money saving tips

[Millymollymandy]

We've (or rather I've) got our monthly supermarket bill down to about €350 (about £240) instead of the more like €500 it used to be. It's still too high considering the amount of veg I've grown and it bugs me as I can't easily cut it more. We are only two adults by the way.

I do include most toiletries and other non-edible items in my supermarket bill though, e.g. printer paper and DIY odds and ends.

However, when I was in England recently when my mum was ill I was amazed at how CHEAP some things are in England compared to France. As I make my own bread I could not get over the price of flour in England - 40p for 1.5 kilos of self-raising or bread flour!!!!!! We pay the equivalent of £1.10 for 1 kilo!!! And all the two for one prices - cheese was soooooo cheap, sausages about 1/4 the price of French ones (not that I'd touch those gallic horrors with a barge pole). As for the price of things like Tescos shampoo, Vit C, lip salve etc. Grrrrrrrr!

So you can see it is hard here to be frugal. And I can't afford to go to England in the car.

[manxminx]

Hi chickenlady thanks for the welcome back its nice to talk to you again. No i dont post on MSE infact i dont know what it is lol your have to inlighten me on that one. Really pleased to hear you've managed to get the shoping bill down since last year mine has gone up abit but i'm still doing well.

I've joined my local freecycle it's only just started up so not many members at the moment i think about 65 but i'm sure it will be very usefull but i'll have to be carefull its only things i really need and not just fancey the look of lol

[manxminx]

oh m3 thats just not fair but well done for cutting your shoping down so much inspite of not having the cheeper store brands i buy all the T***o vaule brands so i'm very lucky that we have one over here at last. I'm also very lucky that my kids don't care that they haven't got name brand food and drink infact they delight in going round other supermarkets saying OMG thats soooooo much cheeper in T***o lol

[Millymollymandy]

We do have own brand stuff Manxminx, and also the supermarkets have a really cheapo budget range which I buy lots from, it's just that some things like flour (other than plain white which is cheap) aren't made by the supermarkets and one company has a monopoly it seems. And toiletries and stuff seem to be ridiculously expensive.

I used to write down all the prices in places like Lidl and then compare with the supermarket. Now I know most things' prices and whether it is cheaper in Lidl or the s/markets own budget range. We spent ages looking for the cheapest butter etc. Sometimes it's a gamble whether Lidle bananas will be cheaper than budget supermarket ones. I find it quite good fun. But I want to cut my bills down even more! There are so many bills that are fixed rate that you can't change, but water (on a meter), electricity, petrol and food you can do something about!

P.S. I am sitting here with my hot water bottle and blankie - not quite candlelight but I sympathise with you about being cold!

[Guest]

lol m3 i'm sat im my sleeping bag so not to cold but ........................ sleeping bags are REALLY hard to walk in and i hate the hassle of having to get in and out of it when i need to get something. Not sure if the sticks help or hinder me but the kids seem to get a good laugh at me trying to get around when i'm in mine

[manxminx]

Did it again t'was me

[wulf]

... it's just that some things like flour (other than plain white which is cheap) aren't made by the supermarkets and one company has a monopoly it seems....

I've had a breadmaker for two or three years now and reckon that it's more than paid for itself in money saved on buying bread, cakes and pastries.

The most expensive ingredient of most recipes is the bread flour. However, I've found that you can get perfectly acceptable loaves with a cocktail of bread flour and plain flour. I haven't worked too hard on the parameters or been too scientific about the comparisons but I generally use up to about 50g of plain flour in the 400g required for my standard recipe (also, FWIW, I often replace more of the strong white with strong brown / wholemeal).

Therefore, the money saving tip is experiment with making expensive things go further with cheaper ingredients. It won't always work but often makes a difference (eg. use a little more of whatever veg is cheap and in season and reduce the quantity of the most expensive ingredients to give a wholesome money saving twist to your stews).

Wulf

ps. ... and I know I'd have saved more money and been even more self-sufficient by not buying a breadmaker and doing it all by hand but only if I'd been able to find the time... I'm happy to stick at -ish in this regard!

[Chickenlady]

Sorry Kerry, MSE is www.moneysaving expert.com. It is brilliant for advice on saving money, particularly the forums. I am really surprised you haven't discovered it yet.

Still, I reckon you could teach some of the folk on there a thing or two about saving money!

[Millymollymandy]

My bread always contains loads of the cheap white flour but sadly wholemeal is very expensive and I only buy bread flour because it is the only way to get flour with grains! French bread flour is a new thing (again monopolised, same people who make self-raising and wholemeal) but doesn't actually work any better than plain white flour. So my loaves tend to be rather hard and cake-like but it's better than the rubbish from the bakery.

I do it all by hand - about 5 or 6 loaves at a time, otherwise it would waste too much electricity.

Yup I mix cheap in with more expensive i.e. 1/3rd Nescafe in with 2/3 cheapo coffee.