Tightening our belts with cheap toilet paper

[zippitippitoes]

We've done a supermarket shop for the week and bought quite a few "value" products

frozen prawns
frozen cod fillets
chopped tomatoes
diet cola
2 chickens for £4.00
mature cheddar
Tesco tea tree shampoo

but got stuck on some. Are there some things which just aren't any good when they are really cheap.

We usually shop in Tesco's, but we didn't try the Value range in any of these

Andrex toilet rolls
Kellogs cornflakes
Colgate Tartare Toothpaste
Eggs
Shampoo
Can't Believe It's Not Butter

And is Asda actually cheaper than Tesco?

I bought some toddler clothes there yesterday which were great value (including a suede effect jacket with toggles which I really liked for £12.00)but never buy weekly shopping there, should we?

"We now keep our own chickens and even at this time of year get 2 eggs a day which is more than enough."

2 eggs a day enough - for 5 of you ...

Wouldn't it be lovely if we all had space for pigs and chickens - not sure the neighbours would be too happy if we kept them in our garden

is that £40 a week including all your non-grocery items??

Katherine, I'm finding the notion of fondly stroking sausages made from your own pigs a bit toe-curling!

You want cheap - Asda and Morrisons are the places to be.

I shop at either Waitrose or Morrisons depending upon mood, or which direction fits in best with the old itinerary. They are both equidistant from me but in different directions.

I spend around £40 per week less at Morrisons for the same typical trolley load of groceries that I buy at Waitrose.

If you really want to economise, do you have an Aldi?

Katherine,

umm I think I am too faint hearted for that. I've got 3 chickens but couldn't 'dinner table' them...irrational I know, because I am happy to eat their anonymous 2nd cousins from the supermarket

I'd love to keep pigs and chickens. . 2nd floor flat, no garden, unfortunately.

I agree that Morrisons is very cheap. We haven't got one locally but went to one on holiday and I was gobsmacked when the trolley load of food, wine etc we had came to under £100.

My shopping now comes from a combination of

Market - majority of my fruit and veg
Wilkinsons - washing powder, liquid, bin bags (got a large swing bin so carrier bags don't fit )
Bodycare shop - Nappy sacks
Boots - Nappies (since Tesco stopped doing the extra large ones)
Morrisons - everything else.

We don't have Wilkinson's in Scotland, at least not here in the East. What is it? Like a £Stretcher, or more like a food shop?

hmm - how to describe Wilkinsons - I suppose it's a big like a £stretcher (doesn't do food - well only a few crisps/sweets etc), but things cost more than a a quid.

here - they've just started doing some online.

QoQ I wasn't trying to imply that we could all live off 2 eggs a day ! But 14 eggs per week is more than enough for what I do with eggs - even allowing for cakes etc. And during the summer we get about 6 a day.

Yes it is about £40 for everything - except perhaps wine. I use homemade cleaning stuff (except for washing machine but use minimal amount so it goes further. No nappies. And virtually no meat given that our freezer is full.

Personally now I've got used to the idea of what happens to my pigs I find it more blood curdling to think of eating an animal that has been pumped with anti-biotics, steroid infested feed and lived in a shed all its short miserab le life.

But hey I'm not trying to say we should all eat pigs. Heck the planet would be overrun with pigpoo and the methane problem would run the greenhouse effect out of control. I'm just saying that being lucky enough to do it has changed my attitude towards what I eat.

Anyway this thread was about saving money wasn't it and I shouldn't high-jack it with animal rights, green-living talk. Was just trying to make the point that the two things aren't mutually exclusive. But it does take a lot more effort.

Sorry major typo problem there. All the eggs going to my head obviously. That should read "All KEEP pigs" not "All eat pigs. Would hate to upset any vegetarians or vegans! :O

Now my faces don't work either. think I'll give up and go and cook some dinner. Sausage and egg!

Wilkinsons is like Woolworths IMO. Do you get Woolworths in Scotland?

I find shopping online at tesco alot cheaper than visiting the store. you see all the offers/buy 1 get 1 free. Its great. No dragging kdis around bored either.

I buy brand washing detergents/softner etc.
Loo rolls I buy from poundland, aloe vera too.
Shampoo I get from Avon-which I buy in bulk when there are offers on.
I dont like cheap bread-like Warbys of kingsmill.
value tomatoes are ok
Sauces eg ketchup-own brand
Wilkinsons is great though must aggree but we have one a few miles away.
Our £stretcher has changed to Instore.

"QoQ I wasn't trying to imply that we could all live off 2 eggs a day ! But 14 eggs per week is more than enough for what I do with eggs - even allowing for cakes etc. And during the summer we get about 6 a day."

I did wonder - we go through about 3 or 4 a day (minimum ) as insteasd of buying sliced meat for his sandwiches DH has eggs in them - still works out cheaper than the (decent) sliced meat.

"Yes it is about £40 for everything - except perhaps wine. I use homemade cleaning stuff (except for washing machine but use minimal amount so it goes further. No nappies. And virtually no meat given that our freezer is full."

aha - no nappies makes all the difference - so must having the freezer full of home produced sausages and pork (lucky cow ).

Unfortunately DS's have inherited their daddy's "Zimbabwean" appetite....ie MASSIVE (DS2 - 22 months has just polished off and entire, medium sized plate, of spaghetti and mince (with lots of veggies thrown in to bulk it out - he actually had more than me tonight!) - so I suppose I should count myself lucky that I keep them satisfied (even if it is the cheap stuff ) on the money we've got ATM,.

Sorry to be boring but in case any one has a burning desire to know, Lidl 3 in 1 dishwasher tablets are identical to Sainsburys. (I know this as I went to put last few from old box into new box and realised they were the same! Hey-my exciting life eh!

Katherine...do you have your own sheep too & make your own jumpers

Carrier bags have holes in - how can anyone use them as bin liners? Or don't the carrier-bag-as-bin-liner users have soggy kitchen waste? (I have bin-liners without holes and they still leak sometimes!)

JanH - Tesco and Morrison's ones don't have holes - but obviously you always check first.

I use proper bin liners and have never had a soggy bottom of the bin yet

Can I just add that we have just finished a huge mixer bag of Aldi crisps, and they were really nice!! And I'm not a huge crisp fan, but I'm off for some more!

also for Aldi - if (like me) you usually just buy a block of Tesco value cheese (or Morrisons mild cheddar - you get my drift - the cheap stuff) Aldi has very good cheese prices.

Tesco's do - about 3" up from the bottom seam, but when they're squashed in the bin that's still on the bottom - can't comment on Morrison's!

Mine leak because Certain People squash things with sharp edges into them and empty eg unfinished cereal bowls into them on top. Yeuch.

lol Jan - we're very strict in this house on 'liquids' being pourd down the sink before the solids are placed in the bin, and all sharp objects have to be wrapped up first

I would pour sloppy stuff like soup, weetabix etc down the toilet.