Trying to get the grocery bill down

I'm doing the same as annsixty. With nothing else to look forward to other than a nice meal in the evening, once I've ordered the usuals I add a few treats.

I'm also being careful not to rely on the store cupboard too much in case things take a turn for the worse where deliveries are concerned.

When I was able to go shopping DH would put whatever he fancied on the shopping trolley without any thought about the cost. Now he is in charge of shopping it's a very different matter. So we are saving money. Living in Portugal some things can be a bit difficult for him and trying to get plain flour has been a trial but he managed to get a packet yesterday. Also floor cleaner as we use a particular brand which doesnt make the floor tiles slippery. You would think he would look at the bottle before he went out but no thatstwo easy. Gave him the name and said the liquid is yellow. He comes back with the same bottle he bought 7 weeks ago which is for wooden floors and is a cream colour. Worse still he bought two bottles. So a total waste of money. Will have to take a photo of the right bottle on his phone.

I am making no attempt to keep the grocery bill down.
I realise as a pensioner I am very lucky to have a set and, so far, secure income.
With not going out and able to do very little, I
look forward to a nice meal in the evening, it is the highlight of the day.
I am also very lucky to have my GD living with me, she is working from home so a meal and a chat together is really welcome.
We are not being extravagant, but plan nice meals to lift our spirits.

Well done Varian!

I was told with Tesco, who also release slots at midnight, to go on before then. I kept trying from 11.30 on and at 11.50 got the message that I was in a queue and not to log off. The page kept refreshing itself and at a couple of minutes after midnight the slots came up and I got one. Quite exciting!

This was at the start of all this and since then I’ve not had a problem, logging on at various times. Fingers crossed it stays this way.

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Last night I fell asleep early but woke up at 40 minutes past midnight. Without feeling very hopeful, I thought I might just try Waitrose again. Unbelievably, I spotted a slot- just one single slot tomorrow afternoon which I managed to book - success!

Let us know how you get on, varian. DD lives in North London and she can't get anything either. Neither can my brother in E. Sussex.

The website just has everything greyed out.

We had a delivery a week before Lockdown so I don't think it's anything to do with our postcode.

I did get an Aldi wine delivery about two weeks ago.

I haven't drunk it all yet but I might try another one.

Whether they are able or willing to deliver to you at any time probably depends on your postcode.

They dont deliver my wine - it's too cheap.

Sorry to snuff out your bright light, varian but Aldi ran out of wine on their website about a month ago.

I never used to do much online shopping but just before the lockdown I had a Waitrose delivery. I then ordered a delivery from Morrissons which had just started delivering in our area. That came about a month ago.

Since then I've not been able to get any supermarket deliveries.

Waitrose claim to have messaged all their over 70 customers saying they would get priority but both my OH (78) and I (74) who have our own Waitrose cards, were for some unaccountable reason, missed out.

Yesterday I filled up a "basket" on the Waitrose site and at midnight I tried to get a slot. No luck. It took me 3 minutes to get my request acknowledged and by then (at 0.03 am) all the slots had gone.

Today I tried Morrisons again, but when I put in my postcode I was told they did not deliver to that postcode (yet), but they did a month ago!

I have not had any luck with Tesco, Sainsbury, Iceland, Co-op, Aldi or Lidl.

The only bright light is that Aldi will deliver wine, but not food.

It's enough to drive you to drink.

Our food bill has remained about the same. DH is retired and I'm working from home 10.30-4.30 but find if I don't "hit the air" I'm not hungry until about 2.00 and have 2 pieces of cheese on toast so eating slightly less. However, have to admit, our wine/beer bill has more than made up for it! Definitely buying more and drinking more regularly . Note to self...... Be careful!

I saved on my online shop this fortnight by forgetting to order milk.

I'm sure I did order it, but it's not on the list that came with the order

I have a Sainsbury's delivery each week and one of the drivers told me that our local store has taken on an extra 20 drivers maybe that's why slots are readily available.

Some online supermarkets must be though.
Waitrose have taken on staff and delivery vans from their sister stores John Lewis and have massively increased deliveries.

My OH is a lorry driver and has been in touch with all the major supermarkets but they say they are not setting on extra drivers, even
though people can't get a delivery slot. I don't understand this.

I am quids-in, right now. I have been mainly eating my way through the freezer and store cupboard contents, since the lockdown. My vegan son does his own shopping. Now that I’m in the ‘vulnerable’ group he has been also phoning to ask what I need, which is mainly milk, bread, fruit and veg, eggs etc. He insists that I don’t need to reimburse him, so my food bill has been almost nothing.
I will have to treat him to a nice meal when all this is over.

I’m spending a fortune on my supermarket shop but then we would normally eat out at least twice a week so although the supermarket shop is more expensive, overall, we must be saving. My son is home now too. We are also not spending on fuel, which probably amounted to £300 per month.

Asda are quite reasonable and do click and collect. They have eggs too! which Tesco do not for some reason.

Unless you have a shielding letter you can go out shopping, or to collect your food and go for a walk.

Gago, do you need to have delivery, or is there a Lidl / Aldi that you could go to, they are cheaper.
i believe iceland do deliveries and are thought to be cheaper.
i would have thought not having so much meat would be cheaper, more beans, lentils, rice, cous-cous, vegetables, etc.
is she a strict vegetarian or does she eat fish. what about cheese. pasta with cheese and vegetables, nuts, seeds.
meat replacements are best avoided anyway, if you mean pretend meat, not generally very healthy. does she eat eggs.
does the child get enough protein. how old is he. does he have full blue top milk. it's good for growing children.

Make a shared base and add the meat eg make a tomato and basil sauce in bulk and add what you wish.
Make double and freeze one.

She does cook about half of the week but not really space for freezing. We don't have a chest freezer and the under counter one we do have is full.

We just tend to eat the same thing for a couple of days when she cooks. IF it's something I like. Her cooking leaves a lot to be desired at times. Not that mine is any better, BUT because I'm a meat eater, she won't eat mine.

Some Co-ops are huge, one a few miles from us is most definitely not a convenience store.
I only discovered it a few days into the NY but haven't been able to go back since then.
I used to like our local Co-op, it was a reasonable size and also convenient!

Dragonfly a bulb farm in this area has just opened a pick-your-own-tulips scheme for local people. It’s too far for me (40 mile round trip) to justify but I am very envious of the people who live nearby. ? ? ?

Could your daughter bulk cook some veggie favourites and freeze them? Maybe?