HELP, how can i reduce my food bills? (and be more healthy)

[Eddas]

Ok, we have a small amount of disposable income and i want to reduce our food bills as much as i can. There is me, dh and dd(2 years 9 months) and soon to be a newborn(not that they will count at first!!)

My first thought, which has been picked up from another thread, is to do a monthly shop for non perishables instead of a weekly one. I then thought maybe if i did it online this would curb the impulse buys? Then buy milk, veg etc weekly.

I also think i need to make meals from scratch and not use 'chuck in the oven' jobbies. That way i can make more than one meals worth and freeze it. Also, this would improve another issue, eating more healthily.

I fully intend to lose my baby weight and more after the birth this time and think that if i sort out meals this will be a big step.

Any thoughts please

apparently meal planners are the thing. I'm trying to get myself sorted in that way too. Bought lodsa veggies in the market.

Change your supermarket perhaps. My nearest is Sainsburys, but when Im trying to economise I go to Asda and that does save about £10.00 for us on a shop. Do buy one get one frees but only on stuff you will actually use! Try the economy brand of all toiletries and see which ones are ok and then use them, likewise with food, sometimes I find the economy stuff is ok and other times we just cant get on with.

Cook from scratch and shop at Aldi or Lidl for store cupboard stuff, grocers and butchers for other fruit/veg and meat respectively.

The March issue of BBC GoodFood has over 105 recipes and they have done a feature on a month of weeknight suppers. There is also a feature on new ways with seasonal fruit and veg.

Shop online from Sainsburys. If delivered tues-thurs delivery is free. Online shopping helps reduce the unecessaries, you can see their special offers and can meal plan around them

eddas, the other thing i do is bulk out our normal meals with veg (purree it into sauces to bulk out sauce (and get extra goodness!)) spag bol in my house looks more like vegtable hash! i put kidney beans in, lentils, onion, mushroom, red and green peppers a chunky veg sauce, a tin of plum tomatoes, and some mince obviously!

i purree veg into curry sauces (tikka and korma normally)

this almost doubles the portions that i used to make with 1 sauce and 1 pack of mince so we freeze the rest (remembering to do that rather than putting in fridge and throwing away after a few days is good too!)

oh and i dont buy ready made pork chops, i buy a cheap bit of meat and slice myself, much cheaper. lamb chops i get from iceland much cheaper than tesco.

oh and re-usable nappies for your little one will cut your outgoings a bit! but thats personal choice!

I've started to order boxed organic veg and fruits that are delivered to your doorstep. not only are they fresher, tastier, etc - they don't cost more than what you'd buy in the supermarkets. What's more, they provide recipes for the veg provided for the week so you won't be lost for imagination. I don't shop impulsively in the supermarkets anymore and I eat healthier too.

How much meat do you eat and what cuts? If you cook things like scrag end of neck (sounds foul but absolutely yummy in the right recipes) instead of prime cuts and only eat meat a few times a week you can save a lot, compared with if you had, eg, lamb chops and chicken breasts and ate meat most days a week.

Another thing: most people assume that supermarkets are the cheapest option, but actually they very often aren't. If you use markets and greengrocers or butchers you can make big savings, especially on food in season (which supermarkets tend to put on BOGOF rather than actually reducing the price).
Our local health food shop has turned out to be way, way cheaper than the supermarkets, both in absolute terms and because they will sell you the amount of something you actually want (eg 25g of a spice) rather than big packets which go out of date before they are used.

Definitely look very hard at the local shops, check what things actually cost and you will soon get a sense of what is cheaper for what.
(remember supermarkets are very canny about using 'loss leaders' - they know that people tend to remember the price of, say, a pint of milk, so they discount those goods while keeping prices high on the things people don't notice.)

I do a monthly shop for almost everything. I remove what packaging I can and use freezer bags to fit more in the freezer. There's no room for ready-meals, even if I wanted to, but as the month progresses there becomes roo for double portions sauces that I've made! You need extra cupboard space at the start of the month to put everything away. We also have a veg box delivered every other week, with eggs added. No-one'll deliver milk so I buy that in bulk at the start of the week.
To start with I planned meals so I didn't have to keep popping into town for bit and pieces, but now I have developed a feel for what we will need. I do tend to over-buy though. (Dh says will be okay if bird-flu hits!) I find the veg-box makes me think on my feet and keeps what we eat quite varied. I always make sure I buy 4 easy meals (one a week in theory) - pizzas, pies, quiches, jar of curry sauce .... for times when it all seems too much like hard work.
Find it hard to set aside the time to do the food shop (on-line) now I've got 2 (ds2 is 2.5 months) tbh, but have resolved to tackle it in 10-minute bursts next time. Also have decided to get it delivered in the evening next time since I can't guarantee how ds2'll be and I hate leaving chilled/freezer stuff out (because so much arrives it takes a while to put away properly.) Find doing a month's shop myself really hard-going with my 3 yo in tow, nevermind the newbie. It'll take me about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours and 2 trollies and dh still blanches at the idea of looking after them both while I do it at the weekend. Hence I do it online.
Dh loves knowing what he's eating each evening so the whole thing has really suited him too.

Very helpful everyone, thanks.

Re the meat, we tend to eat it every day and i like the idea of more veg, plus like i say i need to eat more heathily so that is good. I must organise myself better i thin that is the ket.

Am also going to look into the local shops. Not sure about a local greengrocers(that's bad that i don't know) but there are 2 local butchers that dh is keen to use but i just don't.

Speedy, i'll definately take a look at that mag, i really should stop buying OK and buy more useful ones!!!!

Stacey, > DH will love the idea of veg in everything and dd won't notice

Yomell, i will soon have the same age dc's as you and the thought of going to tesco is why i thought about online shopping once a month!!! Would be able to do it whilst dd at preschool but if it's only once a month then hadn't htought about needing a big trolley/2 trolleys, der, if i fill one once a week what exactly did i think i was gonna do!!

So the lesson to me really is to think before 4pm what tonights dinner will be, plan ahead and cook more from scratch.

Hhhhmmmm what should we eat tonight??!! Ah look at the time

hi eddas my dh hates that i put veg in things but as you say the kids dont notice which is brill, i also manage to eat more veg that i dont like as i just purree it and cant taste it in a sauce!

eddas i tend to try and figure out dinner the day before or in the morning. just gives me time to prepare it bit by bit while the dcs are happy (a very active 2yo and a 17week old) rather than trying to cook from scratch at 5pm when everyone is tired and irritable!

Will plan my dinners from tomorrow onwards, too late today> Not being sarcastic but really should know better!!!

Pancakes and batter puddings are very very cheap. Fill pancakes with cheese and veg. Make toad-in-the-hole with frozen sausages or just snippets of bacon plus veg and instant gravy.
Buy a whole chicken and hack it up - freeze the breast and quarters separately then boil up the carcass with an onion to make a stock. Refrigerate the stock overnight, peel off the fat and make soup (whizz in cooked potato or rice to thicken and creamify).
Frozen veg are actually more nutitious than veg that has been sat in the shop and your kitchen for a few days. I add peas and sweetcorn to everything to bulk it out!
Try tinned lentils (and peas and sweetcorn LOL)instead of minced beef in spagbol or lasagne.

Try using quinoa or lentils etc instead of meat, much much cheaper.

Cut out ready meals.

Plan your meals.

Buy basics veg and wash thoroughly.

Incorporate more pasta, rice and lentils/beans into your recipes.

Grow your own veg/herbs.

cook from scratch, make double amounts and freeze half for when you are in a hurry or don't feel like cooking. That means you can buy in bulk too - tescos do huge bags of rice and pasta dead cheap.

Limit meat, eat more veg, and lentils. for example, if you are making something like a chicken stew, replace half the chicken with chickpeas. Indian cooking is dead cheap.

Use local grocers, and freeze leftover veg.

Don't eat sandwiches every day, make veggie quiches, pasties and soups in large batches and freeze. Put veg in sandwiches, and make pasta or rice salads for lunch.

My shopping cost is made up of about 70% fruit and veg. I've got four kids, and now the dts are getting bigger, we get through tons of food and by using more veg I've cut our shopping bill in half.

Thansk again everyone.

It really seems as though veg is the way to go, trouble is i am not a big veg eater. But i know i should be so will make an effort to eat lots more and that will help my over weightness too!!

I actually got sausages out of the freezer this morning and knew what we were having before 4pm, now that is progress!! Let's see how many days in a row i can make before i revert again

Tomorrow i'm planning on spag bol. Mince only in fridge so will make double and freeze the other half. Will also add extra veg this time, normally only use tomatoes(tinned) and mushrooms. With onions of course!

I shop at Aldi for most of my weekly shopping and that is much cheaper than supermarkets like Tesco. I stock up on toiletries and cleaning stuff etc from Wilkos about once a monthas they are cheap too. We also eat lots of pasta and rice which are good sources of energy as they are slow burn fuel and fill you up.

Also planning a weekly (or longer) menu and buying specifically for that helps cut down on impulse buys.

I find the slow cooker is excellent for making extra portions.

I never used to be but I've found with spices and things, veg are far more tastier. When I make spag bol, I put in musrooms, courgette and aubergine. Tastes lovely!

One our our favs here is diced up aubergine, courgette, mushrooms, peppers, cherry tomatoes, red onion, and a chilli, sauted with garlic and then used as a filling for a toasted sandwhich or panini with cheese. Much nicer than boring old ham or chicken.

Kelly that sounds nice, will try that, once i've bought the ingredients

From your name were you born in 1978, me too if you were!!!

Article here on how supermarkets get away with charging more than independent shops.

Haven't read the whole thing, dd won't allow that!!!, but sounds interesting. Will read it after bedtime!!