To be struggling to budget my food shopping

[Toomuchtooyoung01]

We are spending a crazy amount on food shopping each week and its not sustainable. We don't eat anything extravagant, are both teetotal at home so not spending anything on alcohol, toiletries wise we only buy the absolute necessary basics (shampoo/conditioner, shower gel, handwash etc) so its not like I'm filling the trolley with a £10 pot of this or a £10 tube of that, its really frustrating as we easily spend £150-£170 a week and I feel for that money we should either have alot more than we do or we should be spending alot less for the very normal, non flashy food/products etc we are buying.
The only brands we buy are Pampers nappies (large pack a week) and every few weeks I'll stock up on Childs Farm bubble bath etc when its on special offer! All food is own brand.
Breakfast is cereal or toast with fruit sometimes pancakes or brioche for DD or sometimes mini bacon sandwich. Usual meals are a roast, sausages with veg and mash, fishcakes with veg, one or 2 nights might have oven food (9 months with baby 2 so not doing as much cooking as would usually). Lunches are usually sandwich/tin of soup/DD has things like chicken gougons if not eating the same as me.
Typical food shop - fresh fruit (apples/bananas/strawberries/raspberries/ oranges) fresh veg (brocolli/carrots/potatoes), miscellaneous staples like houmous, yoghurts etc as well as meat mentioned when listing typical meals. I do often make a chilli/a large tuna pasta bake etc which theoretically should see us through for a few days but never quite does, as OH often comes home for lunch so will heat up a portion of this etc
Please can anyone offer advice on where I'm going wrong & how to make some savings?! Thanks!

We’re a family of five and spend £170 a week in Sainsbury’s. We eat loads of vegetarian and use own brand stuff a lot. My fruit and veg bill is huge - I blame that! We also buy Pampers

Buy frozen vegetables instead of fresh, it's just as good for you but at a fraction of the price. I always have frozen broccoli, peas and mixed veg in at a minimum. I also use frozen raspberries for things like porridge and smoothies, it's much cheaper than fresh.

As many PPs have said, Lidl and Aldi are fantastic. If you do your main shop there you'll save a fortune and you're still getting good quality products.

Try a bar of soap instead of hand wash and shower gel. It's cleans better, is cheaper and is much better for the environment.

crack

Taking your list as an example, none of those things are perishable, so if they're things that you use reliably, I'd stock up from places that do sell them every 2/3 months, overcoming the most common reason why people 'can't use Aldi or Lidl as they don't sell everything we need and I don't have time to go to 2 supermarkets every week'.

Not aimed at you specifically, but it's as if people think there's a law that you're only allowed one shopping trip per week and you have to visit all the necessary shops within that one slot and you're only allowed to buy the things you need for that week, when obviously this isn't the case.

So a simple bit of flexibility helps enormously, especially when you're in the OPs position, where you have to make changes. The ranges in both have also increased massively over the last few years, so you really can get most things there, or certainly enough variety to buy a balanced diet of food that you like.

For the blueberry and blackcurrant tea and lemon cream cleaner, I'd just get the closest alternative (Lidl herbal tea came second only to Whittards at ten times the price in an EWFL taste test) and stock up on the rest - Tesco sell a large bottle of Kikkoman for not much more than the small ones. I'd also look at getting the litter and catfood delivered by somewhere like Zooplus as is often cheaper than supermarkets.

I know it's incredible, spent £45 on a basket of shopping this week and couldn't see where it had gone but anyway.....
Have been trying to cut down on grocery bill as well. Here's what we've found has help us.

• as everyone has said - meal plan, meal plan, meal plan and before you go shopping look in fridge and see what you've got left and plan around that.
• as far a possible try to make things that will last 2 plus nights then either have the following night or freeze if you've got a freezer.
• have found having meat free meals a bit cheaper (although in my opinion it takes a lot more effort to make a veggie meal taste as good as a meaty - any good veggie recipes to the contrary gratefully received - one and you do have to kit out your store cupboard quiet well to start with)
• for things like treats have started to make muffins and putting them in the freezer- banana bread seems to be the main one because of left over bananas. Now when we go out rather than eating in the cafe we take a flask and some muffins or we've got something to offer when people come round, etc. Also got DD 2.5 yo to make ginger bread with me a Xmas and gave it as presents - saved a fortune on presents and she absolutely loved it. Made a big batch of it, cut it into 4 and we can do it again with not to much effort.
• Buy supermarket own brand as far as possible, simply can't get the hang of Aldi or Lidl but morrisions is reasonable if you've got one near you.

some of these might work for you?

• cook from scratch as far as possible and try to eat the same as a family as far as possible, granted not easy with small child.

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That's a high amount. We spend about £100-120/week for a family of 4, from Waitrose/Ocado, and eat very well.

If you shop online it is much easier to budget. I plan my meals for the week, making sure that if there's an unusual fresh ingredient that can't be frozen, I use it in 2 recipes. Then write my shopping list, order online. I usually end up with more on the list, odd treats etc. Then I go back through the list at the end and delete those extras if the bill is going to be more than I'd like. We're very well off, but I know from previous experience how shopping bills can creep up.

If there are 241 type offers on things that will store and we'll definitely use, I get these. We also get quite a lot of frozen vegetables, including things like frozen peppers and mediterranean vegetables. We were wasting so much from food going off before the end of the week, and now we don't. Even things like bags of grated cheese (admittedly more expensive than block cheese) can be frozen, so you just need to use a little and save the rest for the next macaroni cheese or whatever.

MoneySavingExpert has good tips on cheaper replacements.

Your shopping sounds similar to mine in the type of things you buy but i only spend £80-100 per week. What else are you buying and what quantity? A few things I do to keep costs down:

Bulk buy long lasting items when on special offer, washing powder, dishwasher tabs, tinned tomatoes, 5kg bags of pasta etc. Replace as they run down.

Meal plan so you know what you're eating in advance for main meals each week. Make extra portions for lunches/freezer.

Do one large weekly shop (I do it online) and only top up on essentials once per week, fresh fruit, veg, bread, milk (only essentials don't chuck other stuff in the basket!). If luxurys/snack food runs out during the week, it's gone and need to wait for next big shop.

I don't tend to buy ready made convience foods like fishcakes or chicken goujons, I'd make those myself and its usually a bit cheaper and healthier.

I sort of meal plan in that I have a vague idea of what I might cook that week. I'll look in the freezer/fridge and see what I have and what I would need to buy to make a meal from it.
Then I go to Aldi, once every two weeks. I go straight to the vegetable section and look at what's on offer. They have really good deals on seasonal vegetables (I shop in Germany so it may not be as good in the UK). Then I'll see how that matches up with my rough meal plan in my head and change the plan a little depending on what veg is available.
If they have peppers on offer, for example, I'll buy a load of them and then chop them up and freeze them as I use a lot of them.
Then I'll have a look at the meat and fish and see what's on offer and buy accordingly, adjusting my mental meal plan all the time.
When I get home I write the meal plan down and then stick to it.
It works really well and I have saved a lot of money doing this.

I don't go to Aldi again until there is next to nothing left to eat in the house.
I occasionally do a top up shop but you have to be very careful doing that as you can end up buying a load of stuff you don't really need but just "fancy" at the time.
Don't go to the shops on an empty stomach either. You'll want everything in sight.

OP, you mention you go twice a week and do two relatively big shops - look at turning that into one because every visit is a bit dangerous - you see a couple of extra things each time that you like the look of and you can end up with 20 or 30 quids worth of food which you hadn't really planned for.

That does seem like a lot @Toomuchtooyoung01! Family of four (single parent, 3 DC's) we spend £80 on everything including personal items, toiletries, pet food (3 pets).

I do one bigger shop a week where I ensure we have 3-4 types of fruit and veg each, salad items, potatoes, milk, eggs and things like mince, perhaps some chicken, cheese, yoghurts, bread etc. This is when I would also get rice, cous cous, pasta, tea, pet food etc. I try to spend no more than £60 on the main shop. That leaves me £20 for the extras through the week, typically a bit more salad, milk and possibly fruit.
A few tips:

1. portion out your leftovers so no one is eating 3-4 meals worth for lunch the next day
2. try an online shop if you are an impulse buyer
3. cut out the extras, maybe allow 1 treat for the weekend but it's incredible what people spend on squashes/chocs/crisps/fizzy drinks
4. have a menu plan and have a few days of cheaper meals like homemade soups, make sure you have a couple meatless days a week too. You could try to make Mon/Wed/Fri meat free. Will save you a good £10+ a week at least.

Good luck!

Since Aldi is 30 minutes away, could you split your shopping and do one large monthly shop in Aldi and 4 smaller fresh food shops in Sainsbury's?

We've started doing this although both are from Aldi. We've got 2 babies under 2 and one is on formula but here's what our looks like;

The monthly shop is for all dry & frozen food, toiletries, nappies & wipes, household products (loo roll etc) budget: £150 but only actually came to £109 last month

Just calculate what you need and bulk buy.

Then the weekly shop covers fresh fruit, veg, meat, milk, yogurts, bread etc budget: £100 however this includes formula for DD which costs a good £25-30 per week

DH is a lot more disciplined than I am so he does the shopping and will put stuff back if he reaches his limit £ wise

How much do people spend on meat? I always buy organic/free range etc which means it's £5 for two chicken breasts.

I buy whatever my butcher has in his family pack that week. £20

I am obsessed now with the toilet roll use. In the link a pp posted earlier it says people use on average 8-9 sheets per toilet use and then goes on to say we use an average of 57 sheets a day!

Surely if you only wee you don't use 8-9 sheets? Plus how many times exactly does the average person go to the loo a day? An awful lot according to those figures.

Family packs from butchers can be astonishing value.

There's one near us where if you buy a pack/whatever is on offer, you easily get twice as much meat as you would by buying the individual items separately/not on offer.

This week:

1 x 1lb home made large pork sausages
1 x 1/1.2kg fresh chicken
4 x lean boneless pork steaks
1 x 400g lean mince steak
1 x 400g lean diced chicken breast fillets
4 x 4oz lean Angus burgers
2 x 200g garlic or plain chicken breast fillets

I'm going to make curry with the chicken, chili with the beef (padded out with veg and beans). Burgers in the freezer .

1. Pampers are extortionate. I've bought them when I had no choice as my local supermarket didn't stock size 0 nappies in any other brand and they are honestly no different to supermarket brands just four times the price. Time to switch.

1. Are you buying prepared foods? Eg jars of pasta sauce rather than buying tins of tomatoes, jars of white sauce rather than making your own?

1. Out of season produce. At this time of year you want to be buying apples and pears (you will get British ones) and bananas (brought by boat not plane so cheap). Buying summer fruits will cost a bomb.

1. Are you buying "extras". Crisps, squash, biscuits, cakes, children or toddler snacks?

1. Avoid "packet" foods. Generally speaking, you don't need anything in a packet. You need:

• fresh fruit/veg. Usually cheap if you buy seasonal.
• meat & fish (use less and bulk out meals with veg, beans).
• flour, butter/oil, eggs etc. Get baking, it's cheaper.
• milk (cheap).
• cheap staples: rice, pasta,
• tins: chopped tomatoes, beans.

Pretty much everything else is unnecessary. Add in a bag of sugar and you can make rice pudding, cakes etc if you have a sweet tooth.

1. Review your household/toiletry usage.

You are probably massively overusing washing powder etc (the boxes suggest using at least double what you actually need). You don't need fabric softener.

Be more sparing with shower gel etc. If you are washing hair daily, switch to every 3 days it's much better for your hair.

You don't need to be using toilet cleaner etc daily.

Try and be careful about using reams and reams of loo roll/kitchen roll eg when you could mop up a spill with a towel & wash it.

7.go through receipts. Are you adding pricey non groceries to the trolley regularly?
Eg batteries, electric toothbrush heads, childrens vitamins, books or CDs, clothes, toys?

We stopped buying meat altogether for home use about two years ago, but would eat it elsewhere. It makes a big difference. We used to eat meat every day.

I forgot to say OP you mentioned about buying pampers nappies,we've found lidl's lupilu nappies to be brilliant and they are so much cheaper than pampers as well,they're own brand fragrance free wipes and nappy sacks are brilliant as well.

We probably spend £100 a week with extras after a roughly £70 Sainsbury’s shop.

Breakfast: bran flakes, Cheerios or porridge with berries (depending on whether you ask me, DH or DD).

Lunch: sandwich for DH with quorn and salad, sandwiches and veg or wraps or soup and salad (salad would usually contain feta/mackerel/tuna/beans)

Dinner: this last week we’ve had sweet potato and chickpea curry, a thick lentil soup with bread and salad, pasta with chicken and tomato, prawn stir fry with rice, omelettes, white fish with greens and a nut roast with trimmings.

There’s fruit, crackers, olives, hummus, cheese, peanut butter, carrots etc for snacks.

Obviously we buy staples like jam, honey, mayo etc. and domestic stuff on the same shop.

So I suppose the answer might be to limit meat?

3 breakfast, lunches and dinners every week plus drinks, treats and snacks?
Set yourself a budget per person per meal, then allow yourself some leeway: so if you decide that £5 per day for 3 dinners is appropriate, you give yourself a weekly dinner budget of £35 and you can still treat yourselves to steak one night if you have baked potatoes another. Try shopping online and collecting so you can see exactly where you are spending, and be careful with leftovers: don't load up plates. If it stays in the plan it can go into a box for another day.
And eat eggs! Really good value for the quality of the protein and really filling!

lipperfromchipper DS2 is 4.5, and the size 6+ pull ups from Lidl have just started leaking on him, hence having to now buy extortionate Drynites from Sainsbos
barbaraofsevilleI do the bulk of my shopping at Lidl. Can rarely go a week without visiting Sainsbury's as well though, especially as I also use the trip to get diesel, and sometimes CO2 for the soda stream from the instore Argos. It still works out way cheaper than doing all your shopping at ASDA, which is what I used to do. Plus, I enjoy torturing the children with 2 supermarket trips per week

Cut down to one food shop per week. You should only really need to stock up on milk and bread in between or in you have guests you haven't planned for.
Meal plan. For us the last meal before next shop is usually omelette or something out of the freezer.
I actually find online delivery is cheaper as I can keep track of total as I'm going along and I don't get tempted quite so much by extra stuff.

I'm in the same boat as you there are 3 of us. My kids are older and will only eat from certain shops very fussy. 🙈
We need to go on shop well for less lol.
Meal planning is a good idea. If you will all eat the same. Then you only buy what you need. X

OP you're not being very helpful.

You can also do things like make your own Sauces for pasta ect. That is cheaper than jars x