Paws rocks!

Lol Ginger! Good on you! We buy heaps of signature range and pams stuff cos its yummier!

Shortbread are my favourite, but they have to be soft and buttery and smooth, and it's so hard to find the perfect shortbread. Well, not now!

We do the same here however there are a few things that can only be watties (tomato sauce is the major one in this house) so I only buy it on sale and usually buy a few extra cans if its a good deal. I saw that thing on the news this morning about China and their food standards and they killed the guy (that was) in charge of the food regulation as he was found to be putting allsorts of interesting things in Chinas food (the toothpaste made it to NZ)

Go Ginger, and go the No Name Brands! We're big "Basics" and "Signature Range" shoppers, but I agree with Mummy_becks - some things can only be name brand, for example spaghetti. The Budget stuff is ewww! But most things we go El Cheapo, I even use the Signature Range sanitary pads.

But also a lot of the stuff is just the same as the branded stuff just with a budget label on it. Things like ice cream for example. Often they are made in the same factory and just labelled differently.

Anyway.... so meal planning is the way to go huh? Im terrible with shopping, I know it sounds odd but Ive never been taught what to buy. My mum has always worked in supermarkets so would buy whatever we needed for tea etc.. during the day rather than doing a big shop once a week. I have no idea what sort of staple foods I need, my cupboard is full but its junk or things that you need to buy other stuff for, like tins of 'Just add' sauces etc... So Paws, (our new grocery shopping guru) do you recommend one shop a week/fortnight? And if so how do you make sure you get everything you need. I never get enough fruit or vegetables (potatoes and bananas especially) or something needed if you know what I mean. In the last 7 days I have been to the supermarket at least 3 times and spent a minimum of $70 each time yet Im not sure if I would have everything I need to make a meal.

Edited by my2angels

I'm pretty sure Paws does her shop fortnightly? We used to do weekly too, but it was getting to be a real pain in the backside, so we followed suit and now shop fortnightly as well.

I love the Pams brand, they're a lot better than most budget stuff but still a really good price. And I do weekly shopping because otherwise the fruit/veges/milk just goes off anyway and you have to buy it from somewhere!

I do heaps of meat sauces by hand - have beef/chicken stock, worcester sauce and tomato paste on hand with a few herbs/spices available to shake in... a bit of trial and error at first but they taste heaps better than ready-made, once you have the hang of it!

btw Ginger I also fainted when you said how much your groceries cost And I am even more confused now that you have said you have "basic" meals.... how much do you spend on snacks?!

With fruit, I get 2-3 types per week, bananas can go bad really quickly so get something like that and something that will last the whole week every time, like apples or kiwifruit etc.

Biscuits - I get the big bags of Ernest Adams etc, that way we always have something in the cupboard. If I want something special I will occasionally buy some proper chocolate biscuits or do home baking.

Meat - for me, buying at the Mad Butcher is the best value anywhere! Probably 1/3 of our meals are mince-based, so that keeps costs down a lot. Anything where the meat needs to be chopped up (for example a casserole), and especially with veges/mushrooms/gravy added, gives the illusion of eating more meat than if you just had a steak or chicken breast on your plate. If you have meat left-overs, see if you can use them in your next meal, e.g. if you have left over roast chicken, make a pizza with chicken in the topping for the next night's dinner. Also good in stir-fry/risotto type meals.

Veges - try to buy what is in season/on special, it's heaps cheaper that way.

Breakfast cereal - try to save those yummy ones for treats or have half and half in your bowl.

Yoghurt - buy a 1L container and dish yourself a couple of tablespoons full instead of using pottles all the time.


Deb, I have our whole account in spreadsheet format with "subaccounts" showing exactly how much we have to spend on petrol, groceries, etc etc etc... it has been a life-saver! We are paid fortnightly but doing the account this way makes it so simple and we never have to panic when we get a phone/power bill (unless we used a heap more power than usual LOL). But that system is probably only for accounting nerds lol

Edited by busymum

We have about the same amount of milk and bread... but yea I think the meat cuts might be adding to yours somewhat! What about meat under $10-$12/kilo as a general rule, and have porterhouse etc as a once a week/fortnight treat?

Good idea about the grocery receipts but i would have to hid them from hubby, he has no idea of my supermarket shopping addiction! Whats even worse is that he works for a supermarket supplier so we can go in there and do shopping supposedly for cheaper. Problem is I get in there and see all these new cool products and have to buy them to try them or they will have a special on bulk chocolates (last week was freddo frogs so i have a huge box of them now) I try not to go in there but at the same time the amount we save on things like dog food, formula and razor blades is huge plus we dont have to pay for it as it comes out of his salary so its really dangerous. It probably wouldnt be to bad if I wasnt going there once a fortnight and to the supermarket about 3 times a week but you cant buy fruit, vege, meat there plus sometimes supermarkets have things like nappies cheaper.

tell me about it. I forget what i have spent in a month then we get the bill and its never under $500!!!! (that includes the petrol aswell though)

Does anyone have one of those esiyo makers? What are they like? We go through heaps of yoghurt and dairy food, the kids love it. They can sit and share 3 pottles in a row so Im buying 2-3 6 packs a week.