Has anyone just gone “fuck it” now when it comes to the weekly food bill?

[tiredandstripey]

usual disclaimer of saying I know we are in a fortunate position to have this choice.

For so so long now I have used the weekly food shop as an exercise in budgeting. I’m very strict and never spend more than £80 a week (me, DH, two DDs age 1 and 3) including nappies etc and have been doing everything I can to try to avoid spending more each week as the prices continue to climb despite the fact that me and Dd2 have allergies (= more expensive “alternative” products) and DD1 is autistic and fairly limited in her diet (and still in nappies).

I currently shop at Asda and I have been dropping down a product level, buying a lot of their essentials range, and cutting out extras/treats or opting for cheaper alternatives. For example DH and I used to enjoy a nice pudding once a week - a roulade with cream, or a sticky toffee pudding etc - but now I just get a block of chocolate to share instead as that’s £1 instead of £4 odd.

But I’ve got to the point where I’m thoroughly fed up with it. The food is increasingly shit quality - mouldy fruit and veg, crap dates on stuff, boring cheap meals all week long. We never go out to eat in the evenings (we have no one who can have our DDs) and I’m so fed up of never having anything “nice” to eat.

if we wanted to we could afford to spend an extra £100 or so on our food shop a month. Has anyone else finally just accepted the price rises and stopped trying to budget? I mean - obviously we would still have a limit, we’re not made of money (and I’ve just dropped my hours at work so will be earning less from next month anyway). But I’d really like to just allow myself to not choose the cheapest option of almost everything for once. There’s some cheaper products that I really don’t mind but some stuff is definitely worth paying extra for (I’m looking at you, Essentials rice pudding - like eating soapy bath water). And I’d happily forego my twice a month takeaway treat in exchange.

Slightly prepared to be flamed because I know some people don’t have this choice at all. But up until now I never allowed myself to buy the “nice apples” etc and now I’m just thinking bugger it.

I would say OP to do a weekly Ocado shop or M&S if you can get to one, personally I like to go into one as I buy loads of yellow sticker freezable stuff- plus a fortnightly trip to Aldi for some cheap store cupboard staples, cooked meat and yoghurts or ice cream etc maybe - I'm afraid I don't rate their actual meals at all. Very hit and miss but depends how fussy you are- I cook a lot and think it's poor- I know others who don't cook much and think it's all totally fine. I order cleaning stuff online from Amazon - and I know others who do that for nappies.

Instead of a takeaway- get yourself an M&S takeout bag for 1/2 the price and that covers off a bottle of wine or some beers to make it a nice evening in. .

We eat really well but only have a takeaway around once a month and have eaten out a lot less than we used to and now tend to save that for holidays as we never go all inclusive.

@MarbleParched my favourite too- but ideally with addition of a few prawns

I've always thought Tesco was pricey way before covid. Try Asda.

@Cherrytree77 I'm with you on that- I rarely buy clothes, I don't have my nails done or beauty treatments, we go out maybe once every 2 weeks , nice food and drink are my personal mental sanity things

@MarbleParched I'm so hungry now 😂😂😂
Sounds yum

I had my staple jacket spud with cheese and beans earlier but now craving pasta .. tomorrow !

I did a comparison with Ocado and Waitrose this evening and for identical items Waitrose came out £6.80 cheaper which surprised me. I will do this regularly and see what I can save.
I will also get a veg box from our village store and see how that goes.

Yep I hear you @tiredandstripey I have a medically complex DC with a very limited diet, their main meal costs around £4 a day just for them. It's exhausting. We spend around £1000 a month on food which is absolutely massive but I don't have the headspace for anything else.

My son said something “buy cheap buy twice” he was bloody right. I have cut back by planning what we will be eating buying quality food things with long dates, left over lamb gets frozen in gravy. I will only buy lamb if it’s a large joint and £10 roughly a kilo nothing more. Stopped eating steak as I only enjoyed ribeye anyway. I buy a lot of chicken breasts as Asda do those yellow label. Make so much batch cooking stir fry and the like
what the hell is happening with fruit it’s on the turn within a day Ffs so I’ll buy a few bananas but strawberries lately have been total shit.

what I have found is waste has gone down.

I haven't eaten meat for 20 years so doesn't affect me. Before that there was a period when I could buy organic chicken, and I did that. It was more expensive, that's fine. It's all still too cheap.

I buy more or less what we’ve always have. I have started swapping a couple of tins of tomatoes with the essential range of I buy say, 10. So I’ll have one essential tin among 4. The high number is because I’ve started bulk cooking again. Saves me so much time during the week.
I used to do it but then got lazy. Glad to be doing it again.
Tinned chopped tomatoes from the essentials are the only thing I’ve added for now but we’ll see what else we can add.

@Donepaying i love a jacket potato with beans and cheese, to make it a meal that will fill me up for the whole day I add chorizo cubes and a fried egg on top.

it’s a massive meal but if I eat it at about 2pm then I don’t need anything else that day.

oh and with the pasta I do eat it with loads of Parmesan cheese!

If you can afford it, then yes, I would up your budget. Buy the pudding. It’s so sad that the U.K. has come to this (I know we aren’t alone)

We shopped in asda during the pandemic and up until last month. I definitely think that the quality of their fruit, veg and meat isn’t as good as Tesco or Morrisons, though it is cheaper. I did like some of their products though.

Might be worth shopping around? Maybe pop in to Aldi for some bits as a trial.

My dd also has allergies so I understand how difficult this issue

For a start we need to stop the food policing.putting food on this pedastool of rubbishy snacks or of no nutrition content or benefit.
shaming those that do have the foods the op has belittled on here.
monster munch and crisps are fine.they might not be as nutritional as other food groups but they still offer energy. So do pizzas and pudding ffks.
ther is also hunger being fine just because you want said foods.it called mental hunger and is just as valid and needed as physical.
so put aside the affordable nature discussed. All foods are fine,nutritional in balance.

But I’ve got to the point where I’m thoroughly fed up with it. The food is increasingly shit quality - mouldy fruit and veg, crap dates on stuff, boring cheap meals all week long. We never go out to eat in the evenings (we have no one who can have our DDs) and I’m so fed up of never having anything “nice” to eat.

Yes! This is why I stopped having deliveries. They give you stuff with very little time to use it. Most supermarkets do this, I've found. I now shop in Waitrose and Iceland. We watch what we spend and never go out for meals for the same reason as you. So we can afford to spend more on the weekly shop.

We reduced takeaways but have started buying more prepped/marinaded meat from butchers.

"what the hell is happening with fruit it’s on the turn within a day Ffs so I’ll buy a few bananas but strawberries lately have been total shit."

We're experiencing something regularly now that we've never come across before....mouldy lemons and limes.
We always have a bowl of them for making salad dressings, guacamole and putting into drinks. They've always lasted MONTHS. They are now going squidgy and mouldy within a week.
What's happening? I presume they are being frozen and stored in a warehouse for 2 years before shipping!! Joy!

A lot of the hello fresh recipes have a small
Amount of veg stock added to a base of fried onion and garlic then add creme fraiche and cheese - it's delicious !

That sounds lovely, I’ll try that next time.

I think a few things is happening.
cheaper practises.so less cost spent on storing,cleaning,making products and in the actual products themselves it’s cheaper produce.
even down to how they clean the machines is changing and worsening.they don’t have the time nor cost nor products to clean the big machines that produce and handle our goods
theres the lack of drivers
lack of regulations
brexit. Tories.
bung it all together and our normal items just can’t be the same standard anymore

First Ocado food shop coming tomorrow and I’m genuinely excited 😂 apart from the fact that I forgot that their amendment cut off is earlier than asda so I forgot to update my bloody trolley, FML

@tiredandstripey Woo hoo- enjoy!!

Keep an eye on your emails too and set preferences to allow them - I regularly get £10 off a £50 shop for morrisons and Ocado just sent me 25% off for my next shop

Waitrose has its new vouchers system which you download 2 of every week saving £3-4 p/w. They can be a faff to scan at the till but it works well once you get used to it

None available on mine. I go in if I have those £4 of £20 vouchers.

Yeah, I haven't changed my shopping habits at all, I just buy what I want. It's just costing a little bit more. I'm not particularly extravagant in my tastes though and there is just me and 14yo DC in the house.