To think husband's spending is excessive!

[CornishDoll82]

We need to cut back on spending as I'm still on maternity leave and going back part time hence losing a chunk of salary. My husband does the food and grocery shopping for the week and I've realised he's spending around £220. I think this is massively excessive and we should be able to do it on about £120 therefore saving us £400 a month - but he's insisting this is normal and it would be hard to cut it. There are us two and a 11 month old baby.

Who's right? What do you spend?

I am obsessed with ketchup, and I regularly make DH do me a blind tasting test. I tend to prefer the Aldi stuff to Heinz.

For 'big' things I check www.hotukdeals.co.uk or www.mysupermarket.co.uk to see where things like washing powder are cheapest.

MySupermarket is fab because as well as telling you which supermarket is cheapest for your shopping list, it also gives you suggestions for how you can save more money by switching to own brands or where buying a bigger pack is better value, etc. Maybe give it a go and see if it makes any difference to your totals.

I love those £8 ready meals from Waitrose, although we've only had them when we've been lucky enough to spot them reduced to 99p - finding the magic hour where they reduce everything in Waitrose is amazing

We use Ocado two or three times a month and usually average about £80 a go (with top up shops at Asda/Sainsburys and Lidl) which probably comes to about £120 a week (2 adults and 2 young children).

They've started selling the waitrose 'a little less than perfect' range for some vegetables which is worth looking at and stuff has been fine that we have ordered.

Sorry if already mentioned but are you paying a lot for delivery or have you got a smart pass, as that might reduce the weekly cost.

Ocado do a 'flash sales' thing right before checkout and I often pick some good deals up from there then menu plan around them.

If you are spending quite a bit on wine you could always try ordering from Aldi online www.aldi.co.uk/wines/c/wines They have free delivery offer on at the mo. Not tried this myself as we usually buy wine from lidl or asda in store.

I can see how easy it is to spend £££ via Ocado but I'm sure you'll be able to reduce your bill.

I think cooking your own is the thing that would make the biggest difference. For example if you pay £8 for a chilli con carne ready meal for two, that's £4 a serving. I make my own for £1 a serving. I make a batch that has 6 large adult portions in for £6.09 including all ingredients (right down to spices and tomato puree). I then freeze the extra portions in the freezer. Its really yummy too.

lolly interesting that you find their flash sales good. They always seem to offer me rubbish like ice creams or pet food (no pets)!

I have a smart pass which is unlimited delivery for £10 a month

Ha, see I told them their delivery was getting too high, so we have a smart pass for free now!

Late to reply, but in answer to questions upthread a magic chicken is a nickname for the famed MN chicken that can stretch to feed a small army for a fortnight. If you are cooking the magic chicken way, you get a decent sized bird and try to stretch as far as possible, including stock. And you choose some meals that use less meat. I find this easier with a better quality chicken from a butcher, you seem to get more meat and definitely more stock off them. So it can work out cheaper. OP you could also pick up decent steak for cheaper at a butcher.

So for example in OPs scenario, when our household was 2 adults and 1 solids eating baby, we'd cook a biggish chicken and have a roast dinner one night. Then do a curry with the leftovers and lots of veg, which you might get two nights out of, or a chicken fried rice. And boil the bird for lots of stock to make soup or risotto. Or people do rissoles, pie etc. Rather than eg roasting a smaller bird, eating chicken breasts for a chicken dinner or using a big bird for two chicken heavy meals. IYSWIM. Most of these things are pretty easy to do OP, it's just taking the time to learn. I am a decent cook but nothing special, and I was rubbish til I learned. But I can do all these things. You also probably need freezer room if you're going to become a magic chicken method devotee, unless you're ok with eating chicken meals for 4 nights running which a lot of people aren't. Yes blondes it sounds like this is pretty much what you're doing, although I take your point that the chicken's magical powers evidently deserted it around the time it ended up in your oven...

The flash sales changes pretty much daily, I add to my list throughout the week and see different offers added to the flash sales page, some of the things are amazing!

I completely agree about not physically going shopping. I only ever do that for "fun". The boring weekly shop comes to my door, and it's great!

I also find it way easier to meal plan with an online shop. And I think for OP the meal plan is the thing. It is also for me! If it looks like the overall price is too high, you can go back and either change an ingredient or change a whole meal.

You can also play meals off against each other, i.e. one day might be a nice simple HM soup + bread (also DD2's favourite, happily!), then another is a more "meaty" night - then overall the costs average out OK.

I would have difficulty going over £100 pw, and that's being normal rather than frugal, and with a few non-food things in there. Meal planning is key (shall I say it again? ).

Taking DH to an actual supermarket and letting him put things in the trolley is financial suicide! Just taking the reins on yourself might just make all the difference OP.

Good luck! Enjoy all your savings

Yes definitely cakeninja - to get the best flash deals you need to be checking out a good few times after the initial order. Sometimes they're not great then other times there's loads on there.

I would see if you can renegotiate your smart pass. I pay £3.99 a month anytime after a three month free trial.

Agree that on-line shopping and meal planning is key. If my dh is let loose in Waitrose I see my beautiful carefully budgeted plan shrivel and die. In one little trip to get milk he is quite capable of spending an extra £40.

• Once a week I sit down with my recipe books and list out 2 lunches and 5 or 6 suppers for our 2+2 family.
• One night is for left-overs/bottom of fridge creativity.
• If I am needing expensive herbs or something in one meal I find another meal that will use the other half.
• I plan a mixture of easy meals (fresh pasta + fresh sauce/pesto) and complicated 'need to look at the recipe book' stuff.
• I then go on-line (Ocado) and buy what is on the list, looking for best offers, as well as our usuals list (milk, butter etc). If I see something nice I might add that.
• Mainly Waitrose/Ocado own brand and basic, unless we have tested and know it doesn't taste as good.
• At the end I check the total cost, and if it is over I go back through the list and cut the non-essentials.
• I buy loo roll, washing liquid etc in bulk when it is on a good special offer.
• Once every few months I do an Asda shop to stock up on cleaning products and nappies.

It sounds draconian but we still eat pretty much what we want, including 2 meat dishes a week (I am veggie). We don't need to budget but like a pp I enjoy the challenge and interest.

Why don't either of you cook? I hate to think of what is in most ready meals, they're purely an emergency meal here and even then I'd rather have pasta and pesto in a real emergency or whack some veg in the pressure cooker for soup.

We don't count the cost of food when shopping but tend to spend around 80 a week for 4 plus dog. Farm shops for meat, veg and dairy cause I am fussy on organic/free range/poncey bullshit then a supermarket, normally aldis every few weeks for tins, coffee etc. If we drank regularly this would go up, but we spend a tonne on fruit and coffee tbh.

I tend to just buy a joint for a roast on Sunday which can do something on Monday. A pack of mince for spaghetti bolognese, chilli, meatballs, burgers, lasagne whatever, then a couple of chicken breasts or some pork or something for fajitas, kebabs, casserole or something. Then a home made pizza with mozzarella on a Sat. Have soup one night.

Very little wasted as we have leftovers for lunch, ham for sandwiches 'make own bread in breadmaker), snacks are fruit, nuts, home made flapjack or cake or whatever. Sometimes buy some choc ices or something too, we also have fish sometimes when I remember, and maybe a pasta or jacket spud night when I am feeling lazy. Breakfast is eggs (we have chickens), porridge, yogurt and fruit and bacon at the weekend.

Cooking doesn't take that long, and is healthier and cheaper.

Cleaning wise I buy a pack of washing powder every month or 6 weeks if not longer, washing up liquid and use vinegar, soda bic etc for cleaning which I buy in bulk every 6 months or so. Don't use paper towels, just a shed load of cloths that get chucked in the machine.