Agree with Tia...this week it was cheaper to buy 2 small tubs of margerine rather than 1 large tub....despite the fact that the large tub was on special offer. Offers are not always as juicy as they appear...do check.Originally Posted by Tia Maria
One way we have found helpful to keep track of food budget is to accept from week to week it will vary...so we take average expenditure over say 6 weeks or so. We might buy a months worth of nappies in one go if they are especially cheap...this could double a weeks shopping bill.....but it means less expenditure later on. We currently have about 10 boxes of nappy sacks in the cupboard too. In UK we would never have bulk bought to this extent, but it can really make a difference.
The other thing I find is rather than having a fixed list of shopping we try to buy seasonally...as Tia said, it keeps your diet varied and interesting. We don't really plan meals, but buy whatever fruit/veg/cheese etc, are cheap/that we fancy...enough for the week and then work out what we will cook when we get home. We always keep a good stock of staples in the pantry so we do not usually need to buy extra ingredients to make a particular meal. We try and keep 2 of everything in our pantry and replace when we use one, but before we run out and pay max price due to needing it now. We have a sort of rolling shopping list that we may or may not buy items we are low on, depending on the price that week, but as we have not actually run out...it gives us more flexibility on a weekly basis for what we buy.
