Food Shopping...

I find that I save a lot of money by keeping supermarket shopping to a minimum. Food is generally cheaper elsewhere, particularly if you are able to go to a farmers' market or order a vegetable box to be delivered regularly. My local grocers is also a cheaper option that the supermarket. I also find that being vegetarian keeps my costs down, as meat is expensive - you might well find that cutting back your meat intake is a good way of saving money.

I know someone who manages to feed a family of four for £50 per week. She told me that she plans every single meal for the whole week and writes a shopping list. She only buys what is on the list and she shops at Aldi - I read that sale at Aldi are up 20%.

Many people have forgotten how easy it is to make things from scratch and most have access to freezers which allow food to be stored for months. My kids love making pizzas from scratch - that includes the base and the sauce and it must cost about 10% of a shop bought one. It is just cheese on toast really.

Tony

I know someone who manages to feed a family of four for £50 per week. She told me that she plans every single meal for the whole week and writes a shopping list. She only buys what is on the list and she shops at Aldi - I read that sale at Aldi are up 20%.

Many people have forgotten how easy it is to make things from scratch and most have access to freezers which allow food to be stored for months. My kids love making pizzas from scratch - that includes the base and the sauce and it must cost about 10% of a shop bought one. It is just cheese on toast really.

Tony

I have a family of four and we are pulling in the purse strings- gone are the days of luxuries such s ice cream and gateau for dessert! LOL.

I too make a meal plan for the month. That way I can buy only what I need for the ingredients without feeling tempted to buy luxury items. I have also started to make things from scratch and freeze them- I will buy vegetables and pulses and off-cuts of bacon to make a HUGE pot of soup. This feeds us for at least three days.

I find it is the staples like milk and bread that have gone up the most- I have tried baking my own bread but I haven't quite got the hang of it yet.

With regard to bread a bread machine will pay for itself in a couple of months and it is much much less hassle. Get one with a timer so you can wake up to the smell of fresh bread.

I haven't done the sums, but a bag of flour makes about three loaves of bread and costs a pound. Plus yeast etc I reckon that's a saving of 50p per loaf. A cheap bread machine costs about £45, so you need to make 90 loafs of bread to break even. Six months?

I keep meaning to get a bread machine too. As well as being (eventually) cheaper, I imagine it tastes a lot better than the floppy loaves you get in supermarkets!

Well to be honest it is hit and miss and takes some getting used to. Part of all the fun I suppose - I gave up trying to make a malt loaf too hard.

Another good one is if you eat things like rice, pulses and noodles check out your local wholesalers and indian/chinese/ wholefood supermarkets.
It can be a bit of a pain storing it but I go to our local chinese supermarket and get a 25 kilo bag of rice for about £18 {if I go for the really nice stuff}.
It lasts us a good few months and it's much much cheaper/nicer than the stuff you often get in the supermarket.
Same goes for things like lentils and spices, they're much cheaper in the Indian supermarket.
Our local wholefood market does big bags of flour and big bags of laundry detergent which you can get even cheaper if you bring the packaging back to be refilled.

As far as the bread maker goes, I got one off freecycle but I could never get my head round it, I far prefer making loaves by hand {really good for when you're feeling angry and aggressive}. What I do is make up batches , part bake them then freeze them Much better than the supermarket because you can experiment with funky toppings and flavours. The babes is particularly fond of the one with ground almonds, honey and cinammon in it

Bread machines will save you 50p per loaf Make Your Own Bread And Pastry and Save Money | Consumer Information

Where do you get your flour from at 23p per 500g? I'm normally spending nearer £1 a kilo.

We were talking about this earlier. A cheap bag of flour is 1.5kg and about 85p, a third is required to make a loaf. That should be 28.3p rather than 23p. We tried a more expensive Hovis flour today, no saving, but it was really nice bread ????

I'm getting fortnightly deliveries from Abel + Cole now - fruit + vegetable box plus some of their super organic meat, cheese, chocolate etc, and then topping up, in between times with trips to the supermarket and Wilkinsons (for cleaning and households products). Was previously spending £50-£60 a week at the supermarket so circa £230 a month, but now it's more like (per month):
Abel + Cole - £80
Supermarket - £80
Wilkinsons - £20

So £200 all in all.