Does anyone else find slimming world expensive?

[ermintrude]

I do spend a lot on food, but I think I always have, that's my problem, food is so central to my life :sigh:

I find red days most expensive, Green are best, just having some sort of pulse thing made of dried lentils/dried beans, a tin of Value tomatoes and some spices and garlic and that. Vegetables themselves are expensive but I think lunch and snacks are the most expensive part of my day I get the Value stuff for peaches, pears, carrots etc but I get through, like a whole lettuce and half a cucumber nearly every day and I snack endlessly on baby corn and snap peas and tasty tomatoes which cost a fortune when you eat as many as I do And the stuff he picks, he doesnt even think about price, he goes all ethical ergo most expensive item in the shop :sigh:

We spend about £120 a shop between 2 of us *shields eyes* That includes the wine for the w/e and stuff but its a humungous amount :sigh: I keep trying to cut it back, picking the cheapest thing they have for every item but it's just getting extortionate

Actually that's about every nine or ten days I do a shop when I think about it, so £85 a week for two. That does sound a LOT better... But then there's always the odds and ends you miss so... probably £100 a week?

 

[Lottie12]

I think I spend about the same now Im following the slimming world eating plan. If I compare my weekly shopping bill with pre SW shops then my bill is about £20 higher (baby tomatoes, celariac, yeo valley yoghurt) However I'm no longer buying chocolate bars and crisps from the corner shop and if I'm really honest I think I chose not to register purchasing these fatty sugary snacks ! Doing a big market veg shop so cheaply makes me feel virtuous though.

 

[becciharland]

There's lots of threads about budget meals, have you included the money spent on takeaway, shop sarnies, chocolate bars, lattes etc? A few people here reckon they spend less than before, I spend about the same. But I was never a big takeaway fan, I don't eat chocolate often but my sandwich bill is now nil!

We were going to eat out at harvester, instead due to it being busy i went to sainsburys and got 2 lovely steaks (ok they were £15) but omg it was lovely and cheaper than a meal plus i knew how it had been cooked.

Yes our shopping bill has gone up but in total i dont spead as much as im not eating out, having coffees in costa and cakes sandwiches mac d's ect......so if you add it all together its not that bad

 

[ransom-x]

There's lots of threads about budget meals, have you included the money spent on takeaway, shop sarnies, chocolate bars, lattes etc? A few people here reckon they spend less than before, I spend about the same. But I was never a big takeaway fan, I don't eat chocolate often but my sandwich bill is now nil!

Do you mind me asking what your downfall was? x

 

[raquelscatt]

My shopping bill for 4 of us averages £80-£85 per week. I mainly shop in Tesco and Iceland.

We eat a lot of meat based meals but I buy frozen meat from Iceland which I find quite cheap in comparison to fresh and value lines from Tesco. We also eat mainly frozen veg and I buy the big bags of spuds from the newsagents!

I don't buy many branded products and we eat "basic" foods. Fruit just normally consists of banana's apples, grapes and strawberries and salad stuff, lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes!

I am buying fruit a lot more now, but not so much the chocolate so it evens out a bit!

I think if I was cooking from the cookbooks or being more adventurous, etc then my weekly shopping bill would rocket!

I think you can do SW as cheaply or expensive as you like and we were never really takeaway people anyway.

 

[kellylouisemc]

We shop at Aldi and Lidl for our foods! Bills are far cheaper now we do Slimming World!! The quality and quantity is the same as dear supermarkets, infact sometimes I think they are better than the big named supermarkets! We always get the 'Super 6' from Aldi and stuff, keeps a variety in our diets! xx

 

[kingleds]

You should check out the threads on saving money on SW. Remember you don't have to buy the branded versions of things. There are other yogurts in the world except Mullerlights for example batch cooking always cuts the cost, and buying frozen veg helps out a lot as well.

For herbs & spices, check out the ethnic food aisle in your supermarket. Loads of spices etc but much cheaper usually

 

[odd_sock]

I think my food bill has come down since starting SW. I do a big shop at the start of the month and top up with whatever fresh bits (milk, eggs, fruit, veg, etc) we need, before SW the big shop came in at over £100 and then at least an extra £20 a week now the big shop comes in at £50-£60 and a maximum of £15 a week for top up shops x

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[Mini_Mog]

I think mine has come down. I now write a list every week and go strictly once a week. I used to go to supermarket 3+ times a week (up until recently!).

Pre sw we used to buy a lot of takeaways, eat out once a week & buy convieience foods. I also used to spend £30+ a week on snacks & Starbucks during the week! Don't know how we afforded it!!

Now I'm spending £50-75 a week for 3 of us.

 

[IanH]

This is something i wrote a few months back - I'm doing Food Optimising on a shoestring budget and just about coping (i'm currently unemployed and receiving the dole).



Thought that along with the hints/tips/advice document that this may be of help to people (and certainly be of help to me as well) as everyone complains about how expensive it can be following Slimming World on a tight pursestring, so if anything here helps someone save some pennies - all the better...

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1) In general - the large supermarkets are NOT necessarily your friend when wanting to save money - convenient - yes, money saving - not always.

2) Most supermarkets (large and small) will have a reduced section or two for stuff going out of date/sell by that day - find out the best times (this is trial and error - but later in the day the better - up to an hour or two before closing (or about 9pm for a 24hr store I've found) and days (I've found Asda have much better bargains on meat/fish on a Sunday afternoon then a Friday evening). Its pot luck as to what are there - but by being flexible or freezing stuff - you can save some money over the full price items.

3) Some small independent greengrocers will have the same - it's worth while getting to "know" them. OK - in the case of soft fruits such as berries - you may have to pick out a few that have turned - but I’d rather pick out a few berries (and wash the rest) for 50p then pay a supermarket £2 for the same size punnet.

4) Fruit in the supermarkets reduced section may be labelled "perfectly ripe" but frequently is still a few days away from being so. I can buy reduced price papaya as a treat on Thursday and it only just about becomes ripe on Monday when I have it as part of my breakfast. Same goes for pineapples - perfectly ripe pineapples are anything but.

5) Bulk cooking can be a way to save money - as well as ensuring there's always something to hand in the freezer. By buying large bags of reduced price produce and cooking them up - money and time saved.

6) Tesco Express, SainsburyLocal, etc - are a rip off in general with prices anything from a few pence to 20/30p more then in larger stores. Use sparingly. Also compare with other local stores. We have a Tesco Express near here with a Spar very near by. 75% of the time - Spar is cheaper - sometimes significantly so.

7a) Shop around - including comparing Tesco Express with larger stores - there are sometimes better deals between different size stores (I know it contradicts number 6 saying this) - one item that sticks in mind is that Tesco sell Asparagus tips for £2 a tray, TescoExpress (at least my local one) £1.50 for same amount. Also the price reductions at the end of the day tend to be much better in the smaller sized stores with limited space.

7b) Be prepared to compare different stores - www.mysupermarket.com will allow you to compare Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys and Waitrose/Occado and is useful to find where standard stock items are cheaper/on special offer.

7c) Don't limit yourself to the big stores though - it's sometimes cheaper to buy in the smaller names - my local "Best One" does a syn free natural yogurt for 49p for a 400Ml tub. Tesco is about 85p for a 500ml.

8) Substitute where possible - brand names are good, but supermarket own brands are just as good most times. (Exception - you can not substitute Healthy Extra's for supermarket own brands - except in the case of breakfast cereals!). But also look at alternatives - Quorn mince can be anything from about £1.80 to £2.59 for a 350/400g bag (full price obviously - check for offers). Iceland do a bag of Linda McCartney Veggiemince (which is syn free same as Quorn) at £3 for 1Kg. Options sachets are nice and handy to have - but the jars work out nearly half the price. For an average of 33p a sachet though, I can buy a jar with 11 sachets worth of Cadbury Highlights for 99p - just got to measure them myself (same syns though). Like the syn free rice pudding - buy Tesco’s own risotto rice for 82p instead of pudding rice for 97p - near enough the same effect but a few extra pennies in your pocket and not in their till.

9) Buy herbs/Spices/flavourings to give a normal meal something extra. Curry powder/chilli flakes/garlic powder on SW Chips. Bit of chilli in a value range savoury rice can make the difference too. or (following on from number 8) changing plain highlights to something new with the addition of nutmeg, cinnamon, ground ginger, or vanilla essence, mint flavouring (almond or orange essence is on my to try list next). Most can be got for less then £1 and will last for a long time - but just helps to add that extra edge to something that may have become too familiar/boring.

10) As well as cooking in bulk, buy in bulk if its stuff you know you're not going to waste (no point buying a large bag of something and throwing half of it away). Asian/Oriental supermarkets for large bags of rice for instance. (Recently brought a 2Kg of pudding rice for £2.89 instead of 97/99p for 500g - it'll get used - and I've saved over £1 in doing so - and the need to go back and get more the next fortnight). Herbs/Spices can also be considerably cheaper - small pot of chilli flakes in Tesco - 50p or so, bag with twice as many from local Asian supermarket - 59p.

11) Too much hassle going around all these places? Think of the extra body magic as well as the extra pennies in the pocket.

12) Looking after the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves

13) Sacrifice - it may be cheaper to sacrifice a syn or two extra and buy something on special offer then to have the lower syn alternative. I'd rather spend 2 syns each on a Linda McCartney sausage (5box for £1 in Iceland) then the £2 or so tag for a 1syn meat sausage from Tesco. (Plus I have the added bonus of the Linda McCartney sausages being 2 syns on all plans so can have sausage and mash on green days).

14) PLAN - by planning meals you can often work out shortcuts and spread the shopping over multiple stores over multiple trips if need be. Also if there's going to be left overs day 1, then work that into the following few days meals (or buy a bit more to work into the meals). (From Bex Robinson)

15) Fruit/Veg in season is often cheaper and better tasting then something shipped from goodness knows where. Also won't have travelled as far and keep for longer. Especially when brought from a market stall. (and again - visiting late in the day may bag you better bargains too) (from Carol Hawkins)

16) Spend a bit of time and body magic by cleaning you own spuds - buy them "dirty" from your grocer and save up to 30p a kilo from the pre-washed ones. (Or get the kids/OH to clean them for you if you must). Not only cheaper, but whilst still "dirty" should last longer.

17) If you have the time/ability/space - grow you own.

18) Keep an eye on the hedgerows - we're starting to get into berry picking time. Free blackberries anyone?

19) Bulk out with cheaper ingredients - lentils in stews, soups, casseroles, etc. or making rice pudding? - make it with half the amount of pudding rice and the rest with standard white rice.

 

[tallsarah]

some good tips there


just watched your video and all I can say is Wow!!