To think it's really hard to spend less than £100 per week on groceries

[Myplateiswhite]

I have a family of 4 (one in nappies). I have shopped around at all the major super markets and cannot ever bring our weekly grocery bill in under £100. We are all veggie although do eat fish and this cost covers 3 meals a day plus cleaning products, toiletries etc.
I don't think we eat anything particularly extravagant, maybe fish twice a week plus some prawns or salmon for lunch a couple of times a week. Rest of the time it's veggie meals mainly from scratch.

Genuinely don't know where I'm going wrong. I'm interested in what you spend and also what meals you make?

I was a single mum of 3 and lived on the whoopsie shelf. Meals were planned around offers on meat (not relevant to you) or veg. Now I've gained a DP and have recently come into a large amount of money. I still buy own brand biscuits, can't bring myself to pay full price for a pack of digestives, and had to nip to the shop for some milk last week. I was still on the whoopsie shelf buying up 2-pack of leeks for 12p.

Basics like biscuits, milk, jams, beans, olive oil, etc, there is no point in buying their full price brothers. If it's a taste preference like coffee, ketchup then stick to what you like but don't pay double or more for stuff you wouldn't notice.

We meal plan and then write a list around what we need to make the meals.As we go along we check the cupboards/freezer etc... We buy frozen veg as its cheaper and lasts longer so if you do have a last minute change of plan you don't end up throwing stuff away. We also work left overs into the meal plan so if we have cottage pie one day we will have the left overs a day or two later, or as lunch so then you are only buying for one meal.
We have been managing to keep our weekly shop to under £100 since we started doing it. We do a top up shop for milk etc...
Also,try out own brands - so much cheaper but actually just as nice and sometimes nicer.

I do it at Tesco, sootgremlin, because it's cheapest and most convenient - can't get to an Aldi or Lidl without big time expenditure.

I agree with people saying you need to factor in time/cost. But I don't agree that meal planning and batch cooking are too time consuming. (Shoving two chickens in the oven and then carving them for portions takes five minutes and then you've got cooked chicken to chuck in to loads of meals, for instance.) I work full time - compressed hours so three long days an hour and a half away, one day at home, and every single evening when my DCs are in bed from 7.30-10.30pm (Sun-Thurs). Am off Friday-Sunday. Meal planning means we never have to think what we're having for dinner, we've always got ten-minute reasonably nutritious meals we can make in the cupboard, and batch cooking/eating leftovers means we often get home and don't have to cook at all but still get a decent meal. It totally totally saves time, energy, effort and money. Plus fish finger sandwiches with peas and sweetcorn and tinned peaches and cream is not really a bad meal. Nor is scrambled egg and beans on toast. Nor is pasta with prawns and peas from the freezer - bit of garlic, squeeze of lemon, and you're done. Or pasta with homemade tomato sauce (buy passata - all you have to do is add garlic, basil and balsamic vinegar and it's lovely) and parmesan and/or mozzarella. You can keep all this stuff in the freezer/cupboards if you plan ahead. Totally saves time in my book. And I love it when it's spag bol from the freezer - whack it on the hob, do some spaghetti and you're done in ten. :)

3 adults here and I was curious as to how much I spend per month. So have been keeping my shopping receipts each month for the last three months to get an average.

I spent £266
£314
£167
So far for January Feb and march.

That is for all meals apart from one adults lunch each day as he buys his own. All cleaning products etc

We have a large fruit bowl, often filled from the knocked down fruit

2ad 2teens plus dog here. At least £100 per week to keep everyone well fed.

swan I think the batch cooking/meal planning does save time but it also takes time and it can get quite complex when people are eating at different times/different things and if you miss a meal for whatever reason it can throw the whole thing out of order.

In an ideal meal planning world all families would eat the same thing at the same time, all take a packed lunch to school/work and never do anything spontaneous.

I know for one that my 7 day meal plans often end up lasting 10 days because life just gets in the way and that's fine, but if I am too strict about what I buy as per the meal plans then if we cant, for whatever reason, stick to it there may be lots of waste or nothing suitable to eat when we want to eat it.

I do try, as I hate food waste, but I just don't have time to take note of every bit of veg that is on the turn and quickly make a stew/pasta sauce/soup with it if I also want to have the freedom to do other things of an evening, or spend the weekend living instead of planning etc. All power to those of you who manage it or HAVE to manage it, especially with children, but I think that trying too hard to save money sometimes (if you don't really have to) just sucks the joy out of life.

Just to answer the question about lunch: my dh takes sandwiches to work. I generally work from home; when I go into the office I usually get a take-away soup which costs around £4.

My son's school works to a strange time-table with not really enough time for a proper lunch (two 20 min breaks and finish early) so he usually snacks at school and eats properly at home. So on the whole, the food shop does include everything.

Sevenplates, you really only spend 25 a week for 7 dinners, 7 lunches for you and 7 breakfasts for you and your DS, plus all snacks?

I'm sorry, but I just don't believe that you could have any sort of well balanced or adequate diet from £25 per week for 7 dinners x 3 people, 7 breakfasts x 2 people and 7 lunches x 1 person. that's 21 dinners, 7 lunches and 14 breakfasts PLUS snacks?

Thanks, swan, that really reassuring. Like you, I find Tesco most convenient, and it's disheartening when so many put their savings down to Aldi as it would cost me a lot in time and money to get there.

I have very much the same approach, I'm going to see if I can make savings on tinned fruit etc and put a few more 'little' meals in to the plan and see if it makes a difference.

Someone up thread said Lidl/Aldi do spaghetti for 20p - so do Tesco actually, so maybe it's more having to sift through to the bargains at the big ones.

I agree basinhaircut, I wouldn't be doing this to the extent if I didn't have to, there are few things worse than getting the kids in bed and knowing you've got to plough through the meal plan and order. It always takes longer than you think, and it is depressing going back and taking off nice (but basic) things to get the tally down.

I think it would be harder with older kids who have lives and activities of their own to fit in.

I also can't see how 25 can include any sort of variety of fruit and vegetables to last the week. We don't buy anything really packaged, everything goes into a meal or the fruit bowl pretty much, I make my own sauces etc, and I couldn't get anywhere near it.

We spend a similar amount. When I recently looked to see the breakdown of the costs I found we spend a lot on fruit and loads on nappies. We also don't eat much meat (1 of us is veggie and kids only really have fish and chicken) but things like quorn are expensive. A PP mentions buying more own brand items which seems a sensible suggestion.

Yes the one brand down thing really works, own brand if you buy branded, value if you buy own brand.

We go value on most things from juices, tinned tomatoes, pasta and don't really notice.

We never buy branded cereals, always shops own.

Nappies are a huge cost, especially when they don't agree with cheaper ones.

£25 would not buy our fruit and veg for a week - FROM ALDI.... don't know how folks are getting it cheaper...

3-4 portions of veg a day and 3 portions of fruit - both with plenty of variety (not just carrots and apples)

(sorry - for 4 people)

We eat a good amount of fruit and veg so our diet is pretty good. All of our meat is from the reduced shelf, so it tends to be cheaper than Aldi etc prices. I grab it when I see a good markdown and freeze it, I also do the same with veg. Breakfast here is just porridge (with water), and I eat either leftover dinner from lunch if I'm at home, or just have a sandwich. We don't buy snacks like biscuits or crisps, but we snack on fruit. DS often doesn't eat breakfast and he'll grab something with friends if he's doing sports late. At least one meal a week will be either eating with extended family or eating out, so I suppose it would be 6 dinners in a week not 7. And DH will get a meal with work about once a week as he works late/has a function.

£25 is from my spreadsheet of annual spending, so the figures are right, but due to our lifestyle/eating choices it probably doesn't add up to 3 meals a day for all of us.

Average about £50 a week for 2 adults, a 3 yr old and 11 mo.

We buy lots of frozen veg as it's just as nutritious and lots cheaper plus saves waste.

Soot Aldi nappies are better quality than pampers .

Not answering the question I know (sorry!), but you're not veggie if you eat fish! I am a veggie, and find it a little annoying when people say they are veggie but eat fish, as it makes life more difficult for those of us who are actually veggie, as most people seem to assume you do eat fish.

Technically you're a pescetarian, or you're just someone that doesn't eat fish.

Sorry to derail your thread, just wanted to point that out. :)

We eat a lot of veg, but not much fruit which makes things cheaper - would only average one portion of fruit per person per day.

Ilovefluffysheep I hear you. I know we aren't vegetarian but instead pescetarian. It just seems for whatever reason this word hasn't seeped into the national consciousness. If I'm going out/wedding etc it's often easier to say vegetarian than launch into a whole thing about eating fish but not meat.

My motto is if i am willing to kill it I will eat it and I will happily go catch a mackerel or bass. Couldn't kill a bird or a mammal though.

I've just spent £80 for a weeks shop for 5 at Lidl. Includes a free range chicken,wine and loads of nice fruit/veg. Kids have a school dinner on a school day so dp and I eat mostly veggie midweek. I spend between £70-£80 a week and it includes cleaning,adult lunches,teas for the kids,yogs etc.

This week will pan out as follows:

Tonight Lidl frozen paella for us,bagels,fresh raspberries and yogs for the kids.

Tomorrow kale and chilli pasta

Fri mushroom orzo

Sat home made pizza for all, chorizo and bean soup for lunch.

Sun oven baked fry up( bacon,sour dough,mushrooms etc) roast chicken for lunch

Mon roast peppers with feta and new pots

Tues spicy bean burgers,salad and oven chips

Lidl,not too much meat and careful meal planning helps keep our costs down.

Frozen veg and lowering expectations help too.

The kids won't melt if they don't have blueberries and organic produce.

I go to tesco some weeks on a Wednesday night, this is when we go through the bargain shelf and pick up knocked down fruit and vegetables along with bakery knocked down products for the freezer.

Last week we purchased 6ilb of banana, which made two cakes and breakfast fruit for the week. Along with a carrier bag full of peppers which I then used to stuff. The cost was two quid for both.

I don't meal plan as such or batch cook. I do roughly know what meals I will cook for a week.