Saving family of 4

[Forlimeswan]

Can I get everyone's best saving tips.... A don't even care how frugal they are. Having a really hard time saving especially with food shops and I really need advice. We need to save a deposit up with it's so hard with how expensive life it at the moment xx

Hey,

I know how hard it is- 5 of us here with DS1 just moved back after uni & he never stops eating (I adore him & delighted he's home, but the food!).

I think these will be standard things, but what I do:

Use my chest freezer well - batch cooking/ reduced meat or bread. e.g. my Aldi always seem to have sourdough 50% off, so I buy loads.

Cook vegetarian for everyone 2/3 times a week (I'm vege so it makes sense).

It's soup season- easy/cheap/filling. I make pastries to go - pre-rolled pastry is £1 in Aldi.

I use my slow cooker a lot- minced chicken & loads of veges makes superb chilli. 500g does my 4 with big appetites as it's packed out with veg.

Frozen veg from Farmfoods is inexpensive & brilliant - onions/garlic/peppers/leeks/asparagus/butternut squash (soup even easier).

Farmfoods if you have one is generally great- good butter is £1, Fage yogurt £2.50, 10 large local eggs £2 & a myriad of brands for chocolate/crisps/store cupboards/ laundry/toiletries. In fact, I rarely buy anything frozen apart from the veg.

Eggs make a great meal.

Frozen fish with the eggs makes great kedgeree- a favourite here.

Laundry stuff at Sainsbury's is really good.

Aldi 24 toilet rolls is 3ply & £4.99

Morrison's do a frozen offer 2X main & 2 X dessert for £10. Their madagascan icecream is in the offer- it's divine & usually £3 a small tub- so I get 2 of those & 2 posh pizzas (normally £6 each) as a Friday treat.

I'm lucky to be near loads of supermarkets, though. And Home Bargains for toiletries!

Other than that, don't buy rubbish you don't need & use Vinted for really decent clothes.

Never leave the house without a bottle of water. Drink that when you’re out if you get thirsty. Also a thermal mug of tea/coffee and sandwhich.

I used to buy penguins/club biscuit type things, depending what was on offer. Enough for packed lunches, then freeze them and only take them out to go in the lunch. Stopped every one greadily eating them.

Cut down massively on meat. Embrace tinned lentils and pulses so you don’t have to cook them for ages. Use tinned green or puy lentils to thin out mince. Or replace meat entirely!

Are you shopping at Aldi/Lidl? If neither are handy, Asda and Tesco basics can be very cost effective. And of course, keep an eye out for yellow stickers.

These meal plans from Feed your Family for £20/week are helpful.

Get cashback on your grocery shopping. Lots of different sites but I use Everup. I only starting doing it around 6 months ago and have already made about £200, just from doing my usual shopping. Have also used it for some purchases in IKEA and decathalon etc. I always thought it sounded like a faff so never bothered with it, but it’s so easy and I wish I’d starting doing it earlier!

Cashback sites as others have said. I use JamDoughnut. Also TopCashback for cash back on insurance etc.
Never buy a coffee out. Take a refillable bottle.
Buy and sell clothes on vinted. Pick up from a locker / shop rather than delivery.
Speak to friends and family about Christmas, now before people start buying. We won’t buy for you, don’t buy for us.

Check your subscriptions. What can you get rid of? If you have more than one tv streaming; rotate them. So Netflix one month, cancel it then get Disney, etc.

Budget every single pound for the month before it starts. Set aside savings just like you would rent council tax etc
Tell your children you are saving that you will say no to certain things and that living within your means is what responsible adults do and you aren't changing the rules for a wants list. If applicable tell them there is plenty for everyone's needs but not everyone's wants. You can tell your older children that they can't just eat extras after meals if they are still genuinely hungry it's bread and butter only / an apple / banana but not ham cheese yogurts chocolate etc
If you set the food budget at 400 and by 21st you have spent 345 then the remaining 55 just has to stretch.
Have your goal in writing psychologically this works better than in your head break it into smaller goals we save £100 every month except December for Christmas and July for the holidays
Any bonuses monetary gifts go straight to savings as do any pay rises above inflation or due to promotion
If it is likely you can achieve goal in 6 months or less go hardcore nothing except necessities until March except from 21st December to 2nd January plus birthdays. Plus maybe a cafe trip on last Saturday of the month if we have met our budget. Make sure you have a small emergency fund first. If going to be longer than 6 months then hardcore is too draining mentally and soul destroying

Thanks So much for everyone's post, I really appreciate the effort. Definitely taking this advice on board.... Especially the freezing of biscuits so they aren't easily accessible haha. I might even tey a snack basket for each child ( might include my husband too actually haha ). One of my problems with food is everyone eats everything so quickly I feel like i'm back at the shops all the time.

Anyway some really good advice that I will be taking on board. Thanks again x

We have 2 bank accounts a joint one for bills that we never touch but has all the DDs on with the exact amount of money going in to cover then and one with monzo. Monzo is £3 a month but allows you to set up virtual cards for pots. We then sort the money on pay day into:
food
eating out/entertaining/kid activities
car/petrol/transport
house repairs/maintenance
Clothes and personal care
we then have savings pots on monzo without cards for:
Xmas/birthdays
DS larger items (like car seats etc)
holidays
new car fund
Medium/long term savings

we let the money roll up in the posts except food, for instance we put £150 into transport and petrol but generally spend about £80 a month on petrol but then if we need a train or to cover the mot the money is there. The food pot at the end of the month if there is money left I put it into long term savings.

Neither of us has a personal account, we both spend what we want personally out of the monzo. We both spend about the same though and bigger personal purchases are discussed. I’ve put on a bit of weight so needed new clothes so DH just spent less this month but next month he’s going to Manchester to watch football with his dad, DB and DN and I know that will be a £200-300 weekend so I’ll spend less.

It wouldn’t work for everyone but after 20 years this is the best we’ve got at managing money and our savings are going up not down!

There’s an app called PetrolPrices which updates prices daily in a search area of your choice. Can help you plan when to fill up where it’s cheapest.

Have & use all the loyalty apps on both your & DH phones - two sets of discounts / offers (we get different offers). Use employer or similar scheme to buy discounted gift cards.

Blue light card for offers / discounts and free Esso card. Chase account 2% cashback on groceries / petrol / eating out). I combine discounts / giftcards / cashback & loyalty points!! Farmfoods again.

Meal planning, batch cooking, reduced goods & your freezer. Using up everything & being creative. Bulking out mince etc dishes with onions, grated carrots & courgette (cheap at mo), red lentils, pearl barley, oats etc. Eat seasonally.

We like our homemade soups with cheesy pittas (reduced price in the freezer) - put grated cheese inside pizza & grill or slip in toaster. I also buy any cheap or dodgy bananas , put them in freezer and defrosted they are super sweet & make great pancakes, flapjacks, cakes etc.

Shop monthly for groceries, do it online so you can see the cost.

i get the food and the first week cook everything in a batch for 16 portions - then freeze everything for the following 3 weeks. I buy tinned fruit, flour for bread making ( see YouTube no knead bread recipes) cookie ingredients for snacks - £2.05 for a batch of home made cookies.

i might well spend £350 BUT I don’t have to go shopping and get tempted by stuff. Everything is planned. Pizza garlic bread and coleslaw and fish and chip nights instead so f takeaway.

i was but so much I didn’t need by weekly shopping. Now it’s all planned and I’ve saved about £200 on top up shops

This weekend we bought a cauliflower. This time it was from sainsburys but usually get it from M&S as they're the same price but lovely/ massive. I get M&S vouchers at 6.5% off plus use Sparks card (not that it's that useful tbf). We've had some as raw crudités for a couple of days.

We've had a roast tonight and I've taken the leafy bits off the stalks & the florets & steamed them. I roasted the stalks. The remaining cooked leaves & florets I'll use to make a cauliflower cheese pasta bake (will also add some courgettes as I got a load for 20p) - but you could add sweetcorn, mushroom, spinach, leftover meat or a couple of cooked sausages etc etc. Basically make things out of nothing & cheap store cupboard basics some days depending on what you have or find - be flexible.

Last week Morrisons did apples / pears / satsumas for 5p a pack for back to school. At Easter & Xmas we get loads of the cheap veg to prep & freeze - I've still got a bit of broccoli left now! I also stock up on random stuff cheaply after special occasions such as Valentines, Halloween, Easter & Xmas - I got massive bags of Xmas nuts for £1 this year in Jan.

Also use MoneySavingExpert and Hotukdeals.

Thanks everyone it's really helpfull

Veggie chilli made with lentils and beans is cheap and healthy. You can also use meat but replace half with lentils.

Stop having such a variety of snack food available at home. I once read a study where people ate more if there was more options. If there are three kinds of biscuits people then more will be eaten overall.

My kids have porridge for breakfast. It’s so cheap and it fills them up.

Always have filling snacks available. Bananas, peanut butter for example. Tins of beans if they are older children.

We always had one cheap meal a week but now we have two. So last night we had chickpea curry.

Some really great advice from everyone. It is hard - food is sooo expensive.

Try and have a few simple meals - eg you don't have to cook a roast just because it's a Sunday. Jacket potato and beans will sometimes do.

And top up shops are lethal - pop in for something and end up spending £30.

@Frugal_Jools on Insta.

I do a similar thing with Starling spaces. They don’t charge.