Credit crunch/economising - what won't you cut back on?

Hyacinth, 1lb of mince is enough (in our house) for four portions of bolognese/chilli/meatballs etc, we usually eat three and freeze one so there a portion there if anyone needs a quick meal. We're quite big eaters between us but 1/4lb of meat is enough in a meal.

Happy meat

Decent coffee/tea

Decent bread

Recycled toilet roll

Sky+ & broadband - although we are reducing the speed of our broadband.

Good ice cream

My organic veggie box- it makes us eat healthier

Decent yoghurts, especially children's ones

Sausages

Coffee

Think that's it really- I'm quite happy to downgrade other things.

Oh yes, I forgot about posh tea. Has to be fancy blends from Whittards - we've been spoiled since we had afternoon tea at The Lanesborough ?

Happy meat

Shopping at Waitrose rather than another supermarket (although I do try to shop locally too)

Organic milk

We have everything own brand here anyway, or whatever's cheapest, since we've both been skint forever and will continue to be for the next few years at least.

I try to buy recycled & fair trade whenever but only if we can afford it. We get a veg box (£10/wk) which I like alot but would get rid of if needs be.

Free range eggs are the only thing I can think of that I really wouldn't change. No meat in our house so no problems there.

We don't have Sky or the Internet at home.

Another for decent meat and eggs. although we have an urban farm near us that sells FR egs for £2 a dozen which sounds a bargain, so i need to give them a shot

i have a thing about condiments, so has to be heinz ketchup and salad cream and hp sauce

i used to have a thing about cereal but aldis crunchy nut cornflakes are fab

i always use bero flour, although tbh i haven't tried ay others so can't comment on their ability anyway. can anyone advise on cheap flour?

and instant coffee has to be m&s gold label as its about the only fair trade one that isn't revolting. don't care about what tea bags i buy though as i don't drink it often <bad wife icon>

There isn't anything I can think of because, if I wasn't bothered about the brand/quality, we'd already be buying the cheaper version. We buy meat from the butchers, Ecover cleaning stuff (the whole range I think!), Roses lime cordial (? - we can tell the difference!). I'd rather eat less than reduce the quality (and that wouldn't be a bad thing!). Not so bothered about toilet roll so long as its reasonable (so supermarket stuff is fine, doesn't need to be the quilted, filled, feathered or whatever the latest thing is). I would cut back on takeaways.

We already cut back on the TV/broadband stuff and got a PVR (so freeview). Broadband and phone cost us £20/month plus calls. We also cut back on mobiles so they cost us less than £10/month and usually less than £5/month for 2 phones.

I'm also amazed people can stretch mince that far. I bought 1.2kg of mince the other day and made a huge batch of spag bol, but it will only do 4 or possibly 5 meals for the two of us.

I cut down on the kind of meat and fish I buy - eg buy mackerel, chicken livers etc, but not on the quality of it. Our butcher had a sign in the window the other day comparing their prices to Waitrose the other day and they were significantly cheaper, for lovely organic happy meat.

I recently tried washing tablets and washing-up liquid from Lidl and it just didn't work so I've gone back to Fairy/Ariel. I also won't buy cheap loo roll. I've found that the cans of tomatoes my corner shop sells (c.60p) are just as good as Sainsbuggers (90p) - I don't see the point of buying "value" tomatoes as they've got loads of extra added water that you have to cook off.

?I have to drink proper Ribena - the other makes just are not right

I need to use Persil washing stuff as its the only brand that doesnt affect my skin.

Everything else I can buy own brands or cheaper versions of - Oh but I do like free range eggs not the caged ones

I can make mince go a long way too. I always have loads left over as I bulk it up with lentils, tomatoes, veg etc and freeze it however I've used it. Its ace for nights when I've been working and neither of us can be bothered to cook properly.

I won't scrimp on soup, I prefer heinz. I also prefer Warburtons or kingsmill bread, not fussed at all on cheap bread. Washing powder is normally branded and conditioner is own brand but if we're on a tight month I get a cheaper version then switch the conditioner to comfort as that's cheaper but a way around the nice smell. Also always have Flora marge, I love Flora on crackers, YUM.

Always get smartprice or equivalent beans and chopped toms so can't scrimp down there! Neither do we have sky, freeview has cbeebies, skysports news and E4, that's all that matters, we're easily pleased ? If we were to scrimp the first place I'd look at is our pop and birds eye frozen stuff and get non-branded.

Incidentally, I stopped using fabric conditioner months ago. It's made no discernible difference to my quality of life ?

Happy meat and eggs, Yeo Valley yoghurt, coffee beans and decent bread. Oh, and wine!

We haven't cut back so much on the quality, just the quantity, eg don't have a meat-based evening meal every day, which we used to do. Also tend to be making more things from scratch, like bread, cakes, pizza bases etc, with better quality flour, local free-range eggs from up the road etc, and seeing what we can get from our botched veg patch! Basically trying to steer clear of supermarkets apart from a once-a-month trip to waitrose/online Tesco shop if they have a money-off thing going on and getting things locally as and when we absolutely need them (eg meal plan for week then off to butchers). Also buying cheaper cuts of meat, shin of beef etc, pork belly, which I'd forgotten how good it tasted, and getting branded cleaning gear from bargain shops. I prefer doing it like this, but the 'less is more' approach has had zero affect on my waistline!

This is a really interesting thread!

I've always been a cheapskate shopper irrespective of budget, and have happily bought own brands and indeed 'value' brands, so in general cutting back isn't a new thing for me. There are a few things I can think of that I would't downgrade on:

Bread - has to be Hovis Rich and Roasted

Mayonnaise - Has to be Helmans

Mince - has to be Lean Steak, otherwise too greasy as another poster said

Cereal - Kelloggs Frosted Wheats - I love 'em and there isn't an own brand equivalent

Wine - more in volume than quality - I probably buy 3 or 4 bottles of Sauvignon Blanc a week and would not want to cut that out, but I do buy cheap, something like Tesco Chilean Sauvignon for £3.78 a bottle if there's nothing better on offer.

Other than that, I have particularly downgraded the following:

Douwe Egberts Gold Instant Coffee - £3.10 - Tesco Gold Instant Coffee - £1.26 (not AS good but okay)

Ordinary Loo Roll, about £1.75 for 4 rolls, to Tesco Value Loo Roll - 12 rolls for about £1 - bargainous

Normal pasta at around 84p for 500g to Tesco Value Penne Quills... 19p for 500g - no different than other pasta as far as I can tell

Tesco Value Tortilla Chips - 17p for 150g ? and flippin lovely to boot... ?

As others have said, couldn't give up expensive telly or broadband, and our family gym membership comes in around £200 a month but we use it all the time and that would be one of the last things to go.

I made a lasagne with an 800g pack of steak mince at the weekend and it did Saturday's dinner for 4 with salad, coleslaw and ciabatta etc. and Sunday's dinner with Jacket potatoes and carrots, with second helpings for son and husband.. Like CD said, I always finely chop onions, garlic and other veg to cook with the mince as well..

Am I the only one who doesn't buy happy meat or eggs.

The price of happy meat is too high for my budget unfortunately. I also shop in Lidl (transfer their 40p tomato ketchup into a Heinz bottle, and no-one here has noticed!)

Toilet roll and cat food are the only things I wont downgrade on - the cats won't eat the cheaper food so it is a waste of money, and loo roll has to be my only vice!

I won't compromise on meat or fish. There's no butchers which are convenient for me so I have to buy it in the supermarket, but the 'cheap' supermarket ranges have so much water added it's ridiculous. The more expensive meats are OK though.

We used to save by having a non-meat meal a couple of times a week, but that's quite difficult now as they'd usually involve types of cheese which I can't eat now.

I also won't buy anything other than free-range eggs, but we don't use eggs very often.

Persil washing powder as one or all of us react to other brands.

If we buy coke, it needs to be coca cola.

I'd rather not eat meat than eat cheap cuts. I'm particularly squeemish about chicken (thighs, legs etc) and can really only cook chicken breasts or whole chicken which MrC has to debone.

The kids must have good brown bread, and fresh fruit.

Beyond that, I can't think of anything. We've, in the past, lived on pasta and tins of tomatoes as a main meal, so I know we can survive on very little in the way of luxuries.

There's not much I wouldn't economise on. 'Cept the cat food, good to be the decent stuff, as our four furries will all refuse to eat the cheaper stuff and it just gets left. And coffee (Gold Blend) - I don't drink lots of it but am attached to my morning brand of caffeine!

Other than that - nope, will buy whatever is on offer and looks good value. We use the slow cooker lots, and make a lot of pasta / rice / pulses based dishes which are cheap, nutricious and filling.

Nope, bobbly1 - I don't buy happy meat or free range eggs either... I suppose if cost were not an issue at all and 'happy' products cost the same as their unhappy equivalents then I would do, but as they don't I am happy to buy whatever is the cheapest. I buy value frozen chicken breasts and tesco value eggs. I don't buy value mince as it's too fatty, but if it wasn't and it tasted good then I would.

Tesco value eggs are £1.49 for 15. In a normal week we get through at least this as my children like omelettes, pancakes, boiled eggs for breakfast etc., but as I also do a cake stall for the school every month, so this week I have bought and used 45 eggs in total... if I had to pay free range prices it just wouldn't be economical.

Thank goodness for that! - I was beginning to feel bad!

I also get the value eggs, either Iceland or Tesco like you.

Meat will be whatever is on offer, bogofs etc.

Nope. We don't either. I'll buy free range eggs if I'm doing the shopping. If OH does it then he buys bog standard ones. The meat we get is normal Tesco stuff, I'll get free range/organic/Finest if it's on offer otherwise not.

We try to buy happy meat/eggs but atm it doesn't always happen

Ah, that's the other thing. Eggs. I won't buy battery eggs.

School jumpers by the look of things. Grump.

Because we've moved country, not only have I been forced to change brands (cause they just don't have them here) but in the majority of cases the same can be very expensive compared to the UK (it'll be the 25% VAT that'll do it!)

But things I won't change:

Heinz ketchup - the danish stuff just isn't the same and I refuse point blank to have it in my house!

Ecover cleaning products

Meat wise, I do buy expensive meat here but invariably I'll get a big pack so that I can freeze a load e.g. mince, and get more meals. I bought a joint of beef for a roast dinner (cost £12 and it was tiny), but I made a roast, beef curry, cottage pie and a stew out of that, so in the end it cost about £3 per meal so £1.50 per person. I also do the same when I buy a chicken, we'll have a roast, a chicken curry, either chicken salad or something and then I'll make a stock with the carcase (sp?) and whatever meat is left and make soup which when I do a big batch will last us for a few days.

I shop online at Tesco and half the list has 'value' in front of it ? I'm sure nobody would know if they ate at my house though... (unless they looked in the cupboards of course ?!

I buy all my eggs from an honesty box at the front gate of a local farm. They cost £1.30 a dozen and are totally free-range - the chickens come and say hello when you get out of the car.

I won't compromise on eggs or meat - has to be british, locally produced if possible. Chicken has to be free range, all other meat has to be ethically produced (outdoor pigs for instance). I tend to buy cheaper cuts - I think chicken thighs are so much nicer for curries etc anyway.

I'm not too bothered about branded things - at the moment I have Bold washing liquid because it was on offer and smells nice. Kitchen roll/loo roll is all own brand (not the value stuff though). I eat Special K for breakfast - I tried the tesco own brand version but was horrified at the amount of sugar and salt in it.

Instant coffee has to be M&S gold as it's the best value fairtrade one I've found. Tea is own brand fairtrade. Sugar is Silver Spoon as it's made from sugar beet and produced in the UK.

Wine is my vice - we tend to buy it from tesco when they have the big offers on and try not to spend more than £5 a bottle. I'd like to be able to buy the more expensive stuff but I can't really justify it. I'm a big fan of Tesco Cava at £4 a bottle!

Butter - it has to be Kerrygold spreadable cos i find the other 'spreadable' butters just don't melt properly

Eggs - we only have local 'Happy Hen' eggs from the farm down the road - the chickens live a life of free range luxury

Dishwasher tablets - our dishwasher works brilliantly with Finish tablets and not so well with any other make (even Fairy)

Otherwise i'm pretty happy to go with whatever special offers the Co Op has on we buy Co Op brand loo roll, kitchen roll, clingfilm, bubble bath, cordial, cereal, bread.... Aside from that i'll go with the offers (washing powder, sauces, pasta etc).

I don't think I would compromise on much food-wise tbh: like SophieM says, cheap tomatoes are just full of water that needs to be cooked off and it just isn't worth the money. Cooking from scratch is a big way to eating more economcally, and when we are skint I just play around with ingredients to cheaper ones. Like tomorrows sausage stew is being served with BNS and sweet potato, which I would be loathed to get rid of for nutrient reasons, but if we were utterly skint, I would just have spuds.

When poor, we just have less snacky yoghurts and stuff about the place. I have never used fabric conditioner, and don't honestly notice, Mr P is bald and Mr Save The Planet, so only uses a bar of Dove in the shower.

Meat from the butchers, lots of fruit and veg and fairtrade stuff would be the absolute last to go. And again, I think I would just stop drinking coffee.

We already buy mostly Sainsbury's and Waitrose own brand stuff but I won't compromise on:

free range eggs

happy meat - would rather not buy meat at all than have cheap meat

fairtrade tea, coffee and bananas

eco friendly nappies (Sainsbury's now do their own brand)

lots of fruit for the baby

Taste the Difference chocolate chip and hazelnut cookies ?