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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

How can you do a comfortable shop for £30, two adults and a baby?

135 replies

DeanaPiana · 12/04/2017 18:58

DF is adamant she does her Aldi food shop for £30 or under, for two adults and two teen boys.

This includes lunches for two adults but not baby essential etc, which she calculated separately and buys elsewhere.

Could I do it and eat comfortably from Aldi? My shop must include:

Vegetables
Fruit
NO meat
Limited dairy
Some decent snacks
Lunches for two adults
Yoghurt
Soft drinks

Other half is a vegetarian who doesn't eat much dairy. I don't eat meat within the home. Baby will be veggie too (I'm pregnant). I'll probably have to buy Quorn products elsewhere, which is a pain in the arse so a lot of meals from Aldi may well be cheaper because of me calculating the Quorn shop differently.

I use to shop at Lidl and spent around the £45 mark at least for two adults.

OP posts:

EatSpamAmandaLamb · 13/04/2017 07:05

Can I get some info on the chemical free cleaning products mummybear?

Trifleorbust · 13/04/2017 07:29

because their DH 'demolishes cheese' or they are stealth boasting about prodigious fruit and veg consumption

Don't you know a meal can't be consumed without 'loads of veggies'?

ChasingAPinkBall · 13/04/2017 07:54

Totally do-able and not at all boring!
We used to do it for that amount before DS2 (and copious amounts of alcohol and chocolate became a nesessity).
Meal plan and batch cook. Look on the aldi website and see what their super 6 veg is that week and plan meals based on them.

For cleaning I buy Zoflora (from b&m) and just dilute that into a spray bottle.

ChasingAPinkBall · 13/04/2017 07:58

Freeze leftovers, even if it's just enough for a child portion. It'll do for lunch for a small person.

ChasingAPinkBall · 13/04/2017 07:59

Sorry for the multiple posts, I keep remembering stuff!
I get nappies and wipes from Amazon so my 30 doesn't include those.

MummyBearToTeddy · 13/04/2017 08:00

@laughwithmeleelee as a newborn he started off in a stretchy wrap and has graduated up as weight dictates to now has his Mei tai that will hold him for years now. He and always have and will bedshare until he asks for his own bed. He's showing no signs yet though!

@eatspamamandalamb it's all about the half measures! 1/2 cup of white vinegar, 1/2 cup baking soda or bicarbonate, 1/2 gallon of water. Add tea tree oil to make it a disinfectant and orange peel if you want a scent. We have hard floors so they are steam cleaned and so are the kitchen surfaces.

2cats2many · 13/04/2017 08:11

Im always amazed at these threads. I consider myself fairly thrifty- shop around, buy little and often, buy stuff on special and freeze it, cook and bake from.scratch, etc, but I still spend on average £70-80 week. For me to do it on £20-30 week there would need to be no treats, no fresh coffee, no wine and budget brand everything. I'd obviously be able to do it if I had to, but I would have to give up Yorkshire Tea, nice cheese and fresh bread and lots of fresh fruit.

UppityHumpty · 13/04/2017 08:16

She probably cooks from scratch a lot more than she's telling you. I spend approx 35-40/week and get a lot of veg, frozen fish, eggs, grains etc but I make my own cous cous, bread, lunches etc. I get longlife milk as it's often cheaper.

Trifleorbust · 13/04/2017 08:22

For me to do it on £20-30 week there would need to be no treats, no fresh coffee, no wine and budget brand everything. I'd obviously be able to do it if I had to, but I would have to give up Yorkshire Tea, nice cheese and fresh bread and lots of fresh fruit.

This is exactly what lots of people have to do.

frieda909 · 13/04/2017 08:22

If you only have £30 a week to spend on food then you will quickly learn to live off that amount. Either that or go hungry.

Exactly. There's nothing wrong with spending more (even a lot more) on your food shop if you can afford to, but I'm fascinated by some of the responses on here from people I can only assume have never actually shopped on a tight budget.

It's the people who express their horror and say that they they're so thrifty and couldn't possibly cut their food budget down any more, and then go on to mention cheese, blueberries and raspberries, wine, chocolate, sausage rolls... again, of course you can enjoy all those things if you can afford them but please try to have some tiny bit of perspective about what constitutes a 'budget' food shop!

frieda909 · 13/04/2017 08:28

2cats2many your post is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about I'm afraid. You're 'amazed' at the thought of people not buying wine, fresh coffee, nice cheese and lots of fresh fruit? Really?

I'm not on the tight budget I once was but even now those are all things I couldn't afford to buy in every shop!

2cats2many · 13/04/2017 08:35

Trifleorbust I'm well aware of that.

I think my point is that there seems to be a lot of posturing on these kinds of threads about how perfectly possible it is to live well on £20-£30 week. People's definition of living well varies, but I couldn't live well on such a small budget. And personally, I don't think it helps people who have to live on that to pretend otherwise.

I'm all for making the best of things and if I had to live on £20-£30 of course I'd manage, but people shouldn't have to live on such a small amount. It's bloody nice to have nice food and what's wrong with wanting it?

For me, there's something about normalising having to live on tiny budgets and saying that it's perfectly doable that weakens calls for proper living wages, after all, if we all just ate porridge for breakfast and we'd be alright wouldn't we?

BrucesTooth · 13/04/2017 08:35

I bits tesco value everything, the "perfectly imperfect" apples are 80p for about 12, grapes £1.25, you can still get plenty of fruits and vegetables and not spend much. I don't really like the shopping experience at out local lidl or aldi but they do some nice things, although as I buy value brand anyway they do come out a bit more expensive for some stuff.

2cats2many · 13/04/2017 08:39

And I haven't always had that kind of disposable income. There have been years of my life (luckily before children) when I had £40 to last me a month. I ate lots of apples, lentils and porridge and managed, but it wasn't living well. Especially month after month after month.

Trifleorbust · 13/04/2017 08:39

2cats2many/

Nothing wrong with wanting nice food at all! If you have the money then that is one of the better things you could spend it on. But I think some people struggle with seeing their food shop as consisting of essentials and luxuries - to them, what people with no money see as luxuries are 'the basics': exotic fruits, good cheese, wine, proper coffee. And they're like, "How can we cut our shopping bill? We only buy the bare minimum as it is" and everyone who has ever been poor is like

frieda909 · 13/04/2017 08:54

Exactly Trifleorbust.

2cats you do seem to be aware that it's your choice to buy those luxuries because it makes you happy, and good for you! And I agree that we shouldn't be telling people that it's perfectly fine to just live on baked beans either. But some of the posters here have been utterly incredulous about the practicalities of living on a budget, even accusing those who sat they do of being liars or suggesting that they don't feed their children properly. And that just shows a massive lack of awareness and understanding!

noeffingidea · 13/04/2017 08:54

2cats it's not posturing.
I suppose it depends on what your priorities are. I'm not a foodie, I can eat perfectly well (and actually enjoy) simple basic food. The only thing I missed out on was fresh fruit, and that was what I bought when I had a little extra or saw them reduced. By fresh fruit I mean grapes, clementines, pineapple for my daughter. Not more expensive things like blue berries or avocados (not that there's anything wrong with them).
Living well to me doesn't involve buying bottles of wine , chocolate, fillet steak, salmon, or anything like that. The things I really missed when I was skint were absolutely nothing to do with food.

Trifleorbust · 13/04/2017 08:57

I think there are two definitions of 'living well' - there's the Mahatma Gandhi definition (living with the minimum impact on your environment and others) and the Samuel Pepys definition (eating 'well' and frequently)

MummyBearToTeddy · 13/04/2017 08:58

@2cats2many I agree that if you have the money you can buy whatever you want. But that's the point and it's if you want to. I personally love that we eat food we have grown and the extras we get are only £2 for a huge banana box full of fruit and veg that simply hasn't made the grade to be pretty enough. It's exactly the same. Sometimes we get things like mango or kiwi thrown in because in a six pack of kiwi one has been squashed so they put it in the box. It's not having to go down the value route or sacrificing any quality except aesthetics.

I know a lot of people on here think I'm a hippy and love it and some people think I'm ridiculous. But we are very happy with our lives and way of living. By not spending money on things like the top range everything from supermarkets we have saved over £15k in a bank account for my DC so he can pay his way at university, buy a car, put a house deposit down. It's different values for different people.

We are so lucky that we don't HAVE to stick to a budget and are forced to sacrifice all the time. We have a lifestyle that is inexpensive and yet very happy. Not to be funny but it's educational too. I manage time very well and hate waste so every scrap of everything is used. It's a choice though.

gottaloveascamhun · 13/04/2017 09:02

Thanks fir the ideas!

I've recently started buying frozen fruit and veg some of the time, much cheaper and less waste. E.g. frozen raspberries are good mixed with dairy free yoghurt and granola for breakfast. Frozen green beans etc are handy as you can just use the amount you need.

EatSpamAmandaLamb · 13/04/2017 09:03

mummybear sounds fantastic. Where do you get chemical free vinegar and bicarbonate of soda?

2cats2many · 13/04/2017 09:04

I think its lovely that you're a hippy. I used washeables and made my own wipes too. I'm not on board with everything that you do, but I know that people who live like you and your husband cancel out in small way some of my wasteful living. More power to you.

julessussex · 13/04/2017 09:13

Hi, I gave myself this challenge on my blog recently, it is tricky if I'm honest. I cook everything from scratch and we are all veggie, also I meal plan, buy stuff when it is in offer or reduced because it's near sell by and bulk cook and freeze portions for another day. If you do all of that it is possible but it's tough, I include a shopping list and meal plan on my blog and then each day I give you a recipe for a main meal.

We are struggling at the moment with the rising cost of food and I have friends who are saying the same thing so we have to get inventive ...

Cutting your weekly food bill. Step 2: meal planning and Mondays recipe
Hi, so I promised you that I would help you cut your weekly food bill and I'm determined to give this a go.

Food costs are spiralling and food banks…
myfamilyhomeblog.wordpress.com/2017/03/13/cutting-you-weekly-food-bill-step-2-meal-planning-and-mondays-recipe/

Trifleorbust · 13/04/2017 09:16

julessussex:

Interesting blog. No lunch or snacks at all? How do your children get enough calories? Not trying to be GF.

noeffingidea · 13/04/2017 09:17

Thanks for the link julesussex

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