Shopping seasonally is not only cheaper and better for the environment it’s healthier too.
The items are better quality and actually interestingly if you look into it you’ll find the nutrients match up to our seasonal health needs.
I’ve lived on a budget for many many years now I’m used to it.
Bulk out meals and things like soups with cheap veg - beans, lentils, carrots, potatoes...
Or cheap carbs pasta, rice, cous cous, noodles. Buy the latter 3 either from the “world foods” aisle in the supermarket in bulk or even from shops that cater to Asian or Middle Eastern communities.
Shopping around can really help too, I know can be harder with a baby but can really save you money.
I’m housebound and ltd to online shop at the moment but when I’m able to go out and about I’d shop around, on the same day start off shopping in smaller shops so by the time I got to the supermarket I knew what I had left to get.
But also KNOW the price you normally pay for an item - last weeks receipt on you could be very handy.
Eg pound shops first - they’re very unpredictable, and not always actually cheaper as sometimes the product on offer is in a smaller portion size etc. But certainly I found them cheap for snacks and sweets, cooking sauces, tinned products (especially if you have certain brands you liked), cleaning products, paper products (kitchen roll, loo roll)
B&m and home bargains are generally cheaper for cleaning products, paper products, unpredictably for food products (I found them very good and cheap for dried herbs and spices and breakfast cereals), I also know friends & family found them cheap for branded nappies (I’m long past that stage)
Bodycare was cheap for toiletries, medicines and first aid products
Wilko was cheap for cleaning products, toiletries, medicines and first aid items, paper products
Farm foods or Iceland for frozen stuff. Iceland I also found was cheaper than most other supermarkets for cheese weirdly. And their emmental is lovely!
Also after many years of being undercut by supermarkets, the supermarkets prices have gone up and now often independent places are cheaper/better value. Butchers, fishmongers, greengrocers and farmers markets and farm shops are often cheaper. My parents have always used farm shops for eggs, potatoes and carrots - they buy in huge bulk! Now it’s just the 2 of them they split the cost and the items with next door neighbours. But certainly when we were little a full sack of potatoes barely lasted them the month. Mum would also order “half a cow” from the butcher which he would joint up for her and she’d freeze and/or a large piece of fish from fishmonger which she would fillet and portion herself (she worked in a fishmongers as a girl so she knows how to do it) she’d also not be afraid to buy whatever the less “fashionable” fish would be as trends affect price but she knew from that job how to prep, portion & cook them. So eg we’d have pollock more likely than cod - very little difference in taste but much cheaper.
Then whatever was left I needed I’d get from the supermarket.
Also note that the “special offers” tend to circulate around the supermarkets - eg one thing I won’t skimp on is fairy washing up liquid I’ve found anything else is a false economy BUT I NEVER pay full price for it. I buy the HUGE bottles when they’re on offer and get 2 or 3 at a time. When I was out and about I noticed favourite brand products would be on offer in Tesco for a fortnight or a month, then it’d be off the offer there but on offer in Morrisons or Asda.
So moving around the supermarkets is good too.
I’m afraid I’m not an Aldi/Lidl fan, the ones I’ve tried there’s been little choice, poor quality and the fruit and veg in particular goes off REALLY quickly and they’re crap for veggie foods.
I actually lived in Germany for a while and aldi was my regular supermarket out there but it was a world of difference compared to the ones in the uk. I was so excited when they opened here but quickly disappointed.
“But what I will say is that it might be an idea to separate your household items and toiletries budget from your food one, just to get an accurate picture. When I did this, I realised that some months I was spending £50 on them (when a number of things had run out like laundry detergent, toilet roll, shaving gel, wax strips, razor blades) and hadn't realised that had bulked up the spend. If you get forensic about it, it might surprise you.” Very true!
I have ocd so spend a crazy amount on cleaning products, but if I eliminate them from what I spend what I spend on food and toiletries is very minimal.
I disagree Sainsburys is not that much more expensive than Tesco/Morrison’s/Asda. I switched to them after having problems with Asda and Tesco online shopping and worried it would be loads more expensive it really wasn’t/isn’t.
Doing 2 shops a week is insane though! You WILL be buying stuff you don’t need just because you’re in the shop - we’ve all done it! Gone in for a basic we’ve run out of like bread or milk and fallen for special offers mainly on “treat” things like crisps, sweets, dips, fizzy drinks...
Do you ever watch “eat well for less” op? Quite often the family’s that shop most frequently regardless of family size are spending way way more than even others that have been on the programme.
Remember supermarkets pay experts THOUSANDS to design supermarkets - layout, lighting, displays even smells and music used - to make you spend more money than you intended to!
Make a note of the things you tend to run short of and instead make sure you buy enough in ONE weekly shop to do you - it seems counterintuitive at first as initially you’re spending more but actually it saves you money
And yes thoroughly meal plan.
My bad habit was in convincing myself I’ve not enough x to last and I must have forgotten to add to shopping list so I get another “just in case” then discover I’ve 4 when I’m putting the shopping away!
I got to the point I’d have on my shopping list “NO MORE passata” “DO NOT get more cous cous” 😂
However also bear in mind there’s a bit of competitive underspending on mn, I’m also aware from many discussions on here, in real life and from watching “eat well for less” that people often underestimate how much they’re spending.
I’ve helped out a few people in real life and in every case they were “counting” the big weekly shop amount (roughly, usually underestimating by up to £40) as their only spend and not including:
Top up shops
Corner shop spends
Takeaways/eating out
Lunches or drinks bought out and about
Which massively upped the food spend. The first 2 of those Absolutely should be included.
It’s like dieters (and again, I’ve been guilty of this too) who think they’re not eating that much because they’re only including meals, underestimate the portions AND ignore all the snacks and calorific drinks they had the rest of the day.
“Canned soup is expensive. Buy a soup maker and make your own.” Bit of irony there - you really don’t need a soup maker! A stick blender maybe although I find a jug blender a bit easier but you don’t have to blend soups. They’re so easy to make. Great for using up veg past its best and for sneaking less popular veg into reluctant eaters. Stock, herbs and spices, marmite etc add flavour.
One of Martin Lewis’s tips is moving down just one brand level. You rarely notice the difference and if you do and you don’t like it you’ve tried it and can return to usual brand the next week. This doesn’t just apply to actual branded goods but eg if you normally buy the premium range level of an item try the regular range level, if you normally buy regular try the budget level.
You won’t like all of them but you may also surprise yourself. It can be a really interesting exercise, eg I didn’t think I was that fussy about cereal but I really can’t abide the budget level it’s just rank, but I’m ok with regular shops own level.
I must admit when I WAS at that stage pampers were the only nappy that fit dd and didn’t leak (she’s always been REALLY slim which belied the amount of poop she was able to produce!!) we tried all the others it was pointless, but we did shop around and got the boxes of I think 48? In a pack and only bought them on offer never paid full price, if they weren’t on offer in supermarkets they would be in boots or superdrug.
Infrequently bought non-perishable items I try to only buy on offer too - teabags, coffee, hot chocolate, marmite, stock cubes, dried herbs and spices, tomato purée, passata, carbs (pasta, rice etc)