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Are you actively looking for cheaper groceries now?

Only one mouth to feed but I'm doing lots more shopping around than before. Not struggling with money at the mo, used to be a one stop supermarket regular but prices on a lot of things have gone a bit stupid.

Local free range butcher has meat and eggs cheaper than supermarkets and tastes much better. The staff are helpful and friendly as well and will happily cut me single portions. Lidl's great for fruit and veg especially avocados. I've got loyalty cards with Tescos and Sainsbury's so I only go there to use money off vouchers.

Growing up in a home where food wasn't always around is probably the main reason for the ridiculous amounts of tinned food stockpiled in my cupboards :o so I'm working through them, one a day, starting tomorrow. Thought I'd pick a tin at random and plan a meal round it so off to google lychee recipes after I've posted this :confused:
 
Always try to be frugal with the monthly shop which offsets the weekly/fortnightly treats from the farmers market.

Check HUKD daily on the look out for good offers and stock up when they appear.

Pretty much have a 'staple' shop that forms the bulk of the monthly order. This consists of back up foods like cans of beans and soups + sandwich fillers for work lunches.
 
moomoo said:
I try and plan meals but, for example, this evening I was going to do lamb chops till the teen came in and said she was eating out so the boys and I ended up with bacon sandwiches. It's impossible to do a weeks shopping at once as the kids and their friends eat everything within the first 2 days if I do.
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I feel your pain moomoo - its exactly the same in our house.
 
Greebo said:
Am, was, and probably always will be looking for cheaper groceries, within reason.

I don't care how cheap battery eggs are, I won't buy them. The same goes for any marge or buttery spread with hydrogenated oil.

Sliced wholemeal has gone up so much that's it's now cheaper for me to make the stuff (even if you include the fuel).

We don't get a lot of ready made stuff anyway - baked beans, fishcakes, fishfingers, oven chips, and that's it. I try value ranges once, but if they need more doing to make them edible (fishfingers with less than 50% fish, anyone?), then IMHO they're too expensive.
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That's pretty much exactly it for me too.

I do a big online shop once every 10 - 14 days - always using a money off voucher - and go through the offers section first, selecting anything that I needed anyway (if it's actually cheaper than what I would have bought) and like tarannau, picking up meat etc that's on offer too, which I'll then base meals around.

Do a few top up shops too, for veg etc.

So - same as ever for me.
 
I've been shopping at Aldi and Lidl for ages anyway, because I love a bargain, me. Meat comes from the butcher, veg from an organic box scheme, and everything else comes from local independent shops.

Like beeboo, I don't have a regular shopping pattern, so I have no idea if we're spending more or not. We're lucky in that I fixed our mortgage until 2010 and two incomes mean we're not really feeling the pinch yet.
 
Nope, being a veggie I don't buy meat and as I cook from scratch most days the majority of our outlay is on fresh vegetables so is relatively inexpensive. I don't mind paying more for some of those 'taste the difference' type ranges if they really do make a difference to how the dish will taste.

I'm more interested in trying to buy/cook the right amount of food so that none gets thrown away. I don't like wasting food and try to keep my non-composting and recyclable waste down to half a bin bag per week.

Also I like good wine so that is always more expensive than whatever food I'm cooking.
 
I'm breaking out the ol' slow cooker and breadmaker; just made a massive stew that'll last for four helpings or so (I just hope I have enough containers to keep it in the freezer!). Started keeping bread in the freezer for sarnies instead of leaving it out and chucking it when it goes mouldy.

I've stopped buying pricey sarnies at Pret for lunch and make them in the morning instead (I still get coffees there, though, 'cause the barista is pretty :o). Oh, and packaged cereals have gone out the window; it's porridge and fruit for brekky now. Might try a few veggie slow cooker recipes, can anyone suggest any?
 
elevendayempire said:
I'm breaking out the ol' slow cooker and breadmaker; just made a massive stew that'll last for four helpings or so (I just hope I have enough containers to keep it in the freezer!). Started keeping bread in the freezer for sarnies instead of leaving it out and chucking it when it goes mouldy.

I've stopped buying pricey sarnies at Pret for lunch and make them in the morning instead (I still get coffees there, though, 'cause the barista is pretty :o). Oh, and packaged cereals have gone out the window; it's porridge and fruit for brekky now. Might try a few veggie slow cooker recipes, can anyone suggest any?
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The sandwich thing is a good tip - I've been doing that for a few months now It saves me loads, and it means my sandwiches are nicer too. I did buy the pret sandwich book though, must dig it out again for inspiration actually. :) I also got a small wide mouthed flask to take soups/ stew/whatever for lunch - its well worth the fiver I paid for it.
 
Chairman Meow said:
The sandwich thing is a good tip - I've been doing that for a few months now It saves me loads, and it means my sandwiches are nicer too. I did buy the pret sandwich book though, must dig it out again for inspiration actually. :) I also got a small wide mouthed flask to take soups/ stew/whatever for lunch - its well worth the fiver I paid for it.
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Ooh, soup flask. I like the sound of that, I'll investigate.
 
Chairman Meow said:
The sandwich thing is a good tip - I've been doing that for a few months now It saves me loads, and it means my sandwiches are nicer too. I did buy the pret sandwich book though, must dig it out again for inspiration actually. :) I also got a small wide mouthed flask to take soups/ stew/whatever for lunch - its well worth the fiver I paid for it.
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I save loads by taking my own lunches to work as well. I need to get me a wide-mouthed flask - where do you get them from?
 
ringo said:
Nope, being a veggie I don't buy meat and as I cook from scratch most days the majority of our outlay is on fresh vegetables so is relatively inexpensive. I don't mind paying more for some of those 'taste the difference' type ranges if they really do make a difference to how the dish will taste.

I'm more interested in trying to buy/cook the right amount of food so that none gets thrown away. I don't like wasting food and try to keep my non-composting and recyclable waste down to half a bin bag per week.

Also I like good wine so that is always more expensive than whatever food I'm cooking.
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We're almost entirely veggie, as gsv is veggie so there's not much point buying meat, as it won't get shared - I'd hate to imagine what the bills would be like with meat added!

I think cooking the right amount is key - I keep meaning to meal plan, but I'm not good at getting round to it. We buy a lot of veg, but too much goes to waste. :o
 
Oh, and our Sainbury's delivery arrived last night. Not bad in terms of getting the stuff we asked for but WTF about the bags??!! We had one bag with three tins, one with one box of cereal in it etc - over a dozen altogether. They may be good at not offering bags automatically at the tills these days, but this they ought to sort out.
 
Wilkos do those wide mouth flasks too.

Being as much of a foodie as I am, I'd fortuitously stuffed the cupboards with all sorts of things when we had more money so we've got quite a variety of staples to choose from even now. The value brands have definitely made more of an appearance in our shopping, mostly Tesco cos they seem to be the best at value stuff. I am being seriously conscious of what I'm putting in our trolley too. What we deemed essential this time last year isn't what is essential this year.

Bloody glad we've got a breadmaker too.
 
Ms T said:
I save loads by taking my own lunches to work as well.
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I've being doing that for years - credit crunch or not, I object to paying 4 quid for an overpriced sarny from some wanky central London sandwich shop!

Loads of my colleageus buy lunch every day, usually with the ubiquitous poncy coffee thrown in too. I reckon some of them are spending 5 or 6 quid a day - could easily be blowing £120+ a month on lunch for one!
 
Cloo said:
There's no doubt our food shop has gone up loads in the last 18 months. This is partially accounted for by me being at home during the day now, but definitely rising prices as well - it went from about 60-something a week to 80-90 these days. So I'm making efforts to drive it down again.

I'm trying a lot of 'value' versions of stuff, especially cereal, which I can get through a lot of. This week, I'm also trying Sainsbury's delivery - mainly because we're awaiting delivery of a new car, but also 'cos it looks like a decent shop for over £20 less than our usual (even including delivery cost), probably 'cos of not picking random stuff up as you go round the shop. If this shop proves sufficient to needs, I'll definitely think of keeping using it as that adds up to a lot more cheapness every month.

Stir-fries are another thing I'm trying more of in order to use up veggies that otherwise keep going to waste.
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I always look for cheaper groceries; always have done. Always buy things that are on sale, etc. When feeding five mouths, this is a necessity.
 
No. But I did buy £8 perfume from body shop instead of my usual £22 bottle of ghost. Not sure why I bothered.
 
Cloo said:
Oh, and our Sainbury's delivery arrived last night. Not bad in terms of getting the stuff we asked for but WTF about the bags??!! We had one bag with three tins, one with one box of cereal in it etc - over a dozen altogether. They may be good at not offering bags automatically at the tills these days, but this they ought to sort out.
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Tesco offer the option of no bags on the delivery. I try to tick this box if both me and the wife or just me, are there to take delivery but getting a monthly shop in the door and up the stairs is hard work!

There are a couple of good Tesco vouchers up for grabs at the moment:

XXLV96
£12 off £80 valid 22/09/08 - 05/10/08

XX3NRZ
£9 off £60 valid 22/09/08 - 05/10/08

XXPVG3
£6 off £40 valid from 22/09/2008 until 05/10/2008
 
EastEnder said:
I've being doing that for years - credit crunch or not, I object to paying 4 quid for an overpriced sarny from some wanky central London sandwich shop!

Loads of my colleageus buy lunch every day, usually with the ubiquitous poncy coffee thrown in too. I reckon some of them are spending 5 or 6 quid a day - could easily be blowing £120+ a month on lunch for one!
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Same here - hate the overpriced canteen with a passion. They're shitting themselves at the moment because after years of having a virtual monopoly, there's a huge shopping centre opening over the road in a couple of weeks time. :D
 
Ms T said:
Same here - hate the overpriced canteen with a passion. They're shitting themselves at the moment because after years of having a virtual monopoly, there's a huge shopping centre opening over the road in a couple of weeks time. :D
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I have only ever had two canteens and they were pretty well subsidised so a nice bonus, especially for breakfast!

Now I have two pubs (£5 noodles / £8 burger), one 'deli' sort of shop that sells nothing of worth or a 10/15min walk to the town.

Sarnies are being made at least 4 days a week and I am pretty strict on it.
 
Badgers said:
I have only ever had two canteens and they were pretty well subsidised so a nice bonus, especially for breakfast!

Now I have two pubs (£5 noodles / £8 burger), one 'deli' sort of shop that sells nothing of worth or a 10/15min walk to the town.

Sarnies are being made at least 4 days a week and I am pretty strict on it.
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They've got rid of the subsidy, and now the sandwiches are probably on a par with M&S and they're charging a fiver for a ready meal!
 
Ms T said:
Pricey, but pretty colours!
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Asda do them too (own brand cheaper ones and pricier ones too iirc) and Argos.

ETA Asda link (3 on there from £2.85 up).

And again, cos link doesn't work! :mad: :D

Glass 440ml £2.85 -

P-1934479-f.gif


Stainless steel 1.2L £10 -

P-2190485-f.gif


Stainless steel 'Thermos' brand 750ml £9.88 -

P-1694979-f.gif
 
I've been making up my own lunches recently instead of buying.

Other than that I haven't really cut back much. I always stock up on things like toilet rolls and weetabix when they do big packs at special prices and I buy things when they have been reduced at supermarkets.

I don't spend an awful lot on food anyway as there's only me and I don't have a large appetite. I don't eat meat so that's one expense I don't have. I still buy the usual amount of fruit, veg, fish etc.
 
Badgers said:
Now I have two pubs (£5 noodles / £8 burger), one 'deli' sort of shop that sells nothing of worth or a 10/15min walk to the town.
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8 quid for a burger! :eek:

I might spend 8 quid on a burger (veggie, obviously) if I was going out for a pub lunch at the weekend, but not during the week. It'd bankrupt me...
 
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