Food shopping tips appreciated!

[Strugglingmama1]

Hi all, I am fed up with expensive shopping and its not the meals that is the problem really - its the snacks.

I have 5 kids that are always hungry for snacks and I’m wondering is it actually cost effective to go to places like B&M and stock up on crisps, choc etc once a month for example, Or does it work out the same to just get it from the supermarket? Not just food but toiletries, cleaning products etc?

Does anyone have any tips on saving on the weekly food shop?

sometimes i go to the food warehouse thinking its cheaper but I don’t think it is. I can’t help but wonder if its better to just stick with aldi and be done with it?

I would consider going to the supermarkets for yellow sticker but I’m rural and the nearest supermarket is a 20 minute drive.

I’m also happy to make snacks but if you have fussy kids you’ll understand that that can be a waste of time and money too!

thanks in advance!

My kids aren't really snackers but when I was a kid the only snack available was toast with jam or butter. That was it.......and if my kids were SnackyMcSnackerson like I was that's what they'd be getting. Saves an absolute fortune.

Chips {crisps} should be a treat, not buying them all the time. Save for a movie night etc. Make a batch of pikelets, way cheaper, healthier and will keep them fuller for longer. Hard boiled eggs. Crackers with marmite or peanut butter.

Yer wouldn't be keeping smoked mackerel as snacks these days - it's now £7.50 for 150g!

Its funny how food has changed over time. We had 3 meals no snacks and on a friday my dad bought us a treat food item. All main meals were served with bread. We were never hungry

The cheapest snack is home popped popcorn from the kernels

Monkey nuts are cheap.

Can you explain more about the sushi. That is something you need to buy fresh on the day, no?

1. kids don’t need processed snacks
2. see 1.

seriously cut back on the packaged snacks which should be a treat not a daily occurrence. For school aged kids of hungry after school, a sandwich (1 piece bread not two), yogurt (from a big pot with added fruit and honey) or a piece of fruit eg a small banana will keep them going until dinner. Occasionally for a treat buy normal biscuits eg bourbons or better still digestives which are excellent with some cheese. Avoid individual wrapped biscuits and snacks.

for trips out buy supermarket own brand crisps and snacks, Lidl is my go to, and have reusable water bottles for squash not individual drinks like fruit shoots.

Make big filling meals. Have fruit and veg for snacks.

Maybe £5 a week or something per child to buy their own ‘snacks’. This way they get what they want and manage them throughout the week.

As for the sushi, it’s actually quite cost effective to make for a family instead of takeout - Lidl every few weeks has the right kind of rice, rice vinegar and sheets of nori cheaper than mainstream supermarkets. Make up the rice add vinegar, sugar and soy sauce so it’s sushi rice, cut up the nori into 4 squares then serve with cucumber, avocado, crab sticks or whatever your budget allows, a great treat meal that isn’t as expensive as it sounds. My dc happily ate it from toddlers

I think that works until they become teenagers. My DS wouldn’t be kept over til dinner with 1 slice of bread as a sandwich and a yoghurt. He has school lunches but he’s in an early sitting and portion sizes even for high school aren’t great so by the time he gets home he’s hungry.

He could eat 2 sandwiches (4 slices of bread), half a tub of Greek yoghurt, a punnet of blueberries and still be looking for food. And still be hungry come dinner time. That starts to get expensive whatever way you do it especially if you want something more than empty calories. I bake trays of flapjack with peanut butter and dried fruit, savoury scones, and have lots of veggies cut up to have with hummus but it’s still like trying to fill a bottomless well.

Teach your kids to bake. It will over all work out cheaper than buying snacks.

OP you are not being soft, it’s just more convenient.
I only have one DS who is 14 so I do understand the “always hungry” however, I only buy one 6 pack of crisps per week, usually not all are even eaten and one pack of custard cream type biscuits. Treats like chocolate bars are for the weekend.
Cereal is your friend with hungry teens. We tend not to snack too much and would say the more wholesome food you eat, the less hungry you are.
I bake something like oat cookies, always have Greek yoghurt and fruit available, hummus and toasted pitta, tuna mayo mixed up in the fridge and so on. I refuse to spend money on junk food, more for health reasons but also the cost.
Look on Instagram for snack recipes the kids will enjoy.

Teenage lads especially can need over 3000 calories a day - likely twice as many as mum.

but they still don’t need junk food and bread and butter or whole cereal with milk isn’t that bad an option

both give them healthy calories at a relative low cost

but teenagers can jus need a lot of food

Yep anything ready made in a packet is going to be expensive! Some alternatives to pre packaged snacks, that don’t involve you cooking

toast and spread of some kind - peanut butter, marmite, chocolate spread

crackers & cream cheese

banana or apple

toastie (do you have a toastie maker?)

hard boiled eggs

yogurt & honey

nuts - some kinds are expensive but some not

most of these do require a bit more effort than opening a packet but sounds like your kids are of an age they can manage it…

Have to say I don’t think you need to add all the “nice” stuff like cream cheese or peanut butter to fill them up - that’s all very modern !

Yep, if you make food plain enough and unpleasant enough they’ll soon stop eating it.

Where on earth are you getting mackerel for that price?

OP, I agree with others, the type of snacks you're getting are simply leading to them watning more, its the food industry's role to make you want more and more. Its not good for them or your pocket

So more natural foods which will fill them up and they will moan at first but this is how it is kids!

Aside, I find Home Bargains cheaper than B+M, I dont buy cleaning stuff or household or beauty products in main supermarkets now, its either Lidl, Aldi or Home Bargains. Also pet food.

The core sushi ingredients will keeps for months, no?

Cook rice, add vinegar, let it cool.
Make the rice into a ball (or roll in a seaweed sheet) and add your topping. Toppings can be tinned fish/seafood, fresh fish/seafood, cooked egg, avocado, cucumber, mayonnaise, pickled veg, slice of meat, anything you want. Season with soy sauce and wasabi.

We get through a lot of crackers, cheese, olives, celery, peanut butter, fruit and cucumber for snack. A packet of crackers is 50p and goes a lot further than a bag of crisps.
Big tub of yogurt - they can make a yogurt bowl snack... add fruit, jam, honey, pb, seeds, nuts etc...
I always slice a loaf for when they get home so they don't eat all the bagels / crumpets etc
Boiled eggs are a great snack to have in the fridge. I'll do a couple for my lunch and a couple spare. They always get eaten after school.

Do you think this is what most people are doing when eating sushi/maki?

Also OP I forgot to say, lots of references on here to things like punnets of this or that, blueberries etc

These are expensive, I never know why people reach for these so much if they're on a budget. Apple, orange, pears. They take longer to eat for a start

Snacking on junk is addictive unfortunately.
I make a tray bake of some description on a Saturday which usually lasts a few days. That's the only sweet thing I really prepare during the week and counts as a weekend treat. Otherwise we'll eat:
Banana pancakes with some flaxseed chucked in, and defrosted warmed up blueberries on top.
Popcorn from kernels.
Cashews, almonds and pistachios.
Peppers, carrots etc with hummus.
Peanut butter and jam with banana on sourdough/rice cakes etc.
Fruit.
I usually have a large homemade frittata in the fridge which comes in handy.
A large pot of greek yoghurt with fruit. Lidl do a good range of frozen berries. Their sour cherries are a favourite in our house. Banana and almond with some honey is very tasty also.
Dark chocolate at the weekend.
That kind of thing!

As my Mother would have said, if you don't want an apple, you are not really hungry. You coudl try popping your own corn in the microwave. It can work out very cheap (10p a portion or so)

OP there is another thread running at the moment about savoury snacks, its not in the food section, cant remember where it is