£1,000 at the supermarket every month!

[Sainsburysaddict]

So - have just gone through our finances and we’re spending £1,000 at the supermarket every month.

DH says this is average for a family of 4 and is rather alarmed that I’d like to budget. Spending less can’t be done apparently, without a life of boring meals.

We desperately need to save money.

Thoughts? Tips? How much do you spend?

In reality we probably spend a similar amount because my dd spends about £25 a week on school meals, and dh buys a meal deal for lunch at work. And dh spends in holy amount on wine.

Our supermarket spend for 4 people averages £150 a week and I consider that a lot. I use the Tesco 10% off scheme - so I do two big shops per month - and by canny shopping to hit the big Clubcard discounts I save about £100 a month.

I could easily spend a lot less than I do, but I like to cook from scratch and my dh complains if a main meal is vegetarian whereas I eat vegetarian food several times a week (usually what everyone else is eating minus the meat).

Im not quite sure how you manage to spend £250 a week, if you are not buying snacks and alcohol! I’m sure if you have to you cousl trim that spending.

Something isn't adding up, that does seem a lot. Maybe try keeping all your receipts for a couple of weeks to see exactly what you are spending on. We used to waste a lot of food through poor planning, I have managed to shave £20 ish off our weekly shop just by being really, really mindful of expiry dates and meal planning. I only ever buy 2 or 3 dinners at a time to avoid stuff going out of date in the fridge.

Are you doing shopping at harrods?

I spend less than 100 quid a week for 3 adults and a cat. But we do shop at LIDL not Harrods. And I would say we eat well.

Can you give a rough idea of what you bought to eat last week?
Sizes and quantities - individual yogurts vs. big tubs, for example.
A breakdown of each meal?

Also what cleaning products and toiletries you bought?

Don’t be silly. Fortnum & Mason’s of course.

We're lucky living on the coast, we've a big freezer half full of sea bass, and now we'll stock up on pheasant, partridge, mallard and rabbit because of so many much shooting around here.

I tend to root around in the garage chest freezer and fridge freezer for the protein, the vegetables being in the house.

We don't meal plan now the children have gone but both my DILs do, then order online. They say they save money that way.

Yes we spend roughly the same as OP per month, as I said above.

I buy a lot of our household products in bulk, last month in Costco, we spent £350 on washing powder and tablets, dishwasher tabs, fabric conditioner and scents , toilet and kitchen roll, chocolate chips, herbs, spices and sauces, 20 slabs of water, the boys shampoo and body wash.

£82 in B&M on cleaning products that will need restocked every 2 months.

Fruit @ vegetables we tend to buy at the farmer markets however do top ups in Aldi.

The dog food from the farm shop is £60 a sack for two dogs. The cat food is Lidl.

When I had two athletic teenagers at home Sheesh, they could eat for Britain.

Doesn't seem too outlandish to me. We spend a similar amount to feed 2 adults and 1 DC, but we shop at Ocado and buy almost all organic products where available which inevitably bumps the price up. I guess it depends how much you actually need to save money as your DH doesn't sound like he wants to compromise on the quality/variety of what you're currently eating?

Husband has just gone to Tesco to buy all the ingredients for an 8" square Christmas cake. I'll ask him what he spent when he gets back. Home baking is not cheap these days.

Just wanted to say there’s some great advice on here 👍🏻

Yes I am saying Aldi is about a third the price of Sainsbury’s.

Are you ok 🤣

Family of 5 here (4 adults & 1 primary aged DC). We spend not far off that and we shop at Aldi and Asda, with no alcohol but it does include all cleaning, laundry, toilet rolls etc.

It actually keeps me awake at night thinking about it but everything is just so expensive now. 2 adult DC will not eat 'freezer food' every night (they remind me about this), DH doesn't consider it a meal without a generous portion of meat (will eat a jacket potato with no meat but doesnt want that every week) and I like to cook healthy, nutritious food from scratch as much as I can but food is just so expensive. Even with meal planning etc its about £200 per week and that doesn't include youngest DCs lunch as they eat at school and generally have tea at after school club too.

A roast dinner costs about £12/£13 in ingredients to cook from scratch and there is never any meat left after the meal as they eat so much. Long gone are the days where I could have done fish fingers, chips & beans!

Im following to see if I can pinch any ideas from this thread to reduce the bill down as its not sustainable for us.

Totally agree. Baking is expensive.

I try not to throw food away ..If food is left over like chilli I freeze ..also freeze fresh herbs eg corriander and use later ..I use veggies in honemade soups or curries ..i try not to throw any food away as its money wasted also do not buy many expensive snacks xx

I am dreading having to buy meat, fish, fruit and veg. Due to illness we are having to sell our smallholding. Between ourselves and our neighours we swap and barter. I haven't bought eggs, meat, fish, most veg and fruit for years in a shop. I will the freshness and quality of our food.

I spend about £125 a week for two of us, nice food cooked from scratch, we probably have a bottle of wine a week. Cat supplies come from zooplus once a quarter so not included in that.

Food inflation is massive, I bought two pieces of haddock this week, nearly a tenner.

Another cost saver we still do is buying a big joint of meat, very old fashioned but you only have to cook the meat once. This week gammon which did three meals. One with lots of veggies. Second with eggs, third pea and ham risotto.

If the family is large and the oven on you may as well fill it.

Weirdly my mother and mother in law three children each both chose to bake on a Thursday evening, so tins were filled with cakes, biscuits, sausage rolls etc. That was it for the weekend and beyond. Sunday roast on Sunday was cold cuts on Monday and pie on Tuesday.

I don’t think your DH is right in that it’s not an average UK household spend but it certainly isn’t massively unusual and plenty on here (me included) saying they spend similar a month. In fact ours is more (2 adults two very hungry sporty teenage boys both over 6ft3 in the house).

From what you have said and without a full breakdown I’d suggest making some simple changes first, seeing what you spend over the next two or three months then dialling back more if needs be.

Go to somewhere cheaper to bulk buy the basics- maybe Lidl/Aldi or Costco/home bargains etc. This is for dry pasta,rice, washing powder, loo roll, all purpose cleaning spray etc

Buy meat in bulk, ideally reduced and freeze it. You can make bigger savings by going to farmers or cheaper supermarkets but it wanting specific welfare etc then look at end of the day Saturday in Waitrose and snap up packs of mince etc when near to use by date.
Also for meat do mince, whole chickens etc and stop any purchases of expensive cuts.

Bake your own cakes. Stop buying any snacks or biscuits or little nibbles and make two big cakes a week (or whatever your family needs). This costs me very little but means there is always something to satisfy a sweet tooth with a cuppa or end of a meal - my lot could eat an entire multipack of biscuits in one sitting and it all adds up

Buy larger pots of eg yoghurt not fancy min pots like muller corners. Make compote from frozen berries.

everyone drinks water and don’t buy any fizzy drinks or fruit juices. If needs be get some cheap squash.

Make two evening meals a week cheaper ones eg big pasta bakes, jacket pots with all the toppings. It’s so much cheaper, no one notices, it’s also quick to cook so win win

Look at lunches and breakfasts and cut out the expensive stuff like cereal.

I think you’re misunderstanding me. You spend £240pm in Aldi. So you’re not spending more than £100 in a single shop are you. Even if you have the best part of a trolley (3/4 bags).

In Sainsbury’s I can be charged the best part of £100 on a single carrier bag. Walking through the door is going to cost about £60 minimum for a small top up.

We spend the same, mostly organic and whole foods, no meat, no alcohol. I prioritise good quality foods over other things and shop at charity shops and vinted for clothes so it balances out.

We had a smallholding, God I miss the eggs. We still make jams though, people never know what to do with their fruit trees these days. So plum, damson and crab apples are used here. The veggies I don't miss nurturing. 😂

We still grow tomatoes, I made eight jar equivalents of pasta sauce with the tail end of the crop

£82 every two months on cleaning products seems excessive!