Grocery shopping on a tight buddget tips please!

[Illbefinejustbloodyfine]

I usually shop online at tesco once a week.

I really need to lower my monthly spend, so looking for tips/ideas on how to do this. I know lots of people stock up with bulk buys from places like farm foods or iceland.

What are hour best buys?

I have 2 DC who have packed lunches. They like apple juice cartons, crackers (neither keen on sandwiches) chicken pieces/peperami etc. Greek yogurt. Crisps.

A cat who will only eat Iams 🙄

I cook from scratch mostly but need to reduce the amount i spend. We eat a lot of chicken. Thankfully both dc have just discovered a love for baked potatoes.

Cleaning products/laundry seem to be a large cost also.

I have never enjoyed 'shopping around' but if i know i can go to a particular shop and get a bargain i need to start!

Aldi.

We get Iams sachets from Pets at Home on Click and Collect, with a small discount for a regular order - the box size is 48 sachets so should be cheaper if you're buying smaller packs in the supermarket.

You'll almost certainly save by shopping in Aldi or Lidl. The main supermarkets may claim to price match, but it's on a limited selection and a lot of other things will be more expensive.

If your budget is very tight, things like juice cartons and peperami might need to go, or not be an every day thing. Do you get your Greek yogurt in big tubs to decant? If not, it can be worth getting some good reusable small pots to do this.

I would really recommend Aldi. There is less to choose from so you need to adapt the list on the fly sometimes, but I quite like that. You can save quite a lot by starting there and topping up if you need to, or alternating it with online shopping. There is plenty of veg at good prices.

Own brand big box detergent. Buy whole chickens or packs of bone-in chicken thighs, cook and strip the meat off to use. If DC like ham in lunchboxes buy a joint of gammon on offer, cook, slice when cold (to get thin slices) and freeze. It's not the huge bargain it used to be but it's still worth doing Vs buying deli ham. That said Aldi do big packs of deli chicken or ham that are good value.

For home cleaning I mainly use a solution of washing up liquid, vinegar or citric acid and optionally a bit of zoflora.

Whilst many things are cheaper in Lidl, not all are, so I'd say get to know your prices and maybe shop in Lidl/Aldi 3x a month and get cheaper or other things you just prefer from Tesco.

Might be worth going over the cost of living chat under money, many on there will be able to give you suggestions on what's good in different shops/ideas for alternative cheaper options.

I would invest in some drink bottles and buy larger cartons of juice and decant.