To attempt to have a weekly shopping budget of £50?

[LittlePickleHead]

In the last few months of saving for a wedding and a lot of expensive things coming up, so for the next few months I'd like to try and stick to a £50 a week budget for me, DP and 2yo DD.

I know this has been done before, but really looking for tips on how to do this, or whether I am being completely unrealistic!

I'm having to give up my beloved Ocado for a while and switch to Tesco (not really a fan TBH), but I've just used mySupermarket and managed to get a shop for just under budget, although haven't had to buy washing powder this week (though this does include nappies).

Anyone else manage on this small amount? I usually spend around £80 at Ocado, not including any alcohol...

ah Approved Food! I have a love/hate relationship with them. They do have loads of stuff really cheap but quite often it's crisps/biscuits/chocolate that we don't usually buy but because they are so cheap, I get them, then end up scoffing it all!
I really rate their customer service. I ordered some jars of pasta sauce and when they arrived the safety button on the lids had popped up (I'm really not fussy about best before dates etc but I draw the line at popped up lids!) I emailed them and they refunded the cost very quickly and with no fuss.

Washing powder, washing up liquid, cleaning products, toilet roll, toiletries will eat into £10 of that a week easy.

So you theoretically want to eat on £40 a week.

Buying fruit n veg in London is so cheap - in our local sainsburys, a mango is £2. Any local market will sell you 2, sometimes 3, for £1. Not sure where you are in London, but everywhere you go, shops sell bowls of fruit for £1. So much cheaper!

Have read the articles and am relieved that one says 50 for 4 is impossible if teenagers are involved. I could may be achieve 80 - 90 and possibly less if I didn't work full time and had time to shop around. But I don't need to and we all enjoy nice food which includes fresh coffee, a tub of Ben and Jerry's here and there, a decent joint, a few olives, and a glass of wine (not the dc) and why shouldn't we. If I wanted I could scrimp and shove it in the building society rather than in the fridge but what pleasure would the family get from the that. The DH's didn't, both SILS moved abroad and even the DH says "we were deprived but at the time we didn't realise". It would have been a pity had there been a shortage of funds but there was just an ample supply of meanness.

Agree. Our dc eat our leftovers! Looking forward to having two teenage boys and a teenage girl... Eeek.

You can do it. We probably spend about £50/week for a family of 4 adults and 2 children under 5. We shop at Tesco. That doesn't include nappies though.

My DH bought me a book called 'Economy Gastronomy' which has some good tips on making the most of your ingredients and batch cooking but creating different meals as you go, rather than having to eat the same meal 4 times over, iyswim.

Im going to have a blast at trying to have a very minimal shopping bill this morning.

99p stores for stuff like household cleaning bits.

Lidl for fresh fruit/veg

either sainsbury basics or morrisons for everything else.

normally spend £200 every fortnight so will report back with my findings!!!

lentils are good for bulking out shepherds pie etc.
veggie night.
fishcakes are cheap to make
prawns are cheaper than you'd think...

Re online shopping - I'm not sure how you "miss" the special offers. That's where to start your shop. Go to the offers section, and buy 7 meals - eg fresh chicken goujons on bogof, that's two meals. Add special offer mushrooms and broccoli. That's two meals for, say, £4. Do this for 5 more meals, thinking about use-by dates, etc. Buy some tins of things like pinto beans and chick peas to use as veg later in the week when the fresh stuff may have gone off.
There are always offers on washing powder/liquid etc. I usually spend £80 a week, inc nappies and wine and beer, but my savings are always at least £40, as I try to only buy special offers if possible.

Op how did you do?

We spend £100 every two weeks for two adults and 5 children under 6. We top up milk, bread and fruit in the week so probably spend another £10-£15. I shop at Tesco.

Most people on here don't seem to like Lidl but I love it their fruit and veg is usually ok and the meat is fab. I love their muesli and coldslaw sp? is greta and their jam and fruit juice is second to none

One thing that actually helps me is not meal planning. I just buy lots of what's on sale/cheap in bulk and make it work. :) A lot of my best recipes have been invented by looking around and thinking, "ok, I'm not going to the store no matter what, so what can I make out of what I've got?"

I don't meal plan before I go shopping.

I decide what "basics" I need - cleaning stuff, rice, pasta, tins and then do the reduced bit for cheap meat, and then look the offers.

I take a notepad and write down each meal as I get it, and mark down for lunches.

I've been doing some shops at lidl recently - much cheaper than tesco. Tesco have noticed though - last lot of vouchers I got bonus points vouchers for loads of the stuff I've been buying from lidl: loo roll, preserves/spreads/ fruit/ cheese etc

Oh the Lidl jam is lovely and the cheese is usually cheap as well

I am on a total economy drive so we'll be eating out of the freezer for the next millenium few weeks

We run on £30 a week for 2 adults 8 yr old DD and of course the dog. Honestly, we eat better than people with twice our budget. This mornings breakfast was Bacon and Mushroom cobs with Tesco Finest Oak smoked streaky bacon (reduced 1.16 for 16 slices) and dinner will be Roast Chicken, Roast Potatoes Yorkshire puddings, sausagemeat stuffing, carrots and corn on the cob. DD will eat at least 2 ice-creams and frubes between then and now too.

Our ice creams were 77p for 8 Mini-Milk knock offs and the frubes were 70p a pack in ASDA. The chicken was £2.60 for a free range organic jobbie. We buy a whole lot of reduced food and always always cook from scratch. If I want Ben and Jerrys I wait til its £2 a tub which it is right now in Sainsburys I bake everything else and we throw away very little it either goes in a pie/soup/the dog or the freezer.

Its perfectly achievable but its taken me years to perfect it. We never eat take outs either instead I make our own including the most amazing doner kebabs from 'The Takeaway Secret' everyone I know remarks on how low our shopping bill is yet how well we eat MIL spends £60 a week on her and FIL but they only eat processed food.

Just to say re freezer space we have this tabletop freezer and it's great. Loads of space and you can put it on the worktop.

Am setting myself a challenge from next Thursday (when I expect supplies to run out). Have also checked Aldi and Lidl and it's a no go - live in London and traffic is the problem not distance: Aldi is at least an hours drive there and another hour back; Lidl 30 minutes there and 30 minutes back. Am going to set a target of 65 and see how we go for 7 days. DH is away at the weekend so might get away with it. Will keep you posted.

What do people think of the nappies from Aldi? Am looking round as currently pg ( a while to go yet but I like to be organised and know what I can get cheap!). I used to use Asda ones for DD but didnt ever go to Aldi then. Now I frequent it often. Normally for bread, pasta, rice, cheese, pizza etc when am passing. I tend to buy a couple of frozen pizzas, and some chicken things as am at work and just too tired to cook from scratch every night! Quite often manage to do weekly budget of £50 for 4 of us and the dawg.

I found both aldi and lidl nappies fine.

I found both aldi and lidl nappies fine.