I'm confusing myself with food shopping.

[Whyohwhy99]

I don't know how to do a food shop. Im trying to shop Iceland and asda online. But im confused myself for Iceland I needed chicken skewers because its the only thing I eat. Plus some bits for the kids ie snacks/yoghurts etc. Then I go over to asda online then I start adding things to the basket then there may be an offer on or something cheaper. Then I start confusing myself about whats in what basket . And the prices. Am I buying to much or not enough am I accidentally leaving one child out by forgetting what they like then I end up with just incase Items

Just pick one shop to do an online shop, your totals won’t be that different, yes frozen food is cheaper at Iceland but it’s other items prices aren’t that different from ASDA

Try meal planning!

I found it helps a lot having a rough plan for the family cooking when doing the weekly shopping. We are mostly going for a variety of foods that are seasonal, local and balanced (meat, fish, pulses and grains, veg, you get the point). Of course flexibility is a must!

If chicken skewers are the only thing you can eat why not try to make them yourself so that you know exactly what ingredients go in the seasoning, or even make an alternative recipe out of similar ingredients like a curry??

Interesting challenge!

Have you tried ChatGPT? I asked if it can do this and it replied:

“Yes — absolutely. I can help you optimise a grocery shop across both Asda and Iceland, rather than simply choosing one supermarket.
I can compare:

• Exact products and current prices
• Price per kg/litre/unit, so larger packs aren't automatically assumed to be better value
• Current offers and multibuys
• Which items are better at Asda vs Iceland
• Whether an Iceland promotion makes it worthwhile to shift several items there — for example, Iceland currently has a 24-item Summer Holidays Essentials Bundle for £33.50, running until 31 August. (The Sun)
• Delivery charges/minimum spends, so a theoretical saving doesn't disappear through ordering twice
• Brand-name versus own-brand alternatives

Asda is also currently performing strongly on price: Which? found it the cheapest supermarket for branded groceries in its April 2026 analysis. (Which?) The really useful thing I can do is build the whole basket, rather than just compare individual items. Then I'd give you two shopping lists and the combined total, including a calculation of whether doing two online orders actually saves money. If you give me your usual weekly shop (even just a rough list) and tell me how many people you're feeding, I can build the cheapest sensible Asda + Iceland combination for you.“

The way that I food shop is:

On a piece of paper write down what we will eat for dinner for the next 7 days
Log into Asda and add the ingredients for those meals to the basket
Add the food we eat for breakfast and lunches
Look in the cupboard for if I need any cleaning stuff and add that.
Check out on the online system and choose a delivery day and time.

A couple of things which make this easier are:
-just order from one shop
-ignore the deals until you’re confident ordering and then you can change things around to get the deals if you want
-once you’ve done the first order it gets a lot easier because it “remembers” your previously ordered products.
-if you’re unsure about amounts/weights look at the size of the pack that you already have. If your current pack of chicken skewers is 500g, then order however many you need of the same size.

I done the shop at 4.30am Its pretty shit. But I give up. I'm going to sort my freezer out later. Try and be more organised for the next shop.

Agree with others saying if at all possible stick to one supermarket for online shops. You can then use the favourites/shopping list features and you can also buy a monthly delivery pass to save money vs paying delivery charges for each individual shop.

If you have a delivery pass you can also potentially do a couple of smaller shops during the week rather than having the pressure of having to get one big shop for the week 'right'.