To ask how you've lowered your food shop?

[coffeecoffeecofffee]

Recently come under a crap time, can't work due to chronic health condition, lost our UC payment each month of £400 as my partner now earns above the threshold (but still doesn't take home much due to debt he has unfortunately) & had my PIP review recently (I used to get £430pm) and may have that reduced/taken away completely.

I'm trying to think of ways to reduce my outgoings and have decided to reduce my food budget to £25pw. (used to have £35pw)

My partner and I buy our things separately but share the cost of regular household bits, cleaning and usually salad! We both eat two completely different diets, me vegan & him a meat eater. So about £6 per week of each of our budgets goes towards cleaning & toiletries.

Left with £19 for food for the week.

I already buy a lot of frozen veg and the only fresh produce I buy are apples (whatever's cheapest), strawberries or blueberries, tomatoes, salad (spinach, kale & rocket), avocados& sweet potato.

I usually buy 1 dairy free milk (£1.40) which lasts me most of the week as I don't eat breakfast every day.

I eat a lot of wholewheat pasta w/ no added sugar pasta sauces (tomato based & pesto) as it goes a long way, no added sugar & is cheap and delicious as well as healthy as I don't eat a tonne!

I also buy a bag of plain frozen fish for the week at £3.30 for 5 fillets.

I tend to find the fresh stuff & toiletries like body wash take up most of my budget, I've tried shopping at my local Lidl and Aldi but the fresh produce is often going off when I'm in there! Let alone getting it home, hence I find Morrisons/Asda/Tesco better for that.

Anyone got any smart ways to reduce/meal plan for a vegan? I don't like beans, lentils etc so that's annoying as I know they're really cheap!

Oats are cheap and cheerful, and home made oat milk is easy to make.

I'm shocked by how much you spend on toiletries and cleaning stuff.

I don't use anything except a bar of soap, washing up liquid, bicarb of soda and vinegar.

@picklemepopcorn I have porridge for breakfast with the dairy free milk :)

I guess the toiletries may be high but then again you have a very extreme cleaning routine to many people with the bar soap etc.

The £6 we both contribute (so £12 total) goes on toilet roll (£2 in Lidl for 9 we often need 2 of those a week at least), tissues, soap, wipes, spray, body wash etc so we do get quite a lot out of the £12 to be honest. I don't buy expensive toiletries either.

Make meals that last longer. I make this for about £7 and it would feed you at least 5 portions if you had it with rice. You may have to change some non vegan items though.
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/775646/vegetable-curry-for-a-crowd
If you don't want to eat the same thing every day then freeze it for another day. Bean chilli would probably be a similar meal you could make last a few days.
Soup for lunch maybe?

In our family of 5 we use 3 loo rolls a week. What do you use 18 on?

We also don't use tissues wipes spray or body wash. I haven't bought shampoo since Xmas nor soap as I got a load of gifts. Likewise cleaning products I buy mostthings bi monthly or quarterly.

For us five I reckon o more than 10 a month and you spend 12a week on that.

Agree that your cleaning/toiletries is high. We buy all of ours from Wilko/B&M/Poundstretcher and probably spend £10-15 every 2-3 months.

I’d look at eating more seasonal veg too, as berries and avocado out of season are expensive.

I would change your loo roll for starters. £2 for 9 and you often use 2 packs at least? It’s obviously shit (no pun intended) so false economy. I buy Tesco own, £3.35 for 9 and that lasts over a week with a family of 4.

You use 18 rolls of toilet paper a week between 2 people ????
And what do you use the wipes for? They are environmentally catastrophic. Can you switch to reusable cloths?

Do you buy pasta sauce or make from scratch? Tinned tomatoes, chopped onion, some herbs makes a nice sauce and would be cheaper. I normally add some veg (good for veg past its best) and then blend. Easily enough sauce for 4 from one tin of tomatoes. You can freeze the rest.
I also make my pizza bases from scratch and use the tomato sauce on that.
Apart from that you're already doing lots of things cheaper.
I would say that strawberries, blueberries and avocados are expensive though. Will you eat different, in season products? In season are normally cheaper. And Morrisons/Asda do wonky veg to help with cost.

The toiletries is a huge cost. Is there any way of bulk buying to off-set that? Would slightly more expensive toilet paper be better as you could use less? (I found that with kitchen roll, cheapest wasn't as absorbent so I used lots!)

If you are short on money, you don't need tissues, wipes, spray etc.

A bar of soap lasts weeks and is much better for the environment.

A roll on deodorant.

Even a bottle of multipurpose cleaning spray lasts weeks.

I forgot bleach, I do use that occasionally as well.

Do you use Lidl/Aldi toiletries and cleaning stuff? They are good and reasonable. Don't buy branded.

Meal planning. Also only buying what you need. I buy toiketries when I need them similar with cleaning products. We use amazon subscribe and save for things like washing powder.

There are 3 of us in the house (at present dc2 due July) and a cat. Dh does the meal plan and food shop and can do it for £35 a week. Just by buying what we need.

Porridge oats for breakfast. Massive bag for 75p in aldi.
In tesco they have bars of soap for 15p and shower gel for 28p. I've used the soap it's fine.
Shampoo and conditioner is tesco is 50p.
We use 9 loo rolls a week for 6 of us. Maybe the lidl one is no good?
Rice can be bought in big bags cheap.
Have you tried frozen fish, may be able to save there.

I agree that 12 a week for personal care and cleaning stuff is way too much, I spend about £25 a month for two adults and two teen boys and I don't buy the cheapest stuff.

As far as food goes maybe buy larger (normally cheaper) and freeze portions. I use a lot of mushrooms which we all love and are great for bulking out or making omelettes. Making sauces can also be cheaper if, again, you make more than one portion at a time.

I'd recommend poundstretcher .It's a shop I'd forgotten about, pastas, wraps etc which are just in date can cost as little as 10p. CIF and Astonish cleaners are 89p and 69p.

We also don't get through that much loo roll from aldi. Family of 5. Scrap the ready made sauces and bulk cook a tomato based sauce. Scrap expensive fruit (blueberries adn strawberries) and get fruit in season as its cheaper. Scrap the avocado's too. Also bulk cook stews, soups. If you don't like beans, have you tried barley? Good bulk uppa! Also rice with just a few spices and an onion is a cheap option. God luck. We did it for a couple in £20per week. It was tough but doable, if a little mundane!

We changed to Aldi and it's hugely reduced our bill but I agree the fresh produce can be hit and miss.
What cleaning and cosmetics are you buying for £6 a week? I use a lot of both but still don't need to buy on a weekly basis apart from shower creme. What about a natural rock salt deodorant, they last months?
Wilko, Home Bargains, Poundland, B&M etc are good for cheap cleaning products and toiletries.

We are a family of four and spend on average £70 a week this includes everyone's lunches. We have 1 in nappies so toiletries and cleaning products including a pack of nappies and wipes per week comes to approx £7. The rest goes on food.

The only way I have found to bring the overall monthly cost down is to buy in bulk and on offer so you may need to spend a little to save in the long run.

I buy huge bags of pasta in Tesco for £3 same with rice.

Multipacks of things like soup, beans, tinned tomatoes when on offer

The other key thing is to cook from scratch.

As your vegan it should be really easy to eat on the cheap no?

Watching with interest because we need to lower ours.

Frozen fruit and veg are a revelation, mostly just as healthy if not better than fresh and have little to no wastage because you can just add what you need. Go shopping at the biggest chain supermarket you can, as prices are cheaper.

I'm not vegan, but I eat vegan lunches and breakfasts most days. There are some great recipes in here for example. Try things like barley, buckwheat, polenta, split peas - all cheap, nutritious and filling.

For things like tofu, spices, flours, rice and noodles, a Chinese supermarket is often cheaper than Tesco et al.

Holland and Barret also do 375g of soya protein (mince or chunks) for £1.99. It's dried so lasts and goes a long way.

Why 18 toilet rolls? Try Poundland for their basic tissues, you can buy cleaning stuff and toiletries in there too or own brand Asda/wilko even cheaper.
Porridge oats for breakfast, soups or pastas for lunch. Cheap staple food like rice, pasta, noodles then bulk veg tinned or frozen. Cheap meat/fish from supermarkets is ok to freeze or cook batch meals and freeze for the week ahead.
Ingredients to make things like pizza bases and your own sauce toppings work out cheaper than an actual pizza. Look up some recipes of vegan meals you would look and compare bulk buying to batch making from scratch. Salads/eggs/jacket potatoes also cheap. A lot of fruit work out quite expensive so I tend to stick to bulk buying individual bananas/apples/oranges than prepacked. You can do it just make a list and stick to it.

I also use reuseable face wipes and sanitary pads. Saves a fortune and the environment.

And switched back to dishclothes and clothes and spray for kitchen and bathroom cleaning.

I use bar soap and buy shampoo etc when it’s on offer (I only wash my hair twice a week). Face stuff I do use a big brand (Clinique) but am lucky enough to be gifted this so have tons.

I genuinely don’t know how you get through so much toiletries
Is this a medical condition?

Misses the point but why are you buying fish if you are vegan?

Being vegan and not liking beans and lentils makes meal plans quite difficult!

You need to begin with accumulating a well stocked store cupboard, spices and herbs ect.

An example meal plan might be;

Cereal and oat milk for breakfast

Previous day's dinner leftovers for lunch (also a good tip for reducing cost)

Dinner ideas;

Quorn bolognaise and spaghetti
Vegetable Curry and home made naan
Tofu noodle stir fry
Cauliflower 'cheese' and jacket potato
Pea and leek risotto
Vegetable lasagne
Butternut squash soup

The berries and avocados will have to go - they're expensive and take up a lot of budget when you're limited on spending.

Aldi and Lidl are hit and miss in some stores for freshness, but for toiletries, tinned food etc they have saved us a FORTUNE. Even cheaper than asda, and certainly moreso than tesco.

I spend between £30 and £45 a week on groceries for a family of three and about £40 a month on meat, so I reckon you can get it down from £19 for one person. DS is gluten intolerant and we drink nut milks too.

Aldi do almond milk for 89p, it's the cheapest I can find. Do you meal plan? It's the only way I can keep my costs down. I also have reusable sanitary towels so there was an initial outlay of £35 ish but now I don't have to factor them into my weekly shop. Do you batch cook? I made a moussaka this morning before work and that will do tonights tea for three (two and a half really) and then there is the same again for the freezer.

I'm also confused as to why you are spending £3.30 on fish fillets if you are vegan? Fresh berries are dead expensive, so I only buy frozen and they are for smoothies, not treats. We don't buy body wash, we buy a pack of four bars of soap and that does me. I recently discovered (much to my horror) Lidl shampoo, which is a fraction of the cost of Aussie, which I was using before.

The £6 we both contribute (so £12 total) goes on toilet roll (£2 in Lidl for 9 we often need 2 of those a week at least), tissues, soap, wipes, spray, body wash etc so we do get quite a lot out of the £12 to be honest. I don't buy expensive toiletries either.

I really would question 18 rolls of toilet roll a week?? Are you both at home all day? I don't buy tissues, we use toilet roll or a cloth/towel depending on what we are wiping up. We do use wipes but that's because DS is still in nappies, I don't see why adults would use them.

I think you use a lot of unnecessary products, but then I have been frugal for a very long time. Perhaps I did used to use these things but in the days when I had money