To think that DH is being totally unrealistic about the weekly food bill!

[goingeversoslowlymad]

Am getting a bit stressed out about my DH and the grocery shop. Our weekly bill is usually between £80 to £100, we would do a top-up shop of about £20 midweek, so max £120 all in for a family of 4. We do not use nappies, this includes everything including toiletries and cleaning products.

Money is pretty tight at the moment and I can appreciate he wants to try to cut down a bit but I seriously can't seem to get it much lower than this, there are no luxuries in this either i.e wine, magazines etc. Everyone I talk to in our situation seems to spend a similar amount but DH seems to think it excessive.

I'm going to give a veg box and meat pack delivery a try. Also going to order online to avoid being seduced by the offers instore. I don't see it being much cheaper but hopefully he'll stop moaning if I prove he's being unrealistic! What does everyone else spend?

2 adults 2 kids although one isn't eating yet and a wee dog.

I budget £50 but rarely spend it. Meals this week included shepherds pie, Thai green curry, homemade burgers wedges and salad, macaroni cheese. Soups and sandwiches for lunches at home, packed lunch for ds.

Its not hard. We probably could spend more but we're so used to this. And yes that includes household and toiletries. I buy one big item a week, washing powder, dishwasher tablets etc so I never have to buy them all at once.

It can be done but it's probably not until you really have to will you put the effort in.

I'm sure you could cut back, most people can when they rely think about it but you need to weigh up your need v time and enjoyment.

I spend more than you and find when I meal plan I can make quite significant savings but I also miss the choice if I'm to rigid and it undoubtedly takes time and commitment so I can be a bit lazy and ignore the expense

There are 4 of up and I spend a similar amount each week but when I need to but back it's perfectly possible. I meal plan too and have started buying more value products like fromage frais (.it contains less sugar too) and tinned tomatoes etc. I buy free range meat and eggs and plan for at least three veggie meals a week. Occasionally I go to Aldi and stock up on big bags of pasta and rice and other bits an pieces too.

I know you can't be bothered faffing about but if you do the bulk of your shopping online you could use the time you normally go shopping to source other bargains.

You could do an online shop with your DH amd don't look at the final cost until you have everything go your trolley. you might both be surprised!

We are a family of 4 and spend less than that including nappies toiletries.
We get our meat a local butcher. Its better quality and cheaper. We get fruit and the at the market or aldi.
The trick is to go to different places. Dh and I bothe work ft. But think its worth taking the time to do it.
We always cook from scratch. I freeze what's left for days neither has time.

Our weekly shop is £100 at asda and normally between £40-£60 at aldi. Shop at aldi!

without making a big fuss, tell him how wonderful he is, and how you'd value his advice on how to deal with the food bill. this would work better over a couple of weeks, so he doesn't realise he's being played.
then when he has a week off, let him do all the food shopping. don't give any advice. cook and eat what he brings.
my guess is you'll be living on takeaways by wednesday and he'll happily cough up the food money.

We spend between £60 and £70 a week, including our vegetable box and top ups from morrisons and lidl. That's for DH, DS(1) and me. We eat a lot of salad and vegetables and only have meat a couple of times a week. I make most things from scratch and things I make from scratch(apart from risottos) usually last two meals!

I seriously suspect that prices vary according to where you live, there is no way I could do it for £50 pw, I am in Essex.

It can be done (5 of us), but I would exclude lunches in that!

I find its the other stuff (loo rolls, washing powder, dishwasher tablets, bleach, shampoo etc) that hikes up the bill

If you have the money to do what you are doing then it is a lot easier. I have £30 for three of us (one a toddler). So if you have 4 adult sized appetites to feed then it could be done easily for £60.

I buy bulk for things like rice and pasta whrn they are on special offer. I only ever buy meat when it is reduced and then freeze it. I use a lot of tinned stuff to bulk out meals (Chick peas, kidney beans,tomatoes etc.) And things like tuna/hotdogs/corned beef for emergencies.

I do use things like liver (and bacon, yum) and kidney (for stewing steak and kidney pie).

Veggies are bought when they are reduced, I grow some and frozen veggies are a life-saver. I also use our local market for vegetables and sometimes meat when I am passing.

Eggs come from the school where I am based as they have a flock of chickens and sell the eggs quite cheaply.

I have recently discovered www.approvedfood.co.uk/ and order stuff from there which we will genuinely use (and try not to buy anything frivolous). (Thanks boffinmum)

I brew our own beer/wine/mead. I bake our own bread.

Marguerite Patten's War-time cookery books have lots of nutritious, cheap and filling recipes. (And I have a fascination for early 20th century House-keeping books)

I do not have a recipe/meal plan but take advantage of whatever appears in the reduced cabinets at the end of the day. My job takes me all over the borough, so I visit Morrisons, Co-op and Waitrose, all of whom do very substantial discounts if you visit at the right time.

It's not easy, but it is possible. Tell your Husband to try it.

I meant to add, the bulk of our shopping is done at Lidl and Home Bargains.

From reading the later replies I think we probably could get it down a bit. We have meat for most meals so I think I'll try cutting down to say 3 or 4 times a week. Have ordered a veg box and a meat pack for next Saturday, that comes to £40. Going to go to Lidl for the rest and then see where we are after that.

We spend between 60-80 a week, depending on whether we need nappies, wipes and cleaning products. What made a huge difference to our bill was doing it online - no wandering and seeing things to tempt you.

And that's with ocado - could probably be less if we went elsewhere.

Set a budget and stick to it. Be really strict with yourself, if the money isn't in the budget don't let yourself borrow it from else where. If you have any money left at the end of the week put it into next week's money, we do this and rollover weeks are a source of great joy in this house :)
You could also try eating different cuts of meat and different kinds of fish. Its mind boggling how much cheaper these are compared to cod/salmon/haddock.
I wouldn't bother with the veg box unless you're miles from the shops, we tried it and it was a huge waste of money, we found it much cheaper in the local green grocer and we had a lot less waste.
However, as loads of folk have said already, the best way to save is to shop around, if your DH is so keen on cutting the budget he needs to get involved and scope out the the bargains in your local shops.

Oh my! I spend £140 every 2nd week and prob £30pw on top-ups. When on ML it was much lower but family of 5 and both parents working full time I don't have time to shop carefully, pick up bargains or only buy daily.
I see it as paying for my sanity! I am going to take on board some tips though.

RubyGates I thought I was the demon bargain shopper but you knock me into a cocked hat, I salute you
You're doing what I'm doing but for about half the price, I will be taking your suggestions on board.
Where did you get the cook book, it sounds really interesting?

Ruby I agree with you. I had no idea what bargains you can find in the reduced aisle to chuck in the freezer. Especially meat like lamb and steak which can be too expensive for us otherwise. Yesterday I parked in one place and shopped in home bargains, Asda, Tesco then sainsburys for the reduced stuff. I spent 45 in total. Dh had already bought chicken so £50 for the week. I'll probably need nappies and other bits so let's call it £60. That's for Dh and 3 dc aged 6,7 & 1. Packed lunches for all of us included in that

Yes rubygates some brilliant ideas there, thankyou. Had a look at the site but can't figure out if they deliver to NI?

I live in Surrey, & am convinced food is more expensive here, so I online shop at Tesco.
I spend around £140-£160 a week for 6 of us 5 adults (have 3 teens) and one under 10.
My Father eats with us once a week, that's my most expensive meal as It's usually a roast, which for 7 people is a lot of food.
We also have 4 cats.
In that amount I buy all toiletries & San products for me & girls. & all cleaning stuff.
I find by the end of the week there us not much left in the fridge, but my freezer is usually pretty full with all the bargain things I thought were a good idea at the time. I must use them up!
In general I try not to top up shop. If I run out of bread for packed lunches I make pasta salads. ( 6 packed lunches a day)
If I run out of fresh veg I use frozen. We always have plenty of fruit as the kids don't rush to eat it.
My biggest indulgence is the expensive coffee I buy. & the freshly squeezed OJ.
My biggest saving is value ranges.
With things like crisps & biscuits if I buy value ranges the kids won't eat them so quickly, if I but walkers or mcvitties they are gone in a day!

I switched to only using Tesco a couple of years ago, partly because of the Clubcard points and also in the belief that it was cheaper.

Lately I've done a few shops at Sainsbury's and every time it's come out considerably cheaper than I expected. Yesterday I went in with £45 and wasn't sure I'd be able to get everything I wanted for that - total came in at £34.

Do was going on about this also, so one week I bought only the bare necessities ie no chocolate/crisps. Don't think he's moaned since

itchywoolyjumper

You can get Marguerite Patten recipe books on ebay and amazon easily enough - but if you google, there are a lot of her recipes for free on the net.

OP

I think the critical thing for me is storage space - ordinary and freezer. I have a lot of it so can afford the room to buy in reasonable bulk when there's a special offer which they have pretty well all the time. That also means that when I do supermarket shop (on the internet with Sainsbury's) I can go over the 'free delivery' shopping limit.

I also shop locally for small things at Lidl and smaller shops and keep to the list rigidly now. I've saved a lot of money by using the internet with very small supplements for fresh food such as bread and fruit/veg. I was nearly the world's worst impulse buyer when I did big supermarket shops in person: wasted ££££s over the years.