how do I save money on my food shopping? Any tips greatly received!

[Toowittoowoo]

Right! DC2 is due in a few days and we are going to have to reduce our household expenditure for a couple of years (one year of mat leave then one year of 2 nursery fees, sigh!) and I just wondered if anyone had any tips for reducing our food budget.

We live in a smallish town with an awful tescos, a small co-op and a lidl, obviously there is internet shopping and as far as I know all the major supermarkets deliver to our area. The nearest asda and aldi are about 20 miles away so I reckon the petrol might reduce any saving I made by shopping there. The only local markets are farmer's markets and although I adore them they are not cheap!

At the moment I buy things wherever is convenient which is mostly co-op so I think I should be able to save fairly easily.

My questions are:

Is it worth doing a once a month internet asda shop - does anyone know if they are significantly cheaper for basics?
What value products are worth buying?
Where is cheapest for things like cheese (mature cheddar, mozzarella, fetta, parmesan, edam/baby bel - we eat a lot of cheese!), tinned tomatoes, fruit and veg, household products (clothes washing liquid etc), nappies etc?

I am already disciplined when shopping and I stick to a list.
I already meal plan every week.
We eat roughly 50/50 veggie/meat dishes.
Meat is not really an issue as I buy it from the butcher. Cooking for 2 adults and 1 hungry toddler I always need an odd amount!
I already batch cook for the freezer.

Any tips would be very much appreciated!

Hi Toowhit, have you tried using one of the comparison websites to check where is best to order your basics from?

Somewhere like this. You put your shopping list in and then you can compare across several supermarkets to see which is cheapest.

You could then see if it is worth driving to Aldi every month! I wish there was one near me.

I use the website mentioned in the previous post. Have found even cheaper basics via that site and I find that if I get things delivered I don't think 'I'll just try that' when I'm shopping.

I have a problem with ASDA so don't shop there, I tend to get a tesco delivery every couple of weeks and top up from Lidl.

I'd do a test shop in aldi. I halved the cost of my shop there so £35 a week saving. Unless you drive a Bentley the fuel shouldn't cost more than £10?? Maybe a friend/relative would like to go too? They could go halves on fuel.

I'd also email the CEO and ask why haven't I got an aldi nearby. They might investigate local demand for one. You could suggest a local disused brown field site they could build one on.

Just noticed you have a lidl.

Shop at lidl.

I think a lot depends on how much storage space do you have

Use your Lidl. It definitely pays to understand their offers systems. If you go on the website you can sign up to their email newsletter and you will get it twice a week to tell you what is on offer. New offers start on Mondays and Thursdays and last a week. They have 3/4 items on half price every weekend. So for eg on Monday they mailed to say that savoy cabbage and big vine tomatoes are on offer. So we are having cabbage as a major side veg for a couple of days, and there will be a big pot of roast tomato soup this weekend.
On Thurs something else will be new and we will likely have it.

Sometimes the half price weekend offers are on brilliant stuff like cheese/mince/butter so I buy a load and shove it in the freezer.

The stuff you said you buy a lot of is approx these prices in Lidl which should show you how much you'd save vs the Coop which I always found really expensive:
Feta: 93p for 250g for the "salad cheese"
Parmesan: £2.89 for 200g, really lovely stuff, longer matured than normal supermarket stuff
Mozzarella: 44p
Mature cheddar: about 2.30 for 400g I think, not sure, we buy vintage which is more like 2.80
Tinned toms: 31p/tin, nice and thick
Nappies: BUY LIDL!! They are great and about 3.50 for a pack of 35 ish depending on size
Household stuff, very cheap eg washing up liquid 59p, d/washer tabs 1.69 for 30, washing powder £6.50 ish for a 60 wash box.
Fruit and veg is very good value, esp if you shop according to their offers. This will also get you variety.

I know I sound like a walking advert but it has saved us tons and we get better quality stuff for the same money.

Sorry I haven't replied earlier - I've got a bit obsessed with that my supermarket comparison websitete. As lidl isn't on the website I also went yesterday when DD1 was in nursery and I've written down to prices of everything that would use. I agree - Lidl is great and will now be my shop of choice, the quality of the stuff looks really quite good as well considering it is the same price as the value ranges in the supermarket.

I'd also read on the internet that their nappies are good and as split has confirmed that I shall definitely be using them - that will be a massive saving. They don't seem to sell the newborn range though so I think I'll have to wait until baby is in size 2.

The other thing I'm doing now that I have all the prices from my supermarket and my notebook from lidl is to work out an approx cost for all our meals. I have to admit that when I meal plan it is all a bit random and if I knew which meals were cheaper then I would definitely choose them more often.

It is quite a big job though so I'm hoping the baby doesn't come till I've finished as it would be really useful!

Thanks for all you suggestions. They have been really useful. I reckon I can now nearly cut our food budget by half, which is amazing.

Thanks

sounds like a good idea Toowittoowoo
could you share costing of few of your meals with us?

i find things i can batch cook are cheaper. I do meatballs from 400g pack of ALdi lean mince which costs only £2.29 with an addtional few store cupboard ingredients it costs around 75p per portion. Enchiladas with turkey mince from Aldi costs around 60p per portion. I make these in large quantities and freeze.

We bought a small additional freezer and make use of special offers by stocking up and storing them in there.