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Original poster

Low spend July for food?

42 replies

Twinklestar2 · 08/07/2015 23:13

I'm on a thread on the style and beauty board about spending as less as possible on style and beauty products in July. It got me thinking - would anyone be interested in doing the same but for food?

I'm so guilty of popping into the supermarket for something and somehow spending £30-40 on stuff I don't really need when I have a a kitchen full at home!

I thought we could share recipes and ideas and get creative about using stuff up that we already have. We could share menu plans and how much we've spent in a month.

Anyone in?

OP posts:
pollyisnotputtingthekettleon · 08/07/2015 23:18

Well i do a cupboard week. I buy milk and bread but not much else ... i know friends do this too. Interested in a few new recepies

annatha · 08/07/2015 23:26

Following! We're guilty of going for a top up shop for bread and milk and spending £30. I don't have any recipes to share but I've just made an inventory of everything in my freezer and cupboards and managed to plan a weeks worth of meals from what we already have in.

Blondie1984 · 08/07/2015 23:26

I have freezer weeks - the main element of the meal has to come from the freezer
If I need to top up on milk mid week then I only take a small amount of money to the shop so that I can't buy anything else - it's the only way that works for me

enderwoman · 09/07/2015 07:37

If I need a top up shop I walk to a supermarket with cash so I only buy what I need. (Usually bread and milk)

I'm actually currently having a freezer and cupboard week.

calzone · 09/07/2015 07:39

I made a mushy pea curry last night from stuff in the cupboard.
Was delicious.

My freezer is stacked with stuff so I am in. SmileSmile

Original poster
Twinklestar2 · 09/07/2015 12:01

Great to see you all here!

I'm going to go through what I've spent so far this month and set myself a budget.

When it was just me and my husband we used to spend £200 a month. But that was as well as meals out, lunches, going out for drinks. Now we hardly do that so I've allowed us to spend more on nice food at home. I'm sure some of it is unnecessary though.

OP posts:
TeaAndBisquits · 09/07/2015 19:20

What a great thread.

Ideally, I'd like to spend 50pw for me, DH, DD1(4) and DD2(1)
I budget that much but ALWAYS go over with the extra top ups and treats! (My chocolate habit is rife at the moment!)

This week, DH and I had a lovely pasta dish that was so cheap to make. (Kids ate before us and had macaroni cheese)

All ingredients from Aldi.

Spaghetti, tin of mackerel in oil, a lemon (juice and zest) one chilli and a handful of parsley. Yum.

Original poster
Twinklestar2 · 09/07/2015 23:40

£163.97 - that's how much I have spent already this month. Was hoping to keep it to £200 so let's se how it goes...

OP posts:
IHaveBrilloHair · 10/07/2015 15:51

I'm terribly guilty of this, it's not that I can't afford it but I have so much food, it doesn't get wasted either but do I really need 6 pasta shapes.
It's because I love to cook but instead of looking up a recipe for x pasta, I'll see one I fancy and buy another shape, ditto rice, pulses, vinegars etc.

annatha · 10/07/2015 19:10

I've tried and failed at meal planning over the years so this week I've been keeping a food diary to see what we actually eat. So far it seems that we eat a lot of snacky crap. My problem is that I'll meal plan lots of beautiful home cooked meals, spend a fortune on all the ingredients then waste half of them because we'll just eat toast and snacks some days. I'm trying to be realistic with my meals this time around.

Original poster
Twinklestar2 · 11/07/2015 11:05

I'm getting to the end of the week so food supplies are diminishing. However, we have enough food for the weekend so no supermarket trip needed here, we can manage!! Must remember this when starting to waver!

OP posts:
IHaveBrilloHair · 11/07/2015 11:30

I got a big delivery on Thursday, lots of treaty stuff as dd was away for the week and just came back yesterday.
I've tweaked the next couple of night's meals to make use of fresh stuff so halal cart chicken instead of biryani, and selection of sarnies/crackers with fillings tomorrow instead of a pasta dish.
That'll take care of the pittas, some of the other bread and crackers, salad bits, tub of hummus, crabsticks and blue cheese, plus the rest of the black olives.

TeaAndBisquits · 11/07/2015 18:02

I had a breakthrough today. My sister and husband are coming over for lunch tomorrow now rather than the original tea and cake organised a few weeks ago.

I've just been to get the bits for a cheesy pasta bake and a nice big salad and came out with only the things I needed!! Woohoo!! :) £7.00! Bargain!

mildlymiffed · 11/07/2015 19:27

I'm in! I've got a freezer packed so full I can't fit anymore in...and yet I still buy more stuff every week. I have loads of freezer veg- if anyone has any inspired slow cooker ideas please let me know!! We manage to spend about £80 on the main shop each week- but top up and buy crap for things like picnics! It's usually due to poor planning on what our activities are going to be each day, and I'm already dreading the packed lunches my DS will need during the school hols at holiday club Confused

Original poster
Twinklestar2 · 12/07/2015 18:39

Well done tea! I never manage to stick to just my list.

I think I can eek out one more day and then I will need to do a shop. Or it's lamb roast dinner two days in a row #firdtworldproblems.

OP posts:
calzone · 12/07/2015 21:32

Without shopping this is what I can make this week.....

Duck with pancakes, noodles and plum sauce

Chicken pops, sauté potatoes, peas

Fish pie with celeriac topping

Burger in a bowl

Turkey steaks with mash, carrots and peas

Original poster
Twinklestar2 · 13/07/2015 10:34

All sounds lovely calzone!

OP posts:
avocadotoast · 13/07/2015 10:44

I need to do this. I'm on maternity leave with DD and she's still so little that we don't have much to do in the day. I've found myself mooching round supermarkets just out of habit!

It's totally unnecessary because we have loads in the cupboards and a fair bit in the freezer. Really I just need to be doing fridge top ups this month!

annatha · 13/07/2015 17:10

teaandbisquits Its such a good feeling isn't it! I went to tesco the other day for milk and bread and came out with... Milk and bread!! I felt like I was being silly driving to tesco just for two things, then realized how ridiculous that was. I only NEEDED two things. Trying to make the most of the trip by stocking up on crap we don't need defeats the point. We've been really good with sticking to the meal plan all week then dh was off at the weekend and its all gone to pot. If it was up to him we'd have KFC or takeaway every night for tea so its hard sticking to what's planned when all I want to do is stuff my face with chicken

Weekly shop on Wednesday though and I've got a menu planned. Its sad but I'm really looking forward to the challenge. I think I've just got to shop alone and cook tea before dh gets hungry to ensure we don't slip up again.

mildlymiffed I make leftover soup in the sloe cooker- loads of veg/potatoes (fresh, cooked, frozen, tinned it doesn't matter) some chicken or veg stock and some herbs. If there's any meat lingering in the fridge that might go in too but usually its just veg. Cook it for half a day or so then blitz.

IHaveBrilloHair · 13/07/2015 17:27

I'm making a lemon and almond potato dish tonight, to use up half a bag of ground almonds and new potatoes.
I'm getting there, and most of next week's meal plan starts with what's in the freezer.

Sherbetdip1 · 13/07/2015 19:34

Hello, I'm lurking on this thread waves as I am trying to cut down our spend and use up what we have in. calzone how do you make mushy pea curry? Got a tin in my cupboard....

Original poster
Twinklestar2 · 13/07/2015 23:28

£133 spent in sainsburys today! But that included a massive box of washing powder, razor blades and nappies which came to £20 just by themselves! Then £10 just on various berries for my 11 month old son. Threw in some Basics range stuff too, mainly vegetables which will get cooked anyway so doesn't matter too much about quality. Gosh the price of food has def gone up. I spent ages in there as well looking for the best deals.

I now have a house full of food so I can really start proper meal planning.

I got some great bargains on a yellow sticker though: £10 box of fairy powder for £4, nappies for £7 instead of £10 and a box of instant honey porridge for 75p.

Have planned tomorrow's menu:

Honey porridge and skimmed milk
Ham sandwiches, fruit and yoghurt
Chicken curry and brown rice - making the rice myself instead of buying those instant microwave pouches which I tend to do! Pure laziness!

OP posts:
calzone · 15/07/2015 01:19

Mushy pea curry

Fry onions & mushrooms in oil with curry powder. Add tin baked beans, mushy peas and tin tomatoes. Season.

Tis lush. Smile

Original poster
Twinklestar2 · 15/07/2015 23:20

My rice came out terrible!

Dinner tonight was breaded fish and potatoes... Stopped me getting fish and chips!

I already feel like I'm running out of stuff though! How can this be possible?

OP posts:
annatha · 16/07/2015 22:02

Gah. Went to Aldi last night to get our weekly shop. I'd carefully compiled a list of strictly what we needed to stick to our meal plan, and aimed to spend £50. Spent £76. DH decided he wanted pain au chocolat and croissants for breakfast, fruit (he never eats bloody fruit) and a loose leaf teapot Hmm. Looking at the receipt if we've stuck to what we needed it would've been just under £50 and £16 of that was baby formula and bits so I suppose that's something. I allowed £5 each for snacky bits and was surprised at how much that got us but we need to have another look at our shopping habits. The only meat we bought was 2 packs of mince, a tin of corned beef and some sausages and DH is unconvinced that it's enough meat for a week so I'm hoping I can dazzle him with my meal plan!

This week:

Med veg and pasta

Corn beef hash

Cottage pie

Spag bol

Jacket potatoes with leftover pie/spag bol

Sausage pasta

Toad in the hole

The med veg was ok today, would've been better with a bit of chicken but it filled us. I made the corn beef hash in the slow cooker ready for tomorrow and it tastes amazing. I just chucked a tin of corn beef, a tin of baked beans, half an onion, 3 chopped carrots and 3 chopped spuds in the slow cooker and grated some cheese on top at the end. Looks like it's going to become a staple. Planning on bulking up the cottage pie meat mix with lots of veg and lentils to make one pie for now and one for the freezer, and doing the same with the spag bol. DH wasn't convinced that 1 pack of mince would do for 2 meals so I'm tricking him by making double portions.