As others have said, bake bread... not only is it cheaper you can experiment with flavours too (Dried Cranberry & Rosemary is nice or Sun Dried Tomato Tomato, Onion and Cheese)For all you serious hard core reduction junkies-Bank Holidays!!!!!!!!!Woohoo!!!.Any time the store has to close its doors and has products that will expire in date prior to the stores re-openning has to sell the stuff,and the best Dept.to aim for would be the fresh meat dept.Poor old Meat Manager has to keep a minimum display on sale yet most of it will go out of date before the store opens again!look for large joints and steaks which you can freeze but think twice about mince or processed products unless you can use them before the dates on the products.(EX-ASDA/MORRISONS MANAGER)
ASDA - 9pm Saturday or after 10pm any other day
rotisserie reduces around 8PM
Lidl - Hour before closing they give away items going out of date
Morissons - Hour before closing
Cooperative (CWS) -
8am or night before:25%
12pm: 50%
7pm: 75%
Bakery and Fresh food was normally done about 6pm at 75%, if it was out of date on that day,or 25% if it was going out of date the following day. Although some things would bedone earlier if there was a lot of them.
How big are the discounts? (If the computer does it automatically, do a rough estimate) 25% for the next day or 75% for that day.
What time is the final, final reduction (to 10p-ish)? For things to go to that price there would normally haveto be a lot and it would depend on who was reducing them, and it would normally be between 5 pm and 10 pm.
WAITROSE - 6-7pm: final reductions on bakery, fresh meat/fish
7-8pm: final reductions on fresh fruit and veg
7-8pm: final reductions on delicatessen, cold meats, cheese, dairy, etc
Shop closes at 9... stuff starts being removed at about 8pm if unsold.
If your kids like ice cream maybe make fresh fruit ice pops with them in the wee moulds? Buy own brand fruit jiuce, pour it into the moulds and freeze. My parents used to make them for us when we were little and now I make them (because I'm on a diet ... err I mean... because they're better for you) I get around 16 lollies out of a 1ltr carton :)
We're in the same situation (skint) so we're doing the same things as you... also, if you like Chinese Takeaways you could always hund down your local Chinese Supermarket (if there's one near you) and but the ingredients from there because it's alot better for you (no MSG) and alot-lot cheaper (and it's not as complicated as you think either). Probably a sin in the airmiles department I know but...
I'm sure there's more but I'll get back to you on that :)