To wonder if people actually spend 200+ on a weekly shop

[pleasemothermay1]

Watching eat well for less and I just can't believe people actually spend 200+ a week on a food shop

One lady was giving a teen 20 a week to get chips and chicken 😟

We have 6 in our family

One baby
One toddler
One teen
Me and hubby
And a cat

I spend £65 a week including nappies and toiletries

This gose up to £90 during holidays and the teen is eating at home not collage

It's mad what are these people feeding there kids

My children have breakfast lunch and dinner I don't encourage grazing all day they can have fruit in between meals and I cook from sctrach pretty much 5 days a week junk on a Saturday then roast on a Sunday

[yumyumpoppycat]

Think its luck with reductions and the like; it would be pretty impossible to always get to the supermarket at the optimum time (usually the first reduction isn't that great) and the items available are pretty random. I do look in the reduced section first and think its worthwile in certain supermarkets.

It is dissapointing though when something pricey I buy as a staple is on offer and looks to have probably been cleared out. I can't bulk buy and freeze as have a smaller than average freezer.

[yumyumpoppycat]

Having said that I think its better that one person take all of an item that will be thrown that day if not sold than leave some just incase someone else needs it and it ends up in the bin.

[Hulashaker]

I agree I was flabbergasted that they spent over £300 a month on take always for three of them - then they saved £126 a week on food shopping, we have to be super careful as don't have a lot of money and try to spend around £50 a week on food shopping

[ginorwine]

Truffle
I found your bargin hunting combined with good food inspiring !
Will give it a go .
What time do individual supermarkets mark down please ?
I have sainsburys one mile away .
Tesco is 4 miles
Morrisons the same .co op 3
No others tho.

[ginorwine]

And do they do it daily .
Also I forget asda 3 miles away !

[Ifiwasabadger]

I've worked full time for 20 years and laugh in the face of finishing work at 6 pm!!!!!

[BarbaraofSeville]

Bargain hunting doesn't have to be time consuming but obviously it depends what you have access to. A degree of flexibility helps too - today I bought 2 melons from Aldi super 6 for 39 or 49 pence each, so this will be my fruit for the week - If I had been a blueberry buyer, I would have probably needed 4 punnets of blueberries instead, which even at Aldi prices adds up to quite a lot (I am just shopping for myself and 2 cats at the moment as DP is working away). For a lot of things I am not loyal to one particular brand and will either buy from Aldi, or whatever is on offer if in another supermarket - things like toilet rolls, washing detergent, cleaning products etc - you can save loads by stocking up on offers rather than just buying a favourite brand as and when you need it.

On my way to and from work I pass Aldi, Morrisons, Tesco, M&S, Asda and Home Bargains, plus others. It takes no time at all to pop in any one of them and I generally go in the Aldi once or twice a week to do most shopping.

The M&S is quite new and hasn't found it's feet with stock control yet so has some spectacular bargains, so maybe once every couple of weeks I'll pop in to see if there are any good offers - takes 5 or 10 minutes to whizz round and look to see if there's anything good. Recent highlights have been packs of prawns, suitable for freezing for 95 p, reduced from £5 a pack, nice pizzas for a pound each, DPs favourite sausages for less than half price, and a few other things.

We’re also lucky that we have a second undercounter freezer in the utility room so can store these extra meals (I also batch cook and try to buy meat from a semi wholesale farm shop we have nearby – they do big packs of chicken breasts, mince, steaks etc , all farmed locally and much cheaper than supermarkets).

[GarlicMistake]

Gin, you need to go at school-out time, say 4pm, and then lurk around or keep going back every half an hour until about 8pm to learn when each store does the best reductions. Or ask the staff and hope they get it right!

This thread does seem quite weighted towards 'housewives' with enough disposable income to buy ad-hoc bargains and enough time & suitable transport to go looking for them. I don't think most households are like that - or shops would be empty until the minute they do the reductions.

[00100001]

Round our way you have to 'fight' you way to the super bargains (Asda 3.30pm on a Sunday - bread for 5p etc) , not worth the hassle as some people in particular will actually shove you out of the way and grab everything - like they're famine victims getting a food delivery!

it's all a bit uncivilised and so I don't do it.

[trufflehunterthebadger]

I've worked full time for 20 years and laugh in the face of finishing work at 6 pm!!!!!

I suspect you'll be asleep when i'm answering 999 calls at 3am tomorrow night..

[trufflehunterthebadger]

Gin, depends where you live - and not all supermarkets reduce as much. The tesco in Lewes where i work seems to consider 5p a good reduction (wealthy froufrou town), my mum's tesco does heavy reductions and sometimes they can't give it away ! I got one of those whole duck pancake packs reduced from £5 to 50p the other day :)

If you live in a wealthy area the reductions seem less

[trufflehunterthebadger]

But the general rule of thumb is morrisons, waitorse and sainsbos between 5.30 and 6.30, tesco between 7 and 8 and asda 7.30 - 8.30.

Our tesco used to be 7pm like clckwork till they were refitted, now not so predictable

[Baileysagain]

We generally spend £100 a week, we are a family of four with two cats and that covers everything including packed lunches etc. Admittedly some weeks it may be more but I try to keep to a budget. I switch between Sainsburys, Tesco's and Aldi and although I don't meticulously plan meals in advance I tend to stick to a simple meal plan. I work part time and to be honest it's pretty quick and easy to make most meals from scratch, it's better than ready meals and I just bulk them out with vegetables or salad. We have proper dinners probably four nights a week, one fast food meal like pizza and two light meals like omelettes etc. Tbh we couldn't afford to pay £200 a week but I am sure it's easy to do so.

[Ifiwasabadger]

Truffle, thankfully yes, I am not normally working at 3 am....but a 14 plus hour day is the norm in my industry at my level, with lots evening and weekend work.

As a PP said, a lot of people on this thread appear to either finish work what I would term early (5-6) or be housewives. Which explains the time freed up to shop around and get marked down bargains....

[MiracletoCome]

I finish work at 4 and often get the Waitrose markdowns on the way home from work, I don't have time or the inclination to go anywhere else though.

[mishmash1979]

Hats off to Andnowitis7 for providing nutritious, home cooked meals for all 9 of you. I have a family of 6 and it's hard work and it is expensive. I think those calling bolognese "lentil strew with beef crumbs" are being rude and need to show a little empathy. I am imagining that if you are padding out one pack of mince that much you are having to severely watch the pennies when you shop. As many others have said ; different strokes for different folks. I was embarrassed one day in Aldi when the lady in front of me loaded up her shopping and it came to £43 something. There seemed to be some sort issue at the tills and then a child started crying. The lady only had £40 for the family food shop so the child's yoghurts, juice and single pack of biscuits had to go back. Seeing the look on her face as she had to choose what was important to eat a X then deal with upset child was heartbreaking. To this day I wish I had given her the extra money she needed but I was too stunned at the time at how £3 could not be found to pay for the xtra. If my shopping was over budget I would just hand over the credit card instead of the debit card. I think the MN demographic needs to realise that if you only have £50 to spend on food then you ain't goi g to be spending £50 on berries and melon!!!

[JemimaMuddledUp]

I think some of you might struggle with fitting in many supermarkets on the way home from work if you lived where I do.

Distance from home to nearest store:
Morrisons - 5 miles
Lidl - 5 miles
Co-op - 18 miles
Tesco - 38 miles
Aldi - 38 miles
Sainsburys - 51 miles
M&S - 53 miles
Asda - 56 miles
Waitrose - 77 miles

I don't think the drive would be worth it!

[GarlicMistake]

Where you live makes a massive difference. I miss all the ethnic shops in London. If I want anything slightly unconventional, I have to buy it from Amazon (ebay having proved unreliable for quality) and then faff around reducing the delivery cost. Or see if Sainsbury's have it and pay their price. We have a couple of Polish shops now, but they aren't cheap and I'm more of a Mediterranean type cook than a pork & pickles aficionado.

Wandering around Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Italian & Caribbean mini-markets for inspiration is an everyday pleasure no more :(

[daisypond]

I think it's a good point that BarbaraofSeville said, about what you have access to. That's not just which supermarkets/markets you can get to, and what time you can get to them (to get the reduced prices), but also how to transport the stuff back home, which affects how much you can carry. Do most people have cars? We don't have a car and rely on the bus or walking, which definitely restricts things. We live in a built-up area, though, and supermarkets are plentiful.

[xexxsy]

What an amazing thread.

Doesn't matter whether you agree or disagree with the content, it is very interesting.

Some have to, some want to chase bargains. Some don't have to worry about food spends. It's all down to personal choice and circumstances.

The one thing I am concerned about (and I am guilty as charged now and then) is food wastage.

I have learned a big lesson there over the years. ONLY buy what you REALLY like to eat. Only put in the freezer the food that you know you will eat and you have LABELLED lol.

How many times have we gone to the fridge and found out of date food, binned. How many times have we gone to the freezer (or when doing a defrost) to discover unrecognisable items, no labels, no dates. Binned.

Sorry, I am talking about me here, and I doubt I am alone.

So although I can afford to shop for any kind of food I want, I am very hard on myself now, because I shudder at the amount of times in the past I had to chuck stuff. Awful I know that, but I can't be the only one surely?

Just thought I'd mention food waste, in the mix of the thread.

[dairymilkmonster]

2 kids, 2 adults, 2 cats.
Approx £400-450 per month but that includes all household products/toiletries/ cat food. Suspect if we only counted food it would be anywhere £75-100 / week. Do mixture of big tesco shop, waitrose top up and very occasional lidl (not close by).
I think as long as people keep within their budget, good on them! There is no need to be uber thrifty (which probably means less variety) if you can afford not to be. We don't need to buy olives, posh biscuits or strawberries but we like them and thankfully are lucky enough to afford them.

[JaceLancs]

Not read all the responses
Family of 2/3/4 here depending on night of week all adults
I spend on average less than £50 a week
I work full time but self and DS max out the reduced counters
Times vary from store to store - I vary mine between sainsburys, morrisons and booths which are nearest
We have 2 freezers and 3 fridges if you include the drinks fridge and use common sense rather than sell by/use by dates
Our diet (always healthy) is decided by our gleanings - I buy whatever there is and on days/weeks we don't find much live out if the freezer supplemented by a small fresh food shop of salad/veg/fruit
Tonight was a lovely evening so had a BBQ
Pork chops, butcher burgers and sausages all reduced from freezer
Bread reduced but bought yesterday
Made home made coleslaw and potato salad again reduced veg
Accompanied by dips, olives, celery etc also reduced
Fed 5 adults for approx £8-£10

[00100001]

We are pretty good in the Binary household and like to think good waste is really low. I was annoyed the other day when I had to throw a lettuce out to the compost because it had somehow got frozen in the fridge :(

My BIL will chick looooooaads away. If it has been open "too long" or it is in the sell by date (he ignores the use by date!)

[ginorwine]

I never seem to find good reductions at all !
What times do sainsburys
He co op and morrisons reduce please ?