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?

What food op is spending her money on, or even the amount doesn’t matter.

The point is, we shouldn’t be at the point we’r where we’re working full time yet having to scrimp at the end of the month to buy food

We shop at Aldi so not much of it is branded. Breakfast for me is porridge now that it's getting cooler. Few teaspoons of brown sugar and cinnamon. The other options for the rest of the household are toast, cereal, bananas, Greek yoghurt with scotch pancakes. They can also have porridge but rarely happens, we have banana, honey or frozen berries that can be added but I'm more of a veg person than fruit so stick with the way I have mine. At the weekend I'll sometimes buy a pack 8 frozen croissants to have Sat/Sun morning.

I don't drink alcohol so that probably reduces our monthly cost in comparison to some people.

For snacks, at the start of the week either my partner or I will bake a cake, a couple of big flapjacks or the current favourite is rice crispy cakes. I buy a box of the Aldi skinny bars as well for my snack because I'm trying to lose a bit of weight. Like before, we've always got bananas in the house. I tend to then buy whatever Aldi has on its super six that week, so this week it's been pears, and we buy their big pack of wonky apples when they're in too. A big 24 pack of crisps will last two weeks or so. I don't like them but partner and teen will take a pack in their lunch box and usually another after school. The teens been enjoying bread sticks or crackers dipped in Philadelphia cheese (whatever the 95p Aldi version is called).

Lunches can vary. Wraps or sandwiches usually. Cheese and chutney is a common one here, or chicken with tomatoes and peppers, cucumber etc. I tend to have pasta with half a tin of tuna a few times a week and some of the aforementioned peppers and cucumber. On the days where my partner also works from home we try and make enough food the night before to have leftovers then next day.

Weekend lunches/weekday dinners.. I'll usually do a curry of some sort and spag bol every week. We use a rice cooker so no expensive microwave rice packets to worry about. A pack of rice is a quid or so and lasts a month. Jacket potato with beans and cheese. Vegetable stir fry. Sausage pasta bake. Sometimes have the frozen 4 pack of battered cod from Aldi with chips and pickled onions. When it gets much colder I do a chicken casserole every week. 3 chicken breasts, whatever veg I have left over, stock cube, Worcestershire sauce, etc. chicken fajitas to use up any wraps we have left over but we bulk it out with peppers and other bits. We buy a lot of frozen veg to have with our meals, there's usually always frozen peas, sweetcorn and broccoli in the house.

Our trick is to meal plan and make sure we don't waste what we've bought by only using it for one meal (if there are extra in a pack). So we won't throw away the two spare sausages from the pack after making pasta bake, that might get added to the stir fry the next day or one of us will have a sausage sandwich for lunch.

Might be the longest message I've ever typed out. Apologies!

Totally agree.

My DH and I shower every day. He uses a bar of dove soap, I use body wash (the nice one from Aldi) and a flannel. My body wash has lasted me 6 months so far and is still going strong whereas he goes through a bar of soap every couple of weeks.

I use a bar of Dove soap in the shower, and it doesn't last long.

Seven quid for Nescafé??!!!!
A packet of fresh ground coffee is about £3 in Aldi. Get yourself a single serve cafetière and you’ll get about 20 cups for that.

How on earth can a bar of soap give you the ick? Are you trying to eat it?

Yanbu OP.....I've cut my own hair since lockdown to save that little bit more.....prices are through the roof everywhere and for everything.

You can get 4 bars for £2.00 to £2.50, (DOVE soap, so not some cheap stuff that will make your skin dry!) and a bar of soap will last 3-4 times longer than a £1.25 bottle of handwash. People who choose handwash over bars of soap, and then complain they're brassick need to give their head a wobble.

Problem is, too many people love to complain about how hard done by they are, but rarely want to do anything constructive to change things. When you suggest things they can cut out, or change, they're like 'oh no I can't do that, I NEEEEEED that.'

Pointless trying to help such people. They want things handing to them on a plate, they won't make sacrifices or cutbacks, they don't want to help themselves, and they're always on the lookout for other people to help them/support them when they run out of money.

I have met too many people like this...

And it's nicer.

Please can you tell me where in France you were and what you were buying?

We have a home in France and groceries in France have been more expensive than here for a long time. There are product variations and I agree with the prices you have mentioned for fruit at this time of the year because there are greater seasonal and local gluts but the store cupboard stuff is as expensive or more, much of the fresh stuff is as expensive or more: meat, dairy, deli stuff, as are cleaning stuffs and toiletries.

Usually I shop at the Intermarche in France and the weekly cost is no different from the UK, except for fresh fruit and veg and wine. I didn’t see any croissants at three for 1 euro either at the Intermarche or the local baker.

I used to by Nescafé Gold Blend but it’s too expensive so I tried Tesco’s own brand and I really can’t tell the difference. Might be worth a try.

Agreed - this is the point.
I know how to spend less on food. No alcohol, eat dahl and rice more often, etc.

@LuckyNumberFive I do shop and eat pretty much as you do. You're sensible and frugal and I admire it. I add wine and beer at about £12 a week, plus some treaty/nibbly bits for the weekend. Think an extra £3 for a pack biscuits and maybe one of those tubs of mixed olives or something. Always Aldi.

The point is, I work full time in a management position. I work for the government. And I am at the point where I'm having to justify my £5.99 bottle of Aldi wine for the weekend. It's just depressing.

@buswankerbabe but OP posted specifically because she wasn’t happy. So she wasn’t enjoying the moment.

I would definitely move all direct debits to after payday, not much help this month but might give a weeks breathing space next month.

Yanbu girl, its insane

Whenever I go to asda, i'm spending stupid amounts on basics for me and dd x

@whatsausername everything is just so expensive now. we are all in the same boat. pensioners suffering too but rachel from accounts couldnt give a toss. We are pensioners who look after 2 teens grandchildren 17 and 15 still at school with no financial help at all. we are struggling.

I do t deal in generalisations personally I can only speak for myself. . I also like to complain how expensive the food shop is - very true. But when I’m complaining I’m not looking for any help. I don’t think people should have to buy a bar of soap (Dove or otherwise) if they would rather hand wash. My point is the real issue is how can 2 working people (working full time as per OP’s post) are in this position? Too many people are on the breadline. It’s not about making sacrifices and cutting corners - I would hazard a guess that the majority of people have done that (I certainly have). But the question is why should they? Yes I know it’s life, some people are more lucky than others, cost of living, insert excuse here. It’s shameful that in a country like Britain people who are working still have to make these cuts… now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to give my hand a wobble as I am one of those who complain about food shop but won’t buy a bar of soap (said jokingly)

Eurgh so many martyrs in the comments. Why do some people love to pretend they don't mind having to buy food from the reduced section and having one wafer thin slice of ham every single day in their measly sandwich.
"You could easily cut back on the amount you're spending by rifling through other people's bins! Sometimes you can find old chewing gum if you look in the right places - you're not doing yourself any favours and you obviously don't want our advice!!!"

It's not the point is it?!
It sucks. It sucks that everything is so expensive. It sucks that people who work their arses off full time have to even think about sacrificing the small bits of joy they have (like a bloody jar of coffee).

I totally get it OP.

I think the post was originally intended to highlight that there is 2 working adults in the home and still, with rising costs the OP finds it harder to manage some months and has today used a credit card to pay for essential food.
the practicalities of what she bought and what she could buy aren’t the discussion - just how much harder it is to live even in what would be described as a healthy income family.
And if an Op is finding it hard, imagine how people are who are struggling on benefits.

I've had to use the credit card for groceries at least once a month for the last year or so, probably more. And we're not able to pay it back. I'm not going to let my children starve. What else can I do??

handwash - buy own brand bubble bath. that will give you 3 or 4 refills for the same price

you probably have other areas where you could save a pound or two. but of course it's unsettling to have to adjust to rising prices.

Depending on what type of direct debits they are I would have let them bounce and get the food instead.

I understand that, and for a lot of people there simply isn't anywhere they can cut back. There are a number, though, that probably feel their niceties are essentials, not realising their are alternatives better suited to their budget. Or in some cases people will have little to no money left for the food budget but will pay £££ for kids hobbies, holidays, clothes etc and still complain they should be able to afford everything.

If the OP just wants a vent that's alright, but putting a staple like food shopping on a credit card because you don't have the funds to pay it on the debit card is just a disaster waiting to happen. Next month you'd be paying off the credit card with that month's food budget, and the cycle continues and often gets worse. Plenty of lovely people on here who are happy to help shave a budget if the OP chooses that route.

Do you have a social supermarket in your area? They're all run slightly differently but you can get food and other essentials cheaper than supermarkets.