Budget Pantry Challange

I do this too.  I never use my debit card at the checkout.  I always take a limited amount of cash and a list.  It forces me to keep a running arithmetic tab as I shop which is a bit of a pain, but which does make me reconsider expensive or impulsive purchases. 

I do this too... except mine is a mental list.  Although, recently I went to the shop and had less than I thought by a few pounds and had to ask the clerk to remove a few items. I forgot my card at home so I had too! Totally embarrassing!

I am in the middle of a pantry clear out. I have so many different types of rice!!

I found a website through another forum that seems to be a huge help so far with saving money at grocery shopping!!! It's called The Grocery Game. They have it in the UK too, although I'm not sure how widespread it is.

All the money saving sites I was finding said to use coupons and watch the supermarket sales pamphlets for sales trends, create a price book, and stock up at rock-bottom prices. I knew that wasn't something I'd be good at keeping up with, but this site does all the work for me! They have list makers who watch the sales trends and coupons in the Sunday paper and they make lists of what to buy. There are black items where you should buy because it's on an OK sale, but don't stock up, blue which means to stock up because that's the rock bottom sale (even better with coupons for lots of things) and green which means its FREE (surprising, but it does seem to happen once in a while). The whole idea is to build up a stockpile so you can only buy the things when they are on blue or green.

There is a small fee for it, but the savings I have already gotten more than pay for a whole year's membership. My boyfriend and I were skeptical at first, but now he's anxious to see the receipt like I am to see how much it saved. We impressed the cashier on our last shopping trip when the bill kept going down!

So far I saved loads of money ($75 on each of my last two shopping trips), we have a closet, fridge, and freezer full of food, and are able to start buying some well-loved convenience foods we had to cut out of the budget. This week I don't HAVE to buy anything, so I'm just going to get a couple of things that are on sale so I can build up my stockpile.

I love this thing so far!

Cool!!! Thanks for sharing that

I would like to revive this thread!

I'm trying to spend less on groceries, as we spend about £400 + on food each month, and neither of us is as big as a house, so there must be something going wrong with the products I'm buying. So here are a few changes I am making: I decided to stop purchasing deli "lunch" meat, which tends to be WAY overpriced here (hello, £3 for 4 small slices of turkey? WTF??) not to mention it is usually chopped and formed and over-processed as well. This week, I roasted a small chicken, which was reduced to £2.30 (not free range, but the package said he lived in a naturally lit shed with a vegetarian diet and room to roam around) and I shredded it and stored it in a container for our sandwiches this week. It was nice to have real meat for sandwiches instead of the processed crap. So, now I am thinking, what are the other alternatives? (Besides peanut butter and tuna, that is, which are the other staples I am considering, even though they are processed, too, but somehow it's different.) I'm thinking of trying some ham or something for next week. What would you guys recommend?

This week, I roasted a small chicken, which was reduced to £2.30 (not free range, but the package said he lived in a naturally lit shed with a vegetarian diet and room to roam around) and I shredded it and stored it in a container for our sandwiches this week.

i bought 2 of the freshly-roasted chickens from Morrison's for £6 yesterday.
Shredded them both, seasoned one with super-spicy Mexican seasoning and have so far made 4 massive burritos with that.   The other bird i shredded and left plain, just for doing chicken mayonnaise sandwiches /salads, or for throwing into a stir-fry over the next day or so.

So, now I am thinking, what are the other alternatives? (Besides peanut butter and tuna, that is, which are the other staples I am considering, even though they are processed, too, but somehow it's different.) I'm thinking of trying some ham or something for next week. What would you guys recommend?

Egg salad?  Cheese and tomato? Those are pretty cheap. 

I don't think this has been mentioned yet, but this is an easy breakfast I make normally weekly:

a tub of yogurt (whatever flavor you like)
a bag of oats
fruit

Preparing this is easy. You get a bowl, scoop the entire tub of yogurt into a bowl, and sprinkle in the oats. Stir. Get the consistency firm, and not too liquidy. Add in chopped fresh fruit or frozen fruit.

Now, if you use thin and small Quaker Oats, the mixture should be ready and soft to eat in about an hour. If you use the plump Scottish oats, the mixture needs to stand overnight.

My favorite combination is Onken cherry yogurt - oats - frozen blueberries.

I normally make a bowl of this Sunday night, divide it into 5 containers, and that's breakfast taken care of all week. Cheap, versatile and filling. (Using plain yogurt and some good quality jam would be very nice too.)

I love coupons!  Do they exist in UK?  You would not believe the deals I get now, but the upcoming move to London has me wondering about coupons.  TIA!

I love coupons!  Do they exist in UK?  You would not believe the deals I get now, but the upcoming move to London has me wondering about coupons.  TIA!

I have never received any of those Val-Pak type coupons in the post here, nor have I noticed coupons in with the local newspapers. But, I believe you can print coupons from the internet on certain things, hopefully someone else might divulge some secrets on that. The larger shops here do periodic special offers, like buy one get one free, etc. One of the best places to stock up on pantry goods is Aldi, as things like sugar, flour, and tinned veg, frozen chips and veg, etc., tend to be cheaper and better quality than some of the other supermarkets. For meat, I like to go to Morrison's, mainly because they offer smaller packages that feed two nicely, without having mondo leftovers, as we don't tend to eat many leftovers around here (I have to be creative with them to change them up from the previous meal or they won't get eaten.) I think Morrison's has the best mince around, and a small package is less than £2, and makes the perfect sized dinner for two.
Also, I don't normally buy meat from our local Co-op, but they have some good 2 for £5 specials occasionally that make it worth stocking up on diced beef for stews and casseroles or lamb chops, etc. (Watch the chicken breast strips, though, as I bought those on offer last time and every single one had the tendon down the middle - trimming that out took ages. So gross!)
I've been trying to buy whole chickens instead of chicken breasts, and so far that has made a big difference in the price of shopping. (I can get 2 meals from a small chicken as opposed to one meal from a pack of chicken breasts, and the whole chicken costs half as much!)
Anyone else have any good tips or suggestions for saving money on groceries? We are working pretty hard at that lately, as we normally spend nearly £100 per week and there's just 2 1/2 of us!  Trying to cut that amount drastically, while avoiding eating beans on toast every day. 

Coupons and buying produce at a local produce market are what helps me the best. Cooking a couple of vegetarian meals each week also is very helpful. I don't know how good the UK version is, but I use The Grocery Game to help out. I just make sure I don't buy too many processed foods I wouldn't buy otherwise. When I do this correctly, I knock off at least 1/2 of my grocery bill.

The link goes to the UK version of The Grocery Game.

Coupons and buying produce at a local produce market are what helps me the best. Cooking a couple of vegetarian meals each week also is very helpful. I don't know how good the UK version is, but I use The Grocery Game to help out. I just make sure I don't buy too many processed foods I wouldn't buy otherwise. When I do this correctly, I knock off at least 1/2 of my grocery bill.

The link goes to the UK version of The Grocery Game.

I was looking around that site, but couldn't really figure out how it works. Guess I will try again!

I didn't realize I had already posted about that site, but it really did help me out. I don't know how the UK one works, but for the US one, you can have a free trial to play around a bit. On Sundays around noon, they put up the lists. I always check off the boxes for the things I don't want to buy and then plan on buying the things that are left. You do best if you buy things that are in blue or green.

My husband and I are working through our finances and looking to cut back so we can put more in savings. Here are some changes I've made in the area of food:

95% of our meals are cooked at home, by me. I buy a whole chickens, which I can usually make 2-3 meals out of, or I get the cheapest meat on sale. I also make our lunches (usually a sandwich, salad, or leftovers). I make a weekly menu and try to stick to my list when I am at the store, but I do stock up on things while they are on sale. I make my own baked goods, including bread on occasion. I also make my own granola (since it is cheaper than buying muesli or cereal). We also buy a lot of dried fruit (it has a million uses and is much cheaper than fresh produce sometimes). We freeze our bread, since I found we don't eat a lot of it and it was going moldy before we got through a loaf. For lunch often I'll use savory biscuits to make small cracker sandwiches, or to dip with veggies in humus. 

We started out at £300/month, and now we are spending between £200-225/month for just 2 of us (including breakfast, lunch and dinner, and occasional meals out).

If I were more strict with our food budget, I think I could knock off another £50/month by using more canned things, and using more legumes instead of meat. I also think we could cut back on waste.

This week at our Sainsburys, trout was cheaper than chicken.  Go fish!   

The Aldi by my house only has two kinds of frozen vegetables (mixed roasted "mediterranean" stuff and the ubiquitous carrot-cauliflower-broccoli mix), unless you count the entire freezer full of different kinds of chips.  Do other ones have a better selection?