To ask for your thrifty tips on keeping the food shop down

[savingsavvy]

Absolutely everything in the food shop has gone up and not just by 10% in some cases a lot more. The 20p here and 50p there is adding up and I'm keen to be as thrifty as I can to retain our current shopping budget without having to increase it too much.

I already intend to to the following but there must be more that you can share and we can all help each other:

Buying bigger/bulk packs such as pasta, toilet roll, where it's cheaper it buy a bigger pack

Stock up on non perishable items when I see them on special offer

Convert a bit of the fresh items to frozen and stock up on the freezer - tends to be cheaper and don't need to worry about things going out of date

Downgrade where possible, I've done this with bread so far and will try some of the cheaper butter/spreads

Over to you!

I go to costco every 3 to 4 months and buy toilet roll, kitchen roll, bin bags, sugar, dishwasher tabs, washing machine liquitabs and cling film/foil (those 2 I only need to buy once a year or so as the rolls are huge.

All of these are much cheaper at costco.

In my experience, try to eliminate food waste.
Don't buy extra veg, if you are unable to eat, before they have spoiled.
Don't cook too much; measure out required amounts, so you don't have wastage.
Plan meals in advance (with some flexibility), and buy veg in season, when they are cheaper.

Buy a Remoska. I cook a lot with mine, and it takes a fraction of the electricity of an oven.

The going round lidl idea is not a bad idea. Thanks. We normally shop at lidl but I would like to go back to doing a click and collect, 1 I spend less but also with a small baby it's much easier

Olio
Tinned fruit
Pulses rather than meat
Porridge

Stuff on toast for some evening meals
Jacket potatoes

The freezer is your friend

Eat the leftovers!

Another vote for Who Gives a Crap! It looks expensive but lasts forever. I also use Smol laundry pods - I am fussy about laundry pods but these are just as good as Persil and Fairy and loads cheaper - environmentally friendly too. Also like others we have been cutting down on meat and eating more no or low meat (e.g using anchovies or a bit of chorizo for flavour) meals. Jacket potatoes, lentil dahl and omelettes go down well and are cheap as chips. I also use subscribe and save - a bit of a faff to keep on top of but saves a lot on household items.

@Cuwins its surprising that many things are not cheaper at Lidl! Tescos Redmere Farms fruit and veg range often seems to come in cheaper

When we went from Tesco to lidl out shopping bill dropped by about £20 so overall I'm assuming most things we buy are cheaper there but would be good to get more of an idea what and how much

If you cook double to freeze, take the extra away before you serve the meal, or people will eat it as seconds. I don’t mean that you should leave people going hungry, but many people keep eating until the food is gone.

We do the following:

• meal plan so we don't waste leftovers.


• We bulk make chilli/curry and freeze portions for later in the week. We pad these out with butternut squash and other vegetables/lentiles so we use less meat.


• monitored what we were putting in the food waste and started weighing out those items so we didn't cook more than we would eat.


• Reduce the dosing of laundry detergent by a little and see if you notice (and also only wash clothes when actually dirty), so you save on detergent.


• Buy less fruit and vegetables if you don't eat them. Be honest. I've started buying frozen smoothie mix and eating that in a bowl as I fancy it (very refreshing) rather than wasting lots of fresh fruit. I also now buy frozen vegetables.

I cook meals so that I will have leftovers. This means in a week we cook about three times. I meal plan and then get dh to stick to the list, I find when he goes in store he will spend at least an extra tenner as this and that is on offer but we have well stocked cupboards with the staples our family eat. It's therefore better to do an online shop so he sticks to budget. I'll then add staples as and when I see that they are on offer and depending on whether the budget can stretch that week. I encourage dh to avoid top up shops as he will easily spend £20 on very little. I was taught to make do so if you ran out of bread on Thursday you made do till Saturday when my dad went shopping whereas dh would go out running but it won't just be bread he picks up and there is also fuel costs to consider.

So I'd say, meal plan, write lists and stick to them by doing an online shop, get used to eating leftovers and avoid getting in the habit of top up shops.

Don't shop when you are hungry.
Doesn't matter if it's on or offline, if you are hungry you will put more things in your basket.

Is that the tesco luxury soft? I usually get asda but they have definitely shrunk the roll

Another vote for Who gives a crap - seems a very expensive outlay but lasts far longer than anything else. Also they give money to provide fresh water in third world countries so ticks a little bit of giving to charity off the list at the same time .

OP this thread might be better in chat - not really an AIBU !!

i buy lots of things on subscribe and save and it does save money BUT they do change the price - mainly upwards though I did have one reduction, so don't count on the price staying the same

I don’t throw anything out, if fruit is going off, I freeze it and use it in smoothies or baking. Same with vegetables, I’ll clean them chop and freeze for shops and sauces. I freeze milk, pasta (for soups), lentils, anything I think will freeze. If I run out, I’ll wait for the next shop and make do without.

We’re never eaten a lot of meat, and I am sticking to organic, but I buy cheaper cuts of white meat and use it to make meals that stretch rather than the main focus of a meal.

We go to the market close to closing time quite often, the traders and always selling everything cheap I.e 3 punnets of strawberries/blueberries for £1 etc… We can get most of our fruit and veg for the week for £5

I do lots of bulk cooking which helps when I come home from work after tea time and people can help themselves. I also freeze all leftovers and every so often have a week of clearing out. This week we, as a family of five, will have 3 evening meals from freezer roulette left overs. I also think a big help is meal planning,writing a list and then sending my DP, who doesn't like shopping, to do the shopping. He wants to be in and out so doesn't but lots of extras, he just sticks to the list. I am going to try to clear down the freezer and cupboards this month though. Our cupboards always have too much in them

I do my weekly shop on line but recently I've stopped just adding the usual from favourites - I now look at offers and savers first

This week - 5 huge bottles of Imperial Leather bath stuff for £2.50 on offer - own brand fabric liquid £1.69 on offer etc

Weekly shop for 1 adult, 3 big teens and 6cats is roughly £60-£75 a week

I do add on bit's in the week but no more than around £20

I bulk buy meat from our butchers, granted I spent £150 filling the freezer with meat from there. But I portioned it all up into meal sized bags, and so far it's lasted 4 months.
We buy veg from our local farm shop (proper farm shop that actually grows their own, not one that sells pretty things and fancy artisan nik naks). Sack of tates £6 lasts us months , 3 cauliflowers £1.
I also try and grow my own bits like lettuce, rocket, cress. Seeds in places like wilkos are 50p and a packet of mixed leaf salad will last all summer. We've not had to buy a single strawberry so far this year and have had strawberries every night for the last fortnight. Granted I've had to buy the strawberry plants, but think I bought about 4 , 6 years ago and I plant the runners so have a bed full now.

Don't bother with Costco.

what you save in bulk buying you then spend on the life size santa/inflatable water slip n slide/early Xmas gifts (or you do if you're me anyway!)

For the same reason I can't do Lidl and Aldi. Too much tempting crap.

We have one Tesco delivery a week paid for by clubcard vouchers. If it's not in the cupboard you don't get it till Geaco come!

Swap a couple of nights teas for super cheap, bean on toast I have 1 night & tuna jacket & salad.

i’ve never eaten much meat but I buy it hardly enow (nor salmon which I loved having) . I batch cook now, chilI last week & chorizo stew this week and I bulk it out with red lentils & chickpeas/butter beans & I actually prefer it!

Beans on toast* I can stretch to more than 1🤣

Following - my tip - I use an eco egg for my washing - has saved me a fortune on washing powder & liquid! And is better for the environment!