The Tesco's Challenge

I was amazed how much we reduced our weekly shopping bill, when we stopped actually going to the local Tesco's store and started to shop on-line. Our average weekly shopping bill when we went to the store averaged £120, now we average about £50 per week.

Long gone is the wandering around, thinking we will try this and that, and wondering if we have this product at home - and because we are not sure we add it to the trolley anyway.

Shopping on-line does take planning, but it allows you seven days to think about what you are eating next week and decide if you really need it, instead of the one hour dash on busy Saturday trying to plan your weekly shopping being jostled about by other shoppers.

Tesco's have a really good website, http://www.tesco.com/ , it is simple to sign up to and simple to use. In my opinion the benefits of shopping on-line are:

• You only buy what you need
• You can plan your meals better - Tesco's have a very good recipe database for ideas
• After a while you become more aware of what you get through so can plan better
• You can see the best deals more clearly
• Sort relevant products easier by price to see the bargains

This blog will only show what food we purchase for the week, and the recipes we make with them. Personally I like to buy base products that I can easily make up into a meal. For example, I tend to make two to three loafs of bread per week, and only buy ready made sliced bread when really required.

For example, I have a thing for homemade pizza at the moment, so I made up some simple pizza dough and froze it, then made up a simple home made tomato sauce and froze that, for a fraction of the price of a shop bought pizza I can have pizza for lunch each day, and it tastes a lot better.

Many of the recipes I use are usually based on someone else's recipes, where this is the case I will post a link to the original recipe.

As with most households we also have store cupboards essentials, that hold spices etc, so herbs and spices may be listed in recipes but you will see they are not on my shopping bill. It is a good idea to build up a spice and herb collection.

Our next order is due next Tuesday, why Tuesday, because the cost of home delivery is cheaper than at weekends, although there are still slots on busy days, but think I would be embarrassed to have my order delivered at 11am at night.

This blog will not compare other supermarket products, but only concentrate on Tesco's as that is the supermarket we use. It will also only concentrate on our food main meal eating habits, so lunches, snacks etc will not be detailed.

So please comment or subscribe with what else you want to see.

Tomorrow I will detail what we had for breakfast and dinner.

Hope you enjoy