Food is expensive

[goldenorbspider]

Went to aldi got few bits for the week and not a big shop for me and one infant. Spent £40 and it's not even a big shop. What do people do to save money on food? I can't imagine spending much less. I know it would cost waay more at other supermarkets.

White sauce is 64p in Asda
It would cost more to buy the components to make your own

64p for 500g white sauce

45p for 1kg flour
1.49 for 250g butter
1.50 for 6 pints milk
Total 3.45

That would make about 3 litres of white sauce at a price of 58p per 500g (cheaper). Plus you would still have 3 quarters of the bag of flour and a pint or so of milk left over.

Toiletries and nappies aren't food! However, that's a big shop for £40.
If you want to cut back, why are you buying carbonara sauce - and white sauce, for heaven's sake? Costs pennies and five minutes to make.

Me, dp and baby try to stick to £40 a week spent on food shop at Lidl (including cleaning products and baby stuff) and I find it difficult.

We’ve gone kind of veggie to save money, we have meat free meals 5 out of 7 days. It’s shaved a good £20 off our weekly bill, I also gave up branded toiletries and cleaning stuff I now just buy the Morrison’s nutmeg versions of shower gels and nappies etc, and the Morrison’s washing stuff and cleaning sprays etc.

Well things that are high labour like berries/cherries/ready meals or high growth cost like animal products are going to bump the cost up. If you cook from scratch and only eat meat three times are week (you really aren’t meant to eat it daily anyway) then it won’t be so expensive. Nappies are another thing that’s quite costly but obviously not food.

Go shopping in the evening about 7pm to major supermarket and get food with yellow sticker on. You can get good bargains.

I appreciate this is not ideal shopping time with young babies and children.

Got a hovis loaf yesterday reduced from £1.10 to 28p. I have frozen it.

Is “carbonara sauce” not an egg?

Mine is egg, bacon lardons and a mixture of Parmesan & pecorino... delicious....

RhymingRabbit3 Does white sauce freeze? Other wise who needs three litres.
Lots of people with an under counter fridge wouldn’t have room for 6lts of milk. Added to which a whole pack of butter just for sauce is a waste.

At 6p cheaper per 500ml with the added jepodary that you might make it wrong....is it worth it?

Yes it freezes. So does milk and butter and flour lasts months, so you wouldnt have to make 3 litres all the time. I'm not really suggesting you would have to make 3l at a time just trying to give an idea of the prices. Presumably you use milk and butter for other things too?

Added to the fact that it's cheaper, I would rather eat something made from scratch with 3 wholesome ingredients than a jar full of preservatives which is less than 3% milk.

According to BBC article, in 2018:
The food consumed in the UK is also the cheapest in Western Europe - costing 8% less than the EU average, according to EU statistical body Eurostat.

It is also much cheaper in relative terms than the food bought by Britons' parents and grandparents.

The proportion of household income spent on food has more than halved over the past 60 years, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), while spending on housing costs and leisure activities has doubled.

Our food is actually very cheap!

Dear god do it for the taste of god nothing else...those jars taste of pure preserved SHIT!! And that kind of attitude is what’s wrong with the world to be honest “oh it’s on 6p..” except it’s not. It’s more than that for the environment etc

I hazard a guess our weekly shop has gone up 25 per cent in the last few years with the devaluation of the £. And it’s only going to get worse after the end of the transition period..

Lipper some of us buy jar products for convenience.

We both work full time, I commute so don't get home until late. My dh does most meals because he gets home earlier but after a long day he's not faffing about making a sauce from scratch if he can use a jar.

@Villanomme it takes 3-5mins to make a white sauce yeah we work full time too...most ppl do...

Sorry we must be lazy then. He doesn't want to start cooking sauces that require pans and then need cleaning at 7.30pm..

And I'm damned if I'm going to clean up at 6am before I leave the house.

We do plenty to reduce our carbon footprint but I'm not going to feel guilty for using the occasional glass jar of sauce.

It does make sense to make things from scratch on paper but £3.45 compared to 60p means some people can’t make that choice. Some people don’t have the electricity or equipment to cook from scratch. Some people are disabled, some people lack confidence in the kitchen or will buy things they know their kids will eat. Some people don’t have storage for the excess ingredients or freezer space to freeze the excess food. Some people are lazy or tired.

The OPs jar of sauce is the least of the reasons her shopping bill was ‘high’. I think it’s a good price for what was bought though and it looks like a nice and varied diet.

There is a place for convenience sauces in jars etc. I never thought I’d buy ready prepared stir fry mix veg in a bag but sometimes life just gets too busy. Real white sauce is nicer but one from a jar in a (mainly) homemade lasagne is probably better than a McDonald’s.

It seems on Mums Net people can always do better than the next person and feed their family on less. It is a good varied shopping basket and quite a good deal. True salmon and berries are going to be more expensive. As for the white sauce - a bit of flour, butter or margarine and some milk - in one pan - compared to gloopy jar sauce. It takes minutes, washes up in minutes. No contest.

Has anyone mentioned the chicken
Yet ?

He doesn't want to start cooking sauces that require pans and then need cleaning at 7.30pm..

blimey, who are these people who are already home so early and can cook late afternoon?

Even my GP offers late appointment and are still open until that time...

I never thought I’d buy ready prepared stir fry mix veg in a bag but sometimes life just gets too busy.

^^ pre kids I was sooo judgey about frozen veg! I thought it was just laziness. Who's soo busy they can't chop up some peppers....now guess who's got a freezer full of the frozen stuff. I love making chilli, don't have to chop a single thing sometimes. Just chuck it all in and let it simmer

The stir fry mix works out cheaper for me than buying all the seperate items. I find them.pretty handy

blimey, who are these people who are already home so early and can cook late afternoon?

I think you know full well I meant start to cook at 7.30pm 🙄

I think you know full well I meant start to cook at 7.30pm
which is earlier than what most people can do around here, so am not sure what your point is?

I think you know full well I meant start to cook at 7.30pm

That's what most people with full-time jobs end up doing!

I mean, fair enough if you can't be arsed, but it's not like your situation is in anyway unique.