The price of food is out of control!

[KillingEvesbestmate]

Would it be cheaper to shop every day or every two days? Just wondering instead of doing one big food shop a week?

Yes I bought some from Tesco but they were £2 plus for 4!!! My DH ate 2 just watching the tv. One after the other!
But they aren’t always in stock, our Tesco is rubbish!

Must admit I shop at Aldi but I keep going to M&S purely for their autumn crisp grapes. They’re huge and crunchy!

I bought the last bag on the shelf just before Christmas at Sainsburys. One was a bit squashed but I was desperate!

Are you sure they’re Satsumas and not Tangerines or Clementines?

I shop in tesco and lidl, doing 2 shops per week. I find I spend less doing this as everything gets used up. I follow storage instructions on fresh stuff (keep in bag etc) and look for longest dates. I make soups in slow cooker, add lentils to meat, eat loads of Greek yoghurt so food shop pretty reasonable.

The best way I've found is twice a week. I budget £75 every Tuesday and Friday for a family of four with own brand nappies for one child and do online shopping with delivery using a monthly delivery saver. As the max number of these days in any month is 9, I know my budget is max 675 a month. However, I rarely spend 75. This Friday its 56 for example because there's hardly any waste this way and im not panic buying like I did when I only shopped weekly. I did try daily shopping but I spent more. I tried lots of things before coming up with this and found this the best method ever. I will never shop weekly again because I always spent more and had food waste. A week is a long time to plan for and last with fresh food. I shop online with a list and save a fortune twice a week. I've been doing this for months now and honestly it feels like the best budgeting trick I've ever discovered. Despite spending less than 75 most of the time I've kept the budget as 75 and whatever I save I put in my emergancy fund.

I was replying about big oranges,they're 99p for 5 in Tesco.

There are lots of different varieties of orange. They all have slightly different seasons so as you move through the year you get different oranges from different countries.
There have been poor crops in some areas meaning orange juice prices have gone up and less availability during some periods

I'm very sorry if this is really out of order, but can I ask how much your mortgage is and how many kids you have? It's just that I'm single (1 child) and I'm on minimum wage, so to me 90k sounds an awful lot to be struggling on. Agreed the cost of living is very frightening.

I haven't found that fruit and veg goes off any quicker but DH always shops in person (at Asda) so he can pick the good looking fruit/veg.

Berries go off quickly but the DC eat them the day we get them, and we tend to buy a whole head of lettuce rather than bags of salad.

I find it hard to judge if food is getting more expensive as DC are getting bigger, and DS1 eats nearly as much as I do now

Plan your meals to minimise waste, eat seasonal, shop once a week with a list and don't deviate. Shopping daily increases the chances of adding things you don't need, oh it's only 83p for that pack of biscuits, don't buy reduced price/stickered goods if you don't need the item.

I think this is the crux of the situation

some people will say oh the fruit and vegetables from that supermarket goes off so quickly and others say I’ve never had a problem

its storage and how you handle it

people washing their fresh raspberries in white vinegar and putting in a clean glass container will not have moldy fruit two days later

Of course! 4 children, 2 adults and a dog. Mortgage £1500 a month. Energy, food and housing crippling f

Im going to try this.

The longer I stay out of the supermarket the better, but my family won’t use UHT milk or much frozen veg.

It really is. I've just spent £100 on a ten day shop and not much to show for it. I'm living mainly on freezer food

I think if you go more often you need to be disciplined not to buy things you don’t really need as well as what you do need, or it’ll end up costing more. Or going shopping without a meal plan because you just need a few bits.

The UK is still one of the cheapest countries for food.

At this time of year I predominantly buy canned fruit and frozen veg as it’s not the season for most fresh things and importing them decreases life span.

I don't know whether once or twice a week is better, but the key to eating healthily and economically is meal planning and avoiding waste.

Our weekly shop, delivered yesterday, was £65 for 3 adults, and our meal plan is:

Pork chops and mustardy butter bean with veg.
Beef nachos
Lemony smoked salmon and spinach tagliatelle (to be fair the salmon was in the freezer left over from Christmas).
Aubergine and tomato satay curry
One pot garlic chicken and green beans
Chana masala with pomegranete raita
Super smoky bacon and tomato spaghetti.

Lunches are homemade soup (some veggies bought specifically e.g leek and potato, but also always use up any odds and ends from meal ingredients. Also I bought some cottage cheese and avos this week for a different lunch, plus there's always cheese/beans/eggs for "on toast" if anyone fancies that (fairly rare), or leftovers if we cooked too much dinner the day before.

Breakfasts are porridge (from oats) or greek yoghurt with fruit (fresh or frozen) or granola or eggs or peanut butter/marmite/honey on toast.

Snacks are apples/oranges/bananas and this week lychees as they were on special offer. We don't really buy or eat sweets/crisps/cakes etc.

Normally, including all toiletries and household stuff, I average around £80-100 each week when it's 4 adults, around £40-50 for 2 of us, and we eat very well indeed.

I cam shop for the week ahead. Meal plan. I fridge all fruit and veg except bananas. It all lasts ages.
I do often have to go get milk on top as don't have enough space to store 3x4pt in fridge for the week. And sometimes random things like today was dental floss harps as thought we had a spare box and didn't. But can easily do a week food shop

I cam shop for the week ahead. Meal plan. I fridge all fruit and veg except bananas. It all lasts ages.
I do often have to go get milk on top as don't have enough space to store 3x4pt in fridge for the week. And sometimes random things like today was dental floss harps as thought we had a spare box and didn't. But can easily do a week food shop