OT - Please share your budgeting tips!

We need to start paying off some of our debt and have decided to take a set amount of money out of the bank each week (£120) and not use our cards because then we will know where we are and what we have got left etc.

Our shopping has been getting more and more expensive over the past few months, we usually spend around £100 per week in Asda then another £10-£20 during the week for bread, milk, fruit etc.

We also need around £20 per week for petrol, so we have £100 per week for shopping and any extras.

So what are your tips for keeping your shopping costs to a minimum?  What meals do you cook that are cheap?

Stop drinking! lol!!!

My food shopping is around £75 a week including cleanign stuff. Can you stop the extra shop spends as I find if I pop to the shops, I buy things I don't need and spend another £20 easily when I really only needed £2 worth of things!

I also find online shopping is great as you dont get lured in by offers and you get a running total as you go along. I go through my shopping at the end and reduce things if I need to to keep it a reasonable amount.

Hey you make me sound like an alki and I'm only drinking once this week 

Your right about going during the week, I only tend to go for bread and milk and end up spending a tenner.  I'm not keen on online shopping, it takes too long but your right about it being cheaper, I used it when my car was knackered and saved a fortune.

We have started goung to Aldi, our shopping thus week was £38!!! (obviously no nappies or wipes in that but h did get 20 little bottles of beer in that) we will need to get my shampoo and moisturiser from body care but other than That we got all we needed in that £38.

I have to agree with online shopping, its still bloody expensive, but I spend a good £20-£30 more in the store!  I use Tesco usually and they save everything you buy, so I can log in, book a slot, choose my favourites, add a few extras, and checkout.....all within about 10 minutes!!

I used to hate online shopping, but once you have done it once and if you tend to buy similar things every week, it now only takes me 10 mins to do it!

I also second Aldi/Lidl - the quality is better too so it lasts longer!

1) we use turkey mince in anything that we used to use beef mince for so spaghetti Bol, chilli etc also use turkey pieces instead of chicken for stir frys et

2) veg-we have frozen veg always in the freezer which when steamed is the same nutritionally as fresh but cheaper and saves the extra shop

3) buy household stuff in wilkinsons or somewhere similar-we found stuff like toothpaste or shampoo was 30% ish chapr than sansburys. We now get nearly all bathroom stuff, kitchen cleaners and anything else that wasn't food from there and save a bomb. This is on branded products mostly but their cheapie brands of toilet rolls etc have also been ok

Will be following this thread for other ideas

I have an Aldi and a Lidl 2 minutes away from me but have never been for any shopping, I've popped into Aldi once for some flowers.

Is turkey mince much cheaper than beef?

Wilko's for toiletries is a good idea cos I spend a fortune on washing powder, softner, toilet rolls, kitchen rolls etc.

Food planning!!  It's saved me £20 - £30 a week.  I work out exactly what we're going to eat throughout the week and make sure that any ingredients I buy are used up rather than thrown away.  I take a list with me of everything I need and never deviate from it.  I've also stopped buying the 2 for 3 bargains and am surprised how much that's saved me as I've realised that I was spending money buying things I didn't really need.

Twigi I alway have a list and plan my food for the week, I do deviate from the list though.

We shop at Morrisons and buy their own brand for items such as pasta and stuffing and their gravy granules etc as you can't really tell the difference, we also buy Morrisons own bread or Stephensons bread or whatever is on offer.  We tend to do our freezer shopping at Farmfoods and buy lots of frozen veg and stock up both our freezers as we have a freezer in the house and one in the garage.  We also buy household things like bleach, toothpaste, washing up liquid etc from places like Aldi, B&M, Home Bargains, Wilkinsons, Savers or Poundstretchers.  I don't buy bin liners for the bin in the bathroom but use carrier bags, I also buy cheap nappy sacks from Morrisons and I bulk buy nappies when they are on offer.

I buy joints of meat from Morrisons/Asda when its on offer and I buy chicken breasts and other meats from Farmfoods.  I also buy my milk from Farmfoods as you can get 2 four pints for £1.80.  We fill our car once a month which saves us money as it is a diesel car and we can get about 500 miles out of one tank of diesel.  I make all my meals from scratch and my little boy eats exactly what we eat.  I don't drink at all since I had my little boy and H only drinks about twice a month, we don't go out and we have takeaways once a month or on special occasions.

WEES re Aldis / online shopping / meal planning.

One little thing that helps me is actually using exactly how much of a product I'm supposed to use.  So whereas I used to just glug in the fabric conditioner into the machine, I now measure out a capful.  Same with shampoo/conditioner - a 10p size dollop is enough.  And so on.  I've found products last much longer and so I'm saving a few pennies.

HTH

every now and again we will do a big meat shop at Farmfoods. usually when we've a leaflet through the door with money off vouchers attached. we normally get 1 every couple of months. we'll go and spend about £50 on meat, veg and few other bits. all the food will last us about a month.

I have a list and meal plan and I stick to it. We're lucky that we have a Sainsburys and Tesco quite close to each other. It takes a bit more planning, but I make my meal plan and shopping list then using mysupermarket.com compare the prices at both and then split my shopping between the 2 shops. This can save me up to £10. 

I also try and make a meal like a lasagne, shepherd's pie or bolognese once a week and put a portion in the freezer. 

In the summer we grow our own veg, and the rest of the year and for the veg we don't grow I use the local farm shop or market as it's loads cheaper than the supermarket. I try not to buy too much meat as that also makes the shopping expensive, and what I do buy I try and stretch further. Like if we have chicken fajitas I'll bulk them out with peppers, onions & salad to make the chicken go further. 

We're also considering dropping down a brand which is hard as I'm a food snob! However, we used to buy Original Source shower gel and now I get the supermarket own version unless it's on offer. It's half the price. Most weeks we can do our weekly shop for £50 plus another couple of pounds for veg. There's only 2 of us though. 

We always take lunch to work too, that saves loads. 

We've also recently tried to cut our household bills down. We switched from BT to Sky and saved loads. Just reduced my mobile phone contract by £7 a month. 

Sw, get your h to check what discounts his job entitles him to. Emergency services can get 30% off subway and dominoes, nhs gets discount at Dorothy Perkins, I get discount with orange but I know vodaphone do discount as well so just get him to check what he's entitled to also. We get discount at places like Chester zoo etc too