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!

Aldi do 4 avocado for £1.55. I keep them in the fridge and they regularly exceed the best before date.

Heinz Beans are ridiculously expensive. Aldi do a value one for 23p. I prefer these - less salty and sweet. Try them

Get rid of the wipes. You NEED to make some sacrifices to save money. Either make your own spray as suggested above or buy a huge all purpose spray. I find this works better than wipes too.

And can I ask why on earth you got a puppy when money is so tight? How will you afford vets bills, vaccinations etc?

To the people asking how the op can use so much toilet roll per week, if you have a chronic bladder or bowel condition, or an illness that causes bladder and/or bowel problems, then you can end up spending a considerable amount of time on the toilet.

@Ellenborough I don't eat dairy/meat free for the environment, dairy upsets my stomach & I I don't like any meat or cooking it.

Also not all vegans are environmentally conscious😂 some do it just for their taste preferences or dietary needs lol.

im out, this is too fake. you dont ask how to lower a budget but then everything that is in the budget has to stay as is because of this and that, waste of time making a thread to just shoot everyone down.

Also eating fish means you are not vegan.

If you dont want to sacrifice stuff then you cant be that bad off and obviously dont want anyone helping you.

Stop shitting so much. and stop buying unnecessary things like wipes etc.

Buy frozen berries and thaw them over night for breakfast in the fridge. Homemade pasta sauce, and yes make your own cleaner. Those wipes are a rip off and very bad for the environment.
I pee a lot. I drink a lot and have endometriosis. I can't imagine going through a roll of toilet paper a day let alone 3.

I give up! FFS, it’s like talking to a five year old.

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

You use 18 toilet rolls a week?

Wow.
Wipes, spray and body wash are unnecessary. Soap is cheap. You don't need body wash if you use soap.
We are a family of 5. We use 6 toilet rolls a week between us.
We use block soap in the shower - a bar lasts several weeks.

I agree it's your toiletries and household that needs cutting, not the food so much.

You obviously can't afford to have a puppy.

Buy those big rolls of paper towel - 'jumbo clean up roll' from Aldi is £2 and lasts ages, far cheaper than loo roll for cleaning up after puppy. B&Q do similar.

www.aldi.co.uk/workzone-jumbo-clean-up-roll/p/077022278704600

And really cut down on loo roll use, I maybe use one a week for just me.

Wipes are really expensive and unnecessary, and not very good for the environment. Change these for jay cloths and surface spray, wash the jay clothes with the laundry and reuse.

You really don't need body sprays and like others I use soap and it lasts forever. I'm on my second since Christmas and one of them I threw away half used as it wasn't very nice, so I've not even used a whole soap bar and a basic one is 60p.

When you buy laundry and dishwashing stuff, check the 'price per wash' and get that as low as you can. I reckon on 7p for laundry and 5p for dishwashing. Then use half the amount they suggest so it lasts twice as long - with dishwasher tabs you can break them in half, they work just fine.

As others have said, berries and avocados are expensive. Buy swedes, root veg in general, apples and pears.

@Ellenborough 🤦🏻‍♀️ I mentioned this earlier, I made a mistake😂 it's just easier to say vegan to other people as opposed to a 'dairy free pescatarian who only actually likes one kind of fish and is really fussy'

The feed yourself for £1 a day Facebook page is very good for anyone who wants to save money on their food shop.

also you say for convenience but then thats fine! if you arnt asking people to chop down your budget.. i dont give a hoot what you buy but when you ask for advice then obviously people are going to look at what you are spending on and rip it to shreds, buy wipes and wipe your ass with expensive loo roll for all i care but then don't complain that our benefits are stopping and so we need to budget so we can afford it:'(

OP I've been home for ten months on maternity leave, don't go out too often. I drink a ton of water a day too and an 8pack of toilet paper lasts me a month no problem, usually closer to six weeks. So yes people are questioning it.

People are being kind enough to offer the suggestions you asked for the cut your already fairly trim budget, but you keep rejecting them out of hand so I'm a bit at a loss.

You said you eat fish or nuts as your protein. Are the nuts expensive ones? Could you switch to cheaper varieties (ie from cashews to a cashew mix?). Agreed with ditching the wipes and switching to cloths with a homemade spray. There's tons of receipts for cheap sprays online. This is much better for the environment anyway, especially when coupled with how much toilet paper you're flushing down the loo.

@Squirrelblanket I've said I have IBS which probably contributes to a more than normal toilet roll use. I've also acknowledged a PP's suggestion to get a better quality loo roll as ours is very thin and we probably use more because of that.

I've acknowledged that batch cooking and freezing is a great idea and I would love to do that, we just have really limited fridge space.

I am listening to ideas and agree with a lot of them! I'm very grateful for the help.

@S1naidSucks yes I love it! Oooh I had no clue you could grow it in a pot? We have a nice sunny windowsill I could use, is there anything else I can grow inside? I do have a salad cress plant I brought a few months ago that is still going strong!

which ideas are you agreeing with.

move on from the vegan and loo roll issue.

tell us what you think will work for you....

I do use plastic OP, but I'm not the one on here trying to come up with ways to spend less per week and more or less counter arguing every point.

If you need to spend only £19 a week on food you need to be less picky. Expensive fruits and vegetables aren't an option right now. Like PP said, stop with the fish and eat eggs. Cheaper & better for you. Nuts as well as expensive, cut them out and start finding a way to eat beans and pulses.

@Onceuponacheesecake I am trying to make the effort why else would I make a post asking for help.

I use the wipes for convenience but will be looking for cheaper ones in Lidl. I think I've seen them in there for like 65p which is really good!

@DoubleDaffodil I've previously said I make my own pasta sauce for a veggie bolognese each week :)

@longtimelurkerhelen That explains the loo roll, I'm so glad people have pointed that out as I did think we used a lot. It is very thin & cheap feeling.

I'm going to look up some stuff I can grow in a flat I love plants.

@Ellenborough "I'd be asking my boyfriend what he did in the car that needed quite so much loo roll."

A nasty and rude comment. We use it for wiping the windows that get dirty, tissues if we need to blow our nose, spilt drinks etc. Probably have 2 in the car at a time and they come in handy.

"I use the wipes for convenience but will be looking for cheaper ones in Lidl. I think I've seen them in there for like 65p which is really good!"
but why use wipes, when you can just use a homemade spray and some cloth?

Wipe your windows with cloths oh my god! Who on earth wipes windows with toilet roll that's ludicrous.

My DH also has IBS and doesn't go through remotely as much toilet roll as you're trying to pass off as normal. And he shits at least 6 times a day.

I've reduced some expenses by using bar soap, roll-on and giant economy-sized tubs of Astral.

For my toiletries that is - I don't eat them

Toilet tissue for windows??

OP that is plain silly.