How big is yours? Can you cut it?

toexpress

Shopping bill that is.

I was thinking about this, the cost of running your house because I was away a lot over the last couple of weeks so there wasn't much in the line of food in my house. I did a shop on Monday, now there is just me and the dog that's it. €132!! Madness I still am not entirely sure how the bill hit that level. Then you consider paying the phone bills and the electricity. I recently got rid of sky on the basis that I simply can't justify handing out €33 a month for TV.

So with the rising costs of food and fuel yet no real prospect of an increase in income for most people how do you cut back without living like a miser?

kneemos

What did you get for 132 euro?

Cork24

Don't shop in tesco or dunnes for start..

Go pay as u go on you phone move to UPC 60 euro for all 3.

Stock up on a lot of candles and turn off the ESb and use your candles at night create a fire out the back for your cooking

That shuld cut your bill by half

xzanti

Aldi is your Friend...

cournioni

That's crazy money, our shopping bill is about €40-50 max every week between two people. We shop at Aldi now, and we make a saving of €30 per week compared to Dunnes. It's less stressful too, you can do a full weeks shopping and be in the car in 15 minutes, whereas you could be spending 15 minutes in the queue alone elsewhere.

toexpress

kneemos wrote: »

What did you get for 132 euro?

A full weeks shop, cleaning stuff, veg, meat, dairy, some toiletries and dog food

BBDBB

before you go shopping

1) check your cupboards/fridge for what you still have as base ingredients and start thinking about meals you can make
2) make a list of what you need
3) eat before you go. Dont shop when hungry or you wont stick to your list

kneemos

toexpress wrote: »

A full weeks shop, cleaning stuff, veg, meat, dairy, some toiletries and dog food

Sounds reasonable so.

Chuck Stone

Don't shop hungry.

cournioni

toexpress wrote: »

A full weeks shop, cleaning stuff, veg, meat, dairy, some toiletries and dog food

How many people do you shop for and where do you shop? €132 is far too much for a weeks shopping in my opinion unless you have 5 or 6 in the family.

CardBordWindow

Yeah, the price of caviar has risen dramatically lately OP. It's a disgrace!

toexpress

cournioni wrote: »

How many people do you shop for and where do you shop? €132 is far too much for a weeks shopping in my opinion unless you have 5 or 6 in the family.

That's my point it's me and the dog! I was in Dunnes it's not like I went into the local corner shop and did a full weeks shop. But I looked through the prices. A packet of fire lighters was nearly €5. A jar of coffee was €8.50 milk was about €2 and so on. Basic things that we would use everyday were huge prices one thing that caught my eye was the price of potatoes. About a 50% jump in the last six months

Melion

Tesco fire lighters, 87c

kneemos

toexpress wrote: »

That's my point it's me and the dog! I was in Dunnes it's not like I went into the local corner shop and did a full weeks shop. But I looked through the prices. A packet of fire lighters was nearly €5. A jar of coffee was €8.50 milk was about €2 and so on. Basic things that we would use everyday were huge prices one thing that caught my eye was the price of potatoes. About a 50% jump in the last six months

They're new potatoes.

wyndham

toexpress wrote: »

Basic things that we would use everyday were huge prices one thing that caught my eye was the price of potatoes. About a 50% jump in the last six months

That's because of the wet summer.

cournioni

toexpress wrote: »

That's my point it's me and the dog! I was in Dunnes it's not like I went into the local corner shop and did a full weeks shop. But I looked through the prices. A packet of fire lighters was nearly €5. A jar of coffee was €8.50 milk was about €2 and so on. Basic things that we would use everyday were huge prices one thing that caught my eye was the price of potatoes. About a 50% jump in the last six months

Dunnes are expensive as fcuk. Try Aldi or Lidl, but preferably Aldi because their stuff is better in my opinion, they have a great selection of Irish stuff and you can get most veg for well under €1.

http://www.aldi.ie/ie/html/product_range/productrange_coffee_3742.htm
http://www.aldi.ie/ie/html/product_range/product_range_20126.htm
http://www.ireland.aldi.com/ie/html/product_range/product_range_23542.htm

Theres a huge saving on the prices and products you've listed already.

0ph0rce0

xzanti wrote: »

Aldi is your Friend...

Yes if you like your food to taste and smell like ****e

toexpress

cournioni wrote: »

Dunnes are expensive as fcuk. Try Aldi or Lidl, but preferably Aldi because their stuff is better in my opinion and you can get most veg for well under €1.

Yeah the problem with that is that I want Cif and Flash for cleaning the bathroom. I want Gold Blend Coffee and Avonmore milk. There are some things on my shopping list that I just don't want to substitute own brand stuff for to be honest and the idea of doing a round of shops and supermarkets breaks my heart .... but it may come to that yet

pickarooney

wyndham wrote: »

That's because of the wet summer.

Shouldn't they be running at about €45 a kilo on that basis?

Tar.Aldarion

The problem here is you buy dear things. You can get nice coffee for less than half the price etc

Chuck Stone

pickarooney wrote: »

Shouldn't they be running at about €45 a kilo on that basis?

They've probably imported foreign spuds* in anticipation of a shortage.


*you can tell foreign spuds by their eyes which are every-so-slightly closer together.

JustAThought

Im blaming the dog!!!
How much is your dogfood!!?

You can get quite good deals online - dependi.g on what it eats - check out the boards deals + animal + pets forum.

I hate shopping for toiletries as they boost your bill so much + you feel cheated!!

You seriously need to shop in Lidl/Aldi. They are eye-wateringly cheeper.

Forget Tesco/Du.nes/Sulerqinn.

Also - the butchers now are doing 3 for a tenner deals. ADD a bag of potatos + thats four or five main meals a week. Add a loaf of bread + jam + thats your breakfasts for the week. Twenty five euro. If you buy lunches for work you dont need more stuff. Otherwise decide all your lunches + buy. Eg potato + tuna with black pepper salad or fried potato cakes, tins of soup + hunky bread ; toasted ham sambos , tortellini + pesto or T sauce. All this shouldnt come to more than e55 IF you are shoppj.g in Lidl/ Aldi.

If youre a fish lover their frozen salmon is cheeper that the tin of tunas yku get from john west. + tastes great.

their turkey/ ham / chicken is v tastey + they have very gokd isles full of meat. And thou I resisged for years the steaks are dead cheep - and taste fab!

And you will get some fruit/ veg , chrisps, chocolate + cheese for that fifty there too

Otherwise forget it!!!

plys

toexpress wrote: »

Yeah the problem with that is that I want Cif and Flash for cleaning the bathroom. I want Gold Blend Coffee and Avonmore milk. There are some things on my shopping list that I just don't want to substitute own brand stuff for to be honest and the idea of doing a round of shops and supermarkets breaks my heart .... but it may come to that yet

Gold blend in Lidl is about €6. Also, Lidl's own-brand cleaning products are far superior to many premium brands (eg Flash) IMO.
I'm with you on the milk though

foxinsox

Lidl fairtrade coffee is 2.99 and is so much nicer than Gold Blend.

Next time read the ingredients/contents on your Cif or Flash and compare to own brands, I'd be surprised if they are different.

ted1

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

Yes if you like your food to taste and smell like ****e

Your an idiot, food is often better in Aldi.

cournioni

toexpress wrote: »

Yeah the problem with that is that I want Cif and Flash for cleaning the bathroom. I want Gold Blend Coffee and Avonmore milk. There are some things on my shopping list that I just don't want to substitute own brand stuff for to be honest and the idea of doing a round of shops and supermarkets breaks my heart .... but it may come to that yet

There's your problem right there. You buy into the fact that there is a brand name on the tin. I don't know about coffee, but I know from my experience that the cleaning stuff in Aldi is better than Cif and Flash, I use the Power Force stuff and it does wonders. There is no difference between Clonbawn and Avonmore milk other than the price. I know because my parents get Avonmore and only because the milk man delivers it to them.

xzanti

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

Yes if you like your food to taste and smell like ****e

I had that attitude too until I did my shopping there one week... I used to always shop in Tesco..

There is nothing wrong with their food.. Fridge fillers are the same quality as you'd get in Tesco, if not better in some items.. (except yogurts.. yuk)

Fruit and Veg are for nothing and all fresh and ripe.. I love the Super 6 deals..

All rice/pasta/bread/canned goods are the exact same quality as you'd get in the bigger supermarkets..

The only items I don't bother with are the likes of their own brand chocolate (tasteless imho)..the cleaning products are crap (with the exception of the washing up liquid which does the job fine)..

All the babywipes, nappies, toilet and kitchen rolls, bin bags, tin foil etc.. all fantastic quality, not a thing wrong with them.. and much cheaper than your mainstream supermarkets..

And I find the system of re-filling the trolly and packing at the bench so much less stressful than in other shops... You can go at your own pace and you're not racing to get the stuff in the bags as they're piling up in front of you..

Suits me fine.

LETHAL LADY

Aldi specially selected columbian coffee is €1.49 in my local store. It has the exact same jar and labelling as Bewleys coffee and it tastes great, this is coming from a woman who was addicted fancy coffee until I became a pauper.

Lyaiera

Do people realise that most of the own-brand products come from the same factory as the name-brand stuff, usually with fairly similar if not the exact same ingredients and recipe. That's why Kellog's make such a big deal about how they only make cereal for themselves, they're trying to protect their brand off fairly generic products.

wyndham

Who the fck drinks instant coffee granules nowadays anyway? It's not 1993. And at €8.50 a jar?

toexpress

wyndham wrote: »

Who the fck drinks instant coffee granules nowadays anyway? It's not 1993. And at €8.50 a jar?

Lots of people that I know. I am hardly going to make a pot of coffee just so I can have one cup