I haven't actually been bin diving. Has anyone else?

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Want2bSupermum · 30/07/2017 12:34

I coupon but not to an extreme. It saves us up to $50 a week but the average probably works out to $20 a week. I don't stockpile and I don't buy branded when own name is cheaper.

Be careful of American programs on couponing. I know someone from my couponing group who has a storage space they spend $120 a month on. It stores their stockpile!

IDoDaChaCha · 30/07/2017 13:09

Want2bSupermum couponing group? I get annoyed with coupons sometimes as quite a few I haven't been able to use as the stores don't always stock the products. Even when they say they do...

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Want2bSupermum · 30/07/2017 14:16

Yeah it's just a group of us on FB. We swap coupons and deals that we find.

balsamicbarbara · 30/07/2017 15:23

It depends how extreme you need to go but if you go into the loos you can take some hand towels and toilet paper, fill plastic bottles with water and if you have a little tub or bottle some of the hand gel. Free samples can also be useful especially if you can send kids around to get more.

Another good trick if you're using the self serve checkout is to peel bananas before you bag them. The peel makes up most of the weight and you don't want to pay for that bit. It is legal but people on the checkouts don't like it so best if you do it yourself.

TentUpFirstBunkUpLater · 30/07/2017 15:57

Peel the banana first Shock Shock Shock

AtleastitsnotMonday · 30/07/2017 18:13

balsamicbarbara are you being serious?

dudsville · 30/07/2017 18:17

This is considered boring by others but we do a set on line shop for delivery. We add or change bits from week to week but there's a basic set of items and we're happy with the range of meals we can make. My oh is veggie. I eat fish about 3 times a week. It keeps our costs predictable.

Want2bSupermum · 30/07/2017 18:23

With coupons I don't pay for toilet paper, I rarely buy paper towels as I only use for yucky jobs like scraping solid grease out of a dish or oil from a pan. Hand soap is all coupons too. I use hand towels which are 10+ years old.

There is absolutely no need to steal.

IDoDaChaCha · 30/07/2017 18:57

Want2bSupermum can I join your couponing group?! Flowers

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