Tips please on how to cut the monthly groceries bill

[CountingPennies]

We've cut it back to £450 a month (food and nappies, shampoo etc) but are struggling to cut it further - is it possible?

We have a toddler and 3 teenage DSCs (they are with us every other weekend, plus random friends for sleepovers). We shop at Costco, Aldi/Lidl and local shops for veg (cheaper than supermarkets), cook everything from scratch and batch cook if possible.

What else can we do to cut it further?

I keep root veg in a cupboard and the rest in the fridge. I do the meal plan when the veg box arrives and do it so the stuff that keeps less well is used first e.g lettuce risotto on the first evening and the swede can wait til last.

I just use bleach for the toilet

Porridge is made in the microwave!

You need to use half strong flour but yes, it's lovely.

Thanks!

I'm no good with a microwave. Completely hopeless actually. Apart from the fact they scare the living daylights out of me where's the thread for totally irrational phobias? I always end up with porridge exploding everywhere. Hence resorting to a pan.

Ah, you need an much larger bowl than seems necessary to avoid exploding porridge

Soup is your friend. I make 2 big pans a week and freeze in 1 and 2 portion pots. We have it with homemade bread.

Also, find out what time your local supermarket reduces things down for the final time. I go once or twice a fortnight and and get whatever's going and freeze what I can. It's the only time the DSs get a nice cake.

When I was struggling with funding food shopping for a family I tried to do the big food shop every 9 or 10 days instead of weekly, gave me almost a "free week" each month.

Hi there.. to be honest, to me £450 for your family sounds like you are already doing well pretty well.. I guess you could always step it up just a little bit though.. do you have a figure in mind that you're trying to reach?

A few things that I would try if you haven't

• As someone up thread said: meal planning is your friend - and probably essential to cut costs.

• Make lentils become your friend; I now add them to so many things, add extra cheap herbs (from Aldi!) and I LOVE them:

Spag bol mix - chuck red lentils in, makes it go a lot further (as does grated carrot)
Chicken curry - same with the red lentils, it's delish...

I use loads of chopped onions and garlic as a base for everything now.. in Aldi they are so cheap, make the meal taste good and add extra bulk.

Bake: I also make buns / small cakes and freeze them for DC snacks.. You can make LOADS of cakes so cheaply... I tend to include chopped fruit / raisins / blueberries / cheap dark chocolate.... there's always some cakes on the go in my house...

Teenager Stuff: If they have treats / cans of coke, crisps etc., buy in bulk when they are BOGOF at Tesco etc., and take out with you.. I've started doing that, because my DC think they are deprived if they don't get brands occasionally. I've got to the point where I reall baulk (sp?) at sticking a quid in the vending machine for a can of drink or a packet of Hula Hoops.

Good luck, I'm interested to know how you get on x

If you make a lot of meals with mince, half the mince and replace with lentils. Likewise if you're making a chicken sure use haricot beans for half the protein. Its still a meat dish but much cheaper.

Porridge is only worth microwaving for single servings, otherwise use a pan. To microwave one bowl (in a larger bowl than you think you need) give it 2 mins on high, stir, then two mins on medium.

Re: the bread maker bread being 'papery' try decreasing the water by about 20mls and the yeast by a 1/4 tsp. I'm a bread maker bore........??

I keep carrots, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, peppers, courgette in the fridge. Potatoes and onions under the stairs in the dark.

How about putting up a typical meal plan/shopping list to see if people have any ideas how to trim it?

I find the thing that bumps up my shopping is ham, cheese, yogurts and crisps, I don't spend much on cleaning materials or toiletries at all, we must be dirty lol

I don't buy a lot of cleaning products, I buy E-cloths in multipacks from tk maxx when I see them cheap.

We don't use lentils to bulk out recipes, I use a handful of porridge oats instead which dh has never noticed.

I buy veg when it's on super six in aldi then I freeze it. I've got frozen sweed, leeks, celery, onions, garlic & carrots in the freezer that I've chopped and put into ziplock bags.

Delurking to say thanks, some really good tips on here!

sugar4eva sorry I just noticed your post.

Things I do with cabbage: (I always shred it finely first as I prefer it like that)
-Steam it an serve plain (revolutionary I know!)
-Steam it and then melt a knob of butter over it for serving
-Stirfry it in garlic & olive oil
-Steam it, meanwhile fry a chopped leek gently in butter until very soft and sweet, and then toss the cabbage and leek together and serve
-Stirfry it with loads (I mean loads!) of black pepper ground on it and have it a bit crunchy. I love this as a sie to nearly any meal.
-Madhur Jaffrey's indian Cabbage and peas dish to accompany indian food:

450-500g green cabbage (I like savoy best because the crinkly leaves hold the spices well)
150g frozen peas (quantities of cabbage and peas obv can be whatever you want I have never measured these and have no idea what her suggested weights would look like!)
1 tablespoons veg oil
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 bay leaves (I often leave this out if I don't have them)
1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 fresh green chilli, very finely chopped (I consider this to be optional, it's just as nice without if you don't like hot, or you can just increase the cayenne pepper to be more frugal)
pinch salt
1/4 teaspoon garam masala

Shred cabbage.
Heat the oil in a wide saucepan/wok/saute pan. When it is hot, put in the cumin seeds and bay leaves. As soon as the bay leaves begin to take on colour - this takes just a few seconds - put in the cabbage and peas and stir them for 30 seconds. Add the tumeric and cayenne an salt. Stir to mix. Cover, turn the heat to low and cook for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are just tender. (I usually add a tiny amount of water before covering so that the veg steams a little and doesn't stick an burn)
Remove the lid and sprinkle in the garam masala. Stir gently to mix.
Remove the bay leaves before serving.

DH used to nip out to the supermarket for 'just a bit of meat and bits and bobs' but he's stopped that now. That was costing a fortune and blowing our budget. I should add that DH is a bit of a foodie and does most of the cooking.

Oh pants. First message didn't post. I can't type it out again, am on my phone and its too long! But it was our shopping list. Roughly £10-£15 on fruit and veg (in season or not too expensive), £20 on nappies, mince(lasagne), a chicken (roast and a pie), plus yoghurt, cheese, crisps for kids lunch. All bought in bulk if possible.

You mentioned DH doesn't like what lentils do to his stomach.

If they genuinely don't agree with him then go for the grated carrot or oats option to bulk. Soups/stews can be bulked with potatoes or rice too, or bread crumbs from all those crusts that get left. Or cheap pasta.

I second the chopping of meat/fish/poultry before cooking.

Omlettes with sliced/chopped potatoe - left over from a previous meal means less time prepping and cooking the omlette, what veg you have and chopped bacon/chorizo for flavor. Spices help with flavor too, buy the little refil bags instead of glass jars.

Do the teens get expensive shampoo and soap? Do they snack a lot? If so home made flap jacks will help fill them up. If you buy yoghurts go for 1 large pot of natural and they can sweeten/flavor it with a small amount of jam if they need to, add an apple and nuts if you have them and it's almost a meal instead of a quick snack

Cheese can be grated, you need much less that way and if you use a strong flavored one you can get away with much much less.

Is DH actually on board with reducing the grocery bill? Is he going to be willing to bulk out a meal with alternatives to meat? It's going to be very difficult if he is resistant to changing his cooking habits. I know I am.

I'm going to make that bread today Notify, I've always got plain flour hanging around & it's much cheaper than the strong flour.

My teenagers can be a bit if served soup and bread for their meal however I have been serving "muffin pizzas" with it with no complaints. Packet of muffins - I usually get them when they are reduced to clear but asda have three packs for £1.50, (cut the muffins in half) a spot of tomato purée or passata and a little bit of grated cheese. Each pack of muffins makes 8 pizzas for pennies.

I also buy the tesco value, or equivalent, crisps 66p for 12 bags. They are quite a small bag but really are ok and can make a snack type meal go a bit further.

Good tip for the bread bugsrella, I'm going to try it.

I've just reviewed our spending for feb and our groceries have come in at £350 for last month which is much better. However it was a short month and we used lots of stuff from the freezer.

I'm off shopping now to buy soup ingredients, soup really seems to cut down in the lunchtime costs and faff. Fortunately the teenagers are pretty good snack wise and mainly snack on fruit or toast. We do proper homemade pizza quite often, i think it works out at 30p a massive pizza. Fortunately DH likes to throw the dough around (no pun intended), and uses a pretty authentic recipe. i couldn't be bothered, too time consuming, but it keeps everyone happy and they taste fantastic.

DH is bought into cutting back (it's because he's not working that we are having to cut back), but within limits. He won't compromise on taste, which is why i don't think adding oats and lentils are going to work. I have to be on the ball and pre-empt what he's shopping for, but it seems to be working so far.

If you haven't yet done so I recommend sitting the whole family down and discussing this with the teens, that due to DH being out of work you all have to cut back. Have the kids tell you what foods and snacks they like and give you some ideas. I have learnt through trial and error that there's no point in making inexpensive meals that no one likes and I end up throwing it out! Also since the teens are with you every other weekend maybe you could have two separate meal plans- one for the weekends they are with you and another for the rest of time.
Popcorn is a cheap and tasty snack and you can add different toppings like Parmesan or barbecue spices. Homemade flapjacks and carrot cake are cheap and my kids love them. During the week when the teens aren't around do you really need snacks?
I only use paper towels for pet related messes and cooking jobs ( like draining grease off food) Otherwise I use washable cloths/rags that I made. I also use homemade cloth napkins. Bleach is bleach so I buy the cheapest possible and water it down in a spray bottle. I don't make any other cleaning products as I've found it to be a false economy. I found that being tidy and picking up after myself every day means needing to do heaving cleaning less. Sweeping the kitchen floor after each meal and dusting every day with a dry cloth means having to use less products.
Instead of pricy shower gels I decant cheap bubble bath or shampoo into a pump bottle. There's a lot less waste and it's much cheaper.

A couple rashers of bacon or Polish-style sausage chopped small and added to a meal that's mainly veg and potato/pasta convinces MrNC he's getting a 'proper' meaty meal.
Portion control for meat and cheese (especially if teenagers are prone to cheese on toast!)

Any chance of toilet training the toddler yet? :) Cloth nappies often appear on Freecycle or Freegle if you wanted to try.

I've made that bread notify provided the recipe for and it's lovely. You can't tell it's half smart price plain flour.

Here is another bread recipe that also uses cheap flour and I have been using very successfully (and it's quick and no knead!):
For 6 large bread rolls/1 loaf:

250g flour, value plain or self raising or a mix of both have all been successful.
1/2 tsp salt
sachet of instant yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water (310ml)

put everything in a bowl and mix until all incorporated. No need to knead, and it will be too wet anyway. Put the covered bowl in a warm place for 20 mins. I warm the oven (just a little bit) and put it in there.

Take out and give it all a little knead, you will need to add some more flour. I don't knead it much, hardly at all really.

Divide into 6 and shape into rolls. Place on a greased baking tray and allow to rise in the warm place for another 20 minutes.

(I put them in the oven for 10 minutes, then take them out and put them on the hob while the oven is pre-heating for the next 10 mins. I put them on the hob because the pre-heating oven sends a little warmth up to them)

Put in an oven pre-heated to 200 degrees for 20 minutes or until hollow when tapped.
I have also just plonked the dough in a loaf tin for the second rise and then baked it as a loaf, worked perfectly. I add seeds as I like it and have them around.

Re not compromising on taste, I am the same, really pernickity about food and spend hours reading recipes, always tweaking and trying to improve stuff, I cook loads of things constantly and it's my absolute love, I take real pride in it. And I have to say that I thought adding some oats actually enhanced the chilli I made (it was a veggie lentil & bean one), they really added something to the texture, a lovely silky richness. I would do it again, and for a meat chilli/bolognaise, not as a cost saver but because I feel the dish is better for it. So I would give it a try if I was you, you might be pleasantly surprised, I certainly was!

Bulk buying when on offer is the cheapest way to still enjoy what you want (meat, fish etc.) and have what you need (kitchen / toilet roll etc.). I reckon you can cut costs by around 50% this way.

Good advice to pre plan what you buy so that things go together and to use what you have before heading back to the shops.

Veggies in season of course, grow whatever you can, etc.

Thinking about where you spend money and what you throw away is probably the biggest cost saver.