Frugal Families by Bev Jenkins - Hastings Handbook Jan 2008

At this time of year especially, we’re all at it – trying to save money. It seems that whatever your budget pre-children, or for some people pre-taking some time out of the rat-race, when it comes to having a family we all need to make economies and can use all the tips we can get.
When completing a budget, whether formally to help with debts, or just to sort out your household finances, there are a number of fixed costs that we can change - check out uswitch.com for mortgages, gas and electricity and phone deals. There is one part of your budget you can manipulate to save even more money: your food bill. By this I don’t mean not eating, or switching from Waitrose (if we had one!) to Sainsbury’s. I mean buying locally, sourcing bargains and clever planning. Eating well, and eating healthily, is essential, particularly for children, and for tired and stressed parents. I won’t give you advice on eating well here, I’m sure you already know what you should be doing and if you need any tips, talk to your health visitor or the primary care trust. The first and key principle is to use what’s in season, and to plan your meals in advance to reduce waste. Leftovers can be refrigerated and used within a couple of days or frozen for use at another time, when a takeaway might have tempted. Vegetables and fruit should be fresh, which ideally means locally grown, and even more ideally organic. Two good box schemes are the Primary Care Trust’s 5 a day, www.fruitandveg.org.uk or www.simplywildorganics.co.uk The first contains mostly locally grown fresh fruit and vegetables, some of it organic and represents excellent value for money at £7.00 a box. Simply Wild’s box scheme is all organic, with various size boxes and prices. Or why not try growing your own, either in your own back garden or in an allotment? Bulk buying basics can save a significant amount: pasta, basmati rice, spices, lentils, tinned tomatoes, tinned beans, long life fruit juice, tea, coffee and jam all keep well. I recommend using one of the budget unbranded supermarkets about such as Lidl or Aldi for these. You don’t need the basics to be branded goods and you will be absolutely amazed at how much you can save compared to buying small branded packets from the main three supermarkets. Make sure you take your own bags though, as they often don’t supply them.	Buy your everyday supplies locally. East Sussex farm milk is available from my local convenience store, at approximately the same price as supermarket milk, and even better I know I’m supporting local farms and businesses. Free range eggs are available from our local bakers, at least 50 pence cheaper per half a dozen than in the supermarkets, and again I know they are local and fresh. Use pound and bargain shops when you can, Obviously not everything in these shops represents good value, or will last for a long time. But there are key items, such as Tupperware, cleaning items, kitchen foil and so on that can be worthwhile. When using the big supermarkets be very clear when you enter what it is you need to buy, whether it is cheaper elsewhere and if it represents good value. There are some essentials that are better value in supermarkets, for me these are things like kitchen roll, toilet roll, nappy wipes, (I’m currently using cotton nappies with my daughter but can’t economise for wipes), family yoghurts, sunflower margarine and some frozen goods. I advise sticking to a list, trying to use a basket rather than a trolley to minimise the shop and taking cash so you can work out your maximum spend rather than get carried away. Finally, for good quality meat and dairy products try the local farmers’ market in the town centre on the second and fourth Thursday of the month, or local farm shops. The main thing to remember while saving money healthily is to remember its nearly always cheaper to cook from scratch, stews and soups this time of year are particularly delicious, to try and avoid packaged frozen convenience food, and to have fun trying out new recipes and baking again.

At this time of year especially, we’re all at it – trying to save money. It seems that whatever your budget pre-children, or for some people pre-taking some time out of the rat-race, when it comes to having a family we all need to make economies and can use all the tips we can get.

When completing a budget, whether formally to help with debts, or just to sort out your household finances, there are a number of fixed costs that we can change - check out uswitch.com for mortgages, gas and electricity and phone deals.

There is one part of your budget you can manipulate to save even more money: your food bill. By this I don’t mean not eating, or switching from Waitrose (if we had one!) to Sainsbury’s. I mean buying locally, sourcing bargains and clever planning. Eating well, and eating healthily, is essential, particularly for children, and for tired and stressed parents. I won’t give you advice on eating well here, I’m sure you already know what you should be doing and if you need any tips, talk to your health visitor or the primary care trust.

The first and key principle is to use what’s in season, and to plan your meals in advance to reduce waste. Leftovers can be refrigerated and used within a couple of days or frozen for use at another time, when a takeaway might have tempted.

Vegetables and fruit should be fresh, which ideally means locally grown, and even more ideally organic. Two good box schemes are the Primary Care Trust’s 5 a day, www.fruitandveg.org.uk or www.simplywildorganics.co.uk The first contains mostly locally grown fresh fruit and vegetables, some of it organic and represents excellent value for money at £7.00 a box. Simply Wild’s box scheme is all organic, with various size boxes and prices. Or why not try growing your own, either in your own back garden or in an allotment?

Bulk buying basics can save a significant amount: pasta, basmati rice, spices, lentils, tinned tomatoes, tinned beans, long life fruit juice, tea, coffee and jam all keep well. I recommend using one of the budget unbranded supermarkets about such as Lidl or Aldi for these. You don’t need the basics to be branded goods and you will be absolutely amazed at how much you can save compared to buying small branded packets from the main three supermarkets. Make sure you take your own bags though, as they often don’t supply them.

Buy your everyday supplies locally. East Sussex farm milk is available from my local convenience store, at approximately the same price as supermarket milk, and even better I know I’m supporting local farms and businesses. Free range eggs are available from our local bakers, at least 50 pence cheaper per half a dozen than in the supermarkets, and again I know they are local and fresh.

Use pound and bargain shops when you can, Obviously not everything in these shops represents good value, or will last for a long time. But there are key items, such as Tupperware, cleaning items, kitchen foil and so on that can be worthwhile.

When using the big supermarkets be very clear when you enter what it is you need to buy, whether it is cheaper elsewhere and if it represents good value. There are some essentials that are better value in supermarkets, for me these are things like kitchen roll, toilet roll, nappy wipes, (I’m currently using cotton nappies with my daughter but can’t economise for wipes), family yoghurts, sunflower margarine and some frozen goods. I advise sticking to a list, trying to use a basket rather than a trolley to minimise the shop and taking cash so you can work out your maximum spend rather than get carried away.

Finally, for good quality meat and dairy
products try the local farmers’ market in the town centre on the second and fourth Thursday of the month, or local farm shops.

The main thing to remember while saving money healthily is to remember its nearly always cheaper to cook from scratch, stews and soups this time of year are particularly delicious, to try and avoid packaged frozen convenience food, and to have fun trying out new recipes and baking again.