Need to cut my shopping bill- give me ideas and recipes please!

[flipflopper]

This week I have spent £150 on my online shop at Tesco. I thought online would work out cheaper, but it doesn't seem to have done.

There are 5 of us- youngest is 8m old, so am buying nappies, wipes, extra food just for her.

I know I am spending too much on food, I love food and cooking nice things, I will buy little extra things that bump up the cost if it is needed for a recipe. I would like to try and spend less next week and I want to cook simple, cheaper meals. Must be with meat, unfortunately, as ds very fussy and a non veg eater!

I also seem to spend a fortune on packed lunch stuff, I cant believe how much money I am spending out!
Help!

Why does it 'have' to be meat tho? You are prob over spending on that alone

No help but I have meat everynight don't like a dinner without it

Why is the baby having its own food too? Do you meal plan before you shop? This has been the best way to cut down on cost for me. Also if you have a picky eater, I wouldn't pander to it. Here the food gets served and if you are hungry you eat it, if not, well there's nothing else coming your way.

How about

Roast ham dinner
Potato and ham gratin
Corn quasillas
Toad in the hole with veg
Mushroom risotto
Jacket potatoes
Homemade butternut squash soup with crusty bread.

Your dc seem to rule the roost op!

And you are paying the price, literally

I feed 4 big eaters on £100 pw at Tesco, and many posters would manage much cheaper. If you search or go to credit crunch topic there are lots of ideas.

Quick hits to cut costs are buy value for all dried goods, strict portion control on the meat, gradually increase the pad out ingredients so DC get used to it.

Go through your ingredients cupboard and plan two weeks of meals based around what you've got. Then plan to eat ordinary meals x 5 nights, more indulgent menu x2 nights.

Just seen your meat post and if you really want to cut down you either need to think of ways of making the meat last, like roast chicken one night followed by chicken pie or stir fry or get over the meat thing entirely and try to have at least 2 meat free days.

What are you putting in your packed lunches too.

Oh and shop at Lidl. You'll be amazed how much you'll save

Going meat free doesn't necessarily mean cheaper but you can use cheaper cuts of meat and probably less meat too. What about cheese? That's the killer for me - my dd is dairy intolerant so she needs meat.

We use more chicken drumsticks, lamb mince and cheap cuts of beef to keep costs down.

Also bulk out meals eg curries with sweet potato and chickpeas.

Do you buy a lot of snacks! Drinks?

If you must have meat, make dishes where the meat is stretched, to cut down on cost and improve the nutrient value/reduce the fat etc of a dish.

Make cottage pie with load of veg - soften leeks/carrots/onions/celery, add mince (but half what you'd normally use) and make the pie as you normally would with extra mash on top. Can also add beans.

Same for things like bolognese & chilli, add extra veg and pulses to make either double the amount or to use less meat.

I have shaved approx a third off my shop by doing most at Aldi. We had one open recently and the fresh stuff which I always used to get at Sainsburys (meat, veg, fruit etc) is as good if not better quality. It's been a bit if a revelation.

I also stopped buying cleaning stuff, washing detergent etc. from Sainsburys - so expensive. Now get huge box of Formil washing powder - it is brilliant and actually cleans clothes unlike the Method stuff I used to use that cost 4 times as much. I get lots of cleaning stuff from Wilkinsons, 99p store. Both stick Astonish cleaning products which are cheap and brilliant.

Stop shopping in Tesco!

Meal planning is the way forward. You work out what you need, buy what you need and cook what you need. We have at least one meat free night a week plus maybe two chicken, two fish/seafood and then red meat. We don't buy much in the way of snack food for either us or the kids because I am a greedy cow and it's best not to have stuff in the house. I bulk out all mince based dishes with grated carrot or lentils.

Also are you buying branded stuff? I tend to go own brand wherever poss. Also, if you look on the Money Saving Expert website they explain this 'down-shifting' thing so if you always buy Tesco Finest, shift down to the next best range etc etc

Agree with bulking out. I buy big packs of mince when on offer and make batches of spag Bol/chilli etc.

Have you tried going down a brand?

We get part baked bread instead of garlic bread as it's really cheap.

These threads always says 'shop at Aldi' but our nearest is over an hour away! I'd really like to try it though. We only have a choice of tesco or sainsburys (and even those are 30-40 minutes away).

Thankyou for replies, I am def going to meal plan. I need to write it down, I just do my shopping as I go, no list really, so I'm not thinking about what Ive already got in.
I probably do pander to what the children want, ds will not touch a vegetable, unfortunately, I try not to make a big deal of it, but I do make things which I know he will eat at least some of it. It all just goes on the plate even if I know he wont eat it.
Dh is a quarry worker, hard physical job, so he wants MEAT when he comes in!

The baby doesn't have her own food as such just extras like fruit pots, yogurts, snacky stuff.

I like the meal ideas, will make some of those. I thought of omelettes for a meat free meal, ds likes those.

The only supermarkets here are morrisons and Sainsbury, aldi/ lidl half an hour away, so not really practical unless I am passing. I thought online woud be easier as I hate shopping, but evidently not!

I don't really buy many brands, mostly supermarket own brand, or even value. I think the fact I haven't got a meal plan means that I just chuck stuff in the basket not knowing what Im going to be making!

It's definitely the meal planning then!

You need to do breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks if it's going to work.

If you are spending a load on snacks for the baby try cheese straws, your other DC should like them too. There are some other good snacks here

I meal plan, which saves a lot. Although I always plan for 6 days as invariably the shop and meal plan will still leave me with a rogue carrot, or half a pound of mince, a few unused rashers, the remaining potatoes etc. so I wing it on the last day to minimise waste later on.
But other things I have done is stop having and meat in the day. I save meat for family tea time, lunches are omelette, homemade soup, hummus, dhal, salad, beans/egg on toast.
I have also split my shops to help me to understand where my money is going. I stock up on nappies wipes, washing powder, loo roll, black bags and household stuff with a 50 budget at the start of the month. Then I know that what I spend is the cost of food.

I also (though I appreciate not everyone is as neurotic as me) then divide my food shops, so I can see where I may be able to cut back. So I will know that of a 30 pound shop, 6pound , or 20% will go on fruit and veg, 12 pound on meat, 4 on snacks etc. it helped me to realise what I was eating and how much money I was wasting. In my case I spent fortunes ,relatively, on drinks. Pop, juices, cartons, squash, etc were taking the same cost as my fruit and veg! It was an eye opener.

wow pp, I am very impressed! Do you actually do your shops separately? Don't know if I could be bothered to do that, but it does make sense!
I could do a shop in home bargains once a month. I do pop in there occasionaly, but I end up buying all sorts of crap I don't need while im in there.
Does your weekly shop cost £30?

Dried pulses are the way ahead. Give this Borlotti beans & savoy cabbage with rosemary breadcrumbs recipe a go yumblog.co.uk/archives/6004

Marking me place :)

Yes. Separate shops. But only one shop a week, on the third week I shop for two Weeks food, so that fourth week is home goods.
My weekly shop is descending, dependent on what I've needed at home shop. I have 250 a month total, if on the house spend I need loo roll, washing powder, liquid, nappies, toothpaste and cleaning stuff, im usually taken to about 60-70, meaning I will spend 70 on food the first week, maybe 60 the next an 50 on the final.
But if an unexpected household cost means I spend closer to the 90 mark, then I have to budget accordingly with food.
The three for ten pound meat is what I buy, which isn't morally right, and pulses my friend. Bacon and chorizo both make vegetarian dishes meaty. And eggs come free (well the chickens provide them, grudgingly)

OP, do you have cupboards full of half used packets and unopened tins that have been in there forever? A fridge full of stuff which will go manky unless used up? If so include those in your meal plan - in other ways meal plan in such a way as to start using those up. That will cut down the cost of the immediate weekly shop - not a long term solution I know but this is another way to cut down waste.

Yes, I do have cupboards full of stuff. I found some lentils that went out of date in 2007 (will they be ok??) and I have just chucked away a carton of strawberries, what a waste.
I am writing a list of recipes and ingredients, and am determined to spend and waste less, and ds will just have to suffer.

This morning I have made a batch of savoury muffins and a batch of blueberry muffins (using week old blueberries from the bottom of the fridge) and put half in the freezer.

What do you/ your family like to eat?

Big meat/no veg eaters often like things like spag bol which can contain lots of hidden cheap bulking veg in the sauce. The same sauce can be bulk cooked and used for cottage pie, and lasagne.

Pizza with thinly shredded meat on top can taste very meaty but doesn't use very much.

I find having a few really cheap/ go to store cupboard meals balances out the weekly food cost. Pasta, pesto, chicken and green beans is a favourite at present,

Lentils - if they're dried ones, I would use them. If tins, would probably throw them.

Thanks, I will add pizza to my list.

Yes, they are dried lentils, I only seem to use them in baby food, I have prob had those for 8 yrs, since ds was a baby!

I have got lentil curry on my list.