Keeping shopping costs down!

 Once a month we drive 40 mins to the nearest large town where we can do a bulk supermarket shop. We drive to Kendal in the Lake District where there is a Morrisons, Aldi & Poundstretcher all within the same retail park. We literally buy everything we need for ourselves & the dogs for a whole month in one go.

As we live in the country it works out cheaper to shop this way than to keep using petrol to shop locally & unfortunately pay much higher prices. Our local supermarket is Booths, it is only a few miles from where we live but for those of you not familiar with Booths, think Waitrose for the rich! We couldn't possibly afford to do a months shop there, the cost would be at least 4 times the amount we pay shopping at Morrisons, Aldi & Poundstretcher.

 I have been thinking of writing this post for a while but was spurred on to pass on some money saving tips after seeing that A Girl Called Jack has been in the news this week. I have been reading her blog for the last few months & applaud her ingenuity & thrifty approach to balancing her food budget to just £10 a week.

 If you haven't heard of A Girl Called Jack read it HERE.http://agirlcalledjack.com/

 

 

And so for you dog owners on a budget here are my money saving tips for feeding 3 hungry hounds.

This dog biscuit is the basis for our dogs meals. I buy a large 15kg bag from our local Farm & Equine Shop, it costs £10.49 & will last 3 dogs for 3 weeks.

Added to this to bulk it out I mix in Aldi Pasta, 29p for 500g

Then something tasty; this is usually Pilchards 98p (does the 3 of them for one meal / night ) Frozen Chicken Portions £2.50 for 9 (does the 3 of them for 3 meals / nights)  or the cheapest & best value of all Savers Frozen Sausages £1 for 20 sausages (does the 3 of them for 2 meals / nights). The sausages are the best value as they only work out at 5p a sausage, making the total cost of each dogs meal approx 36p. That is based on a portion/ cup full  of dog biscuit, portion/ 2 cups cooked pasta & 3 sausages per dog.

This is Morrisons Frozen Chicken portions £2.50, there are usually 9 portions in here which means they will make 3 days meals for the dogs. If you can get them Aldi's Frozen Chicken Portions are much better value at only £1.79 for the same weight. Unfortunately they are not always in stock.

This is a Pilchard tea, it works out at 53p per dog - one of their more expensive meals!

Obviously to keep all this food we have a large chest freezer & I cook their meals in bulk to keep costs down.

Bon Appetit doggies!