To think it would be almost impossible to do a family shop in Waitrose for £50

[MarioandLuigi]

Mum in the playground (who is a bit boastful) was proudly telling us all today that she does the weekly shop for all her family (2 adults and 4 children) at Waitrose and only spends £50. One of the other Mums asked her if that was everything and she said yes.

AIBU to be a bit

Depends on a lot of factors. I can shop quite cheaply in rather upmarket supermarkets, by going along at reduction time, for example. Then, there's the potentially greater freshness of the vegetables, which means you can stock up without fear of them going rotten, if there's an offer.

Even Waitrose has a find a hot date on a Wednesday, basics chaepo range!

I think it would be possible if you didn't eat much/any meat and looked for offers. Waitrose can be extremely expensive, but lots of things are perfectly reasonably priced too.

And you can get great deals on reductions towards the end of the day, when I lived alone I could eat like a king for at least a week for under a tenner if I turned up at the moment they were reducing dim sum to 49p and meatballs and mince to 99p.

I did an Ocado shop (does that count?) online and spent £46 (would have been less but min order is £40) for two-weeks'+ worth of meals for 2 adults and a toddler (and a baby but he doesn't really count yet). Have also spent about £15 in Tesco/Sainsbury's since then to stock up on milk, bread, tinned toms and a gammon joint. DH is veggie so we don't eat a lot of meat and we don't buy wine because we can't afford it.

Lunches are sandwiches/scrambled eggs/leftovers so this is dinners only but this was my meal plan:

TUES pepper risotto
WEDS baked pots
THURS-SUN away
MON veg chilli
TUES ham with apple & sage and mash/spinach dumplings/roast roots
WEDS chickpea filo pie
THURS spinach gnocci w/ ham
FRI halloumi w/ red pepper hummus
SAT cauli cheese & sausages
SUN cheddar & celeriac soup w/ ciabatta
MON pasta with roast veg sauce & olives + mozz
TUES cheese & pepper jalousie
WEDS sweetcorn, feta & pepper filo triangles
THURS mac cheese w/ bacon & tom
FRI Greek frittata
SAT bean & veg soup
SUN dhal w/ bhajis
MON sausages, m'rooms and roots
TUES pea & bean risotto

Plus planning to make apple drop scones and raspberry & lemon muffins

Also have the following on my list as things I can make from store cupboard stuff if needed:
SC toad w/ frozen veg
SC broc souffle
SC risotto
SC cheese and herb polenta w/tomato sauce

And will have the following in the freezer from the same load of shopping:
**chickpea loaf
**veggie shep pie
**tagine
**carrot & lentil soup
**cabbage & bacon soup

so YABU :)

Waitrose isn't expensive as everyone thinks it is for fresh food. Current offer of 3 for £10 for meat includes among other things a pack of mince that would do 2 meals, stewing steak that could be stretched to a meal plus leftovers and a whole chicken.

If you are buying ready meals then no you couldn't shop for a week in Waitrose.

They do do some v good deals - our favourite is their pizzas (lush) 2 for £5.

Also did you friend include cleaning/toiletries in her shop?

The main issue i have is bypassing all the non-essential loveliness - its just so tempting!

I think she must have tremendous self-control. I find it impossible to avoid putting lots of nice things in my trolley at Waitrose.

Actually, she probably shops with a basket, rather than a trolley, so she can't buy what she doesn't need, plus she probably cycles there too and is therefore restricted in what she can carry.

What I like about waitrose is that you can find all the offers all together. Ive just done a £60 shop which I hope will last over a week. All our veg comes from the garden (heartly sick of marrows and we've got 7 left) So shopping list is mainly frozen meat and fish. Flour, Uht milk cartons ( if I dont run out of milk there's no need to go to the shops) butter and marg.

Waitrose frozen fish is really really good . I don't know whats happend to the frozen mackrel fillets but they were so easy to cook.

So I think your friend can do a weeks shop for £50 odd quid, but she might like me, be breaking the dishwasher tablets in half, washing her j cloths and cooking everything from scratch.

Still I suposes its a very homely way of showing off, She could just drive an enormous gas guzzler.

I ment to say all the offers together ONLINE. then you are not tempted with the other stuff.

I never spend more than £50 a week in a supermarket. Even when I was using waitrose. But that's 2 adults and 2 children. Don't think I could do it for 4 children.

But then we don't need to buy nappies/wipes as they are in cloth, no formula as BF, no milk/bread/eggs as we use the milkman, toiletries are still coming from Boots using the points I made when buying a washing machine & a pram from them earlier this year.

If I had to buy all the above things it would probably bump it up to at least £80 a week.

Waitrose being expensive is a bit of a myth. I spend the same in Tesco, (not often I'm in there but sometimes). Waitrose Tesco price match on brands, if you weigh all your fruit and veg. Past sauces just over a quid, pasta bags very reasonable, buy 3 for £10 meat on offer at the moment, own brand cereal etc etc. I'd say very doable.

Maybe she grows lots of veggies herself? That probably shaves off a few quid.

i found when i switched from tesco to ocado/waitrose my shopping bill went down. Their essentials range is really good and has a broad spectrum of products. The main thing i found was that fresh stuff kept a lot better so i threw less away that had gone off, which in turn was a big cost saving

We did exactly the same as Katz above. Plus I think that their essentials range is better than Tesco value, and the meat is definitely better quality!

Plus the lovely delivery man carries my bags into the kitchen which is very appreciated as I'm preg with spd and on crutches .

I've noticed that for a lot of the fruit and veg that it's actually cheaper than sainsbury's at the moment (and seems to be better/last longer) - I've started doing some of our shop in Waitrose and I've been saving money.

I could do a £50 a week in Waitrose if I was a vegetarian who didn't drink..

Depends, is that including cleaning products, booze etc? If it is just food then yes, it would be doable I think.

Beginning to wonder if I was the mum in the playground as my shopping order this week comes in at just above £50 and even includes a bottle of wine

dinners this week - fishfingers tonight; chicken pie tomorrow; roast for sunday; pork stir fry on monday; half mince in spag bol on monday; remaining roast meat in casserole tues; remainder of mince in chilli on wed; sausage and mash on thursday

It is usually more as DH has special diet but he is away on a course all week, however with it being half term we have the usual additional friends to feed.

Will post my list if anyone interested, doesn't include toiletries / cleaning stuff

I wonder if she meant 50 quid or if she rounded down 59 quid to mean 50 quid? If the family doesn't eat 5 a day and very little meat, then I think it's possible. Meals like carrot soup need a bag of carrots and some seasoning and I would assume that there are quite a few meals like jacket potatoes, beans, scrambled eggs...
Today I could do a 50 quid weekly shop because I have lots in the freezer but that would be cheating...

Doable if you meal plan, use lots of veg, and cook from scratch. No bother! The veg and meat are more expensive but have much better flavour so go further.

We tend to do something like this:

• Sunday: Roast
• Monday: Jacket potatoes (with ham, cheese, beans, tuna etc)
• Tuesday: Chilli with nachoes and/or rice
• Wednesday: Tomato linguine with pancetta, garlic etc. With salad, garlic bread.
• Thursday: Pork chops with roasted veg
• Friday: Home made chicken curry with rice
• Saturday: Home made pizza

DH takes left overs for lunch (roast meat lasts a while too), DD and I have pasta, omelettes, toasted sandwiches, sandwiches, home made soup etc.

I get meat, veg and fruit from the farm shop and remainder from Waitrose, comes in at around £45 p/w. I do a monthly groceries shop at Tescos or Lidls, for things like cleaning products, tinned tomatoes, pasta etc.

Thinking about things... Our family drink more than 10 quid a week in milk alone!!

As I always say on these threads, I don't know how you lot do it and I don't know where I go wrong. There are two adults and two teenagers in this house (the 17 year old ds has eaten for three for the last few years, ie, a ready meal when he gets in before dinner and can wolf a packet of kipling cakes in one setting, punnet of strawberries, 6 pack of crisps, etc.).

Admittedly the supermarket shop includes all toiletries and cleaning stuff and wet food for three cats.

We don't live on the most expensive cuts and a typical mid week meal might be spag bol with salad; stir fry with noodles and fresh tuna; oven chips, burgers and salad; a quick chicken casserole with rice and a veg, etc; and at weekends we have a roast and on a Saturday I try to cook a nice family meal. The dc love their puddings and tubs of icecream which could be cut out and I probably buy a couple of bottles of wine and half a dozen beers for dh.

But, the weekly bill is always between £150 - £200 whether I shop in Waitrose or Sainsburys and I do actually try to be careful but the quantities of food and other stuff sometimes seems to be industrial and I can't manage it in one go any more.

DitaVonCheese, can I come to your house for tea? Seriously, I am so impressed by people who do meal-planning, I look in the cupboard and fridge to see what's for dinner about 5.45 for a 6 o clock dinner.

I still like Lidl and can easily get a week's worth of stuff for about 40 pounds.

Married- it's the two teenagers, they are essentially eating adult portions or greater. If you didn't drink, and didn't buy the ice cream, and didn't have pets, and only had to feed little ones, it would be half the price or less, don't feel bad, you are just being a nice mum!

Marriedinwhite. I hope you don't mind me asking and I'm only asking because I'm nosy. Do you mind your 17 yr old DS eating six packets of crisps in one go or a whole pack of cakes? I think I'd be quite cross!