Tips for cutting down the shopping bill

As a lot of you will already know, I am addicted to Netmums. It's a shameful thing really - I check it more often than I do my emails and if I manage to get more than three 'likes' on a comment, I strut about for the rest of the day thinking that I'm the Queen of Everything. 


The threads I love most are the budgeting ones. I could spend hours exchanging tips on how to save money around the house and in taking on board what other posters have said, I've managed to cut our household's annual spend by around £400 in the insurance department alone!


But believe it or not, that isn't where the big savings lie. By careful meal planning and clever shopping, you can end up with a tiny shopping bill and I'd like to share some of the tips I've found which helped me cut back. 


Prepare for a lengthy post (but come on - it's Monday... you all want to procrastinate anyways!

When I started meal planning, I made a 'menu'. This was to prevent the inevitable answer of 'sausages' when I asked Husband what he'd like to eat for the following week. Using two columns - one for savoury and one for sweet - I wrote down all the dinners I make that I could think of. I picked out three I wanted, asked Husband to do the same, and made the final choice according to the ingredients we'd have left over. Then I went about making a shopping list.

To begin with, I checked the freezer and the cupboard, then swapped all of my earlier meal choices for ones which would include ingredients we had already. Then I listed all the things I needed to buy and sat down at the computer.

I checked Approved Food first, to see if they had anything I needed, then rearranged the meals so that those awaiting things from the order would be for the end of the week to allow for delivery. Concord Extra was my next stop to see if they had any cleaning products or toiletries which I could save money on. These sites are a brilliant first port of call and it's worth checking frequently to see whether they've acquired any new stock. I managed to get two torches and a toy truck from Approved Food for the grand total of £4 the other week, which means that's three Christmas gifts sorted for £1.33 each! Can't grumble there!

Next, I checked how far away the local supermarket is using google maps to calculate how much fuel it would cost to get there. If a delivery works out as less, then go for that instead of driving... Much easier too and you can shop with a glass of wine in hand. Woo!

 

When shopping, it's well worth considering the value/basics ranges. Tesco's Value tea at less than 30p for 80 bags is bargainous and if you're having a bad week money-wise, will certainly not leave you feeling cheated. It's not as strong as other teas, but if you're not the builder's brew sort then where's the harm in saving a few quid? The class 2 veg available at some supermarkets is also fantastic value. If you're not bothered by tiny strawberries and monstrous cucumbers then this is a great way to save money - better yet, try the local market.

When you're shopping, check the kilo price of food too - remember that one can of sweetcorn costs around the same as a massive bag of frozen. And buying in bulk is not always the cheapest way to go - sometimes, the larger packs are more expensive than the medium ones per kilogram. You don't have to do any complicated maths to figure this out either - most supermarkets print the kilo price just under the cost per unit.

If you have a bread machine, there are further savings to be had. Mine was free  -check freecycle, freegle and gumtree before purchasing as these site often have them advertised. It also has a timer so I can set it to make pizza dough while I'm out. All I need  to do is throw the ingredients at it, then press a button - you can do a pizza with basics flour, homemade tomato sauce, veg and cheese for around 50p, so far cheaper than even the cheapest frozen one, and much tastier too. Why not check the menu for places like Pizza Express for inspiration?

You can also do fancy bread loaves by using half spelt and half basics flour - not only are they delicious but they cost less than £1 to make and you can have one fresh every morning if you want. The bread machine I have will also do fruit compotes and cakes, so again, you just throw your ingredients in and press a button, then come back to delicious homemade food for a fraction of the price of bought stuff. To make the compotes cost effective, either grow your own fruit, go hedgerow foraging or pick up things at the market/in the reduced section.

If you can get reduced juice, or even just basics/value orange juice from concentrate you can make some pretty good ice lollies. Just pour the juice into a mould and freeze. Done. Or alternatively, you can make something which tastes exactly like a Feast by blending 2 tablespoons of Nutella with some soya milk. Mmmm....

Here are some of the recipes mentioned above to help get started.

Pizza dough recipe:

300g bread flour (I just use basics white and it turns out ok)
1 tbsp olive oil (I use whatever oil is closest and to no ill effect)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp yeast
170 ml water.

Breadmaker Jam - Make sure your machine has a jam setting before you try this!
2 cups cherry/mango mix
1 cup chopped apple
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp lemon juice.

Throw it all in and let the bread maker do its thang. Spoon into sterilised jars (this mixture only made enough for 2) and then add a table spoon of cherry schnapps (or other fitting liquor) over the top of each one prior to sealing them (if you're of a boozy disposition).

Play around with this though - the only 'essential' ingredients are a cup of apple, sugar and lemon juice (this creates the pectin which sets the jam) then 2 cups of the fruit of your choice.

My favourite bread recipe:
1.25 cups water
3 tbsp chai latte powder (or skimmed milk powder and cinnamon - I just had some powder to use up so invented this)
3 tbsp rapeseed oil (or whatever cooking oil you have lying around)
2 tbsp brown sugar (or any other sugar really - treacle works too for a lovely caramel taste)
1.5 tsp salt
0.75 tsp cinnamon
1 cup seeded flour/rye/spelt (posh flour anyways)
2 cups white flour
just shy of 1 cup raisins

Use a basic white setting, 1.5lb loaf and add the fruit after the dough has been 'knocked back' (mine has a beeper for this but dunno about other machines).

Do you have any good money-saving tips to share? Would you like me to post any other recipes along these lines?

xxx

Finger Food recipe - sweet potato falafel

Well, I thought it was about time I shared another recipe. These are currently Daughter's favourite finger food, freeze very well and are cheap and easy to make.

I took my inspiration from a BBC Good Food recipe, but changed some of the ingredients for those more readily available in an average store cupboard.

• 1 large or 2 small sweet potatoes , about 700g
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 garlic cloves , chopped
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 100g plain or gram flour (I use gram, which I'd suggest for those avoiding gluten)
• 1 tbsp olive oil (omit if you're avoiding fat)

Bake the sweet potatoes and mash, then stir everything else in. Spoon onto a baking sheet and leave in a hot oven until the edges are crispy and brown.

I serve these for Daughter with peas and sweetcorn - she loves picking up every individual thing and putting it into her mouth.

For us, I serve them with a garlic sour cream dip (buy sour cream, chop garlic, combine) in homemade tortilla wraps with a side salad.

Super cheap, good for the whole family and quick to make. Hooray!

Nutritional help

I stumbled on this little site while surfing through the Netmums forums today: https://www.infantandtoddlerforum.org/toddler-food-calculator-flash

I've found it really interesting. Where I've been sure that Daughter has been getting a healthy, balanced diet, it turns out that she could do with some more of everything except carbohydrate and meat...

Must try harder, Mummy...

Baby baking ideas

Daughter has been getting up at 5am for the last few weeks - something I'm keen to put an end to, if only so I don't have to read Norman the Slug with the Silly Shell seven hundred times before breakfast.

Keeping a little person occupied throughout such a long day has been something of a struggle. Naturally, we have a few trips to the library, play at watering the flowers, and on Thursdays, Daughter goes to creche while I visit the PND group run by Suffolk MIND.

The other day though, I ran out of things to occupy her with and the little toot was getting fractious in the heat. Cue the baking.

Trying to build on her new skill of putting pasta into the saucepan from the jar (without eating it in transit), I melted some dark chocolate and got her to add some cereal we had lying around (Aldi's 'Benefit' flakes). As she stirred, I threw in some powdered coconut, some raisins and some honey to sweeten.

We scooped the mixture into some silicon moulds and then sprinkled some edible glitter on top. They looked gorgeous and tasted really good too.

I would recommend using rice crispies rather than flakes as Daughter found them hard to bite, despite her spectacular front teeth. Which she's learned to grind and make horrific noises with...

Just thought I'd share a rainy (or sunny!) day activity that even the tiniest of people can take part in :)

 

Sainsbury's Little Ones, Recipes and Nutrition

Not technically a children's book, but a very useful tome nevertheless if you're planning on making all your own food for little people.

Sainsbury's Little Ones, Recipes and Nutrition cookbook is a lovely addition to any shelf and has given me a wealth of ideas in regards to feeding Daughter.

I decided early on that I didn't want her to eat jarred food. I wouldn't want to eat it myself so I saw no reason to feed it to Daughter. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with going down the jar route, just that it wasn't for me. Too much waste, too much money and I just didn't think it looked palatable. Which is where this book came in.

To begin with, beyond the usual fruit purees, I had trouble coming up with ideas of what to feed my little girl. Aside from the various mashes I featured on here, I was stuck - especially when it came to introducing meat. Luckily, the first few pages of Sainsbury's Little Ones cover a selection of different mash, following up with a range of foods that introduce varying textures. The only qualm I have with this part is the inclusion of beetroot - don't get me wrong, I love the stuff, but my carpet, walls and Daughter's clothes don't...

Usually I have a load of other things prepared when it comes to dinner times, but when I don't, Little Ones offers a lot of quick and easy ideas. I also use it as a rough guide regarding appropriate portion size, something that I just had no idea of to begin with. It's all very down to earth - not 'organic everything only'. Most of what's there can be prepared on a budget.

There are also various recipes for the whole family for when you get to a stage where you're all eating the same thing.

So yes, all in all, a very worthwhile book if you're starting off on the adventure that is weaning. I'm going to head to the library soon and look for some more comprehensive books about feeding slightly older children though as I think Daughter might be getting bored of these offerings now!

Baby breakfast ideas

I don't know about you, but breakfast was never really my thing. I only started eating it at university because the campus cafe did a cooked one really cheaply (marketed correctly as the ideal hangover cure). In my food-snob days which followed shortly after - and which, frankly, never really vanished - I switched to porridge because it's filling, nutritious and cheap.

After a week or so of giving Daughter that foul baby rice gloop which can be easily confused for white emulsion, I switched her over to my prefered breakfast but thought that after three months or so of having oats, she must be pretty sick of the stuff. Variety, after all, is the spice of life.

The first meal of the day though, is a deceptively complicated affair. I wouldn't want to eat curry, or lasagne, or anything else of a particularly heavy nature, which leaves choices reasonably limited. With honey and uncooked cows milk still out of the question - roll on 1st birthday! - choices were further diminished. After a bit of thought though, I found the following things which Daughter loves:


Fruit yogurt, compote and oats - a nice vanilla yogurt, a sprinkling of oats and some stewed fruit makes a really nice start to the day. Yogurt, oats and banana is also really tasty and requires a little less forethought. Normally I stew fruit in the oven at the same time as I'm baking Daughter's other foods, but since batch cooking isn't for everyone, you can get some nice fruit mush from Ella's Kitchen and Plum.

Banana bread - this has become something of a staple in our house. It freezes well, uses up any leftover bananas and doesn't need any unusual ingredients that you're not likely to have in the cupboard. I make 2-3 loaves at a time so I don't need to worry about it later but it's quick enough to do from scratch. I used the Sainsbury's Little Ones recipe for it but it doesn't look to be online. This one is nearly identical though and is well worth a try.

Tea Loaf - I forget where I stumbled on this recipe but it has no added fat, is wonderfully moist and costs next to nothing to bake. The raisins give most of the sweetness so if you're worried about adding sugar, this is possibly the way to go, rather than the banana bread. I forget where I got my recipe base, but this is how it stands at the moment:

1 tea bag
around 250ml boiling water
ground white pepper
ground ginger
ground cinammon
ground nutmeg
250g raisins
125g sugar (brown is good but white works too
225g self raising flour
1 egg
spash of milk


Make a cup of strong, black tea and soak the raisins in it for at least 4 hours. I've left them for a week in the fridge before as they only get better with time. Mix the rest of the ingredients into the raisins adding the spices to taste and bake in a loaf tin on a low heat until cooked through. Slice and serve. If you're worried about it being too spicy, leave out the white pepper.

Fruit loaf - I've just been toasting Daughter a few slices of the supermarket's own brand fruit loaf for breakfast the past few days and she loves it. Her favourite sort - expensive tastes! - is the Marks and Spencer apple and raisin kind.

Toasted goodies - of course, there's always scotch pancakes, crumpets, toast and jam. Any toastable treat goes down well.

Baby recipe ideas.

It's getting better, the daily grind. At the moment, I'm working on shifting my focus. That sounds awfully psycho-babble, but it's something I decided myself. For the longest time, Daughter was an obstacle to my doing what was necessary i.e. moving house, washing the nappies, making dinner etc. What I'm trying to do now is tell myself that she is no longer an obstacle, that she is the task. It's a very utilitarian way of looking at it, but that's just how my brain works. I like to concentrate on very simple black and white goals rather than the somewhat ambiguous 'adjust my expectations' - the advice I'm usually given.

I feel that the whole thing would be slightly more 'fair' were Daughter to work on her sleeping as I'm working on cheering up. The two things are very much linked.

In any case, I just thought I'd update on where I was personally before I shared my awesome discoveries:

1. Finely chopped frozen vegetables.

Specifically, Aunt Bessie's finely chopped frozen vegetables (most supermarkets do a version but this brand is chopped the smallest and has the biggest selection of veg included). Perfect, as the bag declares, for bolognese and soups. What they're actually super-amazing for though, is feeding babies. I would like to state at this point that I am in no way affiliated with the producers - I just couldn't survive without this handy little bag in my freezer.

I'm not a fan of liquidised baby food as I don't think the lack of texture does them any favours. Whilst it's practical to begin with, I've known babes who grow up to favour bland mush into adulthood. Seriously. I knew one guy who wouldn't eat any veg unless they'd been boiled into a grey sludge.

So yeah, not only are there 5 good staple vegetables in the mixture, but they're cut into tiny pieces - perfect for baby mouths. Cooking time is practically negligible too since they're so tiny. Hooray!

2. Soup pasta

I noticed that in the baby food aisle at the supermarket, you could get minuscule pasta for massive amounts of money. In the pasta aisle, you can get minuscule pasta for a price to match. Intended for use in minestrone soup, this stuff has fast become a staple of Daughter's diet. Again, because of the size, cooking time is nearly nothing.

Recipes

Here are a few of our favourite things to make from the above. Most of these assume that you have a quantity of stewed down meat ready - I like to cook down chicken, beef, lamb and pork until they disintegrate into stringy bits - very tender, easy to eat without teeth and unprocessed. All of these recipes work as vegetarian too.

Baby Minestrone:

Boil a handful of tiny pasta with the same quantity of frozen veg. When these are cooked through add some tomato puree to the cooking water (thus retaining all vitamins from the veg), add herbs and seasoning to taste and serve. This freezes well.

Baby lasagna:

As above, but drain the mixture before adding the tomato puree. Add pre-stewed meat of your choice to make the base. Top with white sauce (you can make this with formula milk, vegetable margarine and corn flour if you're worried about dairy and gluten. I haven't checked to see if you can get gluten free soup pasta because it isn't something that worries me, however I can't see why you wouldn't) and bake in a moderate oven.

NB: Since a lot of these dishes are bakes, I tend to do a load at once and freeze in portions so I'm only cooking once every 2 weeks or so. It's a life-saver.

Fish pie:

Mix up a white sauce and add the fish of your choice. I use pollack because it's cheap and - at last check - sustainable. I know there's a big fuss about tuna and the mercury levels in it but I have been known to use it because that was the only fish in the house. Add a handful of the frozen veg and either mix in some of the tiny pasta or spoon some mashed potato over the top of the filling in an oven proof dish. Bake until golden on top.

Stew:

Easiest of all - mix some pre-stewed meat with a handful of the frozen veg, add a little stock and some cooked pearl barley. Enjoy.

Vegetable pasta dinner:

Boil pasta and veg together, drain and add half a teaspoon of pesto and tomato puree. This doesn't freeze well.

Vegetable cous cous:

Add a handful of frozen veg to some cous cous - sometimes I use the plain variety and add my own spices whilst others I use the pre-mixed sachets. Make up the cous cous as usual - the heat of the water will also cook the vegetables.  This doesn't freeze well, but if you add some chorizo, it makes a good lunch for mum/dad too.