Just had to put a food shop on the credit card, fed up!

[whatsausername]

We don’t get paid until next Thursday. I’d ran out of essentials like coffee, hand wash, toothpaste, chips etc. Needed the usual packed lunch stuff too. £78 in Asda. I have £82 in the account until payday but need to keep it in as direct debits due day before payday.

I just feel bleugh. We both work full time and having to put a weekly food shop on a credit card is just soul destroying.

anyone else feel like this?

We definitely read the OP differently. She didn't say full shop. I took it to mean she's bought the packed lunch stuff and the few bits of essentials needing topping up, not that it was the full weekly shop. She's since now clarified the bulk was for packed lunches and coffee though.

I don't think anyone can help you on here, as you are clearly not going to cut back or sacrifice anything. I use bars of soap because I have up to 10 showers a week - 15 in the summer, because I walk a lot, and am in the garden a lot. My main shower in the morning, (5-6 minutes) then a quick wash down/freshen up in the late afternoon (2 minutes.) I would go through shit loads of bodywash and so I use soap. it lasts much longer.

The amount you spend on packed lunches is ludicrous.

You wanted to vent, and I assume wanted advice? But it doesn't look like you will listen to anyone's suggestions. A bar of soap gives you the ick. WTAF?

No-one can help you if you don't want to help yourself.

If you genuinely manage 300 a month on all food and toiletries etc for a family then fair play. I wouldn't even nearly manage on that.

3 meals a day/7 days a week for all family members? No takeaways or top up shops? So many people don't include all these figures when calculating (not saying it about you but if often transpires that 2 kids get free school meals all week and a top up shop of around 20 ish etc etc).

Prices have gone crazy but what’s wrong with bar soap. I buy dettol or Palmolive bar soap, what is icky about that!?

My weekly shop with two teenagers and two adults at Aldi is about £125 a week

Agree with this - we're 2 adults and 3 kids and spend about that.

£300-350 a month, particularly when it's a 5 week month including everything. No takeaways, two allergies in the household and I can't be arsed with the risk.

That's 3 meals a day, snacks, toiletries, cleaning stuff. I work from home full time so my lunches are maybe easier, but it's two adults, a toddler and a teen.

This is why I asked if OP just wanted to vent (which is fine) but if she wanted actual advice from people who have cut their food bill, or money saving tips when it comes to the food shop then loads of us manage a lot less. We can afford more but I grew up with absolutely nothing so it's a habit to get the best value where I can with the food shop. And no, before anyone asks, no massive Mumsnet salads or chickens that seem to last a week, I've never boiled a carcass for stock or anything 😂

But that’s a really unhealthy lunch, especially cheap processed bread, butter spread, ham and cheese, crisps. Cheap yoghurts are full of sugar and processed ingredients, as is squash. The only healthy thing in that list is the fruit.

Even if that wasn’t a really unhealthy lunch full of processed stuff, people still need to want to eat it. Not everyone eats or likes ham or cheese! No one in my family would end up eating that lunch aside from the fruit, so it would all be a waste. I don’t eat ham; DD doesn’t like crisps; DP and I are on diets so bread, butter spread, crisps, cheese and sugar isn’t anything we can really eat. You can’t just expect people to eat stuff they don’t actually like, or isn’t good for them, just because it’s cheap!

Plus, it’s cheap for a reason - it’s not good food! This is why so many people are overweight or obese in the first place. Cheap carbs, fats, processed food, processed dairy, processed meats.

I agree with this 100%. Hence we have such an obesity problem in this country.

I'd like to see a typical meal plan and what you eat each week. Not being nosey, genuinely curious.

What a time to be alive (written sarcastically)! When we are arguing if coffee is essential (which it is btw - shock horror for the tea drinkers I know) and whether £78 is too much for a weekly shop (it wouldn’t be for me and no I’m not interested in ideas on how to cut back). The real issue is that OP should be able to afford a weekly shop comfortably. Let’s be honest - £78 is not a fortune and also as per the post the food shopping wasn’t from Harrods. Yes, I know people manage on less, but we should be thriving not just managing. Both work full time and (I assume) don’t have 15 children. OP just wanted a rant and maybe some sympathy! @whatsausername I get you OP! My food shop is astronomical - think $800 a week (I’m not in the UK) and sometimes I really resent it. It’s not like I’m just popping caviar and oysters… my biggest luxury at the moment is Coke Zero (not even for me) and olive oil… when I’m feeling really in the mood I get a bit of cheese from the counter which can really tip my shop over the budget. 😞

You suck the joy out of life.

How on Earth do people do a full shop on £75 a week? How? Please tell me. Our food/household bill is unaffordable and we need to cut corners. We are a family of two adults and 5 children but we don’t come in at under £1300 a month?

I find joy in not overspending and using a credit card…

Coffee is essential for some. And a bar of soap can cost as much as hand soap.

@CozyCoupe Yes, the answer to this is not to suggest that we all eat cheaper, crapper food as some kind of moral imperative: that’s a whole other problem in itself.

Food prices have soared because of Brexit, amongst other things. I was in France, Holland and Belgium over the summer break and while eating out there is now comparable to here (if a touch less expensive), food in the supermarkets is around half the price of here and much better quality — eg. three good quality croissants for one euro, fresh fruit and salads half the price of here, fresh fruit juice squeezed on site for 2 euros a litre, wine 5 or 7 euros for decent quality stuff that would be twice the price here! I was quite shocked at the difference. Our supermarkets and food industry profiteer like mad over here; but we also ought to be asking hard questions of our politicians about the wider factors which have been driving up food price inflation.

Wafer thin ham? 😭 I’m not getting out of bed if that’s the sort of lunch I’ve got to look forward to. Not everyone can eat crap.

Well that’s great for you, but some of us like to enjoy the moment and the spoils of our hard work. I think saving is important, but spending is more so.

Martin Lewis has said a lot of people are getting to the point where there’s nothing left to cut. I think everyone in the position of not being able to afford food should consider writing to their MP to give them a real picture of what’s going on.

The energy companies are putting their prices up again..

3 people having ham sandwiches for 21 lunches a week is still 2-3 packs of ham. Even if you carefully unravel the wafer-thin ham to have only one slice per sandwich. (My dad used to make me do that)

I remember, 10yrs ago, that my main shop at Christmas would set me back about £210. That included the turkey, a few bottles of booze, choccie ..... just Christmas stuff.

Now I spend £200+ on a general shop. Its crazy. The price of meat is ludicrous.

I would rather go without than get in debt for non essentials (although agree that coffee is an essential but wouldn’t get in debt for it).

I guess the big question @whatsausername is what changes can you make so that this doesn’t happen again? Can you cut back elsewhere?

I’m genuinely interested in your meal plan.

I think more people than you realise have to juggle their income in this way. I remember years ago, our local off licence used to cash cheques so frequently we would nip down on a Sunday afternoon to cash a cheque to give me enough cash for school dinners and bus fares for DD.
Maybe you already do this, but do you have a budget that you stick to?

I love my coffee but refuse to pay £7 a jar!! We get the own brand in aldi, it’s ok about £2.some prices are ridiculous. Dark chocolate used to be £1 ish now for a large bar £2 something. We’ve spent £120 on a weeks shop (2 adults, 2 kids and 1 cat) a few times now and we are super frugal. It’s utterly depressing.