If you’re trying to save money in the kitchen, then the most logical thing to do is stop eating out and stop with the takeaways. Now I am not perfect, not my any stretch of the imagination, but I have my rules in place. These rules have helped me save over £400 a month, just by a little bit of planning. So what I wanted to do is tell you what I do and how it has helped me save so much money in the long run.
Meal Planning
You may be thinking, how do I plan my meals for a week? What do I want to eat in 5 days time? Well that can be difficult and you might not know where to start, all you need to do think about what you want to eat for the week check out the recipes here. The reason for meal planning is you know exactly what you need, so you can make a list of what to buy from the supermarket. If you stick to the list, it means that you WILL spend less, you need to be strict with yourself on this though. I have created a printable here to help you with your meal planning or check out the post.
Takeaway VS Fakeaway
We all like a good takeaway, just as much as the next person and I am no different. I love a good takeaway, but when it comes in at nearly £30 for 2, it is very expensive. Well I have started doing Fakeaway nights, you may be thinking, what is a Fakeaway, well it is a FAKE takeaway. It’s made at home, planned into the weeks meals, means that it is 100% on budget, it has only what I want in it, less of the bad stuff. A fakeaway is definitely the way forwards, again this will save you so much money in the long rung. If you are wondering what you can make for a fakeaway, the possibilities are endless, Indiana, Chinese, pizza, KFC and so much more, check out some of my fakeaway recipes here.
Brand Swapping
Now before I got a fiancee, I was a proper brand chaser, if it wasn’t a branded for product, I wouldn’t buy it. Now this is where I have changed a lot. When I say I was a brand chaser, my tinned tomatoes would be the top brand, for no reason other than I was conditioned to do this from a young age, my parents had give me a habit. I honestly didn’t know I had this habit and it wasn’t until me and my fiancee went shopping and we had a semi shopping list and when I asked my partner to get some tomato sauce, I was absolutely horrified that they didn’t go for the branded variety but the store brand. Now this nearly turned into a full on test of our relationship, I was use to the branded variety and my partner, a cheaper variety. So now where we are at, we do swap brands out, we don’t always go for the big branded products, the only time we do is if they are on a special offer OR certain products that both of us will only use the branded products. Some of the products that we have changed from a big brand to either a store brand or cheaper brand: Tomato sauce, pasta, cheese, passata, most cereal and drinks. By swapping brands out, is can save us well over £1 per item, that is usually the minimum.
So these are some of the ways which have really helped me in saving over £400 a month in my shopping, if you want to find out some other ideas, then check out My 80 Ways to Save Money on Your Food Shop for some more ideas and ways to save.
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