On a mission to bring down food cost.

[Lovethesummerrain]

We’re a family of 2 adults and DS who’s in preschool. We spend £100 weekly (including any top up) on our food shop. This is also including cleaning stuff/basic toiletries. It seems like a lot for just the 3 of us, in an ideal world I’d like to get this down to £75.

Anyone out there who is already keeping foodshop this low who can share some tips? Meal plans? I like the idea of batch cooking so pls throw your favourite cheap meals this way!

We eat most things, no allergies.

I feed myself and ever-hungry teen on £60 a week.

I keep the cost down by all the normal means - very few brands, bulk buying at lower cost, then splitting & freezing packs of meat. Buy packs of frozen hake & mussels for seafood risotto. Switch from sugary breakfast cereal to porrige oats, and add fruit. I buy decent non-sliced bread but cut large loaves in half and freeze.

I buy 4 pint containers of milk, pour into sterilised 1pt containers and freeze them because I was throwing away too much off-milk. Reduces the price from 90p/pint to 36p/pint

DS likes berries with pancakes but berries in the winter are £4 for a tasteless pack, so I've learned to bottle blackberries in syrup. They cost nothing. I freeze chopped cooking apples from the garden for crumbles. This year I've made my own damson & greengage jams and bramble jelly (cost 12p per jar). It's taken two Saturdays work to store enough fruit & jam for 6 months.

I find supermarket meat is bulked out with so much water, it is less expensive to buy decent quality from the local butcher. I home make cakes when I have time (about once a week)

That all reduces costs by about £15/week. It's healthier & tastes nicer too.

Have you thought about buying your toiletries in bulk? Places like Who Gives a Crap and Smol are better for the environment and for your bank balance overall.

you do however have to be in the position to have a bigger spend up front.

I think £75 is possible- with one preschool child. Do you buy alcohol? Brands? Where do you shop?

I use toogoodtogo. It's hit and miss but I've found the shops which are best for leftovers near me. For £3.29 I can get bread, milk, fruit and mince beef, sometimes it's pies, deli stuff, cakes or ham. DH will take some to work, I'll freeze the meat and bread until I'm ready to use it. Fruit will get eaten or in a smoothie. Maybe try one a week?

Get a student cookbook (or borrow from library?) these are fantastic when you are on a budget. My best cheap meals are pasta dishes, jacket potatoes, stews. Things like chicken wraps, seem expensive for chicken but you can chop the chicken into thin strips and seasoned, you don't need that much when you've added salad and salsa.

Giving up meat and alcohol can save a fortune. Using pulses in place of meat in chillies, curries, bolognese etc really cuts the price but is still satisfying. A couple of bottles of wine in our weekly shop were adding up to £60 a month, so cutting them out made a big difference.

We're same family size as you on £50 a week including household/toiletries. We're largely vegetarian which makes a huge difference, cook almost everything from scratch, and we get a veg box from oddbox. The small veg box is only about £9 and it's enough veg for the week for us. We buy pasta, rice etc in bulk and eat lots of cheese, eggs, and beans. Our food doesn't feel super frugal but it's much, much cheaper than when we were eating meat. The only thing we buy weekly is veg, eggs, and milk (all delivered), everything else we do a big monthly shop which works out more cost effective for us. But basically only by not having brands or premade snacks (I bake a cake once a week if we're in, otherwise it's plain yoghurt with fruit, or cheese and crackers).

Don't buy any more cleaning things.

Most things can be cleaned with a tiny squirt of washing up liquid and (hate to say it as it makes me sound like my granny) elbow grease.

Also, keep reminding yourself that it's not forever. Good luck

Obviously you need washing powder 😉

Milk puddings can be good value - rice pudding, semolina, flavour can be changed by adding raisins, different jams, hot chocolate powder...

I keep my supermarket shop "food and drink only" so that I can keep a handle on my budget better. I buy all my toiletries, cleaning stuff, laundry stuff etc once a year when we have two months off council tax payments (if you pay over ten months). I buy the Lidl lavender 2-in-1 laundry liquid in bulk and store it under the kitchen sink, and get my shampoo and conditioner in TK Maxx where they sell huge bottles. I live on my own but a large bottle of Bed Head shampoo will last me roughly nine months. I no longer use shower gel (I have a bottle in that I use for when I go camping etc) but the rest of the time I use nice bar soap, also from TK Maxx.

Sounds very achievable, we rarely spend more than £50 for 2 adults. I get a Tesco shop delivered, as they have everything there. I was going to Aldi but would always have to go elsewhere for some stuff. I plan all meals, never buy brands, buy loose fruit and veg so you can get small quantities, use frozen and tinned fruit and veg. Keep portion sizes small and bulk out with veg/bread/lentils. I make bolognaise with one pack of mince and two tins of green lentils, or chilli with mince and two tins of mixed beans. Freeze portions. This also cuts down on energy use. Never buy anything marketed to children.

And definitely assess cleaning products, I only use washing up liquid, cream cleaner and white vinegar. I buy the biggest possible laundry liquid from Amazon, don't bother with fabric conditioner.

Add lentils or beans to bulk out meals. For example, chilli, use half the amount of mince and double the beans and/or veg.

With bolognaise I always make it 50% veg - onion, carrots, celery and mushrooms. I chop these in a food processor so blend in.

Vegetable curry, I do a cauliflower curry with boiled eggs. Sauté onion, add whichever curry powder or paste, water or stock. Blanch cauliflower florets and boil the eggs to your liking. Serve with rice.

You can get 24 toilet rolls for £8 in most supermarkets (definitely Lidl, Aldi, Asda and Morrisons). It's good 3 ply stuff as well.

I don’t think it’s realistic to reduce your shop that much. Not unless you want to live on cheap carbs instead of eating protein and veg.

I can only echo a lot of previous posters 👍 have been picking/ freezing blackberries & apples. I have almost used up the 'easter wars' veg (when the supermarkets sell all for 19p each) - at the time I bought about 20 broccoli; grated the raw stalks to add to coleslaw, salads, veg bases. Parboiled the remainder & froze to add to soups. There were parsnips, carrots, spring greens, swedes & red onions also. Will do the same again at Xmas.

Farmfoods / Home bargains for snacks & dry foods. The former is great for all sorts of good quality lines at bargain prices and I stock up on various tinned beans (eg organic Pinto beans 19p). Also napolina passata at 6 for £1. Use carrots, celery, cheap veg with toms & beans as a base for so many dishes. Bulk out with grated carrot, oats, lentils etc. I will cook a massive bag of pots as jackets and freeze most. Defrost, cut into wedges and add toppings of choice. Try Feed Your Family for £20 a week or Jack Monroe for brilliant thrifty recipes & ideas.

Puck up as much reduced / yellow stickered items as poss & freeze. I buy good stuff but at about 25% of the price. I recently got garlic baguettes for 10p. I save various fish bargains till i have enough for a fish pie. Use long life milk (69p litre).

Some things that I have found useful:

Assess your food waste levels, and meal plan based on what you have in the fridge that needs eating to eliminate any unnecessary waste of food you are already buying.

Freeze things! Buy bigger packs and freeze in portion sizes. Chop up and freeze any veg instead of wasting it if you have too much.

Be more mindful of cost per portion comparisons e.g. Go for bananas as fruit of choice more often! Rice over potatoes/pasta (when cooking the rice from a big bag of grains). If you can afford to invest in a rice cooker this can make a big difference.

Meat goes further without feeling like you are scrimping if you cut or bash it when cooking. Small strips/pieces in stir fries, risottos, soups, paellas go further than chops/steaks. Pork and chicken go a long way if bashed and breadcrumbed - you can make a lot of your own breadcrumbs out of bread ends. Sausages in chunks in a ragu for pasta goes further than when whole as sausages and mash.

Download and check out Olio, bearing in mind most food gets listed in the evenings. Variable depending on area and day, but can usually help reduce your bread based costs if nothing else.

Prepare and bring food with you wherever possible when leaving the house to avoid on the go purchases. Work lunches, snacks and drinks for outings, picnics/sandwiches for days out.

Check your fridge and freezer temperatures, as food can last longer than you think if they are set to the right temperatures.

Use basic sense checks on food rather than relying on printed dates on them.