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!

I’m also boggling at £12 a week on household/personal care too but your young. Which means you can learn from all of us who’ve reduced outgoings.

We use;
Bar soap
Lidl bubble bath for dh.
Aldi body lotion
Sainsburys toothpaste
Sainsburys face wash, £1! And buav apporoved.
Menstrual cup off eBay £3
Tesco smartprice shampoo
Superdrug avocado conditioner.
Tesco hair serum £1 & better than frizz ease.
Aldi q10 moisturiser.

House;
Aldi kitchen cleaner, bathroom cleaner, window cleaner, dw tabs, dw salt, washing up liquid, washing powder, never liquid, bleach.

Wilco soda crystals, sugar soap, dw cleaner. I never buy brand name anything as it’s tested on animals which is beyond cruel.

We use 18 loo rolls in 6 weeks and I’m home lots. Two sheets per wipe, dh uses roughly 36 sheets per wipe 🤦🏻‍♀️ Luckily he works full time.

If you don’t use micro fibre cloths switch to them. They clean really well with just water but my cat goes on worktops so I use a cleanser too.

You can use cheap face cloths instead of face wipes, beauty salons always use cloths in water. I’ve used micro fibre cloths for face cloths in emergency’s.

I never wash lettuce

I've been claiming PIP successfully from age 14

Are you in England? PIP isn't available until 16 in England so if you are under a different regime the advice here may not be applicable.

No idea if its different in Scotland possibly?

OP Tesco do really good bags 500g of frozen Mixed Summer berries; raspberries; pitted black cherries; and blueberries. They are very often 3 for £5. I defrost half a bag or so into a tub and keep it in the fridge; they are delicious with porridge for breakfast, or with a spoonful of yoghurt as a pudding. A bag would last you a week. That is a lot cheaper than fresh and just as good for you (this time of year a lot greener too as it's British fruit harvested during the summer months, not shipped in from god-knows-where).

And another vote for ditching the salads, tomatoes & avocados you're buying - at this time of year. They are out of season in the UK, and therefore expensive. Leave the salads till the summer. What's wrong with roasting vegetables? Leeks, carrots & cabbages are all dead cheap still this time of year.

Also, you do know that you should NOT use ordinary household cleaning spray to clean up your puppy's accidents? You need an enzymatic cleaner as otherwise you puppy will be able to smell where he has "been" before and continue to think that is a good, suitable spot. Household cleaners won't do the job. Either buy a spray from your pet shop or look up online how to make one yourself.

Wilkos do a great puppy spray for a couple of quid.

A bag of carrots (c60p) lasts me about three weeks.
Are you buying bionic carrots? How are they not mushy by then?

Yes, I was about to ask you about that.l believe many dogs can sense a seizure coming. He’s looking after you in his own way🙂.
I honestly don’t think you can cut down on your food too much. It’s really important to eat a healthy diet and under the circumstances you need to have a nice meal to look forward too. But it might be worth reading a couple of food blogs just to get a bit more variety. My student daughter seems to cook up a lot of veggie stir fry’s and noodle soup with veggie dumplings from the Chinese supermarket plus enchiladas. White rice is soothing when you have ibs issues.
In terms of the cleaning products.....can your mum treat you to a nice shower gel/soap/shampoo from Tk Maxx every month? I pick up large bottles of shower gel for £3-4 and they last forever. Likewise shampoo in the professional salon sized bottles.I buy some for dd1 when she comes home. Or alternatively does your Mum have Boots points?
I use mine to buy make up for my dds.

How have you been claiming pip since 14? PIP doesn't come in until 16.

@00100001 I'm almost 100% positive I was 14? But my parents claimed it on my behalf? I think that's how it works anyway :)

@teta Thank you :) you've been so kind with your comments, I can tell your daughter is a very lucky lady to have you.

My mum helps out a lot when she can, she's said if I end up with no PIP she will give me money for food each week and my boyfriend is letting me live rent free too. She does have boots points but I'm not sure how many? I do have really supportive parents so I'm very lucky.

Are you buying bionic carrots? How are they not mushy by then?

I buy them in Aldi and they are not 'mushy' after a few weeks, no, in fact I've never had a 'mushy' carrot. I keep them in the fridge. They do become shrivelled after a while though.

I've got a head of celery I'm working through, about half a stem every two-three days, and that's still fine, bought it weeks ago.

People do know that toilet rolls come in different sizes? One really good quality roll will probably equate to three cheapo ones.

Carrying a dirty cloth around in the car would be stupid when we can just wipe it off & put it in the bin with tissue.
Indeed, it's why the every one of the 30.9 million road-licensed cars in the UK are simply crammed with loo roll, particularly in coastal areas, with nary a cloth to be seen. Most people just snap the wipers off too. Some days in Brighton I can't see through to the dusty windshield for the multipacks of loo roll stacked on the dashboard.

you definitely haven't been claiming it since your were 14.

your parents may have claimed some sort of DLA or something, but you won't have claimed anything.

anyway - back to the point.

What are you going to change and take on board from all of the excellent advice you have been given?

@Daisydoesnt I didn't know about the puppy spray thing! Thanks for that tip, I did see a 'wee wee' spray in Lidl last week for dogs so I'll look into that.

That's a good idea, I never thought about defrosting some frozen berries and keeping them in the fridge actually, I just hated them straight out the freezer frozen, I will try that now! :)

Have you tried butter beans, OP? I'm an omnivore, but I really like homemade tomato sauce (saute onions, tinned tomatoes, bit of garlic, some herbs) with butter beans. Really good for you and I think yummy. Apparently it's a Greek staple? Anyway, if you like haricot beans then they may be worth a shot. Nutritious and cheap, too.

@00100001 I'm actually really sure I was 14, i went for assessments back then. They even mentioned at the recent interview it's been quite a few years. My parents claimed it on my behalf I believe but I had to go to all the interviews with them and explain it all myself. It was all about me, nothing about my parents (as they don't have any health issues).

I'm not replying to your last sarcastic comment as I am already taking on board advice thank you.

Possibly it was DLA before, and got changed to PIP. My DS got DLA from about the age of 5. He’s stopped claiming now but it was due to switch over to PIP.

I’ve realised from this thread that I use a lot of loo roll too! Not as much as OP but more than most on here. But I have IBS too and bad days I can end up using nearly the whole roll through the day.

@Asta19 Probably was DLA then :)

@perfectstorm No I haven't, I'll give them ago as they're similar :)

@C8H10N4O2 it must have been DLA then switched to PIP at 16 :)

You lot are fucking awful.

We use a lot of toilet roll due to my husband's disability; are you all bog roll sheet counters?

And the cheap shit bog roll ends up tearing his arse to shreds; we have tried all brands

We buy the stuff he likes

And why the fuck not?

And we are skint, but we cannot do anything else

Ok to start with I am on ESA and applied for PIP as I am too Ill to work.

I would say from the start - if you are claiming money from the govt then you can't afford a pet especially not a puppy!!

It is so irresponsible to get a dog and I don't care if they gave it away. I have two elderly cats so understand the benefit but my ex partner pays their bills and food. What if your dog turns out to have a medical condition which needs specialist food? My cats cost about £100 a month due to their specialist diet.

Also you are not telling us the bigger picture. If you are having money troubles you need to look at everything and not just try and cut a tenner a week off your shopping.

How old is your partner for him to be in so much debt? What sort of debts are they?

it wasn't sarcastic.

i think it would help you if you told us what you ARE going to change, rather than saying what you won't/can't change.

Menstrual cup off eBay £3

I think OP has enough health issues😮
I would never put something off ebay what was 6-7x cheaper than the real thing inside of me.
This is way too risky imho😮