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!

@YourBasic I didn't buy the dog & don't pay for him either. The dog is not my responsibility.
My boyfriend is 28 and has his own business from home. He earns about 2k a month but isn't left with a lot as he took out a large loan a few years ago unfortunately to start his business. The business didn't take off for a while but thankfully he's doing well now. His parents are helping him clear the debt too which he will pay back without interest so he should be clear by the summer.

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

Yes. That’s my point about the Op changing in part to something other than the loo roll she uses.

😂 Coffee she doesn’t always think so, nor does dd2 or ds2. Ds1 however normally thinks I’m great 👍.

@00100001 I'm not going to make an entirely separate post saying what I'm going to change? If you read my replies to PP you'll see what I've answered and said is a good idea and something I'll change.

@teta 😂😂 I'm sure they secretly worship you 😉

I'm sorry but if you are living together then you both bought the dog and the money he spends on it is joint money!!

My partner bought the puppy for us and pays £30pm in insurance. He has enough savings for the pups vet bills The money is tight for me, my partner earns enough for himself & provide easily for the dog but is clearing a lot of debt so can't help me out. (Not that I expect him to anyway!)

So he could have given you an extra £10 a week more or less (if you include the dog food) but instead chose to get a dog. Nice.

You said you have pesto pasta... pesto contains dairy.

Is there a cheap fruit and veg shop near you for your fresh stuff? Aldi/ Lidl/ wilko/Iceland all have great bargains. But really you already don't spend much do you?

You said you have pesto pasta... pesto contains dairy

You can get vegan Sacla ( I don't eat Parmesan because proper Parmesan has rennet . There are some 'Italian Hard Cheeses'' that are rennet free -not dairy free- but vegan Sacla is ok . (Not brilliant , just ok)

I don't know what's in it though to replace the cheese

OP just to add that I always had blueberries/ strawberries or similar on my weekly shop and since I've been using the frozen I don't miss them at all. There's also the annoyance when you buy fresh berries and they aren't very nice/ not sweet (out of season) or go off too quickly. You don't get that with frozen.

I know you said you're not a fan of pulses but what about making your own hummus? It is so delicious and really good for you. Two cans of cannelini beans are £1 at the supermarket and that will make you a really good amount, a big enough tub for 3 or 4 days lunches, plus another 3 or 4 tubs for the freezer (in other, about two weeks worth). I make up a big batch and freeze into tubs. You can look up a recipe but it's basically white beans, a clove of garlic if you like it, cumin, olive oil, all pulsed together. Add the juice of a lemon and salt to taste. Tahini if you have it, but doesn't matter if you don't. You can get fancy and other things if you like/ have them (ie other herbs/ spices, sprinkle over some nuts or seeds). That with some roasted veg would be a lovely meal.

Apologies I haven't read the whole thread but do you buy kitchen towels? They would work out much cheaper than using loo roll for clearing up puppy accidents (and you definitely want something disposable for that!!)

What’s the worst that can happen with a £3 menstrual cup though? Silicones cheap as chips. The better question is why Do moon cups cost £30 to buy?.

The molecules used will be too big to pass into my system anyway from the vagina.

I'll be honest, I looked at your list and the things that jumped out at me were the berries and the avocado. You don't want to give them up, fine, but I would be eking them out with things that are less expensive, eg bananas, oranges and pears. Also they are all airfreighted at this time of year, and the avocado all year round as well as requiring huge amounts of water to grow.

It doesn't seem you are willing to compromise on much, so there isn't much you can do. but I would definitely suggest shopping around to wherever is cheapest to buy your items.

If you only like Heinz beans, find out where you can get them half price and shop there (or stock up if you can afford to). Same with branded nut milk - alpro is currently 2 for £2 in Waitrose.

I buy fruit and veg from the coop reduced section. At 5ish they knock everything down to 75% off. So I can sometimes get raspberries for 50p, leeks for 30p, oranges for 30p. They usually last a good while even if past their "best before" and many can be frozen. Most shops have a reduced to clear section, although lidl and aldi don't.

Also you can't have both convenience and cheap e.g. salad veg. If you want to save money, you have to compromise and spend 20 seconds washing and cutting your own lettuce. If you can't be bothered with that, I guess money isn't that tight.

@Fluffycloudland77 there are different types of silicone. 😮 Only silicone which should come in a contact with our bodies for longer time is medical grade silicone. That's the only one tested AFAIK

Definitely use an empty spray bottle and buy a cheap huge bottle of multi purpose liquid and dilute (use with Jay cloths) I've recently started doing this and saved a bit already. Also I'm not using as much plastic.
I've also kept my expensive shampoo/conditioner because like you it's a nice treat and feels nice, I've replaced shower gel with dove exfoliating soap and honestly feels much cleaner and fresher!

Farmfoods last week had 12 Tins of heinz baked beans for £5.

I think you need to reassess the wipes, sprays and brand of tissue that you use Op. I also think you are doing really well and some people have got on your case here, that's just the bitchiness of Aibu.

I use a lot of tissue and have a douche tap but I seem to have a unwipeable arse at the moment so I wipe and clean for ages. Maybe the op does something similar but didn't want to put so much detail.

People have been very mean as op is young and suffering from different illnesses and obviously trying her best, yet she has been called lazy by a few.

Look at cutting back where you can but your diet sounds really healthy and I think you are doing well.

@InspectorClouseauMNdivision Are you saying I can't use a muffin tray for a mooncup? I mean, clue's in the name surely...

@burritofan 😂😂😂😂😂

@YourBasic We're not married? Just because you live with someone doesn't mean you share finances?

I just wanted to chime in on the toilet roll situation. We buy the 9 pack from Lidl and it lasts us 5-6 weeks depending on if we have guests (there is 2 of us). I'm not sure its a quality issue as we manage fine and I work from home.

@DontDribbleOnTheCarpet we've had the dog 3 months, I was fine for money then and had no clue it would potentially change. It's not his fault! It's only in the past 3 weeks or so that it's changed actually.

@BeanBag7 the OP has IBS and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She's also epileptic. It's not about being bothered. Some days, being upright at all is likely to be a challenge.

I really don't think some people have a clue about health conditions, and what they do to people's lives. Lucky old them, hey.