If you spent under £60 a week on grocery shopping

[QforCucumber]

What do your meal plans look like?

There are 3 of us at home (2 adults and an almost 3 year old) 2 cats. Including everything, packed lunches and evening meals, snacks, nappies etc. I'd like to get our shop under £60 a week consistently and never seem to get it right. Always end up around the £70-80 mark.

[Pixel99]

Nappies aren't cheap so that will add to your costs.

Are you including wine / alcohol?

There will be other posters with better ideas or plans, but I do an online shop, which allows me to see my running total. You can also look on the supermarket website for food on offer. If I start to look like I am spending too much I'll see what I can cut back on.

Also look at the supermarket own brands as they will be cheaper and quite often taste just as nice if not better than the branded items (ie baked beans).

Do you bulk buy and cook and freeze meals as this could save you money.

For snacks have you tried looking at places like B&M / Lidl / Aldi as they might have snacks that you like and are cheaper. Is it cheaper to make some snacks? I make chocolate chip cookies that are as good as you can buy and are relatively cheap to make.

Also another bonus with an online shop is you can see what is going in and not add unnecessary extras.

[wizzywig]

I think 'my supermarket' allows you to do a price comparison on your entire food shop

[JustWingingLifeAsUsual]

We are also a family of 3 - my husband, myself and my 2 year old. We do not have any pets though!

I spend approximately £40-£50 a week on food shopping and that includes nappies and baby wipes.

First of all, I always get my main shopping in Aldi. Aldi is brilliant value for money, their super 6 that they have on every week helps to introduce fruit and vegetables into our diet as they are so cheap! Each week I stock up on plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, plus dairy products like cheese, yogurts and long-life milk.

Our typical meal plan looks like this:

Monday: Hunters Chicken with chips and salad

Tuesday: Butternut Squash Curry with Rice

Wednesday: Meatballs and Pasta and vegetables or salad on the side

Thursday: Chicken Katsu Curry with rice and broccoli

Friday: Fish and Chips with Mushy Peas (sometimes we do get a takeaway but very often we just do it from home)

Saturday: Burger Night

Sunday: Roast Dinner

Like I said, it varies each week but each meal I always put vegetables in. I use frozen vegetables to put on the side because it is more convenient and cheaper! For lunches, will be chicken sandwiches (buy a whole chicken, cook it in oven then shred it once cooked and save it for the week to nibble on or put into sandwiches).

Of course my shopping budget can increase if I end up buying things from the aisle but otherwise our actual food shopping is around £40-£50 a week mark.

I must say, with two cats to feed as well I don't think £60 sounds too bad! But always go for discounted stores and take advantage of the super 6. They also do cheap pet food which is just as good as branded food!

[Lisaturtle]

We are 2 adults, a toddler and a baby. I spend £45-50 a week shopping anywhere from Aldi to Ocado! These things help:

• unbranded whenever possible, spaghetti, tuna, tinned tomatoes, things where you wouldn't know the difference!

• frozen vegetables
• bulk buy non-perishables or things like cheese if they are on offer
• massive packs of washing powder/dishwasher powder/ toilet rolls and they will always be cheaper per unit
• shop morning/midday or late evening to pick up reduced meat. Then put it straight in to the freezer when you get home. Savings on meat can be huge.
• go back to basics and look at the price per unit or price per 100g for all products. This is the only way you will get the best value. Labelling on shelves isn't always great but usually possible and much easier of doing an online shop.

[Notreallyhappy]

This week I spent 45.

Cod chips & peas
Chicken curry & rice
Steak mushrooms potatoes
Sausage mash veggies
Chicken pasta bake
Minced beef pie with veg

Overnight oats & Greek yogurt for breakfast, fruit x 2 bits for OH for work plus some chilli or curry meal in the freezer.
There are pork steaks left to use which would do with roasted veggies etc on Sunday.
I did have a 2.50p ham left that I cooked for sons work packed lunch.
House of 3 adults...no vegetarian options

[QforCucumber]

these are great ideas, thank you.

The issue with going to lots of different shops is time, we both work full time and do the food shop on a weekend usually, I think I'm going to look at online shopping as when I'm in the shop i tend to pick things up without even realising.

@Shepherdspieisminging DS isn't yet 3 so we don't pay for school meals anyway and won't for a couple of years yet.

I guess I should share my own plan too - see if there's room for improvement - I work on a rolling 3 week plan, changes summer/winter. Currently looks like this -

Monday - chicken, dauphinoise pots, green veg / Shredded chicken (from sunday lunch) Spicy Rice, Halloumi / 'Nando's'
Tuesday - Mousakka / Thai Curry / Meatballs
Wednesday - Freezer Fish and Chips / Sausage, Mustard Mash, Red onion gravy / Fajhitas
Thursday - Salmon, New pots, pesto, veg / Chicken and Chorizo Jambalaya / Stew, Dumplings
Friday - Curry / Pizza night etc
Saturday - Roast Chicken, buns, salad / freezer tea (goujons, chips, pizza etc)
Sundays - Chicken dinner / Toad in the Hole / Meatloaf

[Lisaturtle]

Your rolling menu looks lovely, wish I was that organised! There isn't anything extravagant on there, can all be done within your lower budget.

Online is good for seeing the price as you go along. If you have a Tesco clubcard you can do the same in store. I pick up way less rubbish online!

[Notreallyhappy]

@Qforcucumber my shopping was all from Aldi if that helps..the meats for pie fish portions chicken thighs pork steaks x

[Pebblesandfriends]

Watching with interest, my food bills seem to be spiralling at the moment, I am struggling to keep it under £400 a month ( including household basics look roll tin foil etc). We are two adults and two primary school kids. They have school dinners and packed lunches for DH and myself are made from scratch (including the bread to save ££). I menu plan, batch cook and the £400 doesn't include alcohol or treats as those are always the first to get deleted from my online basket I am just fed up of always going over budget and counting pennies at the end of the month.

[Magmatic80]

Your dinners look lush! There’s meat everyday though. We are two adults and spend about £50/week, and have recently cut down on meat a lot to reach that. Typically two or three meals a week are meat free, and both weekend lunches.

If you only use chicken breasts that can be expensive, can you change to cheaper cuts, or buy whole chickens and joint them?

Frozen meat is cheaper too.

[EssentialHummus]

Aldi/Lidl helps if feasible. I also do a couple of super cheap meals per week that help bring costs down - tonight and tomorrow are a lentil soup and bread at 50p a portion.

[Conseulabananahammock]

I order a big hamper from muscle food every month and a half for 60 quid. Theres 2 adults and 3 kids in the house. Then just top up about 40 a week in aldi. This does include dog food, nappies, wipes and special milk for my son which is 1.40 a carton (about 6 a week)

[EssentialHummus]

Egg, chips and beans is another one.

[Racecardriver]

You eat a lot of meat. That’s why it’s coming out so high. If you alternate one day meat one day vegetarian you’ll see a drop (it’s also healthier, overeating protein can be harmful).

[RomanyRoots]

I wouldn't include nappies when budgeting for groceries, they come under toiletries.
We manage to buy food for about £50 a week and there are 3 of us sometimes 4.
We buy fresh produce and cook from scratch, no expensive snacks and we don't buy pop or crap out of packets.
This evening we are having fish, not from fish monger today but usually buy Salmon tails at 75p each or 4 for £2.50.
Our fruit and veg comes from local market, meat from the butchers, online or local.

[Ragwort]

What about more meals based on pasta or jacket potatoes? Cheap & filling.

[QforCucumber]

We do eat a lot of meat, i do struggle with making meals which don't revolve around a meat tbh. We dont eat a lot of pasta or potatoes purely down to taste, not huge fans so probably not helping. We buy a large tray of chicken breasts once a month from the butchers which is about £18 and lasts the month. Thats alongside our whole chicken. The meatballs/mousakka are batch cooked and always make 2/3 portions.
Jackets/soups are usually lunch foods when at work.
Roasted a chicken last night, had with veg. Tonight we had one of the breasts shredded in corn wraps with cheese peppers onion and mushrooms. Tomorrow the remainder will be used in a curry with loads of vegetables. Though every night has meat its usually 1.5 breasts between the 3 of us and then bulked out with vegetables where possible.

[driggle]

Really interested to follow this. I'm trying to aim for £70 at the moment as it's been creeping up to £80-90 since having DD 3 months ago which also coincided with DS moving up to year 3 and no longer getting free school lunches. That budget includes toiletries, cleaning products, cat food, packed lunches for DS and formula. I buy nappies in bulk every month or two from Amazon and do my weekly food shop online. So 2 adults, DS, baby and a cat.

I was devoted to Sainsbury's for years but they've become so expensive. Switched to Tesco and although they have great offers I find their dates are really crap. So I'm giving Asda a try this week and my shop has come to £66 for 5 meals as we're going elsewhere for dinner on Saturday and one meal I already have the ingredients for. That amount also includes cat litter, which I don't buy weekly, and some treats for Christmas.

My meal plan is...

Bean chilli & rice
Chicken fajitas
Toad in the hole & mash
Ham omelette & homemade chips
Turkey & bean pasta (really nice, simple, cheap recipe I got from Sainsbury's website years ago)
Chicken kiev & chips (already had them in the freezer)

[Doje]

Weirdly, I found that doing a fortnightly meal plan / shop really reduced my spend! I went from spending about £90 a week to £120 a fortnight! I keep milk and bread in the freezer so reduce the odd local shop where you always spend a tenner despite only needing one thing. Any meals using salad I plan for the beginning of the fortnight and rely on toot veg or frozen veg towards the end. I also try and do a couple of veggie make a week.

Example fortnight is:-

Stuffed Peppers
Marinated Chicken thighs with pitta & Salad
Leek tart
Thai chicken curry
Casserole
Home made pepperoni pizza
Lasagne
Paella
Veg cobbler
Fishcakes
Fajitas
Chickpea and potato curry
Sausages
Fish pie

[LMW1990]

2 adults 2 children here (kids here 3 nights per week). I spend approximately £35-40 in the supermarket and £10 at the butchers per week. I'm not loyal to any supermarket and look what offers each have on. I meal plan each week. We always have a mince based dish on Tuesdays, Wednesday is a lighter tea due to extracurricular commitments and Friday is fish. DP and I have an indoor picnic on Saturday nights. The other nights the meat is usually based on what the butchers have on offer. I stock up on tins once a month including soups for lunches, and I buy large bags of scratch cook frozen veg. We don't buy fizzy pop, crisps or biscuits unless it's a treat. No cakes really as I'm allergic to chocolate. I batch cook and freeze.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Feed your family for £20 a week has a meal planner on it.

[Oly5]

You’re all doing amazingly if you ask me!! My bill is easily £140pw

[Star2015]

When we were really meal planning /budgeting to the max we used to log onto Aldi and see what meat and veg were on the super six desk and then meal plan around that.

Nowadays we shop in Lidl and do meal plan, but not around the offers, just mainly what we have in the freezer to use or what we fancy.