Extra Easy SW on a serious Budget!

[Jenna88]

The key for me is LOOKING. So many times I go to the supermarket and pick up the same thing without even looking at other stuff. If I actually look what's on offer I get those things Instead so it's cheaper and my diet has a lot more variety so I don't get bored x

I completely agree you definitely get in to a way of habit, my mum buys the brands and foods that my granny bought and until very recently I stuck religiously to those brands.

Buying Supermarkets own products is definitely the way forward and even doing simple comparisons, the other day I lifted a packet of wholemeal pasta without really thinking, then ended up back down the same aisle a few minutes later as I'd forgotten something-looked at the pastas again and found 2 other packets that were the same size but cheaper than the one I had.

 

[Ophelia105]

Tesco cottage cheese with chives scam!

The healthy eating version (or whatever they call it) is £1.25.

The everyday value cottage cheese is 69p

The nutritional value is exactly the same...


And I am lucky to have an aldi very close by and would not dream of buying my fruit and veg anywhere else...

 

[Steph86]

Tesco cottage cheese with chives scam!

The healthy eating version (or whatever they call it) is £1.25.

The everyday value cottage cheese is 69p

The nutritional value is exactly the same...

And I am lucky to have an aldi very close by and would not dream of buying my fruit and veg anywhere else...

Oh my god! I never realised that! I have been buying the healthy eating one!! I'm glad I know now!! X

 

[jaylou]

Tesco cottage cheese with chives scam!

The healthy eating version (or whatever they call it) is £1.25.

The everyday value cottage cheese is 69p

The nutritional value is exactly the same...

And I am lucky to have an aldi very close by and would not dream of buying my fruit and veg anywhere else...

But the value one is so watery, I have to strain it!!!!

Buy things in season is my biggest tip. Or make soup. I made a pan last night, carrots, onion, potatoes, red lentils and tinned tomatoes with stock. So cheap and made about 6 portions!!!

 

[toddles]

tinned tuna is a fab budget meal about 50-60p a tin and mixed with pasta and veg makes a lovely family meal. I agree with everyone about Aldi fruit and beg soooo much cheaper. With meat, I do meatfree mondays where we will have smash pizza or jacket potatoes etc. Also a whole chicken for me is so much more cheaper than buying breasts. I can get 3 family meals from one bird. Roast on the first day, chicken pasta or fried rice on second and chicken noodle soup on third day. all lovely meals.
Also Ive not looked recently but on the SW website there was a student meal planner with lots of recipe ideas. Might be worth looking at student meals websites and adapting them SW style.

 

[Spikeysaurus]

Veggie mince is way cheaper than meaty mince, and i really like it. The Asda one is free on EE, I bulk it out with grated carrot, sweet corn, chopped courgette, mushrooms etc, and 1 bag easily makes 4 good size portions.

 

[MelScarlet]

Veggie mince is way cheaper than meaty mince, and i really like it. The Asda one is free on EE, I bulk it out with grated carrot, sweet corn, chopped courgette, mushrooms etc, and 1 bag easily makes 4 good size portions.

I'll second that one- I made a huge pot of chili out of one bag- had enough for 3 main meals and 3 jacket potato toppings for 2 of us. Its on offer at the moment too- 2 bags for £3.

 

[shawden]

I no longer buy fruit and veg from the supermarket, every Saturday we go to the local town to the market and buy everything for the week from there. For a family of 5 it costs me about £30 and this lasts nearly all week although I always have to buy bananas by Wednesday as my kids eat so many so get these from Aldi when I need to stock up.

 

[Felix]

I no longer buy fruit and veg from the supermarket, every Saturday we go to the local town to the market and buy everything for the week from there. For a family of 5 it costs me about £30 and this lasts nearly all week although I always have to buy bananas by Wednesday as my kids eat so many so get these from Aldi when I need to stock up.

I was about to say the same! I'm very lucky that I live a 10 minute walk to Leeds market. We did our shop there on Saturday for the first time and I don't know why we haven't done it before!! Got 2lb of chicken, a massive fillet of salmon, and loads of potatoes, masses of fruit and veg all for £22. If we had gone to a supermarket it would have easily cost £40-£50 or even more. And when we shopped at the supermarket I always found myself back there in the week having to top up on fruit and veg but the stuff we bought has lasted us all week

Not everyone is fortunate enough to live near a good market so I suggest aldi like everyone else. Their versions of the branded stuff is great (sometimes even better) and the veg deals are good. I keep looking for a list of free food/syn values for aldi stuff but I'm struggling to find one

 

[ellie4]

Tesco, Asda and Morrisons basic chicken breasts are around £4 a bag and you get between 4 or 5 pieces, quite large. I use those and have found them fine. they are quite large so I often hammer them out and use one for two of us.

Like others I really utilise the reduced sections for fruit and veg and chilled section. A freezer is really your best friend. I often freeze cheap bananas and they are gorgeous on french toast for breakfast or in yogurt when they are still partially frozen.
Lots of veg freeze easlily without blanching, mushrooms, peppers, onions etc.

I never shop without a list and menu plan all main meals. Its tough on a budget isn't it. I have the same amount for 4 adults and I so wish I had more but we manage.

 

[temporaryscars]

One of my problems is my fiancé will only eat branded cereals (2.50 a box when I can buy non branded for 80p) and branded yogurts so I nip to the sainsburys next door to aldi, to get branded food so I get 2 or 3 bags full of shopping for £20 in aldi and 1 bag full for £20 in sainsburys!

I had the same issue (brand snob other half)

turns out it was all in his head as he has been eating non brand cereals for months, just doesn't know it! (I have an old packaging of brand cereal, buy Aldi stuff but just get rid of the box and pop the bag of cereal in the brand box!)

do the same with Cola too!

 

[cat yoyo greaves]

My hubby used to be a brand snob he was a Heinz ketchup man one day I bought the smartprice one and put it into the Heinz bottle .....HE NEVER NOTICED

so I told him and suggested we try other smartprice items so now we buy the following sp items hoops,beans,tinned tomatoes ,tinned carrots(for emergencies) frozen sweetcorn broccoli cauliflower wholemeal bread eggs chicken prawns bacon the list goes on

Actually the eggs I get are cooks eggs a pack of 30 for just over 3 quid eggs are a staple food in our house and at less than 30p for a fried egg butty and the other day feeding me n 4 friends egg n chips for under 3 pounds you can see why ...... This week so far we have already used 30 AND had to buy more

 

[bilsat]

Lidl have Branston Baked beans for £1-00 a pack of 4 today!

 

[cat yoyo greaves]

Anyone remember when lidl and aldi first opened and they had the bean wars I'm sure at one point they were less than 10p a tin

 

[wytch]

the other thing i've discovered is if you have a fruit and veg shall if you go close to packing up time and ask if they have any damaged or not sell-able veg( to ripe/bruised) they they could do a a bundle cheap you then can batch cook soups and sauces up to reheat. also thing like mushrooms that are drying up/bruised chop them up and freeze them to help. any left over veg from dinner ive been putting in the fridge.freezer and make soup out of it twice a week so there's no waste

 

[wytch]

Same with the reduced section of the supermarkets

 

[RosieKat]

I work quite close to Birmingham market so I go up there twice a week for my fruit and veg and it saves me a fortune. I buy meat and fish when it is reduced as much as possible and also keep an eye out for Lidl's half price weekend offers as they often have meat on that - if it's mince it is usually lean not extra lean but as I only eat it occasionally I don't worry about the extra syns. Because I do red rather than EE it is always going to be more expensive but I decided that I am worth the expense and so I juggled the budget to find a little extra for food each week.