How on Earth do you cut down your food bill without buying low quality stuff and when you have 3 hungry kids, a husband and several animals?

[FabIsGoingToBeFabIn2010]

DH just looked through my spending and it is about £800+ a month on food.

Fab - you've inspired me.

I have been spending £70-80 a week (including topping up milk/bread) recently.

Now admittedly I did buy 4 boxes of cereal in the 99p shop the other day, and I stll had some bits in the freezer (Pork joint, sausages, and bacon)

But I've just done my shop at Morrisons (and Wilkinsons) and spent £53. Have bread for the week in the freezer, milk in the fridge for the week, and that included 4 halogen light bulbs (at £2.99 for a pack of 2 - I've learnt my lesson with the cheaper ones - they blow quickly LOL).

I didn't meal plan - well sort of, as I went around, and now I'm home I've realised with the stuff I have in, and what i've bought I can probably do 9 or 10 meals - maybe one or two more with just a few top up ingredients required.

I think the cauli is expensive because of the wet and cold weather so it just rots in the fields...

I am being so strict and not going out to the shops at all unless what we need is vital. Good job as the cat will cost me about £40 on Wednesday and I wasn't expecting that.

ouch at £40 on Wednesday -

I'm going to the shop in the minute to buy a TV magazine so the DS's can sit down and plan what they actually want to watch as DS1 is getting into a rather bad habit of just watching whatever comes on.

Can't you use teletext and save money there?

Love Fab now handing out money saving tips left, right and centre

Agree, though - use the EPG on your TV or buy a newspaper on Sat/Sun and use the free TV guide as well as getting some news/free mag etc

nah - doesn't really work using the free guide on Virgin - want them to be able to mark on the magazine which programmes they want to watch so there's no "oh but I wanted to watch that as well".

was only 40p and I didn't buy anything else (except for filters and rizzla's that I'd just run out of)

40p isn't going to break the bank, I guess!

that's what I figured as well

Please don't faint but today I needed potatoes so called in to the shop and came out with -

one bag of potatoes.

So freeing to be sticking to no mid week shopping unless vital and only buying what I need.

yay - well done Fab

I needed tomatoes today (as discovered the underneath of the tomatoes in the fridge had gone manky) so sent DS1 to the shop...........I find that's quite a good way of making sure you only buy what's vital - send a child, they know what to buy and that's it. lol

I think I might be becoming obsessed. Needed spread so when getting a paper from the garage I compared all the prices and sizes to see which was the best value. Flora light it was.

I stood there in morrisons on Sunday and whipped my phone out to do a calculation.

Can't remember the exact figures but it was 2x 4 pint milk for £3, but the pricing was "per ml" - so I was stood there working out whether buying more of the 4 pint ones worked out cheaper or more expensive than buying my normal amount of 6 pint ones

Just got back from the vet.

£60.06!!!

omg -

but just think - you saved that with last weeks shopping so it hasn't actually cost you anymore money that you would have spent if you'd done your "old" shop and not had the vets bill

True. Will have a £30 bill tomorrow at the osteopath and that is worth it though to be in less pain.

think of that as money save from next weeks reduced shopping bill

I suppose I ought to get sorted........going to see a house this afternoon, and really ought to shower first and put some clean (as opposed to "look ok but actually worn a few times and I just threw them on this morning so as not to give DS1's friend a fright ) clothes on so I look semi smart.

Not going to look good turning up to view a house looking rough, and then asking if they'll take housing benefits PMSL

So, I have just been to Lidl to do my first full shop.

I spent £61.60.

I then went to Waitrose to get what I couldn't at Lidl and spent £13.56.

Total spent £75.14.

I have done a full shop in Waitrose and spent only about £70 but I will see what the Lidl food is like before I commit to a particular shop.

oh well done.

I'll confess I fell off the wagon last night - I ordred a pizza in at the cost of £15 (was an extra large stuffed crust one).

My defence is I'd had 2 shite days.............