Is it just me or is SW expensive?

Sorry if this has been discussed before, I have had a little look and couldn't see anything.

This is my 2nd week on plan, and I am following it to the letter. I have made loads from scratch and followed some yummy receipes, but I am finding it very expensive.

I use frozen veg etc where I can, but it tends to be the salad side of it that costs. Meat is also expensive and more so for the leaner cuts.

Anyone else finding it a stretch?

TIA x

yes!!! very expensive, i see myself going to the shop everyday sending at least £20 on that night's dinner! even although we go shopping ever 2 weeks for a big shop For chicken and mince i tend to buy frozen bags which is alot cheaper, also using leftovers saves abit as well x

No, it doesn't have to be. Buy seasonal fruit and veg. Bulk out meat meals with tons of veg. Eat lots of pasta and potatoes, beans, lentils, make soups, buy a big bag of oats for breakfast. Buy natural fat free yoghurt instead of fruit ones (muller), get the family feasts on a budget cook book. You don't have to have salad with things though but an iceberg lettuce is a pound and goes a long way.
Be careful with frozen mince, is it extra lean?

Oh i really dont know if it is extra lean, it just says mince on the packet. Hope it is! lol will ask my consultant at the next meeting sorrry

If I plan my meals properly and write out a list I find SW is actually cheaper than weeks where I'm not on plan. My food bill last week was only £57 to feed the 4 of us. That included plenty of fresh meat, fruit and veg and all of my syns. I spent an extra £14 throughout the week topping up the fruit basket. It doesn't have to be expensive

I think its all about planning the meals. You can find quite a few meals that work out quite cheaply and then have a few more expensive ones with a nice cut of meat or fish. I find I spend a lot less as I have to shop properly when I used to just buy tea on the way home every night from work (which meant I ended up eating processed rubbish.. oh and getting fat )

You could try making cheap meals like Slimming World quiche (with the cottage cheese) or a big tub of tuna pasta salad you can take for lunches. We do 5-spice spaghetti in our house - it's just spaghetti, a chicken stock cube, some 5 spice and ready cooked chicken pieces. It's yummy! I agree with the poster above, try to fill out meals with veggies and use lots of pasta and potatoes!

jaylou said:

No, it doesn't have to be. Buy seasonal fruit and veg. Bulk out meat meals with tons of veg. Eat lots of pasta and potatoes, beans, lentils, make soups, buy a big bag of oats for breakfast. Buy natural fat free yoghurt instead of fruit ones (muller), get the family feasts on a budget cook book. You don't have to have salad with things though but an iceberg lettuce is a pound and goes a long way.
Be careful with frozen mince, is it extra lean?

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I agree with Jay, it doesn't have to be expensive - pasta, potatoes, lentils etc are cheap as chips and really fill you up. Aldi do a a 'super six' fruit and veg offer every week where you can buy things like iceberg lettuces, apples, clementines, cucumbers, tomatoes, big bags of onions, etc for 39p or 49p a bag (sometimes 69p on the more expensive fruits).

I find I spend less now than when I was eating junk I was spending about 5 a day on chocolate crisps red bull and at least 20 a week on takeaways.
I plan my menu now, shop in aldi first for their special offers and then in sainsburys. There are three of us and today for the week the two shops came to 60 pounds, will probably gave to top up fresh stuff but will go to aldi to do thar. I cook in bulk and freeze so some weeks are cheaper than others. I also throw In a green day now and then with no meat

Initially yeah, but once you get the hang of the plan, what foods you like, and most importantly, planning, you'll get the hang of it. Before I started, planning a week's food in advance was unheard of for me, I spent a lot and the amount of wastage was absolutely shocking! Sorted it now though!

nice fruit is really expensive, particularly at this time of year...i'm probably spending £20 on grapes, apples & oranges alone! But on the other hand, that's about 5-6 pints that i'm not having!

I work my meals out 2 weeks in advance and bulk cook then freeze my meals which works out cheaper. Plus I buy frozen mince for my kids so my extra lean goes a lot further. also I use my syns for sauce packets rather than making everything from scratch. 1/3 packet is usually only about 2 syns. Hope this helps

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Grapes are always expensive - you are paying their airfare! I bought a huge head of celery, a couple of carrots and an iceberg lettuce at Aldi this week and that is salad for the whole week for less than £2.

Meat is expensive if it is any good. I only have meat once a week, but when I do it is something really nice. (Roxy 101 - if it doesn't say extra lean mince on the packet, then it isn't. Read the nutritional information on the back of the packet - for it to count as free it should be 5% fat content or less).

If I sometimes think that things are a bit pricey, I remind myself of what I am not buying - crisps, cakes, biscuits, chocolate, Ben & Jerrys - all of which are expensive.

But my best economy is to shop little and often and not to waste anything. Buying a big bag of carrots may look like a bargain but for me it isn't as I am only catering for myself and I don't have a freezer. So if I want to have grated carrot in my salad I will buy two carrots. If I want a jacket potato I will buy one large potato. I don't fall for the "3 for 2" trick unless I am absolutely certain that I want three of something and that it will all get used up by the use by date.

I find that healthy food, especially fruit is expensive. A bag of apples can cost about £2.00 for the cheapest about 6 apples but four mars bars in a multipack can cost £1.00!!!

I shop in the local markets once a fortnight. Get all my fruit and veg from there. He'll of a lot cheaper ?

http://www.minimins.com/showthread.php?t=40089
This is a good thread to show you if there are special offers anywhere that You can use

The difference in Syn values for different brands and then the cost of those brands drives me nuts!!

^^^ what do yo mean?

I think you need need to weigh up the cost of following a healthy food plan with the long term of loss of being overweight. Of course its sometimes a pure economic consideration, and there are lots of ways to reduce the cost as have been suggested above. Yes there typically involve a compromise (eat less meat, eat more lentils, bluk out meals with cheap veg, but the thing is that that if we continue to eat cheaply and badly, and stay overweight, the long term health effects are staggering. I watched a programme the other day called 'Weight of the Nation' about the affects of being overweight or obese in the US and it flat out scared me. In fact I'm keeping it on my Sky planner and every time i have a wobble, I'm gonna watch it to remind myself. I laways knew being overweight was not good for me, but I fooled myself that because my blood pressure and cholesterol were okay, I wasn't doing any long term damage. I was VERY wrong!

Sorry that sounds a bit preachy and I didn't mean it to! So maybe something that will actually help you is in order I find on SW veg gets used up really quickly, so its not not as important to buy the best quality. I often go to my local market on a sunday mornign buy a load of veg that I can roast and do it all at once. I then portion it out and chuck it in the freezer. I can then chuck it in sauces, soups, stews, and even just microwave it to have with meals.

Or do a run of the local supermarkets at 8pm. Last week I bought £100 worth of groceries for £18! The sell-by dates are a joke and can be ignored for at least a week, often much more.